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00:00I was born with a large chest, all the men in the forest covet my body, the fairies say I
00:08am cursed, because my mother was a priestess of the Moon Temple, who died while giving birth to me, and
00:15until the end, she never revealed who my father was.
00:19The priestesses therefore see me as an ill omen, treat me as a slave, and have forbidden me from looking
00:26directly into the eyes of men.
00:28Thena, you think that body of yours is for seducing men? This is Artemis' sacred grove. Step out of line,
00:38and I'll feed you to the sea monster, Scriper, myself.
00:43I didn't know what stepping out of line meant. All I knew was the ache in my chest from the
00:49bindings they made me wear.
00:51In summer, the fabric rubbed my skin raw. In winter, the coat turned my fingers blue.
00:57But no matter how tight I wrapped, those two stubborn mouths pushed through, refusing to disappear.
01:04I cried into the spring more times than I could count, begging my mother to tell me why she gave
01:10me this body.
01:11The spring never answered, only the wind rustling through the laurel leaves.
01:17Everything changed on the spring evening.
01:22Everything changed on the spring evening.
01:25Helios' chariot had just crossed the sky, painting the grove gold and rose.
01:30I was walking back from the stream, with a clay jug on my shoulder, water sloshing,
01:36when I heard sounds coming from the olive grove behind the temple.
01:39Muffled sounds.
01:41The kind you're not supposed to hear.
01:43I put down the jug and crept closer.
01:46Taya was on her knees.
01:48Her robe had slipped down to her waist, exposing the dry, wrinkled skin of her back.
01:53And standing in front of her was a man I'd never seen before.
01:57No, not a man. A god.
02:00He was shirtless, his body carved like a statue, every muscle holding enough force to level a city.
02:06Dark brown curls hung past his shoulders.
02:08His eyes were amber, burning like twin fires in the twilight.
02:13He had Taya by the chin, tilting her old face up to his.
02:17Tell me, who's the most beautiful niff in this grove?
02:24The moon goddess is handmaidens.
02:27No.
02:28He let her go, his gaze sweeping past her, past the olive branches, past the floating dust moats, in the
02:36golden light, and landing straight on me.
02:39My blood turned cold.
02:41His eyes moved down my face, past my trembling lips, and stopped at my chest, pressed tight against the edge
02:49of the clay jug, rising and falling with every panicked breath.
02:54You.
02:54He walked toward me, and with every step, the leaves on the ground seemed to shrink back.
03:02What's your name?
03:04Vena.
03:06Vena.
03:07He wrote the name across his tongue like he was tasting it.
03:10The corner of his mouth lifted.
03:12Are you afraid of me?
03:13I nodded, then shook my head.
03:18His scent was too much, iron and blood, the smell of a battlefield.
03:24It made my knees weak.
03:27I'm Eris, god of war.
03:30I knew who he was.
03:32Son of Zeus and Hera.
03:34Every nymph knew the stories.
03:37Once a god like him set his sights on you, there was no escape.
03:41My knees buckled.
03:43The clay jug sipped from my fingers.
03:46Iris reached out.
03:48His fingers hooked the strip of fabric binding my chest.
03:51Moving so slowly, I had all the time in the world to run.
03:55But I didn't.
03:56I couldn't.
03:58He pulled.
04:00The lean and tore like butterfly wings.
04:03My body, bound and concealed for 17 years, lay uncovered in the twilight, exposed to his gaze,
04:11to the fading sunlight and the evening breeze.
04:14I gasped, tried to move back, but my feet wouldn't obey.
04:19His amber eyes filled with something I didn't understand.
04:23Something hungry and wild.
04:24Like a man who'd been walking through a desert for a thousand years, and finally found water.
04:30Taya, you were right.
04:33This body really is cursed.
04:37He paused, bent his head, and brought his nose within the breath of my collarbone.
04:43Cursed by me.
04:45He inhaled.
04:47The warmth of his breath hit my skin, setting off a ripple of goosebumps down my neck, my arms, my
04:54spine.
04:56You smell like spring.
04:59I shoved him.
05:01I don't know where the strength came from, but my palms hit his chest solid.
05:05I felt his heartbeat, loud and fast, just like a mortal man.
