“I have come for the titans, brother,” she snapped at her sibling. “I have heard that you too have fallen for one and I cannot bear to see this go on any longer. I will take them and…” she looked at Alec with a gentler expression, “There will be little pain, I can promise you.” She lifted her spear, and I gasped.
She meant to skewer me in some distant and remote forest.
Milos moved in front of me and Heracles immediately drew his sword. His warriors followed his lead.
“Enough!” Alec said and again the plants grew restless, like hounds ready to chase a kill. “I have invited you here and it is at my will that you remain. Untouched. If I force you to leave…”
“Force…” Apollo said, his voice cold and dead, the quiet as terrifying as the shouting. His golden skin rippled with power and flames danced along his arms. His eyes turned into the shining light of the burning sun. His hair strands stood at end until they too were consumed by flames. “You dare speak to us as though you were our king. I am not a simpering underworld shadow. If you speak out of turn again to myself or my sister, I will smash this pile of rocks that you rule to nothing.”
Alec smiled, and his sharp teeth showed. “Every power you use, even now, oh son of Zeus, is allowed by me. You have nothing here. You are nothing here. This is sacred ground, and if you find the strength to even lift your head, it is because I deem it so.”
Apollo’s burning only turned brighter. Any moment the two would tear the world apart, and I was the cause. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. What could I say?
“When did a funeral not turn into war? Or a wedding for that matter.”
The lilting and beautiful voice of Aphrodite filled the room like the smell of a thousand roses. A calming coolness rushed in on a breeze along with her and I felt myself relax. She did not bring fire or pain, she brought calm and love and softness. She lured us all into a hush as she entered quietly and moved to Alec’s side. She touched one of his plants and then her eyes found me.
Cenia too had entered, and she moved to my side and frowned at Apollo and then at Artemis who glared at my sister until Cenia grew sullen and glanced away.
Aphrodite motioned at Apollo and then leveled her gaze on Artemis until the battle goddess put down her spear. “Here, we are guests. You, Artemis, have never had manners.” When Apollo remained a walking spark of fire, she sighed and moved in front of him, putting her gentle hand on his cheek. “Please, Apollo, I know that your sister would want to first honor her warrior who has fallen. Arman was one of your greatest followers, was he not?”
Artemins nodded. “He was.” She cooled and glanced aside. “Brother.”
And just like that Apollo flickered out, his body no longer a vessel for the sun, and then he spun on his heels and stalked away.
Artemis spared me a glare before she threw her heavy braid over her shoulders. “Until after the funeral, then.”
Cenia remained, her eyes pulled wide as she took in the warriors. Heracles kissed her hand and told her she was worth all of the fighting in the halls, that she’d set a thousand ships racing around the world if Alec didn’t figure out who she was to wed and soon. That Apollo seemed ready to burn the islands to the ground for her and how that must feel like true power.
She’d been quiet for once, sort of afraid, I believe, of Alec’s friend and his men. Perhaps of the real thought of war for her hand. Perhaps of the thought that Apollo, like I had also been thinking, being quite terrifying and maybe not as easily led as Cenia would want.
Most of the warriors had darker skin like their leader. The one very golden-skinned man had his face half covered and was marked from thigh to shoulder of still strange symbols.
In the back of my mind a whisper began as I tried to read them. They drew me in and without thinking I approached him. I lost sense of myself tracing the symbols with my eyes. A lulling song was being made in my soul the closer I got. My hand reached for them and when my fingers brushed his skin, he spun around, pulling a sword and holding it at my throat. He spoke rapidly in a language I did not know, but I understood his meaning quite well.
Heracles stopped the demi-god, as I now knew he was, from gutting me. Strange, I sensed an otherness to him.
“He thinks you mean to steal his power,” Heracles said and gently moved me away. “The Egyptians are a bit sensitive about us, and perhaps you should not get too close.”
“They….” I met his eyes. “They sang to me.”
