Page 5 of Deadly Games
I expected one of her usual snappy comebacks, but as she walked over to the window, it was clear her mind was elsewhere. “I’m not sure what to think.”
I watched her in silence for a few seconds, trying to brush aside the foreign impulse to go over to her and… do what, I wasn’t sure. Comfort, maybe? Of all the temptations I’d indulged in my lifetime, that was certainly a new one and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Better push it aside like every other troubling emotion and thought she stirred up within me.
It was safer that way.
Chapter 3
Kore
The moment we left Loki and Hades behind, I realized there was a good chance I was making a mistake. Maybe Ares was just trying to separate us.
No. If he wanted to hurt us, he’d had plenty of opportunity to do that, and we were on his turf. Whatever he wanted from me, it was clear I wasn’t in any immediate danger, but I still felt safer with Fenrir at my side.
I was starting to get attached to him this way. He was sure a lot easier to get along with.
“This must be a lot for you to take in,” Ares said once we’d turned the corner.
“A bit,” I admitted, deciding to choose my words carefully where he was concerned. “Mainly, I’m just wondering why you called me here.”
He glanced down at me and I couldn’t help but think how much more menacing that gaze would be if I was on the receiving end of his wrath. “I don’t suppose your mother told you anything about your role in the Ether.”
“She didn’t tell me anything about you, period.”
Surprise flickered in his gaze, but it was gone just as quickly as it came. “Demeter,” he muttered under his breath, his tone a blend of contempt and admiration. “I should have figured as much.”
I stopped walking as the weight of every question I’d always wanted to ask him weighed down on my shoulders. He turned to face me and my fists clenched at my sides, my whole body fighting against the temptation to give in to impulse.
“Go ahead,” he said in a surprisingly soft voice. “Ask me anything.”
“Why did you leave?” The words came out with more bitterness than I intended, but there was no taking them back now.
Ares’ expression didn’t change. I got the feeling that it took a long time to get under his skin, which was probably a good thing. Long fuses were always more explosive when they finally did reach an end. “I didn’t. Not of my own volition.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing back the desire to believe his words. For so long, I’d kept myself up at night wondering what my father thought of me, if he ever did. I’d always assumed he’d just abandoned us. Abandonedmewithout a second thought. Why else would you go twenty years without so much as a birthday card?
Learning that Ares was my father hadn’t put an end to those doubts. Sure, Cronus had banished him, but that didn’t mean his departure from my life was involuntary. For all I knew, I was the product of a one-night stand. That was definitely the kind of thing my mother would cover up.
“Why should I believe you?” I finally asked.
“You shouldn’t,” he answered. “But if you’re anything like your mother, and those eyes tell me you are, you know deep down that it’s the truth.”
His words took me by surprise, especially because they were true. I wasn’t sure how or why, but I had a sense of trust in him that defied all logic. Some instinct buried too deep to realize it until now. That just made me want to put my guard up all the more. “When were you banished?”
“Given my best estimate of your age and the fact that your mother was in her third trimester, I’d say about twenty years,” he answered. “Time doesn’t pass as rigidly here.”
I tried to swallow again, but my mouth was dry. Unconsciously, I’d reached down to bury my fingers in Fenrir’s fur and the wolf leaned into my leg for support. He was sweeter this way, too.
“Why did he banish you, anyway?”
“That’s a complicated question with an even more complicated answer,” he mused, walking over to a great window overlooking the barren plains beyond the castle. “To put it bluntly, he viewed me as a threat.”
“You’re the god of war,” I said flatly. “Haven’t you always been a threat?”
He chuckled. “Very true, but there were unique circumstances leading up to my banishment that pushed his paranoia over the edge. Namely, the words of a soothsayer.”
“A soothsayer?” I frowned. “You mean a psychic?”
“Different terms, same idea.”
