Chapter 7 Soraya #2
Ares presses a kiss on my hand.
“The police don’t understand. I’m alone in this.” Eventually, he may catch me and kill me.
I wipe my tears off my cheek. “I feel like running, but he will find me. He has the resources.” Panic crawls up my neck. “I should disappear. I have no one. Nowhere to go.”
Ares holds me firmer. “No. You have me, Soraya.”
I give Ares a sad smile, pressing my hand against his chest and taking comfort in the steady beat of his heart. “Thank you, Ares. But he won’t stop.”
“Then perhaps it’s time we stopped him. The law wouldn’t protect you. But an older bond would,” Hecate says. I pull my hand quickly away from Ares when I hear her voice. I didn’t even hear when she re-entered the room.
Ares frowns but says nothing.
“What older bond?” What the hell is Hecate talking about? Bond? With who? Wait, a minute—
Hecate’s brows raise, and she folds her arms over her chest. “Marriage. If you marry Aric, Elias loses every claim.”
The room goes silent. I don’t look at Ares. Instead, my focus is past Hecate’s head.
She was right. The trust would be mine. My aunt and uncle will have no claim on me. Elias would not be able to claim me either. I would be free. Would I be free, or am I stepping into another gilded cage?
Do I want to marry Ares? To be Mrs. Kallistratos? No, the real question is, does Ares want to marry me?
Finally, I send my gaze to his face. He is staring at me with quiet resolve.
Hecate clears her throat. “I mean, if you don’t want to marry her, maybe Deimos—”
“Marry me, Soraya Maude. Your money, your trust will stay with you. I will only add to it,” Ares says it without blinking.
Shit, a proposal should bring me joy. Instead, I feel calm.
There is no love or romance attached to this, but it would be the smart thing to do.
I look at Ares; his face is stoic, unreadable.
My mind goes to Elias. He was a predictable monster.
Ares is a wildcard. It’s like I know him, but I don’t really know him.
But then, he took care of me and Nisa without question.
Welcome me into his family. He created a refuge or, as he would say, a sanctuary for me.
I would rather dwell here with Ares than rot under the thumb of Elias.
“I feel like I’m putting you in an awkward position. I mean…” My nails dig into the silk blanket.
“I asked you, now I await your response.” Ares speaks so calmly.
Hecate smiles and says, “After Elias is dealt with, you can divorce Ares.”
I feel Ares’s body stiffen beside me.
I swallow and look back at Hecate. She sends me a wink.
Jesus, I can’t believe I am about to do this. “Are you sure?”
He nods and waits.
“Then yes.”
Ares’s shoulders drop, and he nods. “You made a crazy choice.”
“But a great one, nonetheless. Now let’s go invite guests and—” Hecate stops when I raise my hand.
“I just want it to be you, Phobos, Deimos, Nisa, and me.” I didn’t want a big crowd.
“Oh, maybe one more person. Mrs. Grady is coming back tomorrow,” Hecate comments. Right, the silent but infamous Mrs. Grady.
“How soon are we going to do this?” I ask.
Hecate smiles. “Tomorrow night. Trust me, I will have everything ready for you. What’s your favorite flower?”
“I have always loved red roses.”
Hecate nods. “Great choice.”
I feel Ares press his lips against my forehead, then he comes off the bed. “Rest. I will see you tomorrow.”
“Nisa?”
“I will check on her, but she will wake up tomorrow,” Ares says. Hecate gives me a small goodbye, and Ares nods as he closes the door behind him.
My room drops into silence, and I throw myself back onto the pillows. “Marrying Ares. What the hell am I doing?”
ARES
“What the fuck are you doing, Hecate?” The moment I enter my office, I feel like screaming. Aric changes with me.
Hecate drops onto the sofa and kicks off her heels. “I did nothing that you didn’t want me to do. Plus, Aric said yes. Are you saying no, Ares?”
Was I saying no?
“How can I marry someone who I will be hurting in the future?” I walk to my liquor cabinet and pull down the crystal decanter and pour it into a glass.
“Pour one for me too. I have to refill my wine cellar.” Hecate places her legs over the sofa arm.
I pour her a glass. “Hecate, this is serious.”
“So is my wine shortage. Guess which one I am fixing first?” She grabs the glass from me and sips.
“Hecate. I have two personalities. I need her dead to free a dead lover’s soul. This is not going to end well.”
She lifts her hand to signal to me to wait as she drinks her port. “Wow, that is good.”
“Hecate,” I warn.
“Ares. Live with her. Love her. When she gets old…” She shrugs.
I shake my head in disgust. “That’s your fucking solution? Keep her until she is 80 and kill her then.”
Hecate moves her legs to the floor and stands. “During those 80 years, heal, learn to love, and forgive. Maybe we will find a loophole.”
