#video #Forbidden Love with Ares - FULL | Reelshort #drama2026 #movie2026 #hotmovie #halixe
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00:01I was born with a large chest. All the men in the forest covet my body. The fairies say, I
00:09am cursed. Because my mother was a priestess of the Moon Temple, who died while giving birth to me. And
00:17until the end, she never revealed who my father was.
00:20The priestesses therefore see me as an ill omen, treat me as a slave, and have forbidden me from looking
00:28directly into the eyes of men.
00:30Fener, you think that body of yours is for seducing men? This is Artemis' sacred grove. Step out of line,
00:40and I'll feed you to the sea monster Scriper myself.
00:44I didn't know what stepping out of line meant. All I knew was the ache in my chest from the
00:51bindings they made me wear.
00:53In summer, the fabric rubbed my skin raw. In winter, the coat turned my fingers blue.
01:00But no matter how tight I wrapped, those two stubborn mouths pushed through, refusing to disappear.
01:06I cried into the spring more times than I could count, begging my mother to tell me why she gave
01:12me this body.
01:13The spring never answered. Only the wind rustling through the laurel leaves.
01:19Everything changed on a spring evening.
01:24Everything changed on a spring evening.
01:27Haleas' chariot had just crossed the sky, painting the grog gold and rose.
01:33I was walking back from the stream, with a clay jug on my shoulder, water sloshing, when I heard sounds
01:40coming from the olive grove behind the temple.
01:42Muffled sounds.
01:44The kind you're not supposed to hear.
01:46I put down the jug and crept closer.
01:49Tia was on her knees.
01:51Her robe had slipped down to her waist, exposing the dry, wrinkled skin of her back.
01:56And standing in front of her was a man I'd never seen before.
02:00No, not a man.
02:02A god.
02:03He was shirtless.
02:04His body carved like a statue, every muscle holding enough force to level a city.
02:09Dark brown curls hung past his shoulders.
02:12His eyes were amber, burning like twin fires in the twilight.
02:15He had Tia by the chin, tilting her old face up to his.
02:20Tell me, who's the most beautiful niff in this grove?
02:28The moon goddess is handmaidens.
02:31No.
02:32He let her go, his gaze sweeping past her.
02:35Past the olive branches, past the floating dust moats, in the golden light, and landing straight on me.
02:43My blood turned cold.
02:45His eyes moved down my face, past my trembling lips, and stopped at my chest, pressed tight against the edge
02:52of the clay jug, rising and falling with every panicked breath.
02:57You.
02:58He walked toward me, and with every step, the leaves on the ground seemed to shrink back.
03:05What's your name?
03:08Vena.
03:09Vena.
03:10He wrote the name across his tongue, like he was tasting it.
03:14The corner of his mouth lifted.
03:16Are you afraid of me?
03:19I nodded, then shook my head.
03:22His scent was too much, iron and blood.
03:26The smell of a battlefield.
03:28It made my knees weak.
03:31I'm Eris, god of war.
03:35I knew who he was.
03:36Son of Zeus and Hera.
03:38Every nymph knew the stories.
03:42Once a god like him set his sights on you, there was no escape.
03:46My knees buckled.
03:48The clay jug sipped from my fingers.
03:51Iris reached out.
03:52His fingers hooked the strip of fabric binding my chest.
03:56Moving so slowly, I had all the time in the world to run.
03:59But I didn't.
04:01I couldn't.
04:03He pulled.
04:05The lean and tore like butterfly wings.
04:07My body, bound and concealed for 17 years, lay uncovered in the twilight.
04:14Exposed to his gaze.
04:16To the fading sunlight.
04:17And the evening breeze.
04:18I gasped.
04:20Tried to move back.
04:22But my feet wouldn't obey.
04:24His ember eyes filled with something I didn't understand.
04:27Something hungry and wild.
04:30Like a man who'd been walking through a desert for a thousand years.
04:33And finally found water.
04:35Taya.
04:37You were right.
04:38This body really is cursed.
04:42He paused.
04:44Bent his head.
04:45And brought his nose within the breath of my collarbone.
04:49Cursed by me.
04:50He inhaled.
04:52The warmth of his breath hit my skin.
