Page 114 of Ungodly Rich

As if he sensed the direction of her thoughts, Hephaestus reached for her hand. Aphrodite felt a new charge in the air between them.

Then a door slammed at the back of the ballroom. Everyone shifted in their seats to see Ares storming down the aisle.

Aphrodite gripped her husband’s fingers tighter, shoving aside the guilt she felt about last night. She’d gone nuclear, but it had worked, hadn’t it? Julia was skipping out on her own wedding.

Ares gestured to Julia’s mortal friend, who stood and hurried toward him. They spoke in low tones, both frowning in concern. Hera joined them a moment later.

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Ares called out, and the whispers that had raked through the ballroom died down. “Julia is missing.”

His words were met with a low rumble of shock. Aphrodite tried to seem as surprised as everyone else. She looked up to see Hera’s gaze fixed curiously on her.

Aphrodite nodded once, knowing Hera would understand.Yes,she was saying,I did this.

Hera’s eyes flashed with unmistakable approval. She hadn’t looked at Aphrodite that way in a very long time. Maybe ever.

Worry creased Ares’s features. “We only noticed Julia’s absence just now, when Nicole went to see what was taking her so long. I thoughtshe was getting ready with Abby here”—he glared accusatorily at the mortal woman, who held his gaze—“but Abby says that last night, Julia told her she wanted to spend the morning with my mother.”

“I thought you’d hired a stylist to do her hair or something,” Abby explained, turning to Hera.

The queen of the gods threw up her hands. “In a storm? Where would we get a stylist?”

Abby, wisely, didn’t answer.

Ares glanced once more at Julia’s friend, then turned back to the gathered guests. “If anyone wants to help, we’ll be splitting into groups to search the hotel and the grounds. Julia has to be somewhere on this island, because there’s no way she could have left in the current weather conditions.”

They all immediately glanced toward the east side of the ballroom, where great windows would normally have looked out over the lawn that sloped to the ocean. The windows were currently covered in accordion-style hurricane shutters, though a thin strip of watery light was still visible around the border.

The room dissolved into a buzz of conversation as guests either drifted back to their rooms or volunteered to help with the search party. Watching Ares, Aphrodite could see what he must be like in battle. He had shifted into an unemotional crisis mode, efficiently sorting the gods into groups and assigning them segments of the island, directing Nicole and the hotel staff to distribute emergency backpacks equipped with first aid kits. As if immortals needed Band-Aids.

Eventually the ballroom had emptied except for immediate family—Aphrodite and Hephaestus, Zeus, Hera, Athena, and Ares. And Hermes. Aphrodite shot him a look as if to say,Can’t you go be useful somewhere else?,but Hermes ignored her. He was probably worried about Julia, Aphrodite thought bitterly, his new mortal pet.

“I’m so sorry, Ares.” Hephaestus walked over to Ares and put a hand on his shoulder. “Where do you want me to go? I’m happy to join the group heading in the direction of the ferry, or Poseidon might—”

Ares stepped back, breaking the moment of connection betweenthe two brothers. “Just stay with Aphrodite,” he snapped. “Athena, you too.”

Athena glanced at Aphrodite with thinly veiled disinterest. “I think I’d be more useful helping you look for Julia. Water magic is notoriously unreliable, but it’s better than nothing. We could try scrying for her location,” she explained. “Do you have a lock of Julia’s hair?”

Ares ignored the suggestion. “Just stay with Aphrodite. I don’t want her anywhere nearby when we find Julia.” Finally, Ares turned to look Aphrodite in the eyes. “I know you confronted Julia yesterday. What did you say, to make her want to run away?”

Only the truth.Magic and tricks were all very well, but Aphrodite knew that sometimes the truth cut the deepest. She’d said just enough to shake Julia’s confidence, and then last night she’d delivered the killing blow.

“Really, Ares.” Aphrodite stood calmly, knowing that the more rational she sounded, the more enraged Ares would feel. “I’m sorry that your fiancée disappeared,again,but you can hardly blame me. This Runaway Bride move is becoming a trademark of hers.”

They were gathered before the first row of folding chairs, near the space at the front of the ballroom where Ares and Julia should have said their wedding vows. A few flowers were scattered underfoot. Aphrodite watched Ares step forward, crushing one.

Hephaestus looked questioningly at Aphrodite, but she kept her gaze on Ares, determined to prove her point.

“Julia has been running from you since the beginning,” she insisted. “The moment things got serious in Greece, she fled, and now she’s doing the same thing again! Clearly she never planned to stay.”

Ares’s face turned a mottled shade of red. “Whatexactlydid you tell her yesterday?”

“Ares, please.” Hera reached a placating hand toward her son. “It may have been wrong of Aphrodite to say anything to Julia, but you can hardly blame her for the woman’s disappearance.”

There was a moment of startled silence as everyone registered that Hera had defended Aphrodite.

This was the start of a new era, Aphrodite thought in relief. Shewas no longer the wicked daughter-in-law who had nearly fractured the family; she had stepped forward andprotectedthe family from an interloper, when no one else could.

Ares’s eyes narrowed. “You did something else, something more than just bullying her,” he said slowly. “Did you use magic? Reach into her mind and make herwantto leave? Because that’s crossing a line. Julia is my fiancée and under my protection.”