05:10I staggered back, stumbling over shards of the broken jug.
05:15Blood welled from my foot, but I didn't feel it.
05:19Don't touch me!
05:21I screamed.
05:23Airs didn't follow.
05:25He stood there, watching me flee.
05:27Watching my hair whip in the wind.
05:30Watching my bare shoulders disappear into the trees.
05:34Then he bent down and picked up the torn strip of linen, still warm from my skin.
05:39He lifted it to his nose.
05:43The sound followed me through the olive grove, through the laurel trees, through the dying light.
05:49It sank into my bones.
05:51That night, every nymph in the grove heard me cry.
05:55I caught up in the darkest corner of the moon temple, moonlight falling cold through the high windows.
06:01I tried to wrap my chest again with the torn cloth, but my fingers shook too badly to tie the
06:07knots.
06:08Tears soaked my knees, my dress, the stone floor.
06:13Taya found me.
06:15The marks from Airs' fingers were still fresh on her cheek, purple and swollen.
06:21She looked down at me, with eyes I held nothing but disgust.
06:26You think you can run from this?
06:28When a god like Airs wants something, no one stops him.
06:34No one.
06:36I looked up through my tears.
06:38She bent down, close enough that her lips almost touched my ear.
06:43I heard Airs was badly wounded at Troy.
06:46A spear went through his thigh, right through the tendon.
06:50She didn't finish.
06:52She didn't need to.
06:54A god who couldn't perform.
06:57Lucky you.
06:59Better a broken god than a beast.
07:04At least you won't have to bear children.
07:08She patted my cheek.
07:10Besides, they say men who can't do it in bed make up for it in other ways.
07:14I don't want to marry her.
07:16Don't want?
07:17Who do you think you are?
07:19A bastard with no father.
07:23Airs wants you.
07:25That's more than you deserve.
07:26If it weren't for that body of yours, that slut's body, a war god wouldn't even look at you.
07:31I cried again.
07:32That night, I dreamed.
07:35Airs' hands moved up my legs.
07:37And everywhere he touched, my skin caught fire.
07:42His lips pressed against my stomach.
07:45And I heard his voice, low and shaking.
07:49Athena, you can't escape me.
07:53I woke, soaked in sweat.
07:56My hair was plastered to my face, my neck.
08:00The blanket had slid to the floor.
08:02Between my legs, a heat I'd never felt before.
08:05Spreading through me like spring flats breaking through ice.
08:09I bit my lap until I tasted blood.
08:13Shame shook me down to my bones.
08:16Outside, the moon hung cold in the sky.
08:19The next day, a messenger came to the grove.
08:21Not Aerith, that Athena.
08:23She wore golden armor and owl's crest on her helmet.
08:27Her eyes were sharp and gray.
08:29The color of winter seas.
08:31Her presence alone made you want to bow.
08:35You're Athena?
08:38Yes.
08:39Aerith sent me to get you.
08:40He's wounded, recovering on Olympias.
08:43He wants to marry you.
08:46I don't...
08:48Athena was quiet for a moment.
08:49In that silence, something flickered across her face.
08:52A crack in the divine perfection.
08:54Something almost soft.
08:56Do you know why Aerith chose you?
09:00Because you're the only niff in this grove who wasn't afraid of him.
09:05You pushed him.
09:06No one has ever pushed the god of war.
09:09I stared at her.
09:11Well, you're also very beautiful.
09:13But that's not the point.
09:14She held out her hand.
09:16In her palm lay a silver ring, plain and unandorned, glowing faintly in the morning light.
09:22Put this on.
09:23Hephaxxus made it.
09:24It'll hide your form.
09:25Make you less noticeable.
09:27I slid the ring onto my finger.
09:29It tightened to fit, cold spread up from my knuckles, washing over my whole body.
09:34When I looked down, my curve seemed softer, blurred at the edges, like looking through
09:39frosted glass.
09:40Come on.
09:41Olympus is waiting.
09:42I followed her out of the grove.
09:46Serve him well, Thina.
09:48Don't forget you're nothing but a bastard.
09:51No one's daughter.
09:53No one's anything.
09:54I didn't look back.
09:55The golden chariote tossed through the clouds.
09:58Thought.