04:55Setting off a ripple of goosebumps down my neck.
04:58My arms.
04:59My spine.
05:01You smell like spring.
05:05I shoved him.
05:06I don't know where the strength came from.
05:08But my palms hit his chest solid.
05:11I felt his heartbeat.
05:13Loud and fast.
05:14Just like a mortal man.
05:16I staggered back.
05:18Stumbling over shards of the broken jug.
05:20Blood welled from my foot.
05:22But I didn't feel it.
05:25Don't touch me!
05:27I screamed.
05:29Airs didn't follow.
05:30He stood there.
05:32Watching me flee.
05:33Watching my hair whip in the wind.
05:36Watching my bare shoulders disappear into the trees.
05:40Then he bent down and picked up the torn strip of linen.
05:43Still warm from my skin.
05:45He lifted it to his nose.
05:49The sound followed me through the olive grove.
05:52Through the laurel trees.
05:54Through the dying light.
05:55It sank into my bones.
05:57That night, every nymph in the grove heard me cry.
06:02I caught up in the darkest corner of the moon temple.
06:05Moonlight falling cold through the high windows.
06:08I tried to wrap my chest again with the torn cloth.
06:11But my fingers shook too badly to tie the knots.
06:15Tears soaked my knees.
06:16My dress.
06:17The stone floor.
06:19Taya found me.
06:21The marks from Airs' fingers were still fresh on her cheek.
06:26Purple and swollen.
06:28She looked down at me with eyes that held nothing but disgust.
06:34You think you can run from this?
06:35When a god like Airs wants something, no one stops him.
06:42No one.
06:43I looked up through my tears.
06:45She bent down.
06:46Close enough that her lips almost touched my ear.
06:50I heard Airs was badly wounded at Troy.
06:53A spear went through his thigh.
06:55Right through the tendon.
06:58She didn't finish.
06:59She didn't need to.
07:01A god who couldn't perform.
07:04Lucky you.
07:06Better a broken god than a beast.
07:12At least you won't have to bear children.
07:15She patted my cheek.
07:17Besides, they say men who can't do it in bed make up for it in other ways.
07:22I don't want to marry him.
07:23Don't want?
07:24Who do you think you are?
07:27A bastard with no father.
07:31Airs wants you.
07:32That's more than you deserve.
07:34If it weren't for that body of yours, that slut's body, a war god wouldn't even look at you.
07:38I cried again.
07:40That night, I dreamed.
07:43That night, I dreamed.
07:43Airs' hands moved up my legs.
07:45And everywhere he touched, my skin caught fire.
07:49His lips pressed against my stomach, and I heard his voice, low and shaking.
07:56Thinna, you can't escape me.
08:27Thinna, you can't escape me.
08:29I woke, soaked in sweat.
08:29The grove.
08:30Not Aerith, that Athena.
08:32She wore golden armor, an owl's crest on her helmet.
08:36Her eyes were sharp and gray.
08:38The color of winter seas.
08:40Her presence alone made you want to bow.
08:43You're Athena?
08:46Yes.
08:48Ares sent me to get you.
08:49He's wounded, recovering on Olympias.
08:52He wants to marry you.
08:55I, I don't...
08:56Athena was quiet for a moment.
08:58In that silence, something flickered across her face.
09:01A crack in the divine perfection.
09:03Something almost soft.
09:05Do you know why Ares chose you?
09:09Because you're the only niff in this grove who wasn't afraid of him.
09:14You pushed him.
09:16No one has ever pushed the god of war.
09:19I stared at her.
09:20Well, you're also very beautiful.
09:23But that's not the point.
09:24She held out her hand.
09:25In her palm lay a silver ring, plain and unandorned, glowing faintly in the morning light.
09:31Put this on.
09:32Hephaxes made it.
09:33It'll hide your form.
09:35Make you less noticeable.
09:36I slid the ring onto my finger.
09:38It tightened to fit.
09:40Cold spread up from my knuckles, washing over my whole body.
09:44When I looked down, my curve seemed softer, blurred at the edges, like looking through
09:48faucet glass.
09:50Come on.
09:50Olympus is waiting.
09:52I followed her out of the grove.
09:56Serve him well, Athena.
09:58Don't forget you're nothing but a bastard.
