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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.
00:28Fener, 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.
01:16Everything changed on spring evening.
01:21Everything changed on spring evening.
01:25Haleas' chariot had just crossed the sky, painting the grog 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.
01:46Taeya 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.
02:09His eyes were amber, burning like twin fires in the twilight.
02:13He had Taeya by the chin, tilting her old face up to his.
02:16Tell me, who's the most beautiful niff in this grove?
02:24The moon goddess's 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.
03:06He wrote the name across his tongue like he was tasting it.
03:10The corner of his mouth lifted.
03:12Are you afraid of me?
03:14I nodded, then shook my head.
03:18His scent was too much, iron and blood.
03:22The 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.
03:42My knees buckled.
03:43The clay jug sipped from my fingers.
03:47Iris reached out.
03:48His fingers hooked the strip of fabric lining 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.
03:59He pulled.
04:00The linen tore like butterfly wings.
04:03My body, bound and concealed for 17 years, lay uncovered in the twilight.
04:09Exposed to his gaze.
04:11To the fading sunlight.
04:13And the evening breeze.
04:14I gasped.
04:16Tried to move back.
04:17But 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.
04:28And finally found water.
04:30Taya.
04:32You were right.
04:33This body really is cursed.
04:37He paused.
04:39Bent his head.
04:40And 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.
04:50Setting off a ripple of goosebumps down my neck.
04:53My arms.
04:54My spine.
04:56You smell like...
04:58spring.
04:59I shoved him.
05:01I don't know where the strength came from.
05:03But my palms hit his chest solid.
05:05I felt his heart beat.
05:07Loud and fast.
05:09Just like a mortal man.
05:11I staggered back.
05:12Stumbling over shards of the broken jug.
05:15Blood welled from my foot.
05:17But I didn't feel it.
05:19Don't touch me!
05:21I screamed.
05:23Ayers didn't follow.
05:25He stood there.
05:26Watching 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.
05:37Still warm from my skin.
05:39He lifted it to his nose.
05:43Fennah.
05:44The sound followed me through the olive grove.
05:46Through the laurel trees.
05:48Through the dying light.
05:49It sank into my bones.
05:51That night.
05:52Every nymph in the grove heard me cry.
05:55I caught up in the darkest corner of the moon temple.
05:59Moonlight falling cold through the high windows.
06:01I tried to wrap my chest again with the torn cloth.
06:05But my fingers shook too badly to tie the knots.
06:08Tears sucked my knees.
06:10My dress.
06:11The stone floor.
06:13Teya found me.
06:15The marks from Ayers' fingers were still fresh on her cheek.
06:19Purple and swollen.
06:21She looked down at me with eyes that held nothing but disgust.
06:27You think you can run from this?
06:29When a god like Ayers wants something, no one stops him.
06:35No one.
06:36I looked up through my tears.
06:38She bent down.
06:39Close enough that her lips almost touched my ear.
06:43I heard Ayers was badly wounded at Troy.
06:46A spear went through his thigh.
06:48Right through the tendon.
06:51She 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.
07:05At 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.
07:15I don't want to marry her.
07:16Don't want?
07:17Who do you think you are?
07:20A bastard with no father.
07:23Ayers 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.
07:33That night, I dreamed.
07:35Ayers' 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.
07:49Senna, 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.
08:06Spreading through me like spring flats breaking through ice.
08:09I bit my lip 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.
08:22Not Aerith, that Athena.
08:23She wore golden armor, an 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.
08:39Ares sent me to get you.
08:41He's wounded, recovering on Olympias.
08:43He wants to marry you.
08:48Athena was quiet for a moment.
08:50In that silence, something flickered across her face.
08:52A crack in the divine perfection.
08:55Something almost soft.
08:56Do you know why Ares chose you?
09:01Because you're the only niff in this grove who wasn't afraid of him.
09:05You pushed him.
09:07No one has ever pushed the god of war.
09:10I stared at her.
09:11Well, you're also very beautiful.
09:14But that's not the point.
09:15She 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.
09:23Hephaxes made it.
09:24It'll hide your form.
09:26Make 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 curves seemed softer, blurred at the edges,
09:38like looking through frosted glass.
09:40Come on.
09:41Olympus is waiting.
