‘It worked,’ said Styx conversationally, as Skye forced herself to sit up. All she could feel was overwhelming misery and agonising pain.

‘What?’ she asked dully.

‘It worked,’ he repeated.

Skye glanced back to the gates where Cerberus was lying down again. ‘No, it didn’t.’She could feel tears pricking her eyes. ‘I failed.’

Styx ignored her. ‘Lethe and I are back on speaking terms. The squashed cakes were perfect. Can you make me some more?Maybe with little hearts on them this time?’

‘I was supposed to find Persephone,’ she whispered. ‘I was supposed to be with Coop.’

‘Huh?’

‘Don’t you see?I’ll never get past that dog now! That was my one shot and I screwed it up.’

‘Oh. Sorry.’

‘Whatever.’

She clambered painfully to her feet, her head still ringing. Any minute now she’d start seeing little birds tweeting round her. She’d been so sure she could do it. Even with Charon’s warnings and the enormity of the tasks, she had still believed she would succeed. And now it was all over. She wondered whether she’d see Coop, just one last time, so she could say goodbye. Considering the terms of the agreement, it was unlikely.

Skye pulled out her phone and studied it. The least she could do would be to call him. If she was lucky he’d be allowed to answer and she could tell him herself that she’d failed. That she would love him until the day she died and that she was so very, very sorry.

‘The signal here is very good,’ Styx commented helpfully. ‘You wouldn’t think it would be, but it is. Charon’s always playing silly games on his phone or checking his email.’

Skye took a brief moment to wonder who on earth would be emailing the Underworld’s boatman. It was probably just spam, she thought uncharitably.

Her heartbeat stilled. She stared down at her phone as it displayed Coop’s number. ‘Email,’ she whispered.

‘Pardon?’

‘Email. Persephone. Email.’She jumped up and down and then winced at the pain.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘What’s Persephone’s bloody email address?’ she yelled.

‘I’m a river god,’ said Styx, ‘why would I use email?’

‘Pomegranate@olympus.com.’

Skye’s head jerked up. It was Charon. He stared at her for a moment then shrugged. ‘You did better with the dog than I thought you would.’He smiled faintly. ‘Not bad for a human girl.’

‘Thanks,’ she breathed.

‘Persephone doesn’t know who you are,’ Styx pointed out. ‘She’s not likely to help a stranger for no reason.’

Skye grinned. ‘Maybe I’m not a stranger.’

‘So let me get this straight,’ said Hermes, ‘you’ve sent a spam email to Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld, pretending to be Aphrodite.’

‘Yup.’

‘You told her there was a themed party coming up and that she needed to borrow some of Persephone’s beauty.’

‘Yup.’

‘And Persephone believed this?She’s sent it to Olympus?’

‘Yup. In a pretty little box,’ crowed Skye. She held up her phone so he could see Persephone’s email response.

Hermes shook his head. ‘Unbelievable.’

Skye grinned. ‘I know.’

‘So that means…’

‘That Skye Sawyer has passed every task with flying colours,’ boomed Zeus, appearing out of the gates of Olympus. His eyes twinkled at her. ‘Congratulations.’

Skye suddenly felt shy. ‘Thanks,’ she mumbled. ‘Where’s Coop?’

‘I’m here.’He stepped out from behind Zeus and moved towards her, cradling her cheek. ‘You’re hurt,’ he said softly. ‘I shouldn’t have let that happen.’He rested his forehead against hers.

‘I’ll heal,’ she said, losing herself in the depths of his eyes.

His arms curved round her waist. ‘I’ll never let you out of my sight again.’

Skye laughed. ‘That’s hardly fair!For most of the time I’ve known you, you’ve never been in my sight.’

Coop smiled down and brushed his lips against hers. ‘I’m so proud of you. I’m going to spend the next millennia making sure that you’re just as proud of me.’

Skye pulled back. ‘I’m already proud of you. But…’

‘Congratulations, Ms Sawyer,’ interrupted Aphrodite. ‘You succeeded. Your tenacity is admirable.’Her gaze flicked to Coop and softened. ‘As is your influence on my son.’

‘I love him,’ she said simply.

‘I see that now. I should not have put you through what I did. Perhaps Coop is not the only one who has learnt a lesson through knowing you.’

Skye blushed.

Aphrodite looked at Zeus. ‘It’s time.’

He nodded.

‘Turn around, Skye,’ said Coop in her ear, his fingers tightly holding on to hers as if he was worried she would suddenly escape.

Skye looked over her shoulder, then gaped at who was there. ‘Mum!Dad!’

The pair of them were pale and staring at the imposing walls of Olympus.

‘Oh my goodness,’ her mum said, with her hand at her throat.

Her dad seemed lost for words. Skye reached over and gave them both a tight hug, then smiled shyly.