09:58Then Olympus rose up ahead of us.
10:01Higher than any mountain in the world.
10:03White marble columns caught the sunlight and threw it back.
10:07Dazzling.
10:08I never thought I'd see this place.
10:10A nobody nymph.
10:11A bastard girl.
10:12Eris's temple stood on the eastern slope, facing the sunrise.
10:16I'm not going in.
10:18Eris doesn't like me.
10:19If he gets angry, run.
10:21If you can't outrun him, shout.
10:23I nodded and walked toward the bronze doors.
10:27They were carved with battle scenes, chariots, spears, fallen soldiers.
10:33When I pushed, they swung open on their own.
10:37Inside, the air was dim and heavy, thick with the smell of medicine and blood.
10:42At the end of a long corridor, I found his room.
10:45Eris lay propped against the headboard.
10:47His white robe did nothing to hide the lines of muscle across his chest.
10:51But his face was too pale.
10:54You came.
10:55I stood in the doorway.
10:57Thina gave you that?
10:58She's kind.
11:00Annoying, but kind.
11:01I didn't answer.
11:03Come here.
11:04I still didn't move.
11:07I don't bite.
11:08Not right now, anyway.
11:10I walked to the edge of the bed.
11:11He tilted his head back, watching me.
11:15His ember eyes held my reflection.
11:18Small, scared, wrapped in thick wool.
11:22You're afraid of me.
11:24Yes.
11:25Why?
11:26Because of what they say.
11:28He was quiet for a moment.
11:29Then his hands shut out and closed around my wrist.
11:32His fingers were hot, like iron pulled from a forge.
11:35I flinched, but he didn't tighten his grip.
11:38He just held my hand, turning it over in his, looking at the lines on my palm.
11:43Your hands are cold, like mine.
11:46I didn't know how to answer.
11:47He let go, one finger at a time, like he didn't want to.
11:51You'll sleep there tonight.
11:52I can't do much anyway.
11:57I'll have clothes brought for you.
11:58You can take the west room tomorrow.
11:59More light.
12:01All right.
12:02A servant came to take me to the baths.
12:06When I looked back at the doorway, Ares had closed his eyes again.
12:11His face was blank, expressionless, like a statue that had been shattered and glued back together.
12:19That night, I lay on the couch, listening to his breathing, and couldn't sleep.
12:23Moonlight crept through the windows and sprayed across his face, asleep.
12:28He didn't look like the god of war.
12:30He just looked like a wounded boy, no older than the men I'd glimpsed at the edges of the grove.
12:35I turned to face the wall, pressing my face into the pillow, then my head.
12:40A thought kept circling back.
12:41When he had held my wrist that first night, his thumb had traced the lines of my palm.
12:46Light, almost not there, but it had been there.
12:48I didn't know when I fell asleep.
12:50Half dreaming, something warm touched the back of my neck.
12:54I rolled over and opened my eyes into amber.
12:57Ares stood beside the couch.
12:59His hair fell forward, brushing my cheek.
13:02Moonlight painted his silhouette.
13:04The broad shoulders, the straight nose, the long line of his jaw.
13:08I tried to speak, but no sound came.
13:11He didn't say anything either.
13:12He just looked at me.
13:14His hand rose, hovering over my face, his fingers trembling.
13:17He didn't touch me.
13:18Sleep.
13:19I watched him go, my heart slamming against my ribs.
13:23That night, I dreamed I stood on a battlefield.
13:25That night, I dreamed I stood on a battlefield.
13:29The sky rad as blood.
13:30The ground cracking beneath my feet.
13:32Ares came riding out to the clouds in a golden chariot.
13:35He held out his hand.
13:36I didn't run.
13:37He pulled me up onto the chariot, wrapped his arms around me, pulled me back against his chest.
13:42His heartbeat was a drum against my spine.
13:46Do you know why I chose you?
13:49Because you pushed me away.
13:52Everyone wants something from me.
13:53Power, protection, my name.
13:56Everyone wants to use me, but you.
13:58You were the one who didn't want me.
14:02So I want you.
14:03I woke gasping, drenched in sweat.
14:06Outside, the sun was up.
14:08Ares' bed was empty.
