Love in Color: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold(15)

The gentle night breeze had provided the only movement that night for a few moments as Psy stared at him, before the sharpness in her eyes melted into something softer.

‘Is that the only reason you’re glad we never hooked up?’ she had asked, lowering a plastic cup full of warm rosé from her lips, black and pink, molasses and berry. The atmosphere between them tightened and drew Eros’s soul back into his body, just so it could be close to her.

Eros had responded, ‘That’s the only reason.’

Psy had simply nodded, put her plastic cup down and said, ‘I’m never gonna get tired of you, E. So there. Now you have no reason not to kiss me.’

Eros had skipped to work the next morning and found that the dirty pigeons were cooing a Stevie Wonder song. The inner-city air smelt like an orchard instead of a construction site Portaloo with base notes of deli meat. Life was, by all accounts, good. The night before, he and Psy had kissed. It had been languid but fervent, tipsy but not drunken; it made him feel tethered, but it also gave him wings. He soared with the knowledge that Psy wanted him back. Usually, when his attention was drawn to someone, he found that he already had theirs, that the ‘yes’ had already been released before the question was posed.

With Psy, however, it was different. She was different.

The kiss was still looping through his mind as he entered Venus’s office, having been summoned for a meeting. Psy wasn’t in yet, he knew that; she’d sent a text earlier informing him that Venus had sent her on an intricate errand across the city that would take half a day. He couldn’t wait to see her, to cement the new iteration of their relationship and, maybe, if she wanted to, sneak into an accessories closet and talk about it, and – if she wanted – make out about it.

‘What’s up, sis?’ Eros plopped into the seat opposite her desk happily, and Venus rolled her sharply lined eyes.

‘Sis? What are we, in a cable kid’s network sitcom? I really think that you formed some kind of brain problem the day that I accidently dropped you down the stairs as a kid, which has made you, like, idiotically chirpy all the time.’ Venus’s voice was flat, cool and unemotive.

Eros smiled. ‘Why, thank you for telling me that my being a non-monstrous human being is a result of possible sibling abuse. What did you want to see me about?’

‘I need you to take down that throwback picture you posted of us on Instagram from when we were teenagers – the one with my original nose.’ Venus’s naturally thick curls were flattened into a seamless curtain that slinked around her angular, flawless face like a waterfall, and she flicked it off her shoulder.

Eros reclined, grinning wider. ‘I think it’s adorable. It humanises you.’

Venus stared at her brother incredulously. ‘Exactly.’

Eros laughed and shook his head. ‘Fine. Anything else or can I go now?’

Venus looked down at her computer. ‘Yes. You need to stop doing whatever you’re doing with my assistant or I’ll fire her.’

Eros straightened up, his smile melting from his face. ‘Excuse me?’

Venus’s eyes calmly lifted from her screen. ‘I have eyes everywhere. I need her focused. Plus, if she has a relationship with you, she’s going to feel like she has some kind of affinity with me. People are already mentioning her name to me in my circles—’

‘Isn’t that a good thing? You should be proud—’

‘Of what? An upstart who hasn’t paid her dues being seen as of the same stature as me because of a little blog? Our name is power, Eros. I can’t have her further connected to my legacy and, unfortunately, you’re tied to that. So let her go or I’ll fire her.’

Eros’s jaw tightened. ‘Come on, Venus. This is messed up. Even for you. You can’t do this—’

Venus’s gaze flashed sharply in amusement. ‘Or what? You’ll quit? We both know you’re not going to do that. This job is too convenient for you, and you get paid way more than you’re worth, thanks to me. And if you quit, I’ll fire her.’

‘No you won’t.’

Venus didn’t blink. ‘Try me.’

Eros had never truly despised his sister until that moment. He had honestly loved her, but now he definitely hated her. She was obsessed with power for power’s sake. This job meant everything to Psy and Venus used it to punish her, to keep her captive. She knew she would never have another assistant more dedicated. The fact that Psy and Eros cared about each other was just another chain to Venus.

Eros nodded. ‘I’ll end it. But just know that I’ll never forgive you for this, Venus.’

Venus smiled for the first time during their entire interaction. It was dazzling, alarmingly beautiful, and if you didn’t know any better, charming. ‘I don’t need your forgiveness, Eros. Oh, don’t look so sad: it’s messing with my office aura. Look, I’ve sorted out a month-long assignment for you. It starts today. I’ve had a flight booked for you. You’ll enjoy it and you’ll be away long enough for whatever you think you feel for her to die. This way you won’t actually have to reject her. See? I have a heart. Love you, bro.’

And so, Eros let Psy go.



Psy couldn’t breathe. She shouldn’t have said what she’d just said. It was just him talking about how it was nuts that she hadn’t found anybody, as if she hadn’t found him six months before. It had roiled up emotions she thought she’d buried. The hurt and anger spilt out of her and over their friendship, much like, say, a non-fat soy latté on a high-end high-street top she’d got on sale. Psy knew she shouldn’t have resented Eros for not wanting her the way she wanted him: she wasn’t his type and she knew that. He liked women who had fewer sharp edges, who were bubbly and preferred matcha-and-flax-seed smoothies to doughnuts, and that was entirely his prerogative. Eros was fun and sweet and Psy was focused and acerbic. Knowing this didn’t stop her from going over that night in her head, wondering what she’d misread. She could have sworn she noticed something in the way he looked at her, tasted something in the way he’d kissed her, his arms immediately drawing her close to his body. It was as if he was as hungry as she was, as if he’d been waiting as long as she had.