10:01No one's daughter.
10:02No one's anything.
10:04I didn't look back.
10:05The golden chariot tossed through the clouds.
10:08Thought.
10:08Then Olympus rose up ahead of us, higher than any mountain in the world.
10:13White marble columns caught the sunlight and drew it back, dazzling.
10:18I never thought I'd see this place.
10:20A nobody nymph.
10:21A bastard girl.
10:22Eris' temple stood on the eastern slope, facing the sunrise.
10:27I'm not going in.
10:28Eris doesn't like me.
10:29If he gets angry, run.
10:31If you can't outrun him, shout.
10:33I nodded and walked toward the bronze doors.
10:37They were carved with battle scenes, chariots, spears, fool and soldiers.
10:43When I pushed, they swung open on their own.
10:47Inside, the air was dim and heavy, thick with the smell of medicine and blood.
10:53At the end of a long corridor, I found his room.
10:56Eris lay propped against the headboard.
10:58His white robe did nothing to hide the lines of muscle across his chest.
11:02But his face was too pale.
11:06I stood in the doorway.
11:08Athena gave you that?
11:09She's kind.
11:11Annoying, but kind.
11:13I didn't answer.
11:14Come here.
11:15I still didn't move.
11:18I don't bite.
11:19Not right now, anyway.
11:21I walked to the edge of the bed.
11:22He tilted his head back, watching me.
11:26His ember eyes held my reflection.
11:29Small, scared, wrapped in thick wool.
11:33You're afraid of me.
11:35Yes.
11:36Why?
11:38Because of what they say.
11:39He was quiet for a moment.
11:41Then his hands shut out and closed around my wrist.
11:44His fingers were hot, like iron pulled from a forge.
11:47I flinched, but he didn't tighten his grip.
11:50He just held my hand, turning it over in his, looking at the lines on my palm.
11:55Your hands are cold, like mine.
11:57I didn't know how to answer.
11:59He let go, one finger at a time, like he didn't want to.
12:03You'll sleep there tonight.
12:04I can't do much anyway.
12:09I'll have clothes brought for you.
12:10You can take the west room tomorrow.
12:11More light.
12:13All right.
12:14A servant came to take me to the baths.
12:18When I looked back at the doorway, Ares had closed his eyes again.
12:23His face was blank, expressionless, like a statue that had been shattered and glued back together.
12:31That night, I lay on the couch, listening to his breathing, and couldn't sleep.
12:35Moonlight crept through the windows and sprayed across his face.
12:39Asleep.
12:40He didn't look like the god of war.
12:42He just looked like a wounded boy.
12:44No older than the men I'd glimpsed at the edges of the grove.
12:48I turned to face the wall, pressing my face into the pillow, but in my head, a thought
12:53kept circling back.
12:54When he had held my wrist that first night, his thumb had traced the lines of my palm.
12:58Light, almost not there, but it had been there.
13:01I didn't know when I fell asleep.
13:03Half dreaming, something warm touched the back of my neck.
13:06I rolled over and opened my eyes into amber.
13:10Ares stood beside the couch.
13:12His hair fell forward, brushing my cheek.
13:15Moonlight painted his silhouette, the broad shoulders, the straight nose, the long line
13:20of his jaw.
13:21I tried to speak, but no sound came.
13:24He didn't say anything either.
13:25He just looked at me.
13:27His hand rose, hovering over my face, his fingers trembling.
13:30He didn't touch me.
13:31Sleep.
13:32I watched him go, my heart slamming against my ribs.
13:36That night, I dreamed I stood on a battlefield.
13:39That night, I dreamed I stood on a battlefield.
13:42The sky rad as blood, the ground cracking beneath my feet.
13:45Ares came riding out to the clouds in a golden chariot.
13:48He held out his hand.
13:49I didn't run.
13:50He pulled me up onto the chariot, wrapped his arms around me, pulled me back against
13:55his chest.
13:56His heartbeat was a drum against my spine.
13:59Do you know why I chose you?
14:03Because you pushed me away.
14:05Everyone wants something from me.
14:07Power, protection, my name.
14:09Everyone wants to use me, but you.
14:12You were the one who didn't want me.
14:15So I want you.
