This week is set to be as chaotic as if it was designed by Eris herself, and I thought it might be fun to put up some nice, distracting chapters for everyone to enjoy.
Quick Update – Speaking of chaos, the Casa de Thorn looks like a bomb has gone off in it as I pack and prep to move at the end of this month. Despite it all I’ve managed to write a good chunk of the next Inferno Blood Lords story and hoping to get it done by the big moving day. It’s been a good distraction for me. My other big distraction is I started Dragon Age: Veilguard and having the BEST time. It’s reminding me a bit of Witcher 3 where you start playing and then you suddenly wake up at 3 am and you haven’t moved or blinked in 16 hours. To be honest, it’s the only thing turning my brain off right now so I’m using it as a mental health band aid.
A note on mental health, please make sure you are protecting yours at this time. Take a social media break, read some of your fave books, rewatch your comfort shows, take your meds, drink water…you know the drill.
OKAY. Time for ERIS.
***
Wandering Princes and Cursed Goddesses
The oldest of Rome’s foundation myths was rooted in the scorn of a goddess, a war, and a journey.
It began with a wedding and an apple. It was the happy union of Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis. All the gods were invited—except one goddess. Eris, the goddess of chaos and daughter of Nyx, was shunned, much as she had been since her creation.
Wedding invite lists could be stressful enough, but when the gods were also invested in the union, things tended to get messy. All were assembled in the cave of Chiron, the famed and wise centaur, ready for the ceremony to be over and the feast to begin, when the flapping of wings was heard over the vows.
Eris stood at the end of the aisle, smiled through her hurt, and tossed a single golden apple at Zeus before leaving once more without a word. Zeus knew his problems were only just beginning when he saw the apple was carved with the words Te kalliste—to the fairest.
Hera, his wife and the queen of heaven, put out her hand for the apple.
Aphrodite, his aunt and the goddess of love, put out her hand for the apple.
Athena, his favorite child and the goddess of wisdom, put out her hand for the apple.
“I’m so fucked,” Zeus whispered because he knew giving it to one meant war with the other two. “Hermes, help!”
Hermes looked at the apple, back at the goddesses, and grinned. “I have the best idea,” he said and told Zeus to make a mortal decide who to give it to.
Unfortunately, the mortal in question was Paris, the lost and cursed child of King Priam of Troy. He gave it to Aphrodite, who promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. And so, she gave him Helen of Sparta, and the whole mess of the Trojan War began.
At its end, when the Greeks were rampaging through the city, burning and raping as they went, there was only one prince of Troy left—Aeneas, grandson of Aphrodite, the goddess who had caused many of the problems that befell them.
Before leaving the city to its fate, Aeneas took the palladium—the sacred statue of Athena that had fallen from heaven at the site where Troy was built. It was known as the xoanon, and with it came the luck and protection of Athena. Aeneas fled from the city and watched its final collapse as the last of the goddess’s blessing was removed from it.
Maybe guilt or maternal instincts drove Aphrodite to interfere further in Aeneas’s life, but under her instruction, she guided him to a new land where the weary Trojans could begin again, and the palladium could protect a new city of glory and wonder—Rome. He married a princess, and from his line came Rhea Silvania and her sons, Romulus and Remus.
Eris was not so lucky as Aeneas.
For her one act of hurt had caused such war and destruction the Fates themselves cursed her. Eris always had controlled chaos, and now chaos would control her. No matter where she went, it followed, and this already lonely goddess became even more so.
But the Fates never did anything without a plan, and the time had come for Eris to have a chance at redemption. She only needed two things—the palladium and a prince.
Chapter One
Eris sat at the corner of her favorite bar on the Viale Vaticano and drained her cocktail. She had been coming to Silviano’s for the last fifty years, and they still made the best Aperol Spritz cocktails in the city.
She checked her watch. She had been there for almost two hours, and the grip she had on her curse remained strong. She wrote her findings down in the notebook that Isis insisted she use to record her progress. She was determined to help Eris control her curse, and they needed proper data they could use. The control was beginning to feel easier, and a small glimmer of hope that she could one day control the chaos again was starting to bloom. Her social anxiety was another matter.
Eris had been afraid to be around people for so long that she had forgotten how to properly interact with them. The lights, the music, the noise—it became overwhelming if she stayed around all that longer than a few hours.
“Can I get you another?” the bartender asked.
Eris glanced up from her journal at the man and smiled.
“Yes, please,” she said and pushed her empty glass towards him.
Eris took the opportunity to check him out. She had seen him working there more than once and wasn’t the only person who appreciated his excellent shoulders and dashing smile. He was dressed in a dark red button-down shirt that had the sleeves pushed up to reveal strong forearms. Curling dark hair with a few gray streaks was worn a little longer and matched a beard that suited the cut of his strong jaw.
