He snapped his fingers and suddenly held a gleaming golden apple in the palm of his hand. He stared at it with that same mile-long look, and I worried about him. He was not well, though I wished I knew why. Was this sadness over Mother? Or was this more?
I didn’t often delve into emotions with Zeus. He simply wasn’t that type. Nor was I, but I loved my family. A great deal. And when they hurt, I did too.
“She cannot touch the apple directly. Should she do so, she will perish instantly, but you can feed it to her. I wish you luck, my son. May you find the happiness and joy that has eluded me for far too long.”
I took the proffered apple, debating whether to go or to say words I would never usually dare speak to him. But he seemed softer today too, and Medusa made me think that sometimes speaking truth to others wasn’t just good but necessary. Sometimes people needed to hear things.
Swallowing hard, I said, “Father, I do not claim to be the brightest of the bunch, nor the most eloquent. But I am honest. It’s my one fatal flaw. I don’t know what it is that has you so contemplative, but whatever it is… determine its importance and worth to you, then make a decision and do it. Whatever it is you deem appropriate.”
He didn’t look at me, nor did he acknowledge my words with words of his own, but his chin gave the slightest tilt, and I knew that was a declaration from him.
Whatever this was, I hoped he might learn from it. Or that at the very least, my words might haunt him enough so that someday, he might actually decide to fix things. If I were a betting man, I would say this had everything to do with Mother. I did not know how they could ever fix the mess they’d made of their lives and their union, but I trusted that if anyone could overcome such insurmountable odds, it would be the two of them.
With a clap of my hand to his knee, I stood and gestured with the apple. “Thank you, Father.”
“Let me know how it went, boy.”
I swiped open a travel tunnel and nodded firmly. “I will. I vow it.”
Chapter 62
Medusa
I dressed for temple methodically, not even paying any mind to what I’d grabbed. I felt so empty, as though someone had reached inside me and scooped out anything that mattered. I was hollow, void, and without hope.
I had gone from such joys as I had just last night, thinking that perhaps Ares and I could conquer the odds and be together, to now realizing it had only ever been a stupid dream and that I was nothing more than a nightmare waiting to be unleashed upon the immortal world.
Not only could I never be with Ares, I could never be with a man period. When I thought about all those times I’d been alone with Perseus, my skin crawled and my breaths grew choppy. What if I’d done something with him? What if he’d done something with me? I clawed at my neck with cold fingertips. Ignorance hadn’t been bliss at all. I’d taken chances I would never have taken otherwise had I known just how badly things could have gone, not just for me but for everyone I loved.
I shuddered to think about it.
Wrapping a veil around my head, I decided that I would never look at another man again. I would die an old maid, and none would ever know about the fate that could have been mine had I continued down the previous path. I would never again be happy, but at least I would work hard to never show it.
None but me would know the agonies I suffered and the enormous loss I must endure simply because I’d been born.
Mother did not bid me farewell as I walked to the temple, and I thought she understood that I could not tolerate it. Never again would I tempt fate. If I saw a man, I would evade him. I would even go so far as to fly away if I must. But I was determined never to turn into that terrible monster that’d seen us all banished for it.
I must have been walking faster than I’d thought, because before I knew it, I was nearly at the temple steps.
What was I going to say to Ares tonight? I squeezed my eyes shut and shuddered. He would hate me forever. He would never understand why I did this. Should I tell him the truth? But what would he think of me then, if I did?
And then I heard a voice I never expected to hear at this time of day, and I cried out in near agony when he suddenly appeared beside me.
Looking tall and so handsome, he wore a smile that could have made even Apollo green with envy, it was so bright. He looked much altered from the brooding god I’d first met. In his hand, he held a single golden apple, and I swallowed reflexively.
“Ares, what? Why are you—?”
His brows twitched, and I began to notice that people were starting to stop and stare. Rumors had been spreading about us, but now they would prove not to be rumors at all but fact.
He took a deep breath even as my stomach trembled and heaved.