14:17I woke gasping, drenched in sweat.
14:20Outside, the sun was up.
14:22Ares' bed was empty.
14:23The servant who bought my water told me the war god had already gone to the training grounds.
14:28Even wounded, he never missed a day.
14:30In the bronze mirror, I studied my reflection.
14:33The ring still worked, I thought, but the edges of my shape were starting to come through
14:37again.
14:38My breasts pushed against the wall.
14:40My waist curved in.
14:41I wrapped the bondings tighter.
14:43One turn.
14:44Two.
14:45Three.
14:45Until I could barely breathe.
14:47Ares came back at midday.
14:49I was in the kitchen, standing over a bronze cauldron, stirring the herbal broth I'd learned
14:54to make from my mother's notes.
14:57What's that?
14:59Medicine.
15:00For your leg.
15:01He came up behind me, close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him.
15:05You know how to do this?
15:06I learned.
15:08My mother knew healing.
15:09He didn't ask anything else.
15:11He picked up the cup and drank.
15:15How is it?
15:16Terrible.
15:17I watched him drink, and for a moment, I thought maybe the god of war wasn't as frightening
15:22as they said.
15:23I was wrong about that.
15:25That evening, I was in my room, unpacking the clothes Athena had sent, when I heard footsteps
15:30in the hall, heavy and uneven, like an animal dragging a wounded leg.
15:34I opened the door.
15:36Ares was braced against the wall, his face slick with sweat.
15:39His right leg trembled.
15:41Blood was seeping through his bandages, running down his calf, pooling on the marble floor.
15:45What happened?
15:48Nothing.
15:49Old wound.
15:50Don't bother.
15:51You're bleeding!
15:57He said cripple like it was a knife twisting in his gut.
16:04I didn't argue.
16:05I half carried him back to his room, his weight almost too much, and laid him on the bed.
16:09I found the healer's salve and unwrapped the blood-soaked bandages.
16:12The wound was worse than I'd imagined.
16:15A long, twisted scar ran down the inside of his thigh, where the Trojan spear had gone
16:20through.
16:21My fingers brushed the scar.
16:22Errors went rigid.
16:28Does it hurt?
16:29He didn't answer.
16:30He was staring at me, his amber eyes wild.
16:33Keep looking at me like that, and I can't promise what I'll do.
16:37Thought my face went hot.
16:38My hands stopped moving.
16:40I'm just, I'm putting on the salve.
16:42I know.
16:44Just finish and get out.
16:45I worked fast.
16:47When I was done, I practically ran out of the room.
16:50Behind the closed door, I heard a dull thud, his fist hitting the wall.
16:57I leaned against the wood, heart pounding, and listened to him breathing on the other
17:01side.
17:02Days passed.
17:03I made the medicine every morning, changed his bandages twice a day, read him the dispatches
17:10from the war councils.
17:11Some days he was angry.
17:13Some days he was silent.
17:15When he was angry, he threw things.
17:19Once he threw a cup, so hard, it shattered against the wall, and a shard cut my cheek.
17:25He saw the blood, and went still, his whole body locking up.
17:30Then he closed his eyes and said,
17:31Leave.
17:33I left.
17:36When he was silent, he sat by the window.
17:40for hours, watching the clouds.
17:42Sometimes he watched me.
17:44His gaze was heavy, but not threatening.
17:47It was like he was trying to memorize the shape of my face, the line of my brow, the curve
17:52of my mouth.
17:53Like he was afraid he'd wake up one morning and forget we never touched.
17:58No, he made sure not to touch.
18:01Sometimes, when I leaned down to hand him his cup, I could feel his eyes on my chest.
18:08My hands would shake, and a drop of the dark liquid would fall on his skin.
18:14He'd look at it for a long moment, then wipe it with his thumb and bring it to his lips.
18:21Sweet.
18:24Sometimes, when I passed him in the hallway, his fingers would lift, just barely, like he was thinking about reaching
18:30for me.
18:31But he never did.
18:34One day, Hera came.
18:37The queen of the gods swept into the temple with her whole rat knew, wearing purple robes and a golden
18:44crown.
18:45Her presence, like a weight in the air.
18:48I hear you married a nymph, she said, looking me up and down.
18:53This one?
