Maybe Eros was right. His daughter wasn’t immune to love. She was afraid of it.
The question was . . . why?
Chapter XVI
Demi
Istood,waitinginwhat could only be considered my own personal hell—otherwise known as the dressing room, a.k.a. one of the lodge suites—suffocating in a full-length black gown that looked like it had been designed by a committee of vengeful fairies. Marcie and her evil glam squad had shoved me into it like I was a sacrificial offering to the gods of tulle. I looked like a goth queen who’d lost a bet with Barbie.
Marcie claimed it suited my “contradicting personality”—dark with light begging to shine through. Tough on the outside, ooey gooey on the inside. It disturbed me how right she was. Or at least I hoped she was. There was still light in me, right?
More disturbing?
I was about to meet all the women cast members, and we were going to do a photo shoot together. Judging by the equipment I’d seen wheeled through the lobby when Jazzy ushered me in—fog machines, wind fans, and enough lighting to summon Apollo—it was going to be a nightmarish montage of fake smoke and cheesy music.
Most disturbing of all? Roman wanted to be friends. It felt like I was being punked. The man I’d once thought was mysoulmate—the one I’d locked my heart because of, the one I’d mentally filed under “nemesis”—now wanted to be my buddy.
And the worst part?
Apparently, that’s what the quest required. No mishaps on the trail today. No divine sabotage. It was like I’d satisfied some unwritten rule by agreeing to friendship. As if being on a reality show wasn’t torture enough—I also had to emotionally entangle myself with the man who’d shattered my young heart.
Not that it was his fault. It was false advertising on my goddess’s part. Mix in unmet expectations and my already-fragile state, and boom—disaster.
Then there was Junie. Her dreams and predictions. And the strange connection I felt to her.
I didn’t know what any of it meant.
And honestly? I was afraid to find out. Especially because, come August . . . it might all be for nothing.
Cassie was trying to dig up any intel she could on the male cast members. I just hoped a couple of them were demigods and at least one of them was my true love. Could you have more than one true love? You would think, as a goddess of love, I would know the answer.
Not that my true lovehadto be a demigod . . . but it would make life a lot easier if the guy I was meant to fall for could actually know everything about me.
No secrets. No divine red tape.
Would my father and Zeus even allow him access to our world? That was assuming that one of these men was destined to unlock my heart.
Of course, whoever he was, he’d have to sign a divine NDA—with a clause that sentenced him to Tartarus for eternity if he ever spilled the godly beans.
How was that going to go over?
“Here, honey, could you sign this in your blood? And don’t worry about the part where you’ll be banished to the deepest, darkest abyss with monsters and the worst of the worst sinners if you ever tell anyone about my world.”
Romantic, right?
Weird to think my mom—and Roman’s mom—had signed that same NDA.
Speaking of Roman’s mom . . . I really liked her. Which wasn’t helping matters. Why did I feel so drawn to these people? Even Roman?
I still couldn’t believe I’d confessed my torrid soap opera obsession to him. Like,why? Probably because I could tell how attracted he was to me.
And that?
Definitely wasn’t helping matters.
Jazzy barged into the dressing room.
“Oh. My. Gosh! Look at you. The audience is going to eat you up.”
