Chapter 15 Ares
Fuck, my head. Everything feels so heavy. My head lolls forward. I try to open my eyes, and they burn. My body feels like it’s not mine, like I borrowed it from someone else.
I swallow, and my throat burns like I’ve been screaming for hours.
Flashes… my fist pounding into the vault door, a heartbeat behind it. Someone’s frightened. My memory feels fragmented. What the hell happened? The last time I woke up like this, Talia…died. Dead?
It all rushes back to me. Soraya, our fight, Aphrodite. Me telling her to run.
I groan as I finally look at what’s in my arms. Soraya. Her eyes are closed, and her arms are limp.
“Soraya, baby, answer me.” I press my cheek to her cold forehead, shaking.
There is blood, so much fucking blood. She can’t die…she can’t.
“Hecate!” I shout.
Hecate appears and cries upon arrival.
“Do fucking something,” I command. My sight clears, and I see the pool of blood I am sitting in.
Hecate’s breath hitches. “There is nothing I can do, Ares. She’s dead. There is nothing I can do.”
“She’s,” I lift her arm. “She’s not dead. Tell them, Soraya.”
I push away the hair from her face. “Raya, if you leave, you’re taking my sanity with you. I will follow you to death to get it back.”
Her skin feels cold, and her brown tone already darkening.
“Get up, my love. Please.” My hand hovers over her body until it reaches one of my daggers.
I did this. I …killed her. I pull her body into my arms and scream up to the heavens, rocking Soraya’s lifeless form in my arms.
All I can do is scream. I did this. I fucking killed her.
Hecate tries to reach for her, but I hold her closer to my chest.
“Soraya.” I say her name like a prayer on my lips.
The air swirls around me, my muscles vibrate with a pulse I thought I’d lost. Power…
my divinity is rushing back into me. Hecate shields her eyes.
It’s raw and heavy. I can’t breathe. A roar rips out of my chest, as it settles through my body.
I look down at a pale Soraya. Even my godhood can’t defeat death.
“Ares, we have to move her,” Hecate says.
I pull her closer to me. “No, not yet.” It feels like hours since I’ve sitting here on the ground with Soraya in my arms. I remember everything about our fight.
I wish I told her I loved her more, that she brought a light to my life.
Soraya’s skin feels cold as I hold her, and her head is limp on my chest. Her blood stains my armor, and for once, I don’t care about its shining glory, only the silence in her chest.
The room rumbles, the ground cracks, and lights shoot out of the cracks. We‘re swallowed in gold and fire until the air thins. It smells cleaner, metallic. Olympus.
Two colossal gold doors appear before me. On them are the victory of the gods over the Titans. They creak open, spilling golden, blinding light.
Trumpets sound out. Choirs rise.
“Olympus, rejoice. Ares, the God of War, has returned.” Aphrodite’s voice reaches through the door.
Rose petals and gold flakes fall from the sky.
I step through the gate with Soraya in my arms. The song dies, and I hear gasps float through the hall.
The gods and demigods all gather in their rows.
Their eyes are filled with disgust and pity.
Before, I would want to know what they are saying.
Now, my focus is on the god sitting at the far end of the marble hall.
Zeus sits on the throne, lightning swirling at his fingertips.
My mother sits at his right hand; her crown glitters like stars on her head.
Zeus is about to lean forward, but she stops him and whispers in his ear.
He exhales and waits.
I kneel before them with Soraya in my arms. My voice moves through the silence.
“Give her back to me. Please.”
Zeus’s face is unreadable. Hera purses her lips. She leans forward again and whispers into Zeus’s ear. Whatever she is saying, her eyes rest softly on Soraya.
Zeus rubs his lips and nods.
My mother clears her throat. “Look at him. Our son. He asks not for victory, not for blood, not for his own dominion. Only love. Perhaps that is the greatest battle he has ever fought.”
Zeus stands and points down at us. “You would defy balance, Ares. You would barter your divinity. Why would I resurrect your mortal wife?”
I clutch Soraya tighter, and my voice breaks. “You will never understand this pain…feeling your love torn away from you. Mortals have that gift, the pain of feeling love.”
Zeus huffs. “Careful, son.”
“Take everything. My divinity, my throne, my godhood. Just let her be again…with no consequences, no hidden attachments.”
The gods murmur. I can hear some laugh; others are grumbling under their breath. Aphrodite’s voice shrills out loud. “This is madness. You will trade Olympus…me…for her? A mortal? Are you forgetting what we had?”
My neck turns in her direction. “Speak of her ill, and I shall kill you.”
Aphrodite rubs her chest. “Ares?”
“I know you are the person behind Elias, the trafficking. It took me a while, but I figured it out.”
Aphrodite stands. “I was doing it for us. What does she have?”
“Speak of my wife again, and I will spill your golden blood where you stand.”
The pillars shudder. The marble floor beneath me cracks.
Zeus lifts his hand. “Enough. It can be done. But the price is final. You must surrender your godhood. You will live and die as a man. A mortal bound to the earth. No throne. No eternity.”
I look down at the woman in my arms. “I will take it.” The words leave me before he adds more. “She is worth more than all of Olympus.”
My mother’s eyes glimmer with unshed tears. “Then let it be.”
The chalice appears in Zeus’s hands, and it crumbles. Light bursts forth, and Talia appears radiant, unshackled. She looks at me not in accusation, but peace. “Thank you, Ares.”
She bows her head and dissolves into golden starlight.
“Your soul, may it become one mind again.” Hera stretches her hand toward me.
“Goodbye, my friend.” Aric’s voice echoes in my head.
“It’s not goodbye; you’ll always be a part of me.” With that, the humming presence that I normally feel is gone.
The curse is broken.
The gods erupt in applause and shouts. Olympus rejoices. Their God of War is free.
I look up at Zeus and plead. “Please, she is my everything.”
Zeus stretches out his hand and forms a fist. My body pitches forward; power surges through my veins. Flames pour out of my mouth and eyes. My godhood burns as it is torn away from my body. I scream until I collapse, trembling and empty.
I feel so weak…so human.
But Soraya stirs, and her chest rises as she takes her first breath. Her eyes flutter open, dark brown and alive. I cradle her face in my palm.
“My love.”
Her lips part. “Ares?”
“Yes.” My voice breaks. “I’m just a man. But I’m yours if you still want me.”
Soraya pulls me down and kisses me softly. “I will always choose you.”
The gods erupt. Some cheering, others raging.
“Live well, my son.”
We crash down together onto the soft grass of my backyard. No throne, no power. Just Soraya and I. Mortals who are about to live a real life.