Title: Any love but mine
Author: Debbie Davies
Publisher: Create Space
Release Date: March 13, 2012
The gods forbade her to love, but love is a powerful force. Acacia has been created purely for Eros' pleasure but discovers within moments of being summoned into his presence that he has no interest in her whatsoever. Rejected, she is banished to Earth to serve as Eros' minion with the task of promoting the blissful state of love among all those around her, a state she must never indulge in with a human being herself on pain of immediate destruction. And then comes Josh, someone whose power of attraction over Acacia is so intense she will find it utterly impossible to resist him. But is he human? Is he a god? Or is he a trick of the gods? And what would happen should they kiss?
Any love but mine Excerpt - How It All Began
“Eros, you are charged with the murder
of over ten thousand innocent mortals and
with planning to annihilate the mortal race, how do you plead?”
“Not guilty.”
Eros’s lips form the words slowly and he
makes sure to enunciate each syllable so even the smaller gods, who have snuck
into the court and are now crouching behind the twelve immortal Olympians desperately
trying to hear Zeus’s punishment for the troubled young god of love.
Zeus ignores the collective gasp around
him, everyone here knows Eros is guilty they had all been witness to his acts
of destruction. They’d all watched in the Fates portal as he tore through the
mortal world causing the wrong people to fall in love resulting in the mortals
murdering the ones they initially embraced.
“Would you care to explain your plea?” Zeus
assesses him curiously.
Eros nods as Zeus lowers himself slowly back
into his throne and motions for Eros to begin. Eros who had been standing alone
in the centre of the court takes a deep breath and turns himself to face his
mother, Aphrodite.
“I'm not the one here who is guilty –
you are, Mother. You are guilty of jealousy, deception and betrayal. You forced
the one person I have ever loved besides you from my life because you were resentful
of her and of my feelings for her. Despite your plan, Psyche is still the most
beautiful creature in every world - even more beautiful than you! You are just a shell of attractiveness –
inside you are empty. She glows inside, bright and magical, she is pure and
wonderful, and even though you have stolen her from my life, you have still
lost what you feared you would. You have lost me. The moment you told me that
she was going to kill you if I gave into my feelings for her and brought her
here to Olympus, the moment that lie
crossed your lips you lost your son!”
Eros clenches and unclenches his fists;
he takes a deep breath in and rolls his lips back baring his teeth. An angry growl
emanates from deep within his soul; he lowers his eyes to the floor searching
for some sort of strength to restrain himself and go on.
“My heart has been torn from my body
because you made me give her to another man who she will now love until death.
A man I cannot kill to release her from my spell, and if I cannot have love why
should anyone else!”
Eros looks at his mother expectantly but
she has not changed her demeanour throughout the whole confrontation.
Everyone’s eyes are now upon her, some look at her in disgust while others,
those who do not care for the mortal race much just look bored. None of them
receive an answer though instead she angles herself towards Zeus ignoring her
child completely. Eros shakes his head and laughs lowly but he, too, turns
himself back to Zeus to await his fate.
“Aphrodite, is this true?” Zeus demands
as he rises to his feet now the focus is back on him. The clear stones on his
wrist cuffs spark the way they always do when he becomes angry. The Olympians
hold their composure but the smaller gods turn from crouching figures into mere
shadows.
Aphrodite only nods revealing no
emotion.
“Eros you are the victim here, but you
cannot be fully excused of your crimes. You need to return to the mortal realms
and make amends for what you have done. You need to give back to the mortals
the gift of love.”
Eros shakes his head, his movements
becoming rapidly more violent his whole body shakes as his rage breaks through.
“No!” his cry bellows throughout the
hall “No I won’t do it! Why should I? My one love has been stolen from me – why
should I allow your precious race to feel something I will never again experience?
Why should I allow any of you to either? I could make you all now fall in love
with the wrong person; I could make you love another so badly you would want to
give yourself to them in every physical way no matter how wrong it is.”
His eyes trail to the virgin Olympians
who look horrified at the thought of losing their immaculate state.
“Enough! Eros, you need to make amends
for what you have done, and then I will see what I can do about returning Psyche
to you. I'm sure I will be able to find away”
Zeus pleads with Eros but he shows no
sign of relenting. Zeus exhales loudly; looking resigned, he turns to the
guards waiting at the base of his throne.
“Bring her in,” Zeus instructs his guards.
Everyone turns to stare at the large gilded doors that seal them in this arena.
“What is this?” Eros snarls in fear he
is about to be tricked again.
“I wanted to wait and give her to you
after you had done what I have requested but well, here, this is your love.”
Zeus motions for the doors to be opened and there stands a beauty so immense
everyone forgets how to breath. Eros’s body melts and he rushes to be at her
side, the tears pool at the corner of his eyes but he stops short when Zeus’s
voice breaks through his haze of happiness.
“This is Allana, your Erosian.”
Now two Erosians later Acacia is here
and she is not happy about living life as a rejected Erosian forced to serve
Eros and never live a life of her own.
Be sure to add it to your TBR list on Goodreads!
Debbie Davies lives in the UK with her
husband and baby boy. Any Love But Mine is the first novel
in The Erosians series, which is
inspired by the myth of Eros and Psyche. It is a reimagined look at their
relationship. Debbie began writing the novel in 2010 when she should have been
revising for her final year exams but her brain found something more
interesting to do!
Intriguing excerpt.
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