CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER IX

Aphrodite was fuming.

She had watched the priestess become overpowered by that pathetic excuse for a human man, had watched that disgusting act with rage boiling beneath her bones and felt her ichor run cold. That was no way to treat one of her priestesses. To do so was a stain on her honour, the act not only repugnant but an obvious mockery of all that Aphrodite held sacred.

She couldn’t believe Athena would have ordered it, civilized and protective as she was. Even Artemis, for all her wild ways surely wouldn’t have suggested ... that. They were both virgins. Surely they would not have willingly let that title be stripped from Amara. There were, after all, other ways to evoke fear in a woman. As the thought passed through her head, she wondered if her sisters’ chastity had blinded them to that fact. It hadn’t even worked. Three months later and the priestess was still no closer to accessing heralchemy.

Aphrodite’s thoughts abruptly cut off at the sight of the man striding towards her. His wild curls had now been shaved closely to his head, but that didn’t stop him looking any less feral. Bronzed muscles that bulged, fighting to get out of his leathers, moved languidly towards her. Dark brown eyes tracked her, like prey, until they were standing toe to toe.

She reached a hand up to brush it against his hair, but he captured her delicate wrist, spun her around and had her pinned to the wall, her wrist above her head and a rock-solid, thick thigh pushed between the pair of hers between one breath and the next. She felt warmth invade her as he overwhelmed every inch of her personal space, the cologne of sweat and frankincense, a sweetness that reminded her of their many stolen nights together. It was all consuming and she forgot what had turned her heart cold only momentsago.

“Ares,” she said softly.

“My love,” he growled. She knew it wasn’t in anger. Always so angry, her Ares, but never with her. It was something deeper, richer, more passionate when it was just the two of them. His growl ignited a low heat that started in her belly and spread ... everywhere. Before she could ask him what he was doing here, he gripped her hair, his hands adorned with assorted metal rings, and pulled her in for a kiss of duelling tongues and teeth until she pushed at his wide chest and gasped for breath.

“I’ve missed you, lover,” he said darkly.

“I’ve missed you too,” she replied, petting his chest until she could hear his chest rumble in agreement. He was like a large mountain lion, easy to pet if he decided he wasn’t going to eat you. Although ... when he had the appetite … Aphrodite sighed in nostalgia as her thighs clenched involuntarily and she remembered why she was in the open-aired corridor that led to Athena’s warrooms.

“Let me down, Ares, my love. I must speak to Athena.”

Immediately he released his hold in her hair and on her wrist, removing his thigh in a swift move. But his eyes, they kept her pinned to the stone wall.

“I must speak with her too − boring battle plans.” He shrugged, heaving shoulders the size of rocks as if the weight of him was nothing. He was a magnificent man, but while his body would usually seduce her, his words were enough of a nudge to switch mercurial Aphrodite from her temptress thoughts to ones more pristine in nature. She had come here because her priestess had undergone a rape, a direct violation of all Aphrodite stood for, in the name of Athena’s greater plan for humanity. Rearranging her pleated sky-blue skirt around her legs and smoothing hair of the purest white, Aphrodite composed herself from the dishevelled look she always seemed to develop in a heartbeat when she and Ares managed to find themselves truly alone for a moment.

“Yes, well, mefirst.”

“Always,” Aressmirked.

At that precise moment, Athena swung open the great wooden doors, which were etched with carvings of her most treasured victories in history.

“Ares, there you are. And Aphrodite. Well, well, well, have you two been up to old tricksagain?”

Aphrodite’s smile was saccharine with an undertone of seethinghatred.

“No, but apparently you have, dearsister.”

With her skirt pleats dancing around her, Aphrodite stormed past Athena into her war rooms. Ares followed, somewhat less theatrically. Not waiting until the door was closed, Aphrodite whipped round and immediately sent a volley of insults in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and French. Even Ares, bullish as he was, blushed at some of the names she called Athena.

“Are youdone?”

Aphrodite, pursed lips painted blood red, took a breath and replied calmly.

“Yes, I think that coversit.”

“Now,” said Athena, who still stood by the doorway, arms crossed, “would you care to explain why you just verbally accostedme?”

Aphrodite cocked her head to the side and stared, hard at her.

“I’ll answer your question with one of my own. What did Artemis have to say for herself when the pair of you discussedAmara?”