His brows raised high. “What? The symbols. Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Alec and Heracles shared a glance and the latter took me by the wrist and squeezed. “You must not speak of this with anyone.”
“Of course.”
Alec’s plants were gone, and the black cobra too, even though I wasn’t sure if I’d seen it accurately. Their powers had been an ether in my mind, a sort of dream. Either way, the damage to the floor was still there and so I lifted my hands and made it right. The warrior with the symbols jumped with a squeak of sound when the floor closed and he lifted his sword again, as if to ward me away.
Milos came over, his brow furrowed. “Whats going on?”
Heracles stroked his beard. “She said she heard the symbols.”
“Which ones?”
We showed Milos and his eyes took on a curious gleam. “Interesting.”
Alec motioned for the room to clear until it was only the warriors and myself and Milos in attendance.
However, Aphrodite returned after my sister had left. He did not dismiss her, I noticed.
Alec went to his throne, and we stepped back down so that he might rule properly as was fitting.
“It is a sad evening to meet upon,” Alec said. “Arman would have enjoyed seeing you all together for once without war being the only reason. Freya,” he said to me, his eyes finding mine. “You and your sister should be at the funeral and perhaps you’d like to place your own flowers on the pyre.”
“Of course.”
“You all know why you are here, to honor Arman, yes, but also, Freya is my…prisoner.” He avoided my gaze. “She and her sister are here because I deem it so. Zeus and Hades have an accord to judge her for being too powerful to live free. If Hades should break his promise and attempt to take her before the final day of the gathering, I ask that you protect her. Until I can figure a way to keep her safe, I will need other eyes. I fear there will be more like Artemis, hoping to find favor with Zeus. Can I count on you?”
I glanced around in surprise when everyone put a hand to their heart.
How is it that Alec could command all these men? And against Zeus for that matter.
Aphrodite surprised me most of all when she said, “I, too, will make sure nothing happens to Freya.”
Chapter 11
Milos handed me the dress and veil. “For the funeral,” he’d said, and then quietly, “From Alec.”
I tried it on straight away, too stunned to ask questions. It was dove gray that gradually turned to black, loosely woven so that my skin was visible beneath except for the bodice and around my thighs, but it revealed my sides. The sleeves were flowers and vines of fabric that wound around my arms to my finger before the edges flowed to the floor. When I walked, the dress swished, the excess dragging behind me.
The veil would be even longer. “I should look like a widow in this,” I said, but he’d have to pry it from me. I loved the dress.
Milos surprised me by placing his large hands on my shoulders. His eyes were tinged the color of a foamy sea, I now saw, and we were a breath away. Sharing it, actually. “You’ve had wine,” I said, and smiled.
He watched my lips spread and seemed slightly dazed and fell forward into them, kissing me soundly before he pulled away. He’d moved so fast that I hadn’t responded.
I touched my lips, and they were slightly wet from his tongue having run along them before retreating.
“What…what was that for?” I asked, breathless.
He frowned.
“Are you angry?”
“No.” I wasn’t sure what I was.
He stiffened, obviously at war inside about something. “It was another gift. From my brother.”
“What do you mean?” My thoughts turned dark and my fists balled.
“He said you tried…you’d kissed him. He knew the rejection must have been very difficult for one—”
“The king thought he’d send you as a proxy?” I itched to slap him across the face, but there was another who deserved it and would reap it once I had the chance.
Milos’ cat eyes closed, and he leaned his head back, sending his long red hair over his shoulders. It was like silk and I wanted to touch it to see if it was as soft as it looked. It wasn’t his fault his brother was an idiot.
I thought to give Milos freedom from the same wrath his brother would feel. I reached for his hand, pulling it into my two. His eyes snapped open, narrowing on me warily. I would be lying if I said that there wasn’t lightning there in our hands. Our skin practically hummed together, and it was distracting.