18:54Ares grunted from his bed.
18:57Hera crossed to me, lifted my chin with her cold fingers, setting my face.
19:02Pretty enough.
19:03What the figure?
19:04Her gaze dropped to my chest, and her mouth tightened.
19:08Who was your mother?
19:10A priestess of Artemis.
19:12Which priestess?
19:13And your father?
19:14Hera's smile was sharp.
19:16I shook my head.
19:17She turned back to Ares.
19:18A nobody nymph.
19:20A bastard.
19:21Not a fitting wife for a god of Olympias.
19:24Ares' voice went flat.
19:25I marry who I want.
19:27Ares' face darkened, but she didn't push.
19:30She swept out, pausing at the door to look back at me.
19:34You know why your mother's body was like yours?
19:36She said.
19:37Because she was a slut too.
19:40She used that body to seduce someone she shouldn't have.
19:43You're just what she left behind.
19:44She left.
19:45I stood in the empty hall, cold to the bone.
19:49Ares pushed himself up.
19:50Come here.
19:52Come here.
19:53I didn't move.
19:54His voice softened.
19:55Thena.
19:56Come here.
19:58I walked to him.
19:59He took my hand, his thumb moving over my palm.
20:03Don't listen to her.
20:04He said.
20:05The way you're made, it's not your fault.
20:07My eyes burned.
20:09Annoyance edged his voice.
20:10Why are you crying?
20:11But he didn't let go of my hand.
20:12I said.
20:13I don't know.
20:16No one's ever, no one's ever told me that before.
20:20Iris was quiet for a long time.
20:22Then he pulled me against him.
20:24One arm went around my shoulders, and the other hand patted my back, clumsy and awkward,
20:30like a man who'd never comforted anyone in three thousand years.
20:34I won't hurt you.
20:36He sat into my hair.
20:37I swear it.
20:38I bared my face in his shoulder.
20:40After that, things shifted.
20:43He stopped avoiding me.
20:44I stopped running from him.
20:46In the evenings, we sat on the temple steps together and watched the sun set.
20:51He sat on the left.
20:52I sat on the right, in arm's length between us.
20:55He told me about the battles he'd fought.
20:58I told him about the grove.
20:59About Teo's cruelty.
21:01About singing the hymns off-key and getting punished for it.
21:04He scowled like a child.
21:06Do you know why I hate Athena?
21:07Why?
21:08Because she's always right.
21:10Every time.
21:12Annoying.
21:12No matter what the subject, she always has to be right.
21:16He watched me.
21:17His eyes softened in the fading light.
21:19You have a beautiful laugh.
21:21I stopped laughing.
21:22He looked away, but not before I saw his ears go pink.
21:26That night, I dreamed of him again.
21:29His mouth on my neck.
21:30His hands on my skin.
21:33I woke up shaking.
21:34My thighs slick with heat and bit my lips so hard, I tasted copper.
21:39I'll set my door.
21:41Footsteps.
21:42I looked up and saw the shadow of his back retreating down the hall.
21:46The next morning, when I went to the kitchen to make his medicine,
21:50I found flowers on the work table.
21:53White anemones, their petals wet with dew, tied together with a piece of rough twine.
21:58No note that I recognized the red clay still clinging to the stems.
22:03It came from the stream behind the mountain.
22:06With his leg, it would have taken him an hour to walk there.
22:10An hour to pick the flowers.
22:12An hour to walk back.
22:14I put them in a clay pot on the windowsill.
22:17When I went back to stirring the cauldron, I couldn't stop smiling.
22:22Spring was just beginning, and something between us had changed.
22:26Something that started the day he first saw me in the olive grove.
22:30Something that started when he tore away the bindings on my chest.
22:34Something that started in the dark when he stood over me with his hand hovering by my face and didn't
22:41touch me.
22:41Something that I finally understood had already changed everything.
22:47Eris' leg got better, but he still didn't touch me.
22:52I told myself, it didn't matter.
22:54I'd never wanted this marriage anyway.
22:57What did it matter if he can...
22:59That's what I told myself.
23:01Until the evening, by this stream, I was washing clothes, kneeling on a flat rock.
23:06I was bent forward, and the color of my dress had slipped open without me noticing.