14:10The servant who bought my water told me the war god had already gone to the training grounds.
14:14Even wounded, he never missed a day.
14:17In the bronze mirror, I studied my reflection.
14:19The ring still worked, I thought.
14:21But the edges of my shape were starting to come through again.
14:24My breasts pushed against the wall.
14:26My waist curved in.
14:27I wrapped the bondings tighter, one turn, two, three, until I could barely breathe.
14:33Ares came back at midday.
14:35I was in the kitchen, standing over a bronze cauldron, stirring the herbal broth I'd learned to make from my
14:41mother's notes.
14:43What's that?
14:44Medicine.
14:46For your leg.
14:47He came up behind me, close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him.
14:51You know how to do this?
14:52I learned.
14:53My mother knew healing.
14:55He didn't ask anything else.
14:56He picked up the cup and drank.
15:00How is it?
15:02Terrible.
15:03I watched him drink.
15:04And for a moment, I thought maybe the god of war wasn't as frightening as they said.
15:09I was wrong about that.
15:10That evening, I was in my room, unpacking the clothes Athena had sent, when I heard footsteps in the hall.
15:16Heavy and uneven, like an animal dragging a wounded leg.
15:20I opened the door.
15:21Ares was braced against the wall, his face slick with sweat.
15:25His right leg trembled.
15:26Blood was seeping through his bandages, running down his calf, pooling on the marble floor.
15:30What happened?
15:33Nothing.
15:34Old wound.
15:35Don't bother.
15:36You're bleeding!
15:39So?
15:40Rest, the healer said.
15:42Rest?
15:43I'm the god of war, not a cripple.
15:46He's a cripple like it was a knife twisting in his gut.
15:49I didn't argue.
15:50I half carried him back to his room, his weight almost too much, and laid him on the bed.
15:54I found the healer's salve and unwrapped the blood-soaked bandages.
15:57The wound was worse than I'd imagined.
16:00A long, twisted scar ran down the inside of his thigh, where the Trojan spear had gone through.
16:05My fingers brushed the scar.
16:07Arrows went rigid.
16:12Does it hurt?
16:14He didn't answer.
16:15He was staring at me, his amber eyes wild.
16:17Keep looking at me like that, and I can't promise what I'll do.
16:21Thought my face went hot.
16:22My hands stopped moving.
16:24I'm just, I'm putting on the salve.
16:27I know.
16:28Just finish and get out.
16:30I worked fast.
16:31When I was done, I practically ran out of the room.
16:35Behind the closed door, I heard a dull thud, his fist hitting the wall.
16:41I leaned against the wood, heart pounding, and listened to him breathing on the other side.
16:45Days passed.
16:47I made the medicine every morning.
16:49Changed his bandages twice a day.
16:52Read him the dispatches from the war councils.
16:55Some days he was angry.
16:57Some days he was silent.
16:59When he was angry, he threw things.
17:02Once he threw a cup, so hard, it shattered against the wall, and a shard cut my cheek.
17:09He saw the blood and went still, his whole body locking up.
17:13Then he closed his eyes and said,
17:15Leave.
17:17I left.
17:20When he was silent, he sat by the window for hours, watching the clouds.
17:26Sometimes he watched me.
17:27His gaze was heavy, but not threatening.
17:30It was like he was trying to memorize the shape of my face, the line of my brow, the curve
17:35of my mouth.
17:36Like he was afraid he'd wake up one morning and forget we never touched.
17:41No, he made sure not to touch.
17:45Sometimes when I leaned down to hand him his cup, I could feel his eyes on my chest.
17:51My hands would shake, and a drop of the dark liquid would fall on his skin.
17:57He'd look at it for a long moment, then wipe it with his thumb and bring it to his lips.
18:04Sweet.
18:04He'd say.
18:07Sometimes when I passed him in the hallway, his fingers would lift, just barely, like he was thinking about reaching
18:13for me.
18:14But he never did.
18:16One day, Hera came.
18:20The queen of the gods swept into the temple with her whole rat new, wearing purple robes and a golden
18:27crown,
18:28her presence like a weight in the air.
18:30I hear you married a nymph, she said, looking me up and down.
18:35This one?
18:37Ares grunted from his bed.