“I know I should not come as I am, Medusa. I never wish to harm you or your reputation, so the mere fact that I am here now should tell you that I do not care about them at all. Or what they think of our love, which is pure, I vow to you, my precious little bird.”
I shook, clutching my hands to my breasts as hot tears gathered at the corners of my eyes. “Don’t do this. Please.” I squeezed out the words, feeling as though I couldn’t breathe.
His smile began to oh so slowly turn downward. “I… I’m pledging myself to you. I am telling you that I love you. That I am in love with you. This is not a game, little bird. Not for me. I do not fall in love with mortals, ever. Because I find it unfair to do to them what so many of my own family have done to others. It is why I asked Father for one of his apples. For you. To show you how deeply I mean what I say and how much I hope and wish that you might feel the same for me. I understand that you have a prophecy, but all prophecies can be worked on. If you know who to talk to. And as to your vow, once my sister understands the truth of my feelings for you she will release you, I know she will.”
The anger that I’d been feeling all night suddenly rushed through me. Resentment about my fate. Disappointment about the trajectory of my life. It all came bubbling up, and I didn’t stop to think before I said, “Go! Go away! I don’t love you! I am tired of your obsession with me! I hate you, Ares! You’re a great fool if you ever imagined that I could love you.”
Behind me, I could hear the stirrings of others, their cruel laughter and whispering titters. They mocked us openly, and it wasn’t like any of the women wouldn’t have wanted to be in my position. I knew exactly what this was—envy, pure and simple. But that envy had turned to jealousy and now to hate. They wanted to see me crash and burn. They’d wanted to see it for years, long before I’d fallen in love with the sweetest, most gentle male I’d ever known.
His face was dark, and he reminded me of the god of war in a way I’d never seen him before. I could feel the wild energy begin to swirl around him but also knew that he had a tight clamp on his emotions.
To unleash his fire would be the end of us all, and though I’d just said possibly the cruelest words ever to him, he still would not hurt me. A choked sob spilled up the back of my throat, and my knees very nearly gave out.
“You don’t mean this. This is not you. This is Ceto speaking. What’s been done to you, Medusa? Tell me. Let me fix this. Let me help you.”
His words struck me like a fiery dart through the chest, and I shook violently. I should have known he would figure it all out. He was so clever. So good. So wonderfully perfect. The mate of my soul.
And when he grabbed my hands and brought them to his lips, my knees trembled violently. I swayed, and he grabbed me, wrapping a strong, powerful arm around me to hold me upright.
His lips so close to mine. His heat my own. My heart screamed within me to take it all back. To tell the truth. He would forgive me. He was too good not to. And I would endeavor to never hurt him thus again.
“Ares, I—” My words came out a croaking sound.
I heard the outraged gasps at my arrogance for daring to imagine myself on the same level as a god, and it was like taking a bucket of ice-cold water to the face.
He weakened
me. His very presence and the look and smell of him, the feel of his power cradling my tiny form, had made me forget the very real danger I put him in merely by allowing him such liberties.
Finding the very last dregs of my strength, I shoved him away as powerfully as I could. I knew it was not enough to actually hurt him, or even to budge him should he not wish to move. But shock transformed his hope into something painful to look upon.
“Leave me!” I screamed, knowing the mockery I made of myself and the way I must look now to my entire village, like the madwoman they all believed me to be. Tears ran in streams down my face. “Don’t you get it yet? I don’t want you!”
His back bowed, and he snarled. “I don’t believe that! What did Ceto tell you? What aren’t you telling me? You love me, I know you do! I will not be so easily swayed, but godsdamnit, woman, if you’ve got an ounce of decency, you will stop these lies, for they wound me as nothing else can!”
I hiccupped, covering my mouth with my hands. He’d seen right through me, as I’d known he would. And now there was no more in me. We could never be together, but I couldn’t keep hurting him this way.