He seemed oblivious to the way the women’s (and some of the men’s) eyes followed him. Eris bet that he got amazing tips. He was one of the few people who managed to get more than five words out of her. She wished she had Laverna’s easy charm to be able to flirt with him.
The bartender smiled and placed a fresh Spritz down before her. “You’ve been here a while tonight. Is someone foolishly standing you up?”
Eris shook her head. “No. I just like to be alone around people sometimes, and this place suits me.”
“I have seen you here a lot lately. Are you still hunting priests, or have you decided to move up from virgins?” he asked, his hazel eyes dancing with mischief.
“Watching me that close? I don’t know if I should be flattered or not,” Eris asked, a flicker of attraction burning hot through her. “I also don’t know what business it is of yours if I hook up with priests.”
“Absolutely none.” The bartender set down a new bowl of nuts beside her Spritz. “I am curious to know why priests though. Were you forced to go to a Catholic school or something?”
“My dad ran away with one,” Eris said, straight-faced. “It’s a way for me to heal my childhood trauma.”
“Really? That’s one I haven’t heard before,” he replied and then realized Eris’s mouth was twitching. “You’re lying. Damn, you had me going there.”
Eris sipped her Spritz. “You deserved it.”
“I can’t help but be curious. You seem to attract men of the cloth. I was merely trying to figure out the appeal on your behalf.”
“What are you, a shrink or something?” Eris demanded.
The bartender placed a hand on his chest. “Alas, a failed one, but bartending isn’t much different. Satisfy my curiosity and tell me why a woman like you would waste your time with men who don’t even take you out on a proper date.”
Eris smirked, ready to see a grown man blush. “Why? Are you offering to take me on one?”
“Enzo. And I was about to, but you beat me to it,” he said, gracing her with a dazzling, cheeky smile. “Very well. I accept. I’m just closing up. Can you wait?”
Eris’s mouth fell open at being so quickly maneuvered. “I didn’t ask…”
“Great,” Enzo said and hurried away to clear some empty glasses from a nearby table.
Eris blinked. “What just happened?” she whispered under her breath.
She should get up and leave. Her time holding the shields around her curse was already at its limit. She closed her eyes to check them. They were holding fine, but did she want to go on a date? With actual talking involved?
Eris opened her eyes again, and the first thing she saw was Enzo smiling as he held the door open for customers leaving.
Yes, I really want to have a date.
Enzo was handsome but not in a pretty way, and there was something about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on…like he reminded her of someone from long ago, but she couldn’t picture who.
Her eternal loneliness niggled at her. What would it hurt to have a drink with him? If he was a dick, it wasn’t like she couldn’t get up and leave. Unexpected nerves fluttered in her belly. Fates, she couldn’t remember the last time she had an actual date.
Eris subtly checked her makeup in a small hand mirror and then felt ridiculous. She shut the mirror with a snap and wrote in her journal: Experiment – Date.
If nothing else, she could use it as an opportunity to test her limits. If things started to fray, then at least no one would be around to see the moment he started trying to fight with her because her chaos was leaking out of her.
Enzo cleared off the rest of the tables, and the last of the customers left. Once he waved the last one out, he locked the door and flipped the sign to CLOSED.
“Still here? You must want a date after all,” he teased and turned the music down. “I don’t suppose you will tell me your name now?”
“Eris,” she replied, closing her journal. “So how did you fail at being a shrink?”
“Straight to it,” Enzo said with a grin. He came back around the side of the bar and poured himself a glass of red wine. “If you must know, I didn’t fail so much as retire. This is the family bar, and someone needed to run it. There’s also less of a chance of me being attacked or stalked as a bartender. What about you? What do you do?”
“I’m between things at the moment. Trying to figure out what I want to do next with my life,” she said because no one had ever asked her that question before. She fumbled to find something else to tell him. “I’m used to selling and appraising antiques for people. I have friends here in Rome, so I am back for a visit.”
Enzo’s expression brightened. “I think I have seen someone with you. Short, slight, very pretty.”
“That’s Lavena. Though I should warn you, she has a very big, overprotective partner,” Eris said. The fact that Laverna and Rom were finally together was another strange and recent miracle.
“That’s fine. She’s not my type anyway,” Enzo replied and sipped his wine.
”And I am?”
Enzo shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Don’t get me wrong, you are very beautiful, but that’s not why I wanted to have a drink with you.”
“And what is the reason?” Eris asked. No man had ever been interested in her personality, that was for sure.
Enzo studied her for a moment. “You seem lonely, and I know what that’s like.”
Eris swallowed hard. She didn’t know if this had been a good idea at all, so she opened her mouth and ruined it. “Here I thought you wanted to fuck me out the back.”