Athena arched an eyebrow and uttered a dry laugh. “She actually agreed with you about thefear.”

Aphrodite’s eyes narrowed to slits before she smiled coyly. “And pray tell, how did you go about instilling fear in the girl?” While the smile remained, her tone cut like shards of glass and Athena got the sinking feeling she was about to be told disastrous news.

“I handled it,” she replied smoothly, her fingers drumming on the wartable.

“Did you now?”

Athena was no fool. She knew the words the Moirai had told her of the boon off by heart and there was only one reason Aphrodite would be here in this state. That she had sanctioned the act that had undoubtedly brought Aphrodite to her chambers, unknowingly or not, made bile burn the back of her throat but she could not show weakness now. Not in front of Aphrodite and certainly not in front of Ares, who was watching the two sisters as a lion watches gazelles when he isn’t hungry, positively bored yet under no pretence should you think he was sleeping. In reality, she knew he was simply observing with as little energy as required, unless Aphrodite went to gouge out her eyes and there was actual bloodshed. In which case, Athena had no doubt her brother would help his beloved if only so he could claim to be the only Olympic god to be associated with warfare should they destroyher.

“We did what was necessary to protect thehumans.”

“What you did WAS. NOT. PROTECTION!”

For a minute, the mask dropped and the ugly veneer of Aphrodite, the vicious she-devil that lurked beneath, came forward, all teeth and snarls, her face contorted in a way that didn’t befit her image. It was not the first time Athena or Ares had seen this face. It was, however, a mark of how pissed off Aphrodite was. Cerberus, the multi-headed dog who guarded the underworld for Hades, looked tame in comparison.

“It was a necessary loss to win the war,” Athena said quietly.

Aphrodite laughed now but her usual tinkle was replaced with something darker, something much more venomous. “A loss is an inept word for what you put that girlthrough.”

Athena physically flinched as she took the blow.

“How could you?! How could you even ask that of one of your priestesses? I would never even question asking that of mine. She was one ofmine!”

“Amara knew the cost of battle. She knew exactly what she was getting herself into.” Athena’s steely resolve threatened to crack but she couldn’t give away her secret, her shame at not knowing the thread the Moirai would pull. Everyone on board with this plan had to believe Athena knew what she was doing even if they hated her for it, or they wouldn’t trust her wisdom and follow through when she needed themto.

“Oh didshe?”

Athena didn’t answer, locking her jaw and staring at Aphrodite defiantly. If she had to take the lashing from Aphrodite, so be it.

“No, she didn’t. How could she? How could a priestess from our world ever know the true span of human emotions? How everything they feel is heightened to the nth degree? Pleasure, pain, grief, regret, shame? You may have breathed life into them, but I’m the one that gifted Prometheus with their emotional intellect, Athena. Or have youforgotten?”

Athena remainedsilent.

“You have damned that girl for eternity. She will never get back what you allowed to bestolen.”

“She willheal.”

“Oh and you know that how, oh virtuous one with your virginity intact? You who knows nothing of the carnal pleasures of sex or the vulnerability of making love? How do you know she will heal from something you know nothingabout?!”

“Where you see ruin in the rubble, I see glory.” Athena said.

Aphrodite snorted. “I think Dionysus has been spiking your victory drinks, sister.”

“You may not see it, but because of this, she will rise. Stronger, smarter, wiser. She will lead them through the fear that chokesthem.”

“Your wisdom isheartless.”

A deep rumbling cough interrupted them.

“If I may,” Ares interjected, “Athena is right in one instance.”

Aphrodite stared at him as if he’d just presented her with a rotten trout. Athena, too, was surprised. She had never known Aresto disagree with his lover in public.

“In the heat of battle, it’s the hardship, the urge not to be defeated that will keep this priestess of yoursgoing.”

Before Aphrodite could rebuke him, Arescontinued.

“But Athena has made one, perhaps critical, mistake.”

Athena scoffed. Ares was not usually one to make any plans, let alone analyse others and point out flaws in them.

“She has forgotten that love,” his eyes stared unblinking at Aphrodite, “is as relentless, remorseless, and ruthless as she is in her pursuit for justice. I fear, Athena, you may have made an enemy in this battle that could cost you thewar.”

Aphrodite smiled savagely.