I shook. “Oh, Ares. I can… can never be… be with you. It’s impossible. I could ki—”
There was a clapping sound, then everything changed when I saw the god Poseidon staring down at us with his haughty, hawklike gaze. The crowd’s noise grew in pitch like the sound of a disturbed bee’s nest.
“Poseidon!” they whispered. “Why has he come? What is this madness?”
But he wasn’t the only god there. I recognized the other as a god, I simply couldn’t tell who he was. He was tall and lanky, dressed all in black but a black that swirled with what looked like stardust. His eyes were a hypnotic shade of blue and his hair an inky shade of shadowy black. He stared at me with those haunting eyes of his, never blinking or wavering. I inched closer toward Ares.
“Uncle,” Ares asked, sounding surprised. “Why have you come? And why have you brought Hypnos with you?”
Angry at me as I knew he was, Ares backed up against me, pressing his back to my chest, shielding me with his large frame as best he could. I peeked out from behind his back and noted another familiar face was there.
Perseus stood just behind Poseidon’s left shoulder. His face was a mask of pure venom and rage as he glared in our direction.
I curled my hands into Ares’s tight, muscular back, suddenly ashamed of myself for lying to him as I had. I hadn’t known what to do, and the longer I’d been with him, the more pain I’d felt, but he knew I loved him. We’d spoken truth last night, and Ares was no one’s fool.
I rested my cheek against him, squeezing my eyes shut, sensing that things were about to get dark, dangerous, and possibly even life-threatening. Mortals did not survive when gods warred, and Poseidon looked as though he meant to drown us all in his wrath.
I was tired of pretending I felt nothing, tired of pushing Ares away. I did love him. I always would. Leaning up on tiptoe, I laid a very gentle, tender, and the lightest of kisses upon his shoulder blade. He should not have felt that butterfly’s touch, and yet his skin prickled with gooseflesh, and I heard his rumbling approval.
“Step away from her, boy,” Poseidon growled. “You do not understand the viper you’ve made your bed with.”
More shocked gasps came. We’d never slept together, not that it was any of their business, but I would forever be marked a fallen woman for it now. The usual feelings were not aroused in me, though. I felt no embarrassment or even shame that others should know that Ares and I were so close. One thing had become very clear to me just then—I loved him. Deeply. Truly. The type of love that made one feel invincible. Strong. As though they could conquer worlds even if they had but the strength of a mouse. Ares was my rock and my hope for a better life. A better life for us both.
“Do a thing to harm her, Uncle, and so help me, I will burn your kingdom to the ground,” Ares warned, not a note of quiver in his tone. This was a man who meant exactly what he said. This was a god of war issuing a challenge, and it made my blood sing to hear it.
Poseidon’s nostrils flared. “I do you a favor, my boy. You do not know who she is. I’ve only just discovered the truth myself. She is a demon sent from the Titans themselves to destroy us all.”
I gasped, and not because I was afraid but rather because I heard sincerity in the words he spoke to Ares. The great god Poseidon sounded truly worried. And if a god should sound so worried, then maybe… maybe this was nothing to do with the petty ways of the gods at all. Maybe I was tainted. Of bad blood. Maybe Perseus had had cause to hate me. Had Mother kept more from me? Did I really know everything?
“She is no demon. And I have a plan to help her with her curse. I’ve only just been gifted an apple from Father—“
“Are you a damned fool? You would turn that monster into one of us! Wake up, Ares.” Poseidon snapped his fingers, and thunder and lightning cracked over his deep waters to punctuate his words.
A stiff breeze smelling of brine and salt whistled at my back, shoving me even deeper into Ares’s strong, towering frame. I buried my nose in his spine and squeezed my eyes shut. I knew who he was and all that he was capable of doing, and yet… and yet, a terrible sense of dread was rising up in me.
“I’m telling you that she will be the ruin of us all. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, boy. But you will do as I say. You will leave this thing be! If you love her at all, then leave. Leave now!”
I chanced a quick peek at the god of water and was stunned to see how round and huge his eyes were. He did not play games. My knees shook, and it was all I could do to remain standing.