“It would be a lot more satisfying for you than fucking another priest, but I wanted to get to know you first,” Enzo replied, surprising her yet again. “I was raised to be a gentleman that way.”
“I’ll have you know that priests are some of the kinkiest people alive, so it’s a bold claim that you could satisfy me better than they do,” Eris said, and her pulse leaped as he moved around to her side of the bar. She didn’t move back when he leaned into her personal space.
Enzo trailed a finger over the curve of her cheek, leaving fire on her skin. “Bold of you to assume that I can’t, bella.”
It had been a long time since Eris had felt a flutter of anticipation in her stomach. She leaned in to kiss him when a phone rang loudly. Enzo swore and took the phone from his back pocket. The screen flashed with a picture of a pretty woman. His expression shifted from annoyance to worry.
“Sorry, I have to go,” he said.
Eris blinked. “Are… Are you serious right now?”
“Unfortunately. It’s my nonna. She’s old and—”
“Your nonna. Sure.” Eris grabbed her bag and journal, an embarrassed bubble of laughter rising inside her. Of course he had another woman. She was such an idiot. She unlocked the front door of the bar and opened it.
Enzo had the balls to call out, “Raincheck?”
Eris did laugh then. “Absolutely not. Go home to your wife or whoever is really calling you.”
The door to the bar slammed behind her, and she didn’t look back. She had barely taken three steps when all the car alarms in the street started to go off, her chaos and annoyance lashing out.
With an irritated sigh, Eris went to find her own car. She turned off the alarm and sat in the driver’s seat, trying to breathe and put the shields back up. She should have known better. She didn’t attempt dates for a reason. It was just her luck that the first man she liked had a wife.
Eris swore and rested her head against the steering wheel. Loneliness was a chasm inside her, the rejection tearing fresh wounds over old scars. She should be used to it by now, but for some inexplicable reason, the whole horrible scene with Enzo hurt. It wasn’t like she had any kind of moral high ground to judge him.
“Fuck him. He’s just a bartender,” she told herself and drove out of the city as fast as she could.
Chapter Two
The following afternoon, Eris was still pissed as she drove from her small property outside of Rome and into the city. She had many such properties around the world, all tucked out of the way and isolated so that her out-of-control chaos couldn’t do any damage.
She didn’t know why the failed date from the previous evening was bothering her so much. He wasn’t special, just another hot bartender in a city full of them.
The most annoying thing was that she was now going to have to find a new bar to drink at. Maybe it was bothering her so much because she’d felt an echo of a connection for the first time in centuries. He hadn’t asked her on a date only because she was beautiful, or so he’d claimed, and Eris couldn’t wrap her head around that. Her beauty was the only thing men were interested in.
The day she had met Zeus, the upstart new god boy that had usurped his father, he had taken one look at her and said, “What a waste of beauty you are, daughter of Nyx.”
Eris hadn’t thought much of Zeus and thought even less of him after the encounter. It was one of the reasons why she had thrown the apple to him at Peleus’s fateful wedding. She had been aiming for his head. She had been annoyed by the snub and wanted to get back at Zeus for purposely making sure everyone was there but her. She had no idea the trouble that damn apple would cause her in the future.
It was a reminder to her to never lose her temper. She always had it locked down tight—tighter than her heart and her power. It was why she found the whole incident with Enzo so confusing.
Maybe it had been his grandmother, and she was hurt or ill, and he was her caretaker? He had wanted another date, after all. Eris had reacted too strongly, and while she didn’t feel regret as a rule, she felt something suspiciously like it. She had liked him too much, so it was best she kept away for both of their sakes. Nothing good could come of it. It wasn’t as if she was relationship material. She was a primordial creature born of darkness. She didn’t date. She conquered and then moved on.
“Stop obsessing,” she growled under her breath as if her brain had ever listened.
Eris was determined to continue her experiments and not let the incident the previous night bother her anymore. She had the perfect place to visit, one that would recharge her energy so she could try and stretch out the time it took to hold her shields up.
The Pantheon was a mess of lines, families, tourists, and opportunistic street vendors. Built to be a temple for all the gods, it was a wonder that drew people from all over the world. It was always chaotic, and it suited Eris’s purposes perfectly. If she could find a decent bar in the area, it would provide her with a new place to linger. She would never have to show her face at Silviano’s again.
Stop thinking about him, her vicious side snapped again. Eris would never admit just how much the stupid mortal had gotten under her skin. And this is why you should stay away from men.
It was a warm afternoon, so Eris stood in line for gelato and smiled at a baby. It started screaming, and she sighed in happiness as the frazzled parents’ chaotic energy hit her like a shot of adrenaline—just what she needed. She ordered a cup of pear gelato and was enjoying the first sugary spoonful when her phone buzzed in the pocket of her palazzo pants. Moving out of the way of the long lines in the square, Eris pulled out her phone.
