Iolaus was delighted to meet Aphrodite, who offered him a special golden apple. The apple would make any woman Iolaus wanted fall hopelessly in love with him. The spell worked perfectly on Thera, but there was one problem: She was already betrothed to Epius. Their union would bring peace to the cities of Syros and Delos. Aphrodite didn’t want peace; she wanted to control both cities and turn their gold into shrines. Hercules managed to prevent a Syros-Delos war by thrusting the apple into the joint grasp of both royals, uniting them as soul mates for life.