09:42I followed her out of the grove.
09:47Serve him well, Athena.
09:49Don't forget you're nothing but a bastard.
09:51No one's daughter.
09:53No one's anything.
09:54I didn't look back.
09:56The golden chariote tossed through the clouds.
09:58Thought.
09:59Then Olympus rose up ahead of us, higher than any mountain in the world.
10:03White marble columns caught the sunlight and threw it back, dazzling.
10:08I never thought I'd see this place.
10:10A nobody in him.
10:12A bastard girl.
10:13Eris's temple stood on the eastern slope, facing the sunrise.
10:17I'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.
10:53You came.
10:56I stood in the doorway.
10:58Athena gave you that?
10:59She's kind.
11:01Annoying, but kind.
11:02I didn't answer.
11:04Come here.
11:05I still didn't move.
11:07I don't bite.
11:08Not right now, anyway.
11:10I walked to the edge of the bed.
11:12He 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.
11:25Yes.
11:26Why?
11:27Because of what they say.
11:28He was quiet for a moment.
11:30Then his hands shut out and closed around my wrist.
11:33His fingers were hot, like iron pulled from a forge.
11:36I 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.
11:44Your hands are cold, like mine.
11:46I didn't know how to answer.
11:48He 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.
12:23I'll have clothes brought for you.
12:23Moonlight crept through the windows and sprayed across his face.
12:27Asleep, he didn't look like the god of war.
12:31He just looked like a wounded boy, no older than the men I'd glimpsed at the edges of the
12:35grove.
12:36I turned to face the wall, pressing my face into the pillow, then my head.
12:40A thought kept circling back.
12:42When 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.
12:49I didn't know when I fell asleep.
12:51Half dreaming, something warm touched the back of my neck.
12:54I rolled over and opened my eyes into amber.
12:58Ares stood beside the couch.
13:00His hair fell forward, brushing my cheek.
13:03Moonlight painted his silhouette.
13:05The broad shoulders, the straight nose, the long line of his jaw.
13:09I tried to speak, but no sound came.
13:11He didn't say anything either.
13:13He just looked at me.
13:14His hand rose, hovering over my face, his fingers trembling.
13:18He didn't touch me.
13:19Sleep.
13:20I watched him go, my heart slamming against my ribs.
13:23That night, I dreamed I stood on a battlefield.
13:26That night, I dreamed I stood on a battlefield.
13:29The sky rad as blood, the ground cracking beneath my feet.
13:33Ares came riding out to the clouds in a golden chariot.
13:35He held out his hand.
13:37I didn't run.
13:38He pulled me up onto the chariot, wrapped his arms around me.
13:41Pulled me back against his chest.
13:43His heartbeat was a drum against my spine.
13:46Do you know why I chose you?
13:50Because you pushed me away.
13:52Everyone wants something from me.
13:54Power, protection, my name.
13:56Everyone wants to use me, but you.
13:59You were the one who didn't want me.
14:02So I want you.
14:04I woke gasping, drenched in sweat.
14:06Outside, the sun was up.
14:09Ares' bed was empty.
14:10The servant who bought my water told me the war god had already gone to the training grounds.
14:15Even wounded, he never missed a day.
14:17In the bronze mirror, I studied my reflection.
14:19The ring still worked, I thought.
14:22But the edges of my shape were starting to come through again.
14:24My breasts pushed against the wall.
14:26My waist curved in.
14:28I wrapped the bondings tighter.
14:30One turn.
14:31Two.
14:31Three.
14:32Until I could barely breathe.
14:34Ares came back at midday.
14:35I was in the kitchen, standing over a bronze cauldron, stirring the herbal broth I'd learned
14:41to make from my mother's notes.
14:44What's that?
14:45Medicine.
14:46For your leg.
14:48He came up behind me, close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him.
14:51You know how to do this?
14:53I learned.
14:54My mother knew healing.
14:55He didn't ask anything else.
14:57He picked up the cup and drank.
15:01How is it?
15:03Terrible.
15:03I watched him drink, and for a moment, I thought maybe the god of war wasn't as frightening
15:09as they said.
15:09I was wrong about that.
15:11That evening, I was in my room, unpacking the clothes Athena had sent, when I heard footsteps
15:16in the hall, heavy and uneven, like an animal dragging a wounded leg.