‘This is Coop. The man,’ she licked her lips, ‘the god I was telling you about.’

‘God,’ her mum whispered.

Skye laughed, while Coop shook her dad’s hands and gave her mother a peck on the cheek. ‘It’s an honour to meet you,’ he said.

Her dad recovered first. ‘God, you say?I wonder if you might be able to help me with a little problem I’ve been having?’ Coop raised his eyebrows. ‘My football team…’

‘Dad!’ Skye groaned and thumped him on the arm.

Coop gave him a wink. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

She rolled her eyes.

‘Hi.’

Skye looked up and spotted Emma. ‘Oh my goodness!Where did you come from?’

Her old friend smiled at her. ‘I’m so sorry, Skye.’ She shook her head. ‘I should never have got involved. I should never have opened my big mouth.’

Skye hushed her and gave her a quick hug. ‘It’s okay.’ She gazed at Coop. ‘Everything’s turned out for the best.’

‘It’s not over yet,’ he grinned.

She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You’ll see.’

‘Skye Sawyer,’ intoned Zeus, ‘we ask you here, on the steps of Olympus and in front of this gathering of family and friends to make your vows to Cupid.’

Startled, Skye turned to Coop. He knelt down on one knee and took her hand. She was aware of her mother gasping next to her.

‘We don’t normally do it this way,’ he said, ‘but in your case I’m willing to make an exception.’His eyes searched hers, warmth, love and something that looked a little bit like nervousness reflected in them. ‘Skye Sawyer, will you marry me?’

For a moment it seemed to Skye that she’d forgotten how to speak. Or breathe. Then she found her voice. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes.’

Coop pulled her to her feet and kissed her until she felt dizzy, then he laughed.

‘I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,’ he whispered.

‘Skye Sawyer,’ continued Zeus, smiling, ‘as the wife of Cupid, you are welcomed into the family of Olympus. The same rights and privileges are granted to you as to other gods. Your humanity, kindness and compassion leave me with no alternative but to proclaim you as the Goddess of the Soul.’

‘I don’t understand,’ said Skye, bewildered.

Aphrodite frowned at her. ‘You mean you didn’t know?’

‘Know what?’

‘That by becoming his wife, you become one of us?’

Skye stared at her dumbly, shaking her head.

Aphrodite sighed and glared at her son. ‘If you’d told me that sooner, we could have been spared a lot of time. She hardly had ulterior motives to get her hands on immortality if she didn’t even know it was possible.’

‘Immortality?’ Skye paled.

‘Can we damn well get on with this?’ snapped Zeus. Everyone fell silent. ‘Very well, then. Skye Sawyer, you are now a goddess of Olympus.’He extended one index finger and pointed it at her. The top of his finger sizzled and there was a crack of thunder, then several gasps.

Skye felt a warm glow spreading through her body. Her skin tingled.

‘Your wings!’

Puzzled, Skye half turned, then gaped at the soft feathers extending from her back. They weren’t snowy white like Coop’s; instead there were many multi-coloured hues, glimmering in the sunlight.

‘Oh,’ she said weakly.

‘Are you okay?’Coop touched her face.

‘We’ll be together forever.’

‘That we will,’ he said. ‘You know, “the wise want love.’’’

She smiled faintly. ‘Shelley? “Those who love want wisdom”. I think I understand you now. I understand how you feel about true love.’

Coop looked pained. ‘That’s because I didn’t think it was real.’He drew her close to him. ‘Now I’ve got you, I see that it is.’

‘When did you know you felt that way?’

He looked into her eyes. ‘It was creeping up on me for so long, I hardly realised. But that moment at the beach when Apollo tried to hurt you then he threw you into the sea?That’s when I knew. Because if anything happened to you, I wouldn’t want to live.’

‘We had to work for it.’

He laughed. ‘That we did.’

‘It wasn’t just a sudden bolt out of the blue. Maybe,’ she paused for a moment, then took a deep breath, ‘maybe it’s sweeter now because it wasn’t instant. Because we had to fight for it.’

‘What are you saying, Skye?’

‘I helped Styx,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean to, but I did. He’s in love with Lethe although he won’t admit it yet. I helped him see the light.’

‘And you did it without a magic gun.’

She nodded. ‘Maybe you don’t need to shoot people. Maybe you just need to help them along a little bit. Get them to make the moves themselves instead of doing it for them.’

‘You mean sort of like a dating agency?’

‘A bit. Just one where you know they’re actually meant to be together.’

‘It might work,’ he said slowly. ‘Let’s put it to my mother and see what she says.’

‘Together?’ squeaked Skye.

He kissed her deeply then smiled. ‘Together.’

Lyre, Olympiana Book 2, is available at your favorite retailer.

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