Forbidden Love

Chapter 17

Layla stood against one of the pillars of Jupiter’s ballroom and watched as Vulcan spun Venus around the dance floor. The longer she watched them, the heavier her heart became. She couldn’t believe he had gone through with it. Layla had been sure Vulcan would walk out on Venus; It took everything in Layla not to stand and object to the marriage herself. Try as she might, Layla couldn’t help but love Vulcan. Layla had been the one to love him when no one else would. She had hoped that Vulcan would come to find that he loved her one day. But now, not only did Layla have to watch him marry someone he didn’t love, she watched from afar as he fell in love with someone else. Layla felt her best friend was slipping away and had no idea what to do about it. Just when Layla thought she couldn’t take it anymore, she heard someone calling her name.

“Layla, Layla, hello??”

Finally, Layla looked away from Vulcan and turned toward the voice she heard. There was Cupid, standing in front of her with a boyish smile on his face.

“Sorry, hi Cupid,” she answered, giving him a smile she didn’t feel.

“Hi,” repeated Cupid giving her another grin. Layla looked behind Cupid and watched as other couples filed onto the dance floor to join Vulcan and Venus. Cupid followed her gaze before he tried again.

“Dance with me,” said Cupid quizzically. It was a statement, not a question.

“Huh?” Grumbled Layla. She felt awful. She was so focused on Vulcan’s pretend merriment that she wasn’t paying attention to Cupid at all.

“Dance. With. Me. Cupid said, annunciating each word as he held out a hand to her.

Layla glanced down at Cupid’s hand and took it without hesitation. Cupid smiled at the feeling of her hand in his and pulled her onto the floor silently. The music playing in the background was a quickstep of sorts, and before she knew it, Layla and Cupid were spinning circles around Venus and Vulcan. Vulcan caught her eye and laughed when he saw the smile on her face. Layla looked from him to Venus, who was glowering at them. She was undoubtedly upset that the attention had turned from her to Layla and Cupid. Breaking her gaze with Venus, Layla looked up to see Cupid smiling down at her. He was so tall that if she were to hug him, she’d have to reach up on her tiptoes to do it. As they danced, Layla continued to look up into Cupid’s eyes. The way he looked at her…it’s how she’d always hoped Vulcan would look at her.

Layla let Cupid dance her late into the night, only stopping to get the occasional drink or a slice of wedding cake. When the night was over, she was so tired from all the dancing they’d done that Cupid scooped her up in his arms and teleported her home. Layla lived in a large willow tree by the base of Mount Etna. Next to Vulcan’s forge. It was where she’d taken Vulcan when Juno had tossed him away. Cupid let out a low whistle in appreciation of the house she had built inside the tree. The moss-covered walls with vines woven all around. The vines were home to beautiful purple violets. The scent of them was intoxicating. He carried Layla over to her four-poster bed with a blanket made of tiger lilies. He pulled down the blanket, gently laid her on the bed, and softly kissed her forehead. When he pulled away, he saw that her eyes were closed. Cupid was about to leave when he felt her hand grasp his. Turning back to face her, he saw Layla’s eyes flutter open.

“Cupid?”

“Yes, love?” He responded.

“I’m sorry,” whispered Layla. She watched as Cupid’s expression changed into a puzzled one.

“For what, Layla?”

“Hurting you. I know you know I love Vulcan. I also know that you love me, and now that I have to watch Vulcan pretend to love someone and be in love with another who isn’t me all at once, I realize how much it must hurt you to see me with Vulcan knowing. I have feelings for him.” He gave her a grim look at her response.

“Watching you hurt over someone you can’t have is far more painful than hurting because you don’t love me, Layla. I hate to see you hurting. I only want to see you smile. Get some rest, love.” Not wanting to talk about it anymore, Cupid teleported himself out of Layla’s treehouse to his temple before she could say another word to him.

“You could make her love you, you know,” said Venus, sitting on his favorite chair, seemingly waiting for him. It looked like she had been there for a while to his eye. Cupid screwed up his face at her.

“Why are you here, Venus? When I left, you were still dancing the night away with your new husband” she rolled her eyes at him.