15:20I opened the door.
15:22Ares was braced against the wall, his face slick with sweat, his right leg trembled.
15:27Blood was seeping through his bandages, running down his calf, pooling on the marble floor.
15:31What happened?
15:33Nothing.
15:34Old wound.
15:36Don't bother.
15:36You're bleeding!
15:39So?
15:40Rest, the healer said.
15:43Rest?
15:43I'm the god of war, not a cripple.
15:47He said 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.
15:55I found the healer's salve and unwrapped the blood-soaked bandages.
15:58The wound was worse than I'd imagined.
16:01A long, twisted scar ran down the inside of his thigh, where the Trojan spear had gone
16:06through.
16:06My fingers brushed the scar.
16:08My fingers brushed the scar.
16:08Arrows went rigid.
16:13Does it hurt?
16:14He didn't answer.
16:15He was staring at me, his amber eyes wild.
16:18Keep looking at me like that, and I can't promise what I'll do.
16:22Thought my face went hot.
16:23My hands stopped moving.
16:25I'm just, I'm putting on the salve.
16:28I know.
16:29Just finish and get out.
16:31I worked fast.
16:32When 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.
16:42I leaned against the wood, heart pounding, and listened to him breathing on the other side.
16:47Days passed.
16:48I made the medicine every morning, changed his bandages twice a day.
16:53Read him the dispatches from the war councils.
16:56Some days he was angry.
16:58Some days he was silent.
17:00When he was angry, he threw things.
17:03Once 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.
17:14Then he closed his eyes and said,
17:16Leave.
17:17I left.
17:21When he was silent,
17:22He sat by the window for hours, watching the clouds.
17:27Sometimes he watched me.
17:28His gaze was heavy, but not threatening.
17:31It was like he was trying to memorize the shape of my face,
17:34the line of my brow,
17:36the curve of my mouth.
17:37Like he was afraid he'd wake up one morning and forget.
17:41We never touched.
17:42No, he made sure not to touch.
17:45Sometimes, when I leaned down to hand him his cup,
17:49I could feel his eyes on my chest.
17:52My hands would shake,
17:54and a drop of the dark liquid would fall on his skin.
17:57He'd look at it for a long moment,
18:00then wipe it with his thumb and bring it to his lips.
18:05Sweet.
18:06He'd say.
18:07Sometimes, when I passed him in the hallway,
18:10his fingers would lift,
18:11just barely,
18:13like he was thinking about reaching for me.
18:15But he never did.
18:17One day,
18:18Hera came.
18:20The queen of the gods swept into the temple
18:24with her whole rat knew,
18:26wearing purple robes and a golden crown,
18:29her presence like a weight in the air.
18:31I hear you married a nymph,
18:34she said,
18:35looking me up and down.
18:36This one?
18:38Ares grunted from his bed.
18:40Hera crossed to me,
18:42lifted my chin with her cold fingers,
18:44steady my face.
18:45Pretty enough.
18:46What the figure?
18:48Her gaze dropped to my chest,
18:49and her mouth tightened.
18:51Who was your mother?
18:53A priestess of Artemis.
18:55Which priestess?
18:56And your father?
18:57Hera's smile was sharp.
18:59I shook my head.
19:00She turned back to Ares.
19:01A nobody nymph.
19:02A bastard.
19:04Not a fitting wife for a god of Olympias.
19:07Ares' voice went flat.
19:08I marry who I want.
19:10Ares' face darkened,
19:11but she didn't push.
19:13She swept out,
19:14pausing at the door to look back at me.
19:16You know why your mother's body was like yours?
19:19She said.
19:20Because she was a slut too.
19:22She used that body to seduce someone she shouldn't have.
19:25You're just what she left behind.
19:27She left.
19:28I stood in the empty hall,
19:30cold to the bone.
19:31Ares pushed himself up.
19:33Come here.
19:34Come here.
19:35I didn't move.
19:36His voice softened.
19:37Thena,
19:39come here.
19:40I walked to him.
19:41He took my hand,
19:43his thumb moving over my palm.
19:45Don't listen to her.
19:46He said.
19:47The way you're made,
19:48it's not your fault.
19:49My eyes burned.
19:51Annoyance edged his voice.
