Lame, with harsh features, brooding eyes, a wiry beard crackling with flame, and ropy muscles, the god mortals call Hephaestus is nobody's idea of perfection. Indeed, far from it. A lingering odor of burnt solder clings to him, adding to his manly stench of sweat and musk. His bed is narrow and lonely, his sheets filled with soot and regret.<br><br>Blacksmith to Olympus, he hides from his kin on an island in the Mediterranean, commissioned to forge a hero's sword from unbreakable metal. But a brief tryst with a minor water god distracts him. Aean is everything Hephaestus is not -- young, beautiful, sexy. He stirs in Hephaestus a savage lust the smith has never felt before.<br><br>Now Hephaestus wants Aean for his own, and he won't rest until the water god is his.

To Love a God

Apparently she decides Aean is beneath her


notice. Raising her voice, she calls out shrilly, “Hephaestus,


The other gods sent her to check up on him, of course. She wouldn’t


Remembering Aean, Aphrodite addresses him


rudely, her voice chipped in ice. “Youfetch him for me.


I’ll not enter that dingy cave. Tell my husband I would speak with


There’s a watery splash Hephaestus feels in


the pit of his stomach. He imagines Aean’s flipper-like feet


slapping the still surface of the pond, rippling the water, and


suddenly realizes how unkempt he’s allowed himself to become. The


water sounds heavenly—if sheweren’t out there, little would


stop Hephaestus from shirking his forge again for a quick swim.


silently, wiping the smile from his lips with the back of his hand.


No, not until his plan is in place. When he sees Aean again, he


Chapter 8