“I want you to make her love you, Cupid. I don’t want her in Vulcan’s life,” she said, giving him a pouty look when she said it. Cupid shook his head at Venus.

“I’m not going to make her love me, Venus. If Layla ever falls in love with me, I want it to be because SHE fell in love with me, not because I struck her with an arrow. Layla is no threat to you, Venus. Vulcan doesn’t love her. Vulcan is a fool when it comes to Layla, truth be known. He has no idea how she feels about him. You’ve nothing to worry about.”

“Okay, fine, but what about you?” Cupid looked at her, confused.

“What about me? When have you ever given a damn about me, Venus?” Venus folded her arms across her chest before she spoke.

“I’m your mother, Cupid. I’ve always cared about you. I love you. You’re the only one I’ve ever really loved. You have to know that.” Despite himself, Cupid’s face softened at her words. Venus rarely claimed him as her own, let alone told him she loved him.

“I hate to admit it, and I swear I’ll deny it if you say anything, but I love you too, Madre, even though you’ve royally screwed my best friend into the ground,” said Cupid with a shake of his head. “Could you do me a favor, Madre? Cupid continued without pausing for Venus to answer. Be kind to him. He didn’t ask for this. You’re the one forever in Jupiter’s bed when you know you shouldn’t be. Vulcan is an innocent bystander who’s only being thrown at you because Jupiter was sure being linked to him would make you miserable. Try and remember it’s not Vulcan who wants you miserable it’s Jupiter. Jupiter doesn’t love you, Madre. If he did, he could never condemn you to a marriage he knew you didn’t want, even if he gets his rocks off by punishing Vulcan for no reason.”

Venus stood staring at Cupid as she took in everything he had to say. Cupid was right. If Jupiter loved her as she wanted him to, he could never put her through this, no matter what Juno said. Poor Vulcan had done nothing. He was summoned to Jupiter’s temple out of the blue and presented with this forced marriage. His response? Making himself more appealing. Yes, he’d done so mainly to piss off Jupiter, but he’d managed to gain the attention of many a goddess since Layla had transformed him into someone to be desired. Herself included, Vulcan had loved her once; maybe he could learn to love her again. Perhaps they could learn to love each other.

“I’ll try Cupid. I promise I’ll try.”

Cupid responded with. a curt nod and headed for his bedroom, leaving Venus alone with her thoughts.

******

Vulcan looked on confused as Venus walked away from him and out the doors of the great hall in Jupiter’s temple. With a shrug of his shoulders, he helped himself to another goblet of honeysuckle wine. Throwing it back, he stared out at the dance floor, watching his parents waltz across the floor. Vulcan would never understand what Juno saw in Jupiter, but there she was, staring up at him with stars in her eyes. Jupiter appeared to be looking down at Juno with love in his eyes, to his surprise. “Finally.” Vulcan thought to himself. As Vulcan gazed around the room, he noticed several Gods staring at them. Neptune and Pluto included. Both of his uncles had been pining for his mother the whole of his life. Jupiter was too stupid to notice. When his gaze returned to the dance floor, Juno caught his eye and winked at him. Vulcan raised his goblet to her with a smile before taking another sip. When the music stopped, Juno wandered over to him.

“Where’s your wife?” Juno asked, practically spitting the words.

Vulcan shook his head with a laugh. “why Madre, are you trying to tell me you don’t like my wife?” He asked in a joking tone. Juno smiled snd returned his laugh at Vulcan’s response.

“I don’t know,” Vulcan continued. “She said she had something to take care of and left. Juno glanced about the room, wondering if anyone else was missing along with Venus. Besides Cupid and Layla, whom she’d seen leave earlier, everyone appeared to be here.

“Don’t look so concerned, Madre. Everyone else is here. Venus isn’t up to her old tricks. Not tonight anyway.” Juno nodded snd watched as Vulcan got a sudden far away look in his eye.

“Agapimou, I need you,” Vulcan heard Peitho call to him in his mind.

“Peitho,” Vulcan breathed.

“What did you say, Caro Mio?” Juno asked.

“Vulcan shook his head, clearing his mind. “Nothing, Madre, please excuse me for a minute,” he said as he rushed passed her toward the door.