18:39Hera crossed to me, lifted my chin with her cold fingers, studied my face.
18:44Pretty enough.
18:46What the figure?
18:47Her gaze dropped to my chest, and her mouth tightened.
18:50Who was your mother?
18:52A priestess of Artemis.
18:54Which priestess?
18:55And your father?
18:56Hera's smile was sharp.
18:58I shook my head.
18:59She turned back to Ares.
19:01A nobody nymph.
19:02A bastard.
19:03Not a fitting wife for a god of Olympias.
19:06Ares' voice went flat.
19:07I marry who I want.
19:09Ares' face darkened, but she didn't push.
19:12She swept out, pausing at the door to look back at me.
19:16You know why your mother's body was like yours?
19:18She said.
19:19Because she was a slut too.
19:21She used that body to seduce someone she shouldn't have.
19:24You're just what she left behind.
19:26She left.
19:27I stood in the empty hall, cold to the bone.
19:30Ares pushed himself up.
19:32Come here.
19:33Come here.
19:34I didn't move.
19:35His voice softened.
19:36Thena.
19:38Come here.
19:39I walked to him.
19:41He took my hand, his thumb moving over my palm.
19:44Don't listen to her.
19:46He said.
19:46The way you're made, it's not your fault.
19:48My eyes burned.
19:50Annoyance edged his voice.
19:51Why are you crying?
19:52But he didn't let go of my hand.
19:54I said.
19:55I don't know.
19:57No one's ever, no one's ever told me that before.
20:01Ares was quiet for a long time.
20:03Then he pulled me against him.
20:05One arm went around my shoulders.
20:07And the other hand patted my back.
20:10Clumsy and awkward.
20:11Like a man who'd never comforted anyone in three thousand years.
20:15I won't hurt you.
20:17He sat into my hair.
20:18I swear it.
20:19I bared my face in his shoulder.
20:21After that, things shifted.
20:23He stops avoiding me.
20:25I stop running from him.
20:27In the evenings, we sat on the temple steps together and watched the sunset.
20:31He sat on the left.
20:33I sat on the right.
20:34An arm's length between us.
20:36He told me about the battles he'd fought.
20:38I told him about the grove.
20:40About Teo's cruelty.
20:41About singing the hymns off-key and getting punished for it.
20:45He scowled like a child.
20:46Do you know why I hate Athena?
20:48Why?
20:49Because she's always right.
20:51Every time.
20:52Annoying.
20:53No matter what the subject, she always has to be right.
20:56He watched me.
20:57His eyes softened in the fading light.
20:59You have a beautiful laugh.
21:01I stopped laughing.
21:02He looked away.
21:04But not before I saw his ears go pink.
21:06That night, I doomed of him again.
21:09His mouth on my neck.
21:11His hands on my skin.
21:41I woke up shaking.
21:42It came from the stems.
21:43It came from the stream behind the mountain.
21:46With his leg, it would have taken him an hour to walk there.
21:50An hour to pick the flowers.
21:52An hour to walk back.
21:53I put them in a clay pot on the windowsill.
21:57When I went back to stirring the cauldron, I couldn't stop smiling.
22:02Spring was just beginning.
22:04And something between us had changed.
22:06Something that started the day he first saw me in the olive grove.
22:10Something that started when he tore away the bindings on my chest.
22:14Something that started in the dark when he stood over me with his hand hovering by my face.
22:19And didn't touch me.
22:21Something that I finally understood had already changed everything.
22:26Eris' leg got better.
22:28But he still didn't touch me.
22:31I told myself, it didn't matter.
22:33I'd never wanted this marriage anyway.
22:36What did it matter if he can?
22:38That's what I told myself.
22:40Until the evening, by this stream, I was washing clothes, kneeling on a flat rock.
22:45I was bent forward.
22:46And the color of my dress had slipped open without me noticing.
22:50Thinner.
22:51Eris' voice came from behind me.
22:53Rough as stone scraping stone.
22:55I turned.
22:56He was standing under a plain tree at the water's edge.
22:59His amber eyes were fixed on my chest, where the wet wool clung to the shape of my breasts.
23:04I scrambled up.
23:05He walked toward me.
23:07Every step was heavy, deliberate.
