“Do you think it’s permanent?” I asked, keeping my eyes locked on the dancing flames.
“Unfortunately, yes. Erebus has to follow through on his threats. Otherwise, we’ll stop doing what he wants.”
I risked a quick glance at him, but lingered a second too long when I couldn’t help but notice how the light of the flames curled across his jaw. Swallowing, I looked away again. “Don’t you ever wish you were free of him?”
“Of Erebus?” He sounded genuinely surprised I would ask.
“I think that answers my question, then.”
“No, it’s just…” He sighed. “None of the others would dare ask something like that. They’re too…well, I wouldn’t say afraid. They just wouldn’t dare question the way of Erebus. It’s different for you, I know. He didn’t create you.”
“He plucked you from mortal obscurity and gifted you with eternal life. I understand.”
“Do you?”
I turned toward him and caught him looking back at me. He kept his eyes on my face, though, never lowering his gaze to take in the naked curves of my body. For that, I softened toward him a little. He was honoring his promise to me.
“I really do understand why you’d feel indebted to him. I suppose what I don’t understand is why none of you have ever changed your mind about it. You have to do whatever he demands of you, no matter how cruel it is. And if you don’t…” I gestured down the corridor. Outside, rain still crashed down.
We’d gotten inside quickly enough that our welts were beginning to heal. But if we’d stayed out there much longer…I had a sinking feeling Erebus’s new form of punishment would have killed us.
“And Gaia is much better?” he asked with a frown.
“I wasn’t lying when we first met, Ares. I don’t worship Gaia.”
“Who do you worship, then?”
I gave him a slight smile. “Duty. Protecting my people. I’m normally better at it than this.”
“Hmm.” His jaw tensed. “Protecting your people from Zeus, I presume?”
I tensed, but I saw no reason to lie to him now. He’d only see through it at this point. “I’m sure you’ve heard rumors about Troy. We don’t treat mortals quite the same way you Olympians do.”
“You’re talking about Zeus and his farms.” He draped an arm over his knee, his gaze hard as he stared into the fire. “Well, he won’t step foot in Troy. You can be certain of that.”
I furrowed my brow. “Why?”
Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair, then winced as his still-damp strands caressed him with those vicious raindrops. “Zeus is still my ally. I won’t say more than that.”
I shook my head, my frustration beginning to mount again. Every time it seemed like we were a step closer to understanding each other, Ares took a step back, reminding me of who he was and what he truly wanted. And that was an alliance with Zeus and an unreasonable loyalty to a god that required innocents to die.
“And why is that? Zeus is…well, you know what he is. He’s needlessly cruel. And while you seem that way sometimes, too, there’s this humanityhidingbeneath all that. The way you treat Hestia. The friend of yours on Thrinacia. How you speak about other mortals, like you see them as people, too. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
I’ve noticed everything, I realized.
He looked at me then, and there was a pain hidden behind his eyes. “I heard what Hestia told you, that we were siblings before Erebus turned us into Olympians. Well, there’s more to the story than that.” He ran his hand through his hair again, ignoring the rain. It was a nervous tick, I realized. “We lived in Pergamon back then, like we do now. But the kingdom was different two hundred years ago. The people were harsh, brutal. Someone didn’t much like us, so they burned down our house. For a year, we had no money, no roof over our heads. Beggars in the street, that’s what we were.”
I stared at him, listening. Obviously, I didn’t know any of this. The mortal lives of Olympians were never discussed. I’d assumed most of them liked to pretend they’d never been human. In their minds, they wanted to imagine they’d been fully formed as vampires, like the Titans.
Ares continued, his eyes growing distant. “Hestia got into some trouble. She’s never told me who started the fight or why, but someone stabbed her. She was bleeding out in an alley, surrounded by mud and piss. Zeus found us, and he offered us immortality. A way to save Hestia’s life. If it weren’t for him, she’d have died that day.”
As if my hand had a mind of its own, it reached out and gently touched Ares’s back. Despite the chill in the air, his skin warmed my fingers. The muscles in his back stiffened against me, but he didn’t pull away. Instead, he met my gaze. There was something mesmerizing in his eyes. And I became all too aware of how easily he could reach out and touch my bare skin.
“You feel like you owe him,” I said softly.
“I do owe him, Selene. I owe him my life. And I owe himHestia’s life.” A pause. “It’s not that I don’t see what he is. Trust me, I do. I just can’t bring myself to turn my back on him.”
“Perhaps that’s your true god, then,” I said, almost wistfully. “Loyalty. It’s an admirable god. Almost as good as duty.”