I begin to rub my forehead. I didn’t think I could have gotten ahead until I met Hecate millennia ago.
“Good night, my friend. See you tomorrow; I have a wedding to plan.” With that, she leaves the room, and the empty glass drops to the floor.
I pace my office.
“We can’t marry her, Aric.” I stop mid-pace. “Aric?”
Turning to the leaning mirror, I see the image of myself leaning on the glass.
“Aric, I said—”
“I heard what you said. But would you rather she married someone else? Fuck someone else.”
I sit on the sofa. “If that’s our reasoning, we are fucked.”
Aric paces with his hands behind his back. Every so often, I lose him as he moves right to the edge of the mirror.
“Ares, under our name, she has protection from her family and Thorne.”
My fingers dig into my forehead. “Her being married to us puts a literal target on her back. Both the gods and my enemies will want her dead.”
Aric walks into the depths of the mirror, where I can’t see him. “This marriage buys us time. Hecate may find a loophole.”
My heart flutters with the thought of a loophole, and if anyone can find it, it’s Hecate. But unlike Aric, I am a cynic. “Time is not a cure. The end will come whether we find a loophole or not.”
Aric’s footsteps shuffle, then stop. “Her presence makes me feel sane.”
A bitter chuckle leaves my chest. “We haven’t been sane since Talia.”
The room drops into silence. I know Aric is thinking, trying to bring up something to convince me that this is a wise decision.
“Ares, it keeps others from using her.”
A sadness aches in my chest. “If it all fails, I will end up being her killer.”
“Who are you talking to?” Soraya’s voice stops my train of thoughts.
I sit up slowly, thinking about what to say.
“Tell her about us. If she wants to run…we let her. But if she stays….”
“Um, Ares?” Soraya is holding onto the doorknob like a lifeline.
SORAYA
I couldn’t sleep. I took a shower and changed into my pajamas.
Still no sign of sleep. I did the only logical thing.
I wandered around the house. So much has happened today.
Kidnapping, my cousin’s betrayal, and now a marriage proposal.
Do I want to get married to Ares? Suppose he is like Elias but more covert.
Then I think about all the things Ares has done for me in such a short amount of time.
How comfortable am I? But there are still things I don’t know.
Questions that I have. Maybe Ares has questions.
That’s how I ended up in front of his door.
I heard two voices, like he was talking to someone over the phone.
I waited and then knocked, but I got no response. I open the door. What I see amazes me.
Ares is rubbing his forehead, and his voice is changing as he speaks. If I close my eyes, one speaker is smooth, democratic, eloquent. The other is powerful, forthright, commanding. But it all comes from the same body.
He sits up in shock, and I hold on to the doorknob, praying that I didn’t get engaged to a man as mentally ill as Elias.
“Are you okay?” I ask, closing the door slowly behind me.
Ares sighs and points to a chair. “Have a seat; let’s talk.”
I sit on the long black sofa and grab a gold and brown pillow with a tassel and hold it to my chest. He’s going to say to me he can’t do it. He is changing his mind. I knew it. Or maybe he was about to tell me why he was speaking in different voices.
Ares leans forward on his knees. “I have what some people may call dissociative identity disorder.”
I sit and blink, trying to formulate words. I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know exactly what it is. Can I still marry him?
“Say something, Little Flame.” Ares sits still and waits, his nose flaring.
“Does that mean you’re schizophrenic?”
Ares closes his eyes and sighs. “No. I don’t hallucinate. I haven’t lost touch with reality.”
His voice is smooth and calm. Meanwhile, my stomach is in knots. My mind begins to race. What if he snaps one day? What if I traded Elias for another? The idea of being tied to someone unpredictable makes my throat dry.
“What have you lost?” I whisper, bracing myself for the truth.
A sad smile tugs at the side of Ares’s cheeks. “I’ve lost my continuous single self.”
The honesty in his voice cuts through my fears. He isn’t lying or hiding from me. He’s being vulnerable.
It’s the way he speaks that makes me want to cross the room and hug him.
“Would you hurt me?” I wait for his answer.
“I would chop off my own arms before I hurt you.” I think it’s the way he says it that makes me shudder.
I nod. “Are you feeling forced into this marriage? Do you have any objections?”
Ares looks at the mirror and then back at me. “No. I have no objections.”
“Can I speak to your other half?” There, I said it. My throat tightens. Jesus, I don’t know what I’m asking, but I need to see what he means.
His eyes widen as the scar on his face twitches. “Are you sure?”
No, I wasn’t sure, but part of me needed to know. “Yes, I’m sure.”
My pulse is hammering. “You told me your name is Aric, but your family calls you Ares. Which one is it?”