I could almost hear Ares’s smirk as he said, “You think me a fool! I leave and then you will harm her. I know your ways, Uncle. You’re not half as clever as you believe yourself to be!”
“Damn you, boy!” Poseidon was practically spitting now. His eyes were wild, and his hair had grown longer and turned a shade of what looked like dark ocean blue. The long locks floated like a wave behind him. “She has the power to end us! If you think I jest, I do not. This is one moment where I am trying like hell to show you the truth, son. This bitch will be the ru—”
Suddenly Poseidon’s neck was jerked back, and he was grunting, gurgling, as his eyes nearly popped free of their sockets from the pressure upon his neck. Ares’s hand was outstretched, and I knew that he was the one doing this thing to his uncle.
The choking sounds Poseidon made were terrible to hear, and I knew they would haunt the rest of my days.
“Never speak of her thus again,” Ares said in a low tone but deadly serious. “She is my female, and you will respect her!”
Poseidon’s skin was a dark shade of red, and grunts grew wilder in sound. I heard him say what sounded like words, but I could make none of them out until he said, “Hypnos, now.”
And then it was not Poseidon struggling for breath but my beloved Ares pinned fast to the ground. That gaunt giant stood with his arm outstretched, and all around us, lethargy began to spread like creeping death.
I swayed on my feet, affected by the power of such might even though he was not aiming directly at me. Shaking my head as though to ward off that darkness, I clutched at my breast.
“Stop. Stop, please,” I whimpered when I dropped to my hands and knees. The sharp sting of rubble biting into my flesh helped me focus better. I crawled over to Ares, grabbed his large shoulders, and gently shook him. “Please, please stop,” I whispered to Hypnos, even as I continued to try to awaken my beloved.
“You ensnared him! You are Ceto’s seed, you conniving whore!” Poseidon barked, but I paid him no mind, for he did not matter to me. But in one matter, I knew he spoke truth. And if I loved Ares at all, then I had to be willing to be honest with myself. My heart in my throat, I decided to warn Ares one last time. I would make him no threats of leaving or say that I despised him. I would never lie to him again. With all the love I had in my heart for him now resting
in my glance, I gently smiled his way even as I felt the heat of tears begin to bathe the backs of my eyes.
“He does not lie, Ares,” I said softly, and he grunted, shaking his head most violently. “Oh, my darling War. I wish I was something, someone other than what I was created to be. But all my life, I’ve felt a darkness trapped within me, something ancient and terrible. I know he does not lie. What if I am cursed to spell the doom of you all? Would that seem so far-fetched? I am the offspring of primordials, after all.” I gentled my words even over the sounds of his grunting denials. It pained me to see the tears rolling down the strong bridge of his nose. This was a man broken, not a proud and vain god.
“Surely, you cannot love a monster like me. You must be free of me. I love you too much to hurt you further.”
He croaked and tried to reach out to me, but the netting of Hypnos’s power was too strong. Ares’s movements were lethargic and slow.
“Little bird,” he whispered. The veins in his neck bulged and strained as he fought to work through the dark chains that bound him. “I will never stop loving—”
“This is bullshit!” Poseidon hissed. “If you won’t believe my words, then maybe seeing is believing!”
I was flung to the dirt, and my head banged violently against the temple steps, and stars burst in my field of vision. Woozy and unsure of where I was, I tried to shake off the surprise attack, but I was given no time.
I felt a body upon me, and I screamed when my skirts were roughly shoved aside. “No! Do not do this! You do not understand. Do not do—”
“So help me, I will end you!” Ares roared. “Release her at once! Or I will never forgive you for this!”
But Poseidon’s face was wild, and I knew he did not hear his nephew. There was a look about him that told me my fate as clearly as words ever could. The sobs tore through me then. Though I’d not felt shame before, it now came over me like a tidal wave the moment my maidenhood was breached for the very first time.
The Greek Gods of Romance Collection Page 76
