“Achilles! Ares! My sons! To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”
Ares stepped around Achilles, spreading his arms and said, “Looks like I’m Sidhe after all.”
Zeus’ eyes widened in astonishment and then he regained composure long enough to pull Ares into a hug. “I knew you had powers.”
He released Ares, and I stepped around Achilles. “Hi, Zeus.”
Zeus’ eyes met mine and he stepped around Ares quickly. He looked at Achilles and Ares and then back at me. “Artemis? You…you found her?”
Ares smiled. “Yes, Dad, it’s her.”
I smiled. “Yeah, they found me and made me whole again.” I spread my arms out and released my Sidhe power, letting my wings out. I flapped my wings and wiggled my fingers. “All one piece again.”
He grabbed my arms and pulled me into a hug, which nearly crushed my ribs. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
I pulled my wings back in and relaxed into his hug. Why did he make me feel so at peace? Was it because he was Ares’ and Achilles’ dad? Or because he was the king of half of my bloodline?
He pulled back and looked at my face. “Your power has greatly increased. It’s amazing.” I felt a push against my body, like a person leaning on me and then it was gone. “By the goddess, how did you obtain so much power?”
I stepped back from him to stand between Ares and Achilles. “I gained some while I was without my memories and more from the dragons and then I gained most of what I have from mater when I channeled the rest of it to Ares.”
Zeus stared at me for several moments and then clapped his hands together. “This is wonderful! We need a feast!” He snapped his fingers and two beautiful Sidhe women stepped out of his chambers to stand beside him. He turned to them and said, “Prepare a feast in honor of the return of Artemis and to honor Ares now taking his rightful place as Prince.”
The women bowed and scurried away to do his bidding.
“Come, you must tell me everything that has happened!” said Zeus as he put his arms around Ares’ and Achilles’ shoulders and pulled them away from me and into his chambers.
I followed behind them, a smile nearly splitting my face. Zeus sat down in his large, overstuffed chair and waved his sons and me over to a large couch. I sat down between Ares and Achilles and leaned against Achilles’ side while Ares held my hand.
Zeus smiled at me and then said, “Artemis can you tell me where you’ve been the past one hundred years?”
I nodded. “For the first forty or so I was in wolf form running with wolf packs.”
“Wolf packs? You mean you were with werewolves and they didn’t contact Ares?” Zeus asked in shock.
I shook my head. “No, I mean wolf packs, like the actual animal.”
His eyebrows raised. “Oh.”
“I don’t know this part of the story myself, but Selene said that they’d been hearing about an unusually large wolf in a local pack which wasn’t afraid of people. Then they got reports of a naked girl seen begging for food and they were worried the vampires would get me. So, Selene decided that as a friend of the werewolves, it was her job to investigate. What she found was me separating from the wolf pack and trying to become human again. You see, I hadn’t changed out of my wolf form in forty years so I couldn’t even remember how to speak, and I barely remembered how to change forms. She thought I’d been abused by vampires or was on the run.
“As you can imagine, I wasn’t in the best shape when she found me. My body was filthy, my hair was matted and I had lice and fleas. She recognized that I had inherited witch’s powers by the woman who had cursed my father so she took me in as a witch so that she could bypass contacting the werewolves or the vampires. She crafted a pendant which could hide my smell and my skin designs and made me for all intents and purposes human.”
Ares exhaled. “Well, that explains a lot.”
Achilles nodded. “Yes, it does.”
I continued. “I lived with her coven for sixty years and was assigned as the youth counselor to help the young members of our coven come into their powers. I only left the coven’s walls to go to the magic shop when Selene needed special items. That’s when Ares first spoke to me.”
Ares smiled. “Yes, and then you had your dragon attack me.”
I frowned. “He didn’t attack you and besides, he knew who you were and I didn’t. He knew who you were because you killed off most of the dragons before.”
“Most of the dragons? You have a dragon?” Zeus asked as he gaped.