Milos cleared his throat and untangled our fingers, obviously sensing what I was. Mine were still warm as I rubbed them together. “I told your brother that Hermes had been my only kiss. I was wanting to wipe the memory away of it. But he’d…”
“Yes…?”
It occurred to me that Milos had a secret simmering beneath his usually happy expression. “What is it you aren’t telling me?”
Milos asked me a question instead of answering mine. “Is it true that you saw Hades’ memories?”
“It is.”
He made sure we were alone before he stared deeply into me, perhaps to my soul. He moved his mouth to my ear, “Try and see mine, Freya.” His voice was so deep and close it vibrated through my core with power and I shuddered and slipped into the arms of his mind with ease.
“The world above is a dangerous place, Milos. You think we have monsters here, wait until you go above…”
Milos chuckled under his breath. “Oh, dark brother, how have you lived this long? You are more jaded than Hades. He who also needs a wife.”
I stood in a shadow world of mist and gray. Nay, I floated there, alongside the two brothers as if tethered to their movements while they paced quickly together, nearly racing one another. They were both much younger it seemed. Nothing echoed, dimmed by the moisture, where their words hung in the air amidst a grove of trees whose trunks were black as night, leaves gilded in silver, some even dripping with it. Their fruit was the only light, a dim glow of brightness like fireflies, only, instead of gold, also a silver.
The two were youths, maybe my age. They were like beautiful creatures of night, free, loose in the joints, heads doused in long silken hair that swished. One as red as the other black, and they laughed, and shoved, and played. They were happy in the underworld.
They found joy in the place where people gave up their dreams for eternity.
In that moment, I envied them both. And it made me think of Cenia.
She and I had run the grounds of our kingdoms just like this. We had played and laughed and brought each other great joy in a place that was lonely and forbidding.
And like them, she and I had now changed and grown into different people.
Watching Alec smile a true smile of happiness, I sighed, and he glanced in my direction and then away. His gaze was longer and softer, eager for the future. His body had not the tightness from the tensions of politics. He was beautifully made now but then, he’d been uncollared by duty, a wild beast that would never be tamed it seemed.
But he had been. Something had to have changed him because this wasn’t the King of the Seven Islands that I knew. And I also knew this was why the younger brother had brought me here.
I waited, hoping Milos would show me more and he did. The next moment I was in a place I’d never been before either. While the other was darkness, this was bright enough to hurt my eyes.
I glanced down to find I stood on my two feet now. I backed away, afraid of what I saw beneath them. I treaded upon the face of Medusa, her wide eyes deranged with madness, her snakes reaching out to bite me. But could they? I was an apparition.
The lifelike resemblance, and the pain that stretched her face, caused me to stumble backwards. It was almost real looking.
It was a main room of a palace, and it was most definitely in Olympus. The ceiling was roofless, allowing the sun to enter the walls. When I glanced upward, there was a statue as high as the clouds. Apollo. And directly to his left, Artemis, equally gigantic, and equally golden. The two stood facing slightly away from one another, braced for battle, side by side. Beneath them, I saw more monsters chiseled not very deeply into the stone beneath our feet, made in a way so we should walk upon them. Monsters conquered, the Olympians rising above.
Many of the Olympians were in the main room, at a gathering of sorts.
I noticed Aphrodite first because she was alone and seemed very sad. Her hair was hanging over her face in an unbecoming way, and she was holding a drink in shaking hands. She appeared young, fragile, though I knew she was older than Alec, still, her eyes were not clouded with disappointment as they were now. They were fresh and desperate.
Alec and Milos entered as two dark birds of prey amidst a flock of golden songbirds, and they came directly to Thanatos and his twin Hypnos, who acted surprised to see Alec.
They all spoke together in deep voices, their dark clothing and hair and edges, contrasting sharply with the gold all around them. The opulence glowed even more brightly with the nether worlders amidst.