19:52Why are you crying?
19:53But he didn't let go of my hand.
19:55I said.
19:56I don't know.
19:58No one's ever,
19:59no one's ever told me that before.
20:02Ares was quiet for a long time.
20:04Then he pulled me against him.
20:06One arm went around my shoulders,
20:08and the other hand patted my back,
20:10clumsy and awkward,
20:12like a man who'd never comforted anyone in 3,000 years.
20:16I won't hurt you.
20:17He sat into my hair.
20:19I swear it.
20:20I bared my face in his shoulder.
20:22After that,
20:23things shifted.
20:24He stopped avoiding me.
20:26I stopped running from him.
20:28In the evenings,
20:29we sat on the temple steps together
20:31and watched the sun set.
20:32He sat on the left.
20:33I sat on the right,
20:35an arm's length between us.
20:36He told me about the battles he'd fought.
20:39I told him about the grove,
20:41about Teo's cruelty,
20:42about singing the hymns off-key
20:44and getting punished for it.
20:45He scowled like a child.
20:47Do you know why I hate Athena?
20:49Why?
20:50Because she's always right.
20:52Every time.
20:53Annoying.
20:54No matter what the subject,
20:55she always has to be right.
20:57He watched me.
20:58His eyes softened in the fading light.
21:00You have a beautiful laugh.
21:02I stopped laughing.
21:03He looked away,
21:05but not before I saw his ears go pink.
21:07That night,
21:08I dreamed of him again.
21:10His mouth on my neck.
21:11His hands on my skin.
21:14I woke up shaking.
21:15My thighs slick with heat
21:17and bit my lips so hard,
21:18I tasted the copper.
21:20I'll set my door.
21:22Footsteps.
21:23I looked up
21:24and saw the shadow of his back
21:26retreating down the hall.
21:27The next morning,
21:29when I went to the kitchen
21:30to make his medicine,
21:31I found flowers on the work table.
21:34White anemones,
21:35their petals wet with dew,
21:37tied together with a piece of rough twine.
21:39No note that I recognized the red clay
21:42still clinging to the stems.
21:44It came from the stream behind the mountain.
21:47With his leg,
21:48it would have taken him an hour to walk there,
21:51an hour to pick the flowers,
21:53an hour to walk back.
21:55I put them in a clay pot on the windowsill.
21:58When I went back to stirring the cauldron,
22:01I couldn't stop smiling.
22:03Spring was just beginning,
22:04and something between us had changed.
22:07Something that started
22:08the day he first saw me in the olive grove.
22:11Something that started
22:12when he tore away the bindings on my chest.
22:14Something that started in the dark
22:16when he stood over me
22:18with his hand hovering by my face
22:20and didn't touch me.
22:22Something that I finally understood
22:24had already changed everything.
22:27Eris' leg got better,
22:29but he still didn't touch me.
22:32I told myself,
22:33it didn't matter.
22:34I'd never wanted this marriage anyway.
22:37What did it matter if he can...
22:39That's what I told myself.
22:41Until the evening,
22:42by this stream,
22:43I was washing clothes,
22:45kneeling on a flat rock.
22:46I was bent forward,
22:47and the color of my dress
22:48had slipped open without me noticing.
22:51Senna.
22:52Eris' voice came from behind me,
22:54rough as stone-scraping stone.
22:56I turned.
22:57He was standing under a plain tree
22:59at the water's edge.
23:00His amber eyes were fixed on my chest,
23:02where the wet wool clung
23:03to the shape of my breasts.
23:05I scrambled up.
23:06He walked toward me.
23:08Every step was heavy, deliberate.
23:10I stepped back,
23:11slipped on the moss-licked stone,
23:12and fell toward the water.
23:14His arms shot out and caught me.
23:15I slammed into his chest,
23:17my body flushed against his.
23:19We both went still.
23:20His heart was hammering.
23:21His breath came fast,
23:23his chest heaving.
23:25Ares.
23:25He didn't let go.
23:27His arms locked around my waist.
23:29Don't move.
23:30He buried his face in my neck,
23:33his nose pressing against my collarbone.
23:35He inhaled.
23:36The heat of his breath
23:37spread across my skin,
23:38and I shivered.
23:39Do you know how long
23:40I've wanted this?