23:09I stepped back, slipped on the moss-licked stone, and fell toward the water.
23:13His arms shot out and caught me.
23:14I slammed into his chest, my body flushed against his.
23:17We both went still.
23:19His heart was hammering.
23:20His breath came fast.
23:22His chest heaving.
23:24Eris.
23:25He didn't let go.
23:26His arms locked around my waist.
23:28Don't move.
23:29He buried his face in my neck.
23:32His nose pressing against my collarbone.
23:34He inhaled.
23:35The heat of his breath spread across my skin, and I shivered.
23:38Do you know how long I've wanted this?
23:40I couldn't think.
23:42Since the first time I saw you.
23:45Since you pushed me away.
23:47His fingers dug into my waist, almost too hard.
23:50Three thousand years.
23:51No one's ever dared to push me.
23:53You were the first.
23:55He pulled back.
23:56Just enough to look at me.
23:58And this.
24:00His gaze fell to my chest again.
24:02Daddy tried to cover myself.
24:04Daddy caught my wrist and pressed it against the tree trunk behind me.
24:08Don't.
24:09Let me see.
24:10His fingers found the ties at my collar.
24:12They were shaking.
24:14Can I?
24:15I didn't answer, but I didn't push him away either.
24:18He pulled.
24:19The wet wool slipped off my shoulders.
24:21His breath stopped.
24:22His eyes went dark with fire.
24:25Thinner.
24:26His fingers traced the line of my collarbone, moving down.
24:30Eris.
24:31He bent and pressed his lips to the curve where my neck met my shoulder.
24:36Light.
24:36Barely a kiss.
24:37But my whole body arched into it.
24:39He looked up at me.
24:41For once, there was nothing of the war god in his face.
24:44Just tenderness.
24:45Raw and open.
24:46You're shaking.
24:49So are you.
24:51He smiled.
24:52I'd never seen him smile like that.
24:55I'm scared.
24:57You?
24:58That I'll hurt you.
24:59That you'll cry.
25:01That you'll push me away again.
25:03I laughed.
25:04He touched his forehead to mine.
25:06Can I kiss you?
25:07I answered by pressing my mouth to his.
25:10For a second, he was frozen.
25:12Then he came alive, pushing me back against the tree, casing me like he'd been starving for it.
25:16His tongue swiped into my mouth, claiming everything.
25:19I clung to his hair, breathless.
25:21He lifted me, wrapping my legs around his waist.
25:24And I felt it.
25:26The part of him, the healers said, would never work again.
25:29I went still.
25:30He went still.
25:31We broke apart, breathing hard, staring at each other.
25:36The healer said.
25:38His face cycled through confusion, disbelief, and then a fierce, almost boyish delight.
25:45I guess they were wrong.
25:47His hand slid down to my hip, pressing me closer.
25:51Eris!
25:53What?
25:54You don't want to?
25:55He laughed and lifted me higher, carrying me back toward the temple.
26:00Thought my spine hit the bronze doors with a boom that echoed across the valley.
26:04The door.
26:06Leave it.
26:07He pushed me against it and kissed me again, harder this time.
26:11His hand slid up my sides and found my chest through the thin wet cloth and my thoughts scattered.
26:17I've wanted you since the moment I saw you.
26:20His thumb brushed across the peak of my breast and a sound escaped my throat that I'd never heard myself
26:26make before.
26:27More beautiful than I imagined.
26:31Dead, dead.
26:32He carried me to his bed, laid me down, and stood over me in the moonlight.
26:38In Olympus, gods aren't supposed to love.
26:42Why?
26:44Because love is a weakness, and the god of war can't be weak.
26:48He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to my chest.
26:53But you...
26:56You're the one weakness I don't want to give up.
26:59That night, every flower on Olympus bloomed out of season.
27:04Anemones, crocuses, hyacinths.
27:07Laurel doesn't hung thick in the air.
27:10His mouth moved down my body.
27:12His fingers, laced with mine.
27:15Sweat beaded on his forehead.
27:16Does it hurt?
27:19A little.
27:20My nails bit into his back.
27:22He stopped.
27:23Kissed the tears that had started at the corners of my eyes.
27:28We can stop.
27:30Don't.
