Goddess of Light (Goddess Summoning #3)(33)

"That seems easy to determine," Hades said. "Simply make love to her. If she casts you from her sight afterwards, it is the spell that attracted her. If not, it is you."

Apollo frowned at him, not sure why he was so unwilling to test Pamela's affection. Wasn't it really just that simple? Why did the thought of it cause his stomach to roil?

"It's scary, isn't it?" Lina's soft voice interrupted the god's inner turmoil. "It's something we mortals know all too well - the fear of rejection. But in order to know true love, you must be willing to open yourself to the possibility of true hurt. I wish I had an easy answer for you, but I don't."

"So it's always this hard."

Lina smiled kindly at the golden god's pained expression. Sitting beside her, Hades slid his hand within hers, and for a moment they shared a secret look.

"It's only this hard when you really care," she said.

Apollo's face paled. "I might fall in love with her?" He spoke the words as if he had just given name to a new plague.

Lina nodded, careful to keep a clamp on the laughter that threatened to bubble over. Poor Apollo. He was just so adorably miserable. "I'm afraid you might."

"Cheer up!" Hades said. "Loving a mortal is not such a terrible thing."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you say so," Lina said sarcastically.

Hades just chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"She doesn't know who I am!" Apollo blurted. "She thinks I'm a mortal man, a doctor and a musician. Perhaps it is not the spell. Perhaps she could fall in love with me, too. But won't that change when she finds out that I have been masquerading as someone I am not?"

"Do not allow her to turn from you." Hades' voice had gone flat and deadly serious. His hand tightened on Lina's as he remembered how he had almost lost her because of his own pride.

"Apollo, you have to be sure that you are showing her the real you," Lina said, choosing her words carefully. "That's the trickiest part about love. You have to bare yourself for it to work. And if you really bare yourself, all of a sudden you'll realize that you aren't a god or a doctor or a musician; you're just a man in love. If she loves you in return, she'll see that."

"If not?" Apollo asked.

Lina answered truthfully. "If not, you get hurt."

"It is worth the cost," Hades said, looking into his lover's eyes. "The chance to know true love is worth any cost." In response Lina touched his face with a gentle caress.

Apollo watched Lina and Hades. At times they seemed to speak to one another in a secret language of their own.

They fit together as if they had been fashioned for each other. By all the gods, Hades had changed since Lina had come into his life! It was as if loving her had opened a new world to him. Where once the dark god had been brooding and withdrawn, now he seemed at peace, even affable. Lina had made Hades complete.

Apollo wanted that same completion.

"I will do it!" he proclaimed. "I will make love to her. If it is only a spell that draws her to me, I must know it."

Lina thought Apollo looked like a man who was getting ready to run a gauntlet. Then his face changed once again, and he rubbed a hand across his brow as if he wished he could wipe away his worries.

"But if it is not a spell, how do I keep her affection?" He blinked at Lina. "What is it that modern women desire?"

"That's no mystery, Apollo." Lina smiled. "We want the same thing you want, the same thing Hades wants. We want someone who will love who we really are - no masquerades - no pretenses - no games." She stood up and approached the golden god, laying her hand on his arm. "Can you do that, my friend? It's not like chasing after nymphs and goddesses. It's much less glamorous."

Apollo thought about how the world had disappeared as Pamela relaxed into his arms and how the growing trust in her eyes made him feel more godlike than all the glories of Olympus. And then he thought about the stab of terror he had felt as he watched her body crumple forward and into the path of the metal machines. If he hadn't used his powers, she would have been crushed... killed...

He rubbed his hand across his brow again.

"I've grown weary of glamour. I believe that I choose love," he said wearily.

"Good choice, honey." On tiptoes, Lina gave him a quick, sisterly kiss. "Uh, you might want to consider telling her who you really are as soon as possible." She slanted a sideways glance at Hades. "Take it from me, it's best to get the truth out and over with."

"Yes, yes, I shall." Distracted, Apollo didn't seem to hear her. "Thank you, my friends." He patted Lina's hand and then stepped away from her, preparing to transport back to his Olympian palace. "Perhaps I should bring her a gift..." His words floated through the chamber as his body wavered and then disappeared.

"I think the heart of the God of Light will be gift enough," Lina said, sighing heavily.

Hades shrugged one shoulder. "Jewelry never hurts."

Pamela woke up in small degrees. She stretched and then hugged her pillow, sleepily thinking that something wonderful was going to happen today, but in the place between awake and asleep, she couldn't quite remember what it was. She felt wonderful. Her body was well-rested, yet she was filled with a tight hum of anticipation. A finger of daylight broke through the thickly brocaded drapes that were pulled just short of completely closed. The light tickled her closed eyelids. It brought to mind golden rays of sun... heat... eyes the color of brilliant aquamarines...