23:41I couldn't think.
23:43Since the first time I saw you.
23:46Since you pushed me away.
23:48His fingers dug into my waist,
23:50almost too hard.
23:513,000 years.
23:52No one's ever dared to push me.
23:54You were the first.
23:56He pulled back,
23:57just enough to look at me.
23:59And this?
24:01His gaze fell to my chest again,
24:03that I tried to cover myself.
24:05Daddy caught my wrist
24:06and pressed it against the tree trunk behind me.
24:09Don't.
24:10Let me see.
24:11His fingers found the ties at my collar.
24:13They were shaking.
24:15Can I?
24:16I didn't answer,
24:17but I didn't push him away either.
24:19He pulled.
24:20The wet wool slipped off my shoulders.
24:22His breath stopped.
24:24His eyes went dark with fire.
24:26Thinner.
24:27His fingers traced the line of my collarbone,
24:29moving down.
24:31Ares.
24:32He bent and pressed his lips
24:34to the curve
24:35where my neck met my shoulder.
24:37Light,
24:37barely a kiss,
24:38but my whole body arched into it.
24:41He looked up at me.
24:42For once,
24:43there was nothing of the war god in his face,
24:45just tenderness,
24:46raw and open.
24:47You're shaking.
24:50So are you.
24:52He smiled.
24:53I'd never seen him smile like that.
24:56I'm scared.
24:58You?
24:59That I'll hurt you.
25:00That you'll cry.
25:02That you'll push me away again.
25:04I laughed.
25:05He touched his forehead to mine.
25:07Can I kiss you?
25:08I answered it by pressing my mouth to his.
25:11For a second,
25:12he was frozen.
25:13Then,
25:13he came alive,
25:14pushing me back against the tree,
25:15casing me like he'd been starving for it.
25:17His tongue swiped into my mouth,
25:19claiming everything.
25:20I clung to his hair,
25:22breathless.
25:22He lifted me,
25:24wrapping my legs around his waist,
25:25and I felt it.
25:27The part of him,
25:28the healers said would never work again.
25:30I went still.
25:31He went still.
25:32We broke apart,
25:34breathing hard,
25:35staring at each other.
25:37The healer said.
25:39His face cycled through confusion,
25:42disbelief,
25:43and then a fierce,
25:45almost boyish delight.
25:46I guess they were wrong.
25:48His hand slid down to my hip,
25:51pressing me closer.
25:52Eris!
25:54What?
25:55You don't want to?
25:56He laughed,
25:57and lifted me higher,
25:58carrying me back toward the temple.
26:01Thought my spine hit the bronze doors with a boom
26:03that echoed across the valley.
26:06The door.
26:07Leave it.
26:07He pushed me against it
26:09and kissed me again,
26:11harder this time.
26:12His hands slid up my sides
26:13and found my chest
26:14through the thin wet cloth
26:16and my thoughts scattered.
26:18I've wanted you
26:19since the moment I saw you.
26:21His thumb brushed across the peak of my breast
26:23and the sound escaped my throat
26:25that I'd never heard myself make before.
26:29More beautiful than I imagined.
26:32Dead, dead.
26:33He carried me to his bed,
26:35laid me down,
26:36and stood over me in the moonlight.
26:39In Olympus,
26:41gods aren't supposed to love.
26:43Why?
26:45Because love is a weakness,
26:47and the god of war can't be weak.
26:50He lowered his head
26:51and pressed a kiss to my chest.
26:55But you...
26:58you're the one weakness I don't want to give up.
27:00That night,
27:01every flower on Olympus
27:03bloomed out of season.
27:05Anemones,
27:06crocuses,
27:07hyacinths,
27:08laurel,
27:09doesn't hung thick in the air.
27:11His mouth moved down my body.
27:13His fingers,
27:14laced with mine.
27:16Sweat beaded on his forehead.
27:18Does it hurt?
27:20A little.
27:21My nails bit into his back.
27:23He stopped,
27:25kissed the tears
27:26that had started at the corners of my eyes.
27:29We can stop.
27:31Don't.
27:32I pulled him back.
27:33Time stopped.
27:34He looked at me with something like reverence in his eyes.
27:38All right.
27:39The moon slipped behind a cloud.