27:31I pulled him back.
27:32Don't stop.
27:33He looked at me with something like reverence in his eyes.
27:37Alright.
27:38The moon slipped behind a cloud.
27:40That night, all of Olympus heard the war god roar.
27:43Not with battle rage, but something else.
27:47Something that sounded like a lion tamed purring at his mate's ear.
27:52In the morning, Eris was already awake.
27:56He lay propped against the headboard.
27:57His fingers tangled in my hair.
28:00Morning.
28:01He said, smiling.
28:03Morning.
28:03I buried my face in the blanket.
28:05He pulled it back.
28:07What are you hiding for?
28:08You know why.
28:10He laughed and hauled me up against his chest.
28:13Watch the sun rise with me.
28:15Every day.
28:18Why?
28:19Because I want to see the beginning of every day with you.
28:22From now on.
28:25Everyone.
28:26Outside, the first light broke over Olympus.
28:31Alright.
28:33Deal.
28:34I pressed my face to his chest.
28:37Listening to his heart.
28:39Deal.
28:40For it spread through Olympus.
28:42Eris wasn't broken.
28:43The healers were idiots.
28:45And the god of war was fiercer in bed than on the battlefield.
28:50I was limping out of the bedroom when I ran into Athena.
28:54Leaning against the pillar in the hallway.
28:57Looking amused.
29:01Glancing at the marks on my neck.
29:03He's recovered.
29:06My face went hot.
29:08You knew.
29:10You knew he wasn't...
29:12You lied to me.
29:14Athena just smiled.
29:17You did it on purpose!
29:19I didn't lie.
29:21The healers said it was unlikely.
29:23I just didn't correct them.
29:25Why?
29:25Because I wanted to see him suffer.
29:30You should have seen his face when he heard he couldn't...
29:33Well...
29:35It was worth it.
29:37I stared at her.
29:39But if she hadn't lied, I never would have stayed.
29:43I would have run from Eris on our wedding night
29:46and never learned that beneath all the violence,
29:48there was a man who'd been alone for 3,000 years.
29:51A man who stood outside my door at midnight
29:54with his hands shaking over my face,
29:57afraid to touch me.
29:59A man who walked an hour to pick flowers
30:01with his wounded leg
30:03and left them on my work table without a word.
30:08Athena came.
30:10Yes.
30:13What did she say?
30:16That she lied to you.
30:20She said you were fine all along.
30:24His ears went pink.
30:27Do you still want to leave?
30:29And for a moment,
30:30he looked almost afraid.
30:32I cupped his face in my hands,
30:34stood on my toes,
30:35and kissed him.
30:36I'm not going anywhere.
30:37He pressed his forehead to mine.
30:40Then every spring,
30:41we watched the flowers bloom together.
30:44All right.
30:45Outside,
30:46the pomegranate flowers were opening,
30:49red as flames.
30:51The wind came up from the valley,
30:53hearing the smell of anemones and laurel,
30:56drifting through the columns
30:57and stirring our hair.
31:01Hera came one more time.
31:03She looked me over
31:04and said I was too much,
31:06too loud,
31:08too shapely,
31:09not fit to be the wife of an Olympian.
31:13Iris stepped in front of me.
31:15She's fit enough for me.
31:18Hera looked at him for a long time.
31:20You've changed.
31:22Yes.
31:23He glanced back at me,
31:24and his eyes were soft.
31:26Because of her.
31:28After she left,
31:29I took his hand.
31:32Do you regret it?
31:34Marrying a nobody nymph?
31:35A bastard.
31:36He laughed,
31:37and pulled me into his chest.
31:39You're the best decision I ever made.
31:41I pressed my face against his heart.
31:44It beat steady and strong,
31:46like war drums,
31:47like spring thunder,
31:49like the tide coming in.
31:50And for the first time in my life,
31:53I wasn't ashamed of my body anymore.
31:56Because this body,
31:57this cursed,
31:59impossible,
32:00too much body,
32:01it was the reason he saw me.
32:03Every spring,
32:05the flowers bloom.
32:06Every night,
32:07the moon rises over Olympus.
32:10And we will be here,
32:12together,
32:13to see it all,
32:14from now on,
32:16year after year.
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