★★★
Athea rarely set aside an entire afternoon for Aphrodite. That day, however, the two of them sat with Erythea beneath a pavilion in the palace's eastern garden.
Aphrodite placed two open jewellery cases in the middle of the garden table and turned them until Athea could see both pairs of earrings properly.
They had finished lunch almost an hour earlier, although none of them had asked the attendants to clear the table. Several plates of fruit and pastries remained between them, alongside a cooling pot of tea that Erythea continued drinking despite complaining that it had become too bitter.
Athea had promised Aphrodite the afternoon, and for once, there was no data-slate resting beside her plate, no correspondence waiting beneath her hand and no palace official standing nearby with another matter that required her attention.
Aphrodite intended to take full advantage of the occasion.