Achilles nodded. “We went to the Lair for their assistance in removing the block on Artemis’ memories. There were at least two hundred dragons in the Lair alone.”
“Draco-Blu has thirty dragons in his flight,” I said softly as my heart ached at the separation of Blu.
“We could visit him if you wanted to,” Ares said quietly. “Of course it would have to be after the battle.”
I smiled. “Thank you, but I know we have more pressing matters.”
Achilles smoothed my hair back and kissed my forehead. “We could ask them to assist us in the battle. They’d be wonderful allies and the vampires would never expect it.”
“Except that Apollo knows that Draco-Blu is a friend of mine,” I said softly. “He also knows I can use the sunlight magic.”
“Apollo? Sunlight magic?” Zeus asked his eyes expanded to their limit.
Achilles laughed. “There’s still a lot you don’t know.”
“Apparently,” Zeus said. “What is this talk of Apollo?”
“My twin’s alive. He saved me from our father as he was trying to kill me,” I said softly. “I don’t think Apollo’s all bad. I think…” I stopped talking because I knew what Ares would say. “And while at the coven I learned to use sunlight like I do fire.”
“Can you show me?” Zeus asked curiously.
I put my hands out, palms facing each other and focused on the center of them. Picturing the bright orange sun and remembering the feel of sunlight on my skin, I called the power and a small orb appeared between my hands.
Zeus walked forward and ran his hand around the orb. “Incredible. It’s been centuries since I’ve heard of someone being able to do this.”
Achilles put his hand under the orb and asked, “Can you drop it into my hand? I want to see if I can control it.”
I released the ball and the orb dropped onto Achilles’ hand and then dissipated.
“So much for that idea,” Achilles said in a light voice, but I could see the anger in his eyes. He didn’t like not being able to do magic that I could.
I leaned against Ares and felt my eyelids droop. “Why am I tired?”
Ares stroked my hair and whispered, “You’ve been through a lot the past few days. You should rest. I’ll tell the rest of the story to Zeus.” I nodded and laid my head on Ares’ lap and my legs across Achilles’ legs. Ares started talking and the world faded into dreams of running through the woods with Ares and Koda.
18
Artemis
Ares woke me up a few hours later to attend the feast that Zeus had prepared, a feast coordinated to formally proclaim Ares as Prince of the Sidhe, second in line to the throne of the Dark Court.
I stood on the dais between Ares and Achilles and fought the yawn trying to come out. A short, rotund, brown colored Sidhe woman had come and forced a Renaissance era dress on me. I liked the dress, but would have preferred jeans. Ares and Achilles had changed into soft breeches that tied in the front and button up shirts. I asked the woman why she didn’t give them puffy pirate shirts and she had scowled at me and stomped off. Some people have no sense of humor.
Zeus was wearing skin tight breeches like Ares’ and Achilles’ and a white shirt which showed off part of his upper chest. On him, the outfit looked stunning and very fitting. Who knew the God of Lightning would look best in Renaissance clothes?
“Thank you all for gathering on such short notice today. This is a joyous day in many regards,” began Zeu
s. He gripped Ares’ shoulder and smiled brightly. “My son, Ares, has released his Sidhe powers. He is now a member of the Sidhe realm and a prince of the Dark Court!”
The crowd clapped and a couple of the younger Sidhe cheered.
Zeus turned to me and extended his hand. I walked to him, being careful not to trip and embarrass myself. Zeus gripped my hand and said, “The second and most exciting revelation is the return of Artemis Lupine of the Sidhe and Werewolves.” The crowd gasped and began murmuring. Zeus raised his hand and they stopped talking. “After being lost to us and as well as to herself, Artemis has returned and rightfully claims her title as mate of Prince Ares and Prince Achilles.” The crowd clapped, but I got a few dirty looks from a couple of the Sidhe women. I rolled my eyes. I was not dealing with that again. Fighting jealous women was not fun and I’d already had more than enough of that at Lyngvi, the Werewolf home.
