Plight of the Butterfly

by BersealiaDreamheart

Princess Psyche is worshiped as Aphrodite by men of Greece for her unparalleled beauty, much to the envy of her older sisters. Aphrodite is also jealous and orders her son, Eros, to make Psyche fall in love with a monster. Instead, the god of love falls for the princess. With the help of his family and friends, Eros takes Psyche as his wife.

1. Prologue

Prologue

Welcome, dear mortals. I am Persephone, goddess of spring and rebirth, and Queen of the Underworld. You may remember my friends, the sirens, telling you the story about how I came to be queen of the underworld and how the shade Psyche helped me and the gods seal Cronus back in Tartarus. But I'll come back to that later.

You may of heard of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. She had been created when Cronus overthrew his father, Ouranos the sky. Drops of his blood had fallen on the Earth which created many beings; the giants, the ash tree nymphs, and the furies. Three drops fell into the sea and turned into sea foam. From this foam came Aphrodite, who was brought to shore on a sea scallop. She hid and raised my father for my grandmother, Rhea, during Cronus's rule as well was as the nymphs. She sided with the Olympians during the great war.

After Cronus and the Titans were banished in Tartarus, Aphrodite became one of the twelve main gods. She helped spread love and beauty around the land, and people prayed to her for her loving nature and unparalleled beauty. She loved the two sons of Zeus and Hera, Hephaistos and Ares, but could only marry one. She chose to marry Hephaistos and raised three children with him: Hermonia, the goddess of harmony, Himeros, the god of unrequited love, and Anteros, the god of requited love. She also raised three children with Ares: Phobos, the god of fear, Deimos, the god of panic, and the youngest and her favorite, Eros, the god of true love.

Phobos and Deimos helped their father Ares with his duties in fighting wars. Hermonia created piece and harmony wherever she went, often quelling the wars when the mortals went too far. Eros, Himeros, and Anteros were different than the others. They all had wings. Himeros of glimmering copper, Anteros of shimmering silver, and Eros of shining gold. Their arrows all had the power to enhance the love in all beings. Mortal and immortal. Man or beast. They endlessly helped Aphrodite in her duties to spread love throughout the world. They tested the best matches and chose if they would work out or not.

But even so, Eros was a bit clumsy. He accidentally shot Apollo, who was in love one of Artemis's nymph companions, Daphne. She eventually loved him in return, but by the time Himeros corrected Eros's mistake, it was too late. Daphne had already broken her vow to never love a man and was turned into a laurel tree. Apollo was saddened and wore a crown of laurel leaves in her memory. Then you heard from the sirens of what happened to my husband, Hades, and how he came to love me.

Now about Psyche... You've been told of how Aphrodite got jealous and how Psyche had to win Eros's love. Yes, that's all true, but there was more to the story than what they said.