Chapter 3
Sleep has evaded me. I don’t know how long I have been sitting in this chair. But the heat of the chalice pressed against my forehead reminds me that Talia is alive.
I reach over to the open bottle of wine on the table and pour it into the chalice.
With my eyes closed, I bring the chalice to my lips. With each sip, I remember her laugh. Her scent of honey and myrrh sits at the end of the chalice. But…
“I can’t remember her face, Aric,” I confess out loud.
With a trembling hand, I press my fingers to my scar, hoping that the pain will give me a vision of her.
Hoping the pain will show me a flash of her eyes, the curve of her smile.
Something…anything. I am met with silence.
No warmth, no memory, just my shame and guilt.
A ragged moan escapes my lips. How can I forget the face of my true love?
“Give it time, Ares,” Aric replies.
I shake my head at my shadow. “No, I have failed her yet again.” Failed her. I gulp down the last bit of wine.
“Ares, free me.”
I drop the chalice onto the floor and stand away from it.
“You heard that, Aric?” My heart trembles, and I swallow hard.
“Heard what, Ares?”
My breathing is erratic. I look around my office again, taking in the soft brown leather chairs that sit in front of my white marble desk.
My gaze shifts to my shield and two crossed spears hanging on the wall. Paintings, my laptop...all there in their rightful place.
“Ares, please. My soul is fading,” Talia’s voice echoes in the far corner of my mind.
“I will save you, my love,” I say out loud.
“My love?” Hecate’s voice interrupts. I didn’t hear her enter.
I stagger, trying to control my heart rate. I need to sit.
I drop back into the chair.
“What are you doing here so early, Hecate?” I close my eyes and sigh, keeping the haunting of Talia to myself.
I hear Hecate scoff, and her heels click-clacks as she moves to the window.
“Where is your housekeeper, Mrs. Grady?”
With one sweep, she opens the blinds. I groan as the sunlight rushes into the room.
“You are the God of War. You’re not Hades. All this darkness around you.” She opens another blind.
I sink deeper into the chair, hoping she’d leave.
“Hades is not even in darkness anymore. Persephone has planted trees in the underworld, and he made her a sun.”
I sigh. “Good for them. It’s too early for you to be here. Grady is off today.”
“Early? It’s 11:25 a.m. And why the hell are you naked?” she cries.
“You can always leave.”
“No. We have matters to discuss, so cover your little shrimp dick.”
I chuckle. “Nothing about my cock says shrimp.”
“Your dick color says otherwise.” She stops and pulls at the top of her black corset, then dusts her pants.
Hecate sighs. “I need your help. Sorry, I can’t do this with you and your shrimpy out.
With the flick of her wrist, I am clothed in charcoal trousers and a black shirt tucked into them.
“We have a problem. It’s Nisa.”
I sigh, rubbing my forehead. “Who, pray tell, is Nisa?”
“One of the orphans from the—”
I didn’t give her time to finish. I remember the defiant, brave little face from the container.
“Whatever it is. I will pay.”
Hecate throws her hair over her shoulder and smiles. She never smiles. “The orphanage is full. Honestly, I find them all to be unfit for children.”
“Find another.”
“Well, I did, and I couldn’t leave her in any.”
Leave her? I sit up in the chair. “Where is she?”
“Funny thing.” She walks to the door and opens it. “Come in, Nisa.”
I sit up, bracing myself for the little tyrant that screamed at me in the container.
The little brown girl walks in with a head full of curls in a ponytail, overalls, and a pink T-shirt.
“Nisa, this is Ares, or Aric. He is your new guardian.”
“No.” Both Nisa and I say it at the same time.
“No?” I ask, feeling slightly…slighted.
Nisa steps back in disgust. “You want me to stay with Mr. Monster?”
Hecate chuckles. “Don’t let the scar fool you; he is a teddy bear.”
“I am not,” I say, looking at the small dictator.
She shrugs. “Either way, I’d rather stay in an overpopulated orphanage than stay in this…” Nisa looks around the office.
“This?” I was interested in what she had to say.
“This mausoleum. And it smells weird. Why can’t I stay with you, Ms. Cate?”
Hecate smiles at her. “My home is not fit for children, dear child.”
Why the hell would she not want to live with me?
“Why the hell do you care, Ares?”
I ignore Aric. I stand, wanting to frighten her a bit. Instead, Nisa throws her shoulders back and looks at me.
“She’s got guts.”
Before I can say something, Hecate clutches her shoulders and turns Nisa to face her. “What are your favorite colors?”
Nisa taps her chin. “Red, pink, gold, and black.”
Hecate pretends to wipe away a tear. “A child after my own heart.”
I clear my throat, but I am ignored.
“Leave this room and take a left. The third door will have your name on it.”
Hold on. “What?”