Ever since everyone had gotten together to celebrate the birth of Hades’s twins, the gods had been keeping closer tabs on each other. One change was that people had her phone number now and were going out of their way to include her in updates and messages.
Eris smiled at the Girls Only group chat that Ariadne had recently made and opened it to see what the gossip was. Selene had sent through a photo that had Eris choking on her gelato. Hermes was holding a crying Zagreus, and the entire front of his shirt and a good deal of his face was covered with what appeared to be vomit. Dionysus was bent double with laughter behind him. Selene had sent it with the caption: To use against him the next time he gets lippy.
Eris chuckled and replied, Surely not the first time he’s been covered in vomit while hanging about with Dionysus.
Both gods had been spending a lot of time with the twins, and Eris was starting to think that Hades and Persephone were stuck with four children instead of two. She had mentioned that to Persephone, who was just happy to have the extra hands to help when they visited.
Hermes and Hecate were constantly checking the children for any signs of their magic, and when it finally manifested, they were going to be the best ones to handle it. Eris could only imagine what their abilities would be with Hades and Persephone as their parents.
Eris finished her gelato and checked her shields. They were still holding in place, and she shut her eyes and heaved a deep sigh of relief. Everything was back to normal…
A cold tickle danced up her spine, and the hair on the back of her neck rose. Eris’s eyes snapped open. She knew that feeling of dread.
No, no, no, they can’t be here.
Eris spotted three figures sitting on the steps of the fountain. To anyone else watching, they would see nothing but a grandmother, a mother, and a child having a day together. Eris’s heart stammered in her chest. The Fates were staring right back at her.
Clotho, the youngest, danced about in excitement and waved at her.
Did they know Eris was trying to control their curse? Were they there to stop her or make it worse?
Lachesis crooked her finger at her. Eris’s palms turned sweaty, and she began to walk toward them, her feet obeying even though she was screaming inside.
No one said no to the Fates, not even the gods. They swore on them and feared them like the humans did to the gods themselves. The Fates were primal, and Eris was so fucked for getting their attention yet again.
Eris stopped in front of them and bowed, not caring that the humans around them were staring. Don’t get angry. Don’t get angry.
“How can I be of service?” she asked politely.
“Child of Night, it has been an age,” Atropos, the eldest, replied and held out a bony hand.
Eris pressed the back of it to her forehead.
“Have you come to punish me again?” Eris blurted out. She never could handle suspense.
Clotho grabbed her hand and swung it in excitement. “No, silly! We have come to help you break your curse!”
Eris froze. “You…You have? Why? Why now?”
“Because the time is my time. It is now,” Lachesis said with a shrug. She lit a cigarette and stared up at Eris. “If you want the curse to be lifted, you must undo that which you broke.”
“I don’t understand. I can’t bring back Troy,” Eris replied, her hand still being yanked on by Clotho.
Lachesis swayed in a light rocking motion. “The man is ready, for his destiny is tied to yours as his bloodline always has been.”
“You’re speaking in fucking riddles. Just tell me what I need to do,” Eris demanded and then bit her tongue. “Please. Speak plain. What man?”
“The child of Aeneas!” Clotho shouted, her mad hopping continuing. “He must help you take the palladium back to Troy!”
Atropos clicked her tongue, and Clotho settled. “The child speaks true. You must find the palladium and return it, following Aeneas’s path with his blood, stopping where he stopped. Only then will you be free of your torments.”
“Find the palladium and a child of Aeneas before returning them to Troy?” Eris asked. Her freedom was hanging in front of her, and she felt like a starving dog staring at a steak.
“Yes. It is not only your curse that you will be lifting, child, so do not waste any time,” Lachesis said.
“Okay, so how can I find this man? Is he in the city? Where is he?” Eris asked. There were millions of men in Rome.
Clotho giggled and covered her mouth. “Oh! Oh! Can I please show her, Atropos?”
The old woman nodded. Eris didn’t like the identical smiles they were suddenly all wearing.
Clotho let go of Eris’s hand and pulled out a looped string from the pocket of her dress. With fierce concentration, the child-like creature started threading the string over her fingers like a highly complex cat’s cradle. “Ta-da!” she said at last and held up a small tapestry. “And the best thing is you have already met!”
Eris looked at the face, and her heart stopped. The unmistakable image of Enzo stared back at her. “This… This has to be a mistake.”
The thread in her fingers unraveled, and when she looked up, the Fates were already gone.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” Eris stared up at the heavens in despair.
Enzo wasn’t just a bartender, after all.
***
Whoo! The FATES! You know I couldn’t leave them out for long. I hope you enjoyed these sample chapters. The full book will be out on November 19, the same day as the ‘Laverna’ audio book!
That’s all from me this week, take care of yourselves!
Alessa x
alessathornauthor.com 