27:41That night,
27:42all of Olympus heard the war god roar.
27:45Not with battle rage,
27:46but something else.
27:48Something that sounded like a lion tamed
27:50purring at his maid's ear.
27:53In the morning,
27:55Ares was already awake.
27:56He lay propped against the headboard.
27:59His fingers tangled in my hair.
28:01Morning.
28:02He said,
28:03smiling.
28:04Morning.
28:05I buried my face in the blanket.
28:06He pulled it back.
28:08What are you hiding for?
28:10You know why.
28:11He laughed and hauled me up against his chest.
28:14Watch the sun rise with me.
28:17Every day.
28:19Why?
28:20Because I want to see the beginning of every day with you.
28:23From now on,
28:26everyone.
28:27Outside,
28:28the first light broke over Olympus.
28:32All right.
28:34Deal.
28:36I pressed my face to his chest,
28:38listening to his heart.
28:40Deal.
28:41For it spread through Olympus,
28:43Ares wasn't broken.
28:45The healers were idiots,
28:46and the god of war was fiercer in bed
28:49than on the battlefield.
28:51I was limping out of the bedroom
28:53when I ran into Athena,
28:55leaning against the pillar in the hallway,
28:58looking amused.
29:00I see.
29:02Glancing at the marks on my neck.
29:04He's recovered.
29:07My face went hot.
29:09You knew.
29:11You knew he wasn't...
29:13You lied to me.
29:16Athena just smiled.
29:18You did it on purpose!
29:21I didn't lie.
29:22The healers said it was unlikely.
29:24I just didn't correct them.
29:26Why?
29:27Because I wanted to see him suffer.
29:31You should have seen his face
29:33when he heard he couldn't...
29:34Well,
29:36it was worth it.
29:39I stared at her.
29:40But if she hadn't lied,
29:42I never would have stayed.
29:44I would have run from Ares
29:46on our wedding night
29:47and never learned
29:48that beneath all the violence,
29:49there was a man
29:50who'd been alone for 3,000 years.
29:53A man who stood outside my door
29:55at midnight
29:55with his hands shaking over my face,
29:58afraid to touch me.
30:00A man who walked an hour
30:02to pick flowers
30:03with his wounded leg
30:04and left them on my work table
30:06without a word.
30:09Athena came.
30:12Yes.
30:14What did she say?
30:17That she lied to you.
30:21She said you were fine all along.
30:25His ears went pink.
30:28Do you still want to leave?
30:30And for a moment,
30:31he looked almost afraid.
30:33I cupped his face in my hands,
30:35stood on my toes,
30:36and kissed him.
30:37I'm not going anywhere.
30:39He pressed his forehead to mine.
30:41Then every spring,
30:43we watched the flowers bloom together.
30:45All right.
30:46Outside,
30:47the pomegranate flowers were opening,
30:50red as flame.
30:51The wind came up from the valley,
30:54hearing the smell of anemones and laurel,
30:57drifting through the columns
30:59and stirring our hair.
31:02Hera came one more time.
31:04She looked me over
31:05and said I was too much,
31:08too loud,
31:09too shapely,
31:11not fit to be the wife of an Olympian.
31:14Iris stepped in front of me.
31:16She's fit enough for me.
31:19Hera looked at him for a long time.
31:22You've changed.
31:23Yes.
31:24He glanced back at me,
31:26and his eyes were soft.
31:27Because of her.
31:30After she left,
31:31I took his hand.
31:33Do you regret it?
31:35Marrying a nobody nymph?
31:37A bastard.
31:38He laughed,
31:38and pulled me into his chest.
31:40You're the best decision I ever made.
31:43I pressed my face against his heart.
31:45It beat steady and strong,
31:47like war drops,
31:48like spring thunder,
31:50like the tide coming in.
31:51And for the first time in my life,
31:54I wasn't ashamed of my body anymore.
31:57Because this body,
31:59this cursed,
32:00impossible,
32:01too much body,
32:02it was the reason he saw me.
32:05Every spring,
32:06the flowers bloom.
32:07Every night,
32:09the moon rises over Olympus.
32:11And we will be here,
32:13together,
32:14to see it all,
32:16from now on,
32:17year after year.
32:18And we remainisethaf,
32:19they won't interrupt,
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