Hecate ignores me. “Go wait there for me.”
Nisa looks over her shoulder and skips to the door.
“She can’t stay here, Hecate.”
Hecate clasps her hands, watching the child leave.
“Maybe Artemis can take her,” I add.
“What is that?” Hecate asks.
I don’t have to look behind me to know she is talking about the chalice on the floor.
“Are you okay?” she asks. I can hear the concern in her voice.
“I don’t know.” That’s the truth. My emotions are scattered. I am confused, sad, and angry. I want to rip my hair out and scream.
Hecate walks beside me, cradling the chalice in her hands.
“Who is she?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
Hecate examines the chalice, raising it to the sunlight. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know.” I can feel my frustration creeping up my neck.
“How the fuck do you not know, Ares? This is your fucking salvation!” Hecate shouts.
“I don’t fucking know!”
“Exchange. Let me explain it to her, Ares.”
Normally, I would fuss over my retreat and having Aric take over. But I feel mentally drained.
I close my eyes, my shoulders relax, and my fists unclench. The air around me snaps and then goes still. I open my eyes and stretch my neck, moving side to side.
“Good morning, Hecate.”
“Aric. Tell me what happened. How did you get this chalice back?” Hecate holds the chalice out to me.
I look at my shadow pacing.
“Please, sit, Hecate. Let me explain.” I walk to the chair in front of my desk, pulling it away and allowing Hecate to sit.
I can feel the residue of Ares’s pain in my stomach. “Let me tell you what occurred.”
Pulling another chair to the side, I sit and retell the events that happened. Hecate shakes her head in disbelief, shifting in her seat with every new part of the story.
“Aric, this is your ticket to get back into Olympus. Your chance to reclaim your godhood…your sanity.”
I feel the weight of the chalice in my hands, placing it firmly on the marble table in front of me.
“At what cost, Hecate? Someone’s life?”
Hecate’s lips tighten. “There has to be another way, but until then we have to find this girl.”
“I don’t want to kill her.”
“What about Talia, Aric?” Hecate asks.
I bend my head, and for the first time in a long while, Ares is quiet.
“I am still trying to figure it all out.” My gaze is fixed on the chalice.
“That’s all we can do. Magic leaves a trace. I can find her.” Hecate reaches across and taps my shoulder.
“The kid can’t stay.”
Hecate stands and dusts her pants off. “She is, and so is the nanny.”
“What nanny?” I ask.
The surrounding air grows cold and heavy. My stomach rolls with nausea. I groan as a twirl of black smoke appears. A tall man in a dark green suit steps out of it.
Hecate chuckles. “Hello, Deimos.”
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Deimos says as he bends to kiss Hecate on the cheek.
If Deimos is here, it’s likely Phobos already informed him about last night. That’s the problem when you work with twins.
“What have you been up to?” Hecate asks.
Deimos sighs in boredom. “I am trying to be an insensitive fuck. But everyone is on anxiety meds. Xanny, Zoloft; they can take what they want, the shit will never work.”
“I have been hearing about the friends that you are keeping, D,” Hecate states.
Deimos smiles, and his dimples deepen. “Me? Are you sure?”
“Yes, heard there was an orgy on a yacht owned by an incubus.” Hecate raises her eyebrows, daring him to deny it.
Deimos strokes his chin. “Well, I tend to make friends with people who are scary, violent, sweet, yet perverted. I keep it niche.”
“It’s very telling.” Hecate licks her lips and smiles.
“Is it?” he replies.
I watch as both Hecate and Deimos continue flirting. Meanwhile, here I want to kick them both out so I can figure out what the hell to do. My world is spiraling, and they are flirting.
I feel anxious; my soul feels heavy and full of dread… Of course it does. Deimos, the literal god of dread…is here.
Before this flirting continues, I interject. “How can I help you, Deimos?”
Deimos’s gold gaze flicks to mine. His eyes are beautiful but uncanny. “Well, Father, I was sorely disappointed that you invited Phobos to your mini massacre and not me.”
“With that, I am leaving. Taking one of your cars,” Hecate states.
“She has to take the kid, Aric.”
“Hecate, the kid! She can’t stay!” I shout.
Hecate’s laughter echoes through the room.
Where Phobos’s demeanor is calm, Deimos’s is a chaotic ball of energy.
Deimos drops into the chair beside me. The gold chains around his neck glitter as they catch the sunlight. “So you got the infamous chalice. When do you make her fall in love? Do I get to help you kill her?”
“I will not manipulate her. She doesn’t die,” I reply.
Deimos passes his hand through his dark hair. “Is this a joke? You’d rather be a god stuck in mortal skin than kill this woman?”
“It’s a life, Deimos.” After living as a demigod, I learned to appreciate the little things in life. Something feels wrong with me just taking someone’s life away.