23:11Thinner.
23:12Eris' voice came from behind me, rough as stone scraping stone.
23:17I turned.
23:17He was standing under a plane tree at the water's edge.
23:20His amber eyes were fixed on my chest, where the wet wool clung to the shape of my breasts.
23:25I scrambled up.
23:27He walked toward me.
23:28Every step was heavy, deliberate.
23:30I stepped back, slipped on the moss-lick stone, and fell toward the water.
23:34His arms shot out and caught me.
23:36I slammed into his chest, my body flushed against his.
23:39We both went still.
23:41His heart was hammering.
23:42His breath came fast.
23:43His chest heaving.
23:45Eris.
23:46He didn't let go.
23:48His arms locked around my waist.
23:50Don't move.
23:51He buried his face in my neck, his nose pressing against my collarbone.
23:56He inhaled.
23:57The heat of his breath spread across my skin, and I shivered.
24:00Do you know how long I've wanted this?
24:02I couldn't think.
24:04Since the first time I saw you.
24:07Since you pushed me away.
24:09His fingers dug into my waist, almost too hard.
24:12Three thousand years.
24:13No one's ever dared to push me.
24:16You were the first.
24:17He pulled back.
24:18Just enough to look at me.
24:21And this.
24:22His gaze fell to my chest again.
24:24Daddy tried to cover myself.
24:26Daddy caught my wrist and pressed it against the tree trunk behind me.
24:30Don't.
24:31Let me see.
24:32His fingers found the ties at my collar.
24:35They were shaking.
24:36Can I?
24:37I didn't answer, but I didn't push him away either.
24:41He pulled.
24:41The wet wool slipped off my shoulders.
24:44His breath stopped.
24:45His eyes went dark with fire.
24:47Thinner.
24:48His fingers traced the line of my collarbone, moving down.
24:52Aries.
24:53He bent and pressed his lips to the curve where my neck met my shoulder.
24:59Light.
24:59Barely a kiss.
25:00But my whole body arched into it.
25:02He looked up at me.
25:04For once, there was nothing of the war god in his face.
25:07Just tenderness.
25:08Raw and open.
25:09You're shaking.
25:12So are you.
25:14He smiled.
25:15I'd never seen him smile like that.
25:18I'm scared.
25:20You?
25:21That I'll hurt you.
25:23That you'll cry.
25:24That you'll push me away again.
25:26I laughed.
25:27He touched his forehead to mine.
25:29Can I kiss you?
25:31I asked it by pressing my mouth to his.
25:33For a second, he was frozen.
25:35Then, he came alive, pushing me back against the tree.
25:38Casing me like he'd been starving for it.
25:40His tongue swiped into my mouth, claiming everything.
25:43I clung to his hair, breathless.
25:45He lifted me, wrapping my legs around his waist.
25:48And I felt it.
25:49The part of him, the healers said would never work again.
25:53I went still.
25:54He went still.
25:55We broke apart, breathing hard, staring at each other.
26:00The healer said.
26:02His face cycled through confusion, disbelief, and then a fierce, almost boyish delight.
26:09I guess they were wrong.
26:11His hand slid down to my hip, pressing me closer.
26:15Eris!
26:17What?
26:18You don't want to?
26:19He laughed and lifted me higher, carrying me back toward the temple.
26:24Thought my spine hit the bronze doors with a boom that echoed across the valley.
26:28The door.
26:30Leave it.
26:31He pushed me against it and kissed me again, harder this time.
26:35His hands slid up my sides and found my chest through the thin wet cloth, and my thoughts scattered.
26:41I've wanted you since the moment I saw you.
26:44His thumb brushed across the peak of my breast, and the sound escaped my throat that I'd never heard myself
26:50make before.
26:52More beautiful than I imagined.
26:56Dead.
26:57He carried me to his bed, laid me down, and stood over me in the moonlight.
27:03In Olympus, gods aren't supposed to love.
27:07Why?
27:09Because love is a weakness, and the god of war can't be weak.
27:13He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to my chest.
27:18But you, you're the one weakness I don't want to give up.
27:24That night, every flower on Olympus bloomed out of season.
27:28Anemones, procces, hyacinths.
27:32Laurel doesn't hum thick in the air.