Zeus snapped his fingers and a beautiful bracelet appeared in his hand. It was made of thin strips of white wood braided together and it appeared to be holding a powerful spell. Zeus slipped it on to my wrist announcing, “So that you will never be lost to us again.”
Achilles laughed and then pretended to cough. He just put a tracking device on you.
I smiled at Zeus and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
Zeus released me, and I stood back between Ares and Achilles. Ares whispered, “Why hadn’t I thought of that?”
I reached over and pinched his leg, making him rub the spot and smile.
“Let’s eat!” Zeus yelled.
The tables in front of the crowd suddenly filled with food. I knew many forms of magic and had seen many spells used, but I had never seen that before.
“How? What?” I asked in shock.
Zeus winked at me. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve too, daughter.”
Did he just call me daughter? When I got over the initial shock, I smiled. I liked the idea of being his daughter. Ares picked my hand up and led me to the head table where Zeus, Ares, Achilles and I would eat. We ate a delicious feast of every kind of animal and at least ten types of desserts. I felt like I was going to pop by the time I finished stuffing my stomach.
I exhaled, feeling content, and leaned back. “I haven’t eaten like that in a long time.”
Ares smiled. “The Sidhe definitely know how to throw a party.”
Achilles tapped my shoulder, and I turned to find him standing and half bowing. “May I have this dance?”
“There’s no music playing,” I said with a frown.
Achilles clapped his hands and a troupe of musicians walked in the side doors with instruments. “You were saying?”
I shifted nervously in my seat. “I don’t know how to dance.”
Achilles grabbed my hand and pulled me up and out of my seat. “Then I shall teach you.” Ares growled and Achilles stopped, turning to face him. “Ares, please.”
Ares exhaled and looked up at the ceiling. “Two dances and then we trade off.”
Achilles half bowed to him in thanks and then twirled me out onto the dance floor.
“I don’t know how to dance, Achilles and I especially don’t know how to do that fancy dancing that everyone here is doing,” I said nervously as I looked at the other couples around us.
Achilles smiled down at me and placed one of my hands on his shoulder and held the other. “All you need is a man taught properly and dominant enough to lead. Just relax and let yourself feel the music.”
He spun us around and surprisingly I didn’t trip over my own feet. I smiled up at him and let him lead as we waltzed along with the other couples. The music was incredibly beautiful and with Achilles leading me, I was left to simply enjoy it all.
He smiled brightly at me and said, “See, you can dance.”
I laughed. “At least that is what everyone else thinks right now.”
He winked. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
He made me twirl, and I laughed as the colors of everything around us blurred. He stopped my twirling and pulled me against him, holding me tightly to his body with an arm around my lower back.
I stared into his eyes and saw such passion and love in them that it made my breath catch. We stood still in the center of the twirling and waltzing around us and yet none of the noise and movement mattered to me in that moment. He bent down and kissed my lips softly, sending a pleasant electric surge through my body. I kissed him back and then leaned away. “How do we dance to this song?” I asked, in an effort to change the subject from our kiss.
Achilles smiled and led me in a strange dance. We kicked our legs, spun away from each other, he dipped me and then we looped arms and all of the couples switched from partner to partner until we returned to our original dance partner. I laughed as we performed the moves and the music made me forget all of my troubles. The song ended, and I curtsied to Achilles as the other women did the same to their partners.
Achilles kissed the back of my hand and smiled at me from his bowing position. “Thank you for the dances.” He took my hand and gave it to Ares who was next to us.
Ares smiled at me. “You looked gorgeous out there.”
“That was all Achilles. I don’t even know how to perform these dances,” I said as a new song started and Ares placed our hands in the appropriate positions.
“Then I shall make you look even better,” he said with a smile.
