The Olympians were quite the Divinely Dysfunctional Family.
Alena had never seen or heard so much bitter bickering from
one clan. If that was her Family, she might be damn happy
that she lived in Exile on a beautiful island such as
this. "They're awful." She whispered in his ear careful not
to let any prying ears overhear. Ares gave out a deep
chuckle and then another sigh as his hand rose up to caress
her arm. She thought of how brave, how daring, and even
dashing, Ares had been as he stood there telling all of
them they could not have her. When she listened to him
speak of Artemis, Alena nearly cried. Then she had been
stunned into silence having expected the God of War to hand
her over, maybe not with ease but readily enough, in return
for his crown and scepter. "Thank you for keeping your
promise."
"You expected this chauvinistic pig to do less." Ares mused
still with his eyes closed. "Everyone does."
Under her hands, beneath the thick pad of fur her fingers
were twirling, Alena felt the steady beat of his heart. It
too was brave and strong. "Why did you do it?"
Last night, Ares indulged himself in the pleasures Alena
had to offer not in the name of any barter. Not for any
affection. Just, simply, because the opportunity arose and
he took it as he always did. Come morning, Ares expected
that he would turn her over to the Olympians in exchange
for those things so wrongfully taken from him. For all her
intrigue and mystery, she was still, disposable.
Unimportant. Superfluous. For centuries, all he thought
about was going home and the chance finally fell into his
lap, Ares thought it was a Gift from the Gods.
Yet when Zeus unknowingly presented all of them with
irrefutable proof of Ares' innocence, he had the gall to
make more demands upon him instead of lifting Ares' exile.
It wasn't that Ares minded going to War, it was after all,
his Thing. He wanted revenge for Artemis as much as much as
any of them. Couldn't Zeus see that? Surely, he did, he
must know this much about his Son. It was then that Ares
realized none of it was about Justice, just Power. Nothing
ever changed on Olympus. Standing there in the Great
Chamber, Ares started wondering why he ever wanted to go
back to Olympus. Why return to all of that bickering and
backstabbing when he could stay on his island with her?
Last night she was expendable. Tonight that was no longer
the case and he wasn't sure where the tide turned or even
how it had done so. Ares understood that Vindication wasn't
the Gift the Gods sent him; Alena was. With five thousand
years behind him and, if all went all, another four or five
thousand ahead of him, Ares was too old to mince words, too
old to play stupid or coy. He wondered how much time his
pretty little Fey had ahead of her. "I'd rather have one
night with you here on my island than ten thousand more
nights with them on Olympus."
"Why?"
"I'm tired of being alone." Ares confessed.
"You're not alone. You have all of your guards and your
women."
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