Milos was the one to notice Aphrodite’s perusal first and she blushed and turned away. So unlike her, but it wasn’t for the younger brother that she pined. I could tell already; she could not take her beautiful eyes from Alec. I tried to see what she saw and found it an easy task. Alec smiled, and laughed at something Thanatos said, his head thrown backwards and the sound so pleasant it made the hair raise on my arms. Then he ate and drank like a man starved. But the hungry one was Aphrodite. Still, her sadness won out and she left. I followed.
As did the younger Milos.
In the gardens he approached her. “Is it true?” he asked, no, demanded.
“Is what true?” she said, obviously afraid of whatever it was that he wanted to know.
“Were you attacked?” Milos asked. “None have punished the bastard who dared to…”
She lifted her chin. “He’s not punished because I asked Zeus to leave him be.”
Milos shook his head.
Alec found them there and for the first time he seemed to notice Aphrodite, but I didn’t see much of a change in him like I thought perhaps I would. “Who is not punished?” Alec asked, his clever gaze running over her defensive posture, dismissing the perfection to behold there far too quickly.
Aphrodite noticed his dismissal and she stood tall, pushing her luscious body to an affect.
“Hermes,” Milos said, but then he said no more, obviously not wanting to give what was her own story away.
I knew Hermes enough now that my skin crawled. And so, he’d gone after Aphrodite as well.
She put a hand to her throat, and Alec’s eyes widened, seeing the gesture and not mistaking it. “The messenger has overstepped before,” was all he said with a darkness that I knew was linked to the snake of power he held deep inside.
And then the visions jumped from conversation to conversation and places to places in a whirl until I was in the future as Milos watched Aphrodite lead his brother away in the darkness at another gathering, the two beauties smiling and talking now with ease. She was no longer sad, and Alec was no longer dismissive.
The young Milos rubbed his hands together with a chuckle. He’d planned this. A matchmaker.
I smiled at his glee but then followed him as he followed them. He watched them in the gardens when they were together, then at dinner. Sometimes we would appear in some sort of games and event where they were strolling among tents.
Alec mu
st have been competing. I only saw a blur of the archery that he won, and then Aphrodite putting a ring of flowers around his neck, kissing his cheek.
He was proud, his chest swollen with it. But I didn’t know that he was in love.
Milos, however, poured honey in his brother’s ear about how he’d have the most beautiful wife of all time. But Alec seemed reluctant even with that in mind.
More jumps and Milos was at another games, frustrated, pacing. He was then in a cloak and meeting in the shadows with….Aphrodite?
She came in secret and he gave her something. “To help set the mood.” She nodded happily and Milos followed her to the outside of Alec’s tent.
Milos was so eager to have them marry. But why?
The two were alone, their outlines all I could see within the tent of candlelight. Aphrodite poured them drinks. She put her hand to Alec’s bare chest. I realize they are now undressed.
I wanted to look away, and my hands were fisted at my sides, but I needed to watch. I had to know.
Alec drank thirstily, finishing his glass. He sighed, asking what was in the drink.
Aphrodite laughed.
They embraced. Alec appeared to be so taken with her body that his groans grated like sand in my ears.
And Aphrodite’s moan was a song of passion.
When I thought to turn away, I only drew closer.
The vision of their shadowy lust burned me like fire in my veins.
I moved to the tent’s opening and peered inside, burning myself further with the images of them together…
And that was when the screams began.
I had to fight to be free of Milos’ memory. “Stop,” I shouted, as I came to myself. “Please, no more.”
I couldn’t watch what happened afterwards any longer. Alec was taken naked from the tent by other immortals who’d run over when they’d heard the screaming. Garnet rivulets covered his chest and it wasn’t his blood. Milos could do nothing as his brother was tied to a post right there at the games, whipped for all to see, nearly to death. More blood, this time Alec’s, and a river of it had formed at his feet from the punishment.
Beware the Fallen: Young Adult Mythology (Banished Divinity Book 1) Page 12
