“Ares.” I lifted the dagger, angling my body in front of Hestia. The shock of it nearly stole my breath away, and my mind failed to make sense of it. Yes, Ares was an Olympian. And yes, he was a close ally of Zeus. But it wasunfathomablethat he would bring harm to his closest friend. It was…savagery.
So much more savagery than I thought even he was capable of.
Ares stepped out of the path of the sunlight, unlatched the steel breastplate, and launched it across the room to join the helmet, extracting his own wooden dagger. He narrowed his eyes at me menacingly. “Get the fuck away from her.”
I straightened. “I think not.”
He launched toward me faster than I’d anticipated, and his fingers latched around my arm. Grinding my teeth, I spun to the side and pointed my dagger at his face. He had his own weapon pointing at my chest in the same instant. I froze, swallowing. If he moved, my stake would tear right through his eye. But if I even so much as flinched, his dagger would pierce me.
And so we stood there frozen like that, our eyes locked, our cold breaths mingling. Rage and fear burned through me. My canines ached, desperate for violence. I wanted to sink my teeth into his flesh and make him pay for what he’d done.
To Hestia. To my mother.
To me.
Ares tightened his grip on my arm and yanked me closer. He angled the tip of his stake so that it dug into my neck. “I will say this one more time, High Queen Selene. Get out of my fucking way.”
“Never,” I hissed at him. “I don’t know what your cruel plan is here, Ares, but you’ll leave Hestia out of it. She’s done nothing wrong.”
And even though she was one of them—even though she sat in their halls and drank their wine and their blood—the instinct to protect her overpowered everything else. She was an innocent in this, whateverthiswas. And I would always be a shield for someone who needed me.
A strange look crossed Ares’s face. “What do you mean?”
“I think it’s pretty fucking clear what I mean. I said—”
“I heard what you said.” Glowering at me, he lowered his face to mine—so close I could feel his breath on my skin. “You’re scolding me? Look what you’ve done to her.”
I blinked and reared back.
And then the most shocking sound of them all filled the space behind me. Hestia giggled. It was a soft, sweet sound, a lilting melody that felt so out of place in this dark, cruel world. It had been a long, long time since I’d heard someone laugh like that. The royal halls of Troy had never been the sort of place that one might giggle.
“You two…I never imagined you’d actually agree on something,” Hestia said after a moment. “Let go of her, Ares. She’s not the one who did this to me.”
Ares frowned over my shoulder at her. “But—”
Hestia sighed. “Her bird led her here. To help. Selene even fed me her blood, but it didn’t do much to heal me.”
He dragged his eyes back to my face. “You let Hestia drink from your veins?”
“I did, but—”
Ares released me, lowering his dagger from my neck. In an instant, he crossed the floor and knelt beside Hestia. He gathered her broken body into his arms and held her close, his expression softening.
A strange sense of relief went through me. Ares was a monster, but he wasn’tthatkind of monster, the kind who’d gladly torment the ones he claimed the love. He must have been watching me back at the palace, and he’d followed me here. I should have suspected he’d do that. The bastard didn’t seem capable of leaving me alone.
He pressed his face into Hestia’s hair, closing his eyes.
Awestruck, all I could do was stand there in the center of the room and watch a wicked king nearly weep from finding his dearest friend alive. She clutched him back and buried her face in his chest. A sob shook her shoulders, and Ares gently patted her head, murmuring comforting words into her ear.
Slowly, I backed toward the door, feeling like an intruder. I had so many questions but now was not the time to ask them. Hestia was clearly traumatized by what had happened to her. She needed safety, rest, and a great deal more blood.
My boots scuffed the floor as I turned to leave. Before I could make it out the door, Hestia was calling after me.
“Wait, please don’t go,” she said, her voice still frail despite the blood I’d given her.
I turned back toward them. Ares had stood, and he was helping her to her feet. The chains of her restraints rattled, echoing through the empty room. She reached for me and winced when the manacles scraped her raw wrists.
I hesitated, glancing at Ares. He was very pointedly ignoring my presence, having moved on to examining the chain’s attachments to the wall. But Hestia was shivering and trembling on her feet.Fuck’s sake. All I wanted was to get out of here—and Ares was here to help her—but if she was asking for my help, I couldn’t very well turn my back on her.