27:34His mouth moved down my body.
27:37His fingers laced with mine.
27:40Sweat beaded on his forehead.
27:41Does it hurt?
27:44My nails bit into his back.
27:47He stopped.
27:49Kissed the tears that had started at the corners of my eyes.
27:53We can stop.
27:55Don't.
27:56I pulled him back.
27:57Don't stop.
27:58He looked at me with something like reverence in his eyes.
28:02Alright.
28:03The moon slipped behind a cloud.
28:05That night, all of Olympus heard the war god roar.
28:09Not with battle rage, but something else.
28:12Something that sounded like a lion tamed, purring at his mate's ear.
28:17In the morning, Eris was already awake.
28:21He lay propped against the headboard.
28:23His fingers tangled in my hair.
28:26Morning.
28:26He said, smiling.
28:28Morning.
28:29I buried my face in the blanket.
28:31He pulled it back.
28:32What are you hiding for?
28:34You know why.
28:36He laughed and hauled me up against his chest.
28:39Watch the sun rise with me.
28:41Every day.
28:44Why?
28:45Because I want to see the beginning of every day with you.
28:48From now on.
28:51Everyone.
28:52Outside, the first light broke over Olympus.
28:57Alright.
28:59Deal.
29:00I pressed my face to his chest.
29:03Listening to his heart.
29:05Deal.
29:07For it spread through Olympus.
29:09Eris wasn't broken.
29:10The healers were idiots.
29:12And the god of war was fiercer in bed than on the battlefield.
29:17I was limping out of the bedroom when I ran into Athena, leaning against a pillar in the hallway, looking
29:24amused.
29:26I see.
29:27Glancing at the marks on my neck.
29:30He's recovered.
29:33My face went hot.
29:35You knew.
29:36You knew he wasn't...
29:39You lied to me.
29:41Athena just smiled.
29:43You did it on purpose!
29:46I didn't lie.
29:48The healers said it was unlikely.
29:50I just didn't correct them.
29:52Why?
29:53Because I wanted to see him suffer.
29:57You should have seen his face when he heard he couldn't...
30:01Well...
30:01It was worth it.
30:05I stared at her.
30:06But if she hadn't lied, I never would have stayed.
30:10I would have run from Eris on our wedding night and never learned that beneath all the violence, there was
30:16a man who'd been alone for 3,000 years.
30:19A man who stood outside my door at midnight with his hands shaking over my face, afraid to touch me.
30:26A man who walked an hour to pick flowers with his wounded leg and left them on my work table
30:33without a word.
30:36Athena came?
30:38Yes.
30:40What did she say?
30:43That she lied to you.
30:48She said you were fine all along.
30:52His ears went pink.
30:55Do you still want to leave?
30:57And for a moment, he looked almost afraid.
31:00I cupped his face in my hands, stood on my toes, and kissed him.
31:04I'm not going anywhere.
31:05He pressed his forehead to mine.
31:08And every spring, we watched the flowers bloom together.
31:12All right.
31:13Outside, the pomegranate flowers were opening, red as flame.
31:18The wind came up from the valley, hearing the smell of anemones and laurel, drifting through the columns and stirring
31:27our hair.
31:29Hera came one more time.
31:31She looked me over and said I was too much, too loud, too shapely, not fit to be the wife
31:40of an Olympian.
31:42Iris stepped in front of me.
31:44She's fit enough for me.
31:46Hera looked at him for a long time.
31:49You've changed.
31:51Yes.
31:52He glanced back at me, and his eyes were soft.
31:55Because of her.
31:57After she left, I took his hand.
32:00Do you regret it?
32:02Marrying a nobody nymph?
32:04A bastard.
32:05He laughed, and pulled me into his chest.
32:08You're the best decision I ever made.
32:11I pressed my face against his heart.
32:13It beat steady and strong, like war drums, like spring thunder, like the tide coming in.
32:20And for the first time in my life, I wasn't ashamed of my body anymore.
32:25Because this body, this cursed, impossible, too much body, it was the reason he saw me.
32:32Every spring, the flowers bloom.
32:35Every night, the moon rises over Olympus.
32:39And we will be here, together, to see it all.
32:44From now on, year after.
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