Page 5 of Flamesworn

“The Strategos won’t be pleased to be awoken so late,” one of the soldiers said.

Ares sat up a little straighter. The Strategos? Was he still an Akti? Atreus had children who were still alive when Ares went to rest in his tomb. What if they’d lived? Surely they would have. They had been capable fighters, if not exactly like their father. Ares eyed the street eagerly, breathing in the scraps of their divinity that swelled with the fear and apprehension of the soldiers around them.

When the soldier returned, a man walked with them, his body honed with years of combat and training, the scent of shed blood on his soul. He’d killed before—more than once, in defense of Arktos. Ares knew before they saw his face that this was a descendant of Atreus Akti.

“Strategos Akti,” a soldier said. “A soldier from the north is inside. One of the watchtowers has?—”

“Don’t say it,” Akti said. Yes. Good. That was the right tone for a commander of an army. Ares leaned forward, taking in his slightly familiar jawline, his unfamiliar cheekbones and nose. “Have the others been summoned?”

The other soldiers all shifted uncomfortably. “We, ah. There was trouble, you see.”

“I’ll go,” one of them said, and peeled away.

“Trouble?” Akti raised an eyebrow. He came so close, Ares could have touched his leg as he passed, yet he didn’t look Ares’ way once.

“It might have been the tension,” one of the others said. “A few of us— It was a stressful situation, that’s all.”

The Strategos passed Ares, and Ares got to their feet, frowning.

“Don’t you see me?” they asked.

“Sir.” One of the soldiers lowered their voice, “the way he was speaking…it sounds like it might be bad.”

“He kept saying the wordwar,”another said.

“Not another word of this until we are in a secure location,” Akti said. Dominance rang in his voice, and Ares shivered. “I need everyone who witnessed this indoors, now.”

“Akti,” Ares said. “Do you know me?” The Strategos didn’t so much as twitch. Ares frowned, walking around him. “I said, do you know me?”

The Strategos looked right through them, walking steadily into the building.

Ares swayed, a hand on their chest. A descendant of Akti didn’t recognize War. No, it was worse than that. The Strategos could have still seen them if he didn’t recognize their divinity. The fact that he didn’t see them at all, even when they tried to make themself known, meant they weren’t ignorant of War—theyrejectedWar.

HatedWar.

Ares was starting to shake. It had all gone wrong. Nothing was as it should have been. Atreus wouldn’t have allowed this, surely.

“You can’t ignore me,” they said, pushing through the doors to the building. “I amhere, Akti, I am in your city! Don’t turn your back to me when it was my power that shaped this land for ages past.”

But Akti just continued into the room where the soldier with the seed of war sat, passing Ares by as through they were a ghost. Ares followed him, scowling, and Castor gripped the edge of the table.

“They’re here,” he said. “I can feel it.”

“Take it easy, soldier,” Akti said, as Ares leaned against the wall in the corner, arms crossed. “The others in my council are on the way.”

“Not them,” the soldier whispered.

“Then who?” Akti leaned forward, dominance threading his voice. “Who is here, soldier?”

“It’s them,” Castor said, knuckles white as his nails dug into the table. “The one the Beast said was coming. The thing I brought into the city.” Tears sprang to his eyes, and his heartbeat quickened with battle-fever as Ares’ power swept through the room like a heatwave.

“It’s War.”

Chapter

Two

Kataida pulledher uniform pants on, scowled at her boots, and tried desperately to wipe the sleep from her eyes.

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