He walked us into a circle of other couples, and we all joined hands. This dance was much more synchronized than the others. “What is this dance?” I asked as I learned the repetitive moves. Step side to side, release hands and dance in a small circle, kicking your feet out. Come back to the others, rejoining hands and walk two paces to the left, then shuffle kick your feet forward three times. Step left twice and then right once and then dance in a small circle kicking your feet out again.
“It goes by many names, but I call it the Branle de Bourgogne,” he answered.
Soon I got the hang of it. Every time I danced in my own little circle I couldn’t help but laugh and smile. It was the first real bit of fun I’d had in a really long time. Ares was smiling too, his perfect, true smile and the sight of him dancing and spinning happily with me made me happier than a hundred dead rabbits could.
“I have to say I’m surprised you’re such a good dancer,” I admitted as we continued the dance.
Ares smiled. “It is but one of the many surprises about me that you will soon learn. You have to remember that I have been alive a very long time, Sunshine.”
As we neared the band, he cleared his throat. The band leader nodded and the traditional song changed to one song I remembered from my high school days. Ares pressed me close against him and began to grind his body into mine. I had seen my fellow classmates dance like this, but I had never done it, or experienced it. Ares moved behind me and helped me move my hips along with the beat and his movements.
I could feel Achilles’ anger skyrocket as I reached back and wrapped an arm around Ares’ neck, pressing us even closer together. I didn’t want him to be mad, but at the same time I knew Ares was doing this for me. I deserved something for me.
Ares and I danced until the song ended and then he bowed to me, holding my hand and kissing the back of it softly. “Thank you for the dances.”
I curtsied and said, “It was an honor to dance with the great Prince of the Sidhe and Werewolves.”
He stood up and hugged me tightly. “You’re too perfect for me.”
I laughed and shook my head. “I am definitely not perfect. You, sir, are too good for me.”
He nipped my ear playfully. “I could be bad if you wanted me to.”
Achilles cleared his throat and we both turned to smile at him. “Did you enjoy your dances?”
I grinned. “I did. You’re both incredible dancers! I never thought about you both knowing how to ballroom dance before.”
“Perhaps you would like to dance with the man who invented ballroom dancing then,” said Zeus from behind
me.
I turned around and curtsied. “It would be a great pleasure for me to dance with the King of the Sidhe.”
He picked my hand up and kissed my fingertips softly. “The pleasure is all mine, my dear.” He winked at me and then spun me away from his two sons and back onto the dance floor. The song was slow, luckily, and Zeus led us in a simple box step. “I see there is still tension amongst you three.”
I sighed. “Yes, but I don’t see how to fix it. Achilles is upset because he wants me to mate with him, but Ares doesn’t want that. I don’t want to upset Ares, yet I do feel the draw to Achilles. But every time I start kissing Achilles I feel like I’m betraying Ares.” I groaned and leaned my forehead against his shoulder. “What do I do?”
Zeus patted me on the back and then hugged me. “You need to make the decision that is right to you. I love both of my sons and want to see them happy, but I’m not going to tell you to do something that you might regret or that will make you uncomfortable. Give it time, dear. You’ve only been back with us for a short while. There is no need to rush things.”
“Thank you. May we take a break? I would love to keep dancing, but I’m tired.”
Zeus bowed to me and led me back to Ares and Achilles. “I return your beloved to you and thank you for allowing this old man to dance with such a beautiful woman.” He leaned close to me and whispered, “Good luck.”
I frowned at him and watched as he walked away laughing.
“What was that about?” Achilles asked.
“Just some fatherly talk from Zeus, nothing that needs to be discussed. I think I need a glass of water.”
Ares and Achilles looked at each other a moment, communicating in that strange silent guy way and then they both ushered me back to our table. I sat down and accepted the glass of water Achilles handed to me. I hadn’t noticed until I’d said something, but I was incredibly thirsty and a little lightheaded.
“You should have told me you were lightheaded,” said Ares softly.
Artemis Lupine- The Complete Series Page 57
