“Why are you standing there? Go after her,” Eros insisted.
For once Eros had advice to offer that made sense to Ares. He knew if he didn’t chase after Alena right now he’d lose her forever. “Pick a room, any room on the first or third floor.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your Tower’s not safe for you tonight. You should plan on staying here for a while—as much as I don’t like that idea.”
Eros’ snowy white feathers ruffled again. “Oh yes, taking advantage of women who’ve just had their hearts stomped on by their husbands is right up my alley,” Eros derided in disgust.
“She remembers her time with you and Apollo.”
“What?” Eros gasped, knowing that was why Alena was half out of her mind when Apollo took Raven from her and what she’d probably mistakenly whispered to him. Now that Apollo knew that Alena remembered the past, there was nothing to stop him from playing upon her fears. Eros wondered if Zeus knew her memory had returned. It would be just like Zeus to twist the knife in that particular painful fashion and demand Apollo be named Raven’s guardian. “Father, I, I…”
“Oh yes, she does,” Ares mocked, “be a good step-son and mind your manners while you’re here.” The God of War strode off quickly to follow Alena and try to repair the damage or finish the job.
IV
In the bedroom, Raven was crying uncontrollably and Onya didn’t hesitate to hand the baby off to Alena with a worried look. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him, it sounds like he’s in pain,” she said nervously as the other women looked on, all of them seemingly helpless to soothe the newborn.
Once in his mother’s arms, Raven began settling down. Alena put him to her shoulder and held him tightly; he stopped crying altogether. “Shhhh, hush now, everything’s all right, my little man,” Alena assured through her tears and then looked at her attendants. “Go on, all of you, go about your business. Leave me and my son alone.”
With much hesitancy, the three women took their leave, wondering what was happening and how bad it would get.
Holding the baby close in the crook of her arm, Alena pulled the pins from her silver hair to let it spill down over her shoulders before she kicked off the golden sandals at her feet, sat down on the bed and unbuttoned the front of her gown to nurse. Crying and rocking her hungry son, Alena began thinking of ways to escape Olympus. It wouldn’t be easy; just getting the Gates of Olympus open on her own was no easy task and even if she could manage it, from there it was a leap of faith that she had the ability to travel wherever she wished, but at this point any place was better than here. Once back in the Mortal World, she and Raven could find a nice quiet place to live. A peaceful place where people didn’t manipulate others like pieces on a chessboard. It would be best to wait a few days, play nice, and then one night when Ares was asleep she would slip out of their bed, grab Raven, and run for the hills.
The plan seemed to go over well with the baby; his little hand to her breast and his mouth full of milk, he was drifting off to sleep. “Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of you, and they won’t hurt you. Never.”
“Neither will I,” Ares said from the doorway, only to find the door suddenly slammed in his face by the power of the woman sitting halfway across the room. “Alena!” She’d even locked the door; he could kick it in but he wanted to show her that he could be more reserved than that. Instead, he teleported to the other side. “I see your powers are still growing but…ah…you don’t really think you can keep me out of my own bedroom, do you?”
Holding Raven a little tighter still and turning her body sideways to the God of War, presenting a smaller target and protecting the baby at her breast, she answered him. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to suffer our presence. We’ll be sleeping in the nursery from now on.”
For Alena the walk from the bedroom door to the foot of the bed was fifteen steps; for Ares it was four paces at a good stride, which he instituted for emphasis and then loomed over her. “Like hell you will. I am not the only one here who isn’t being truthful, am I?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“With a straight face no less. I see you are learning much, my dear Wife,” Ares complimented with a cold twinkle in his eye. “You’re having visions, ones you’re not telling me about. Why? Could it be because only Dark Faes have visions and the gift of prophecy among your kind?”
Alena began trembling, not with fear but anger. “Whatever I am, at least I’m not one of you.”
“I thought you loved me.” There was no quick quip for that, no witty reply. Alena just sat there nursing Raven, who was staring directly at his Father. “Has that changed?”
Time and again she could reject him, yell at him and tell him he was an arrogant asshole, but she would always love him. No matter what he did or to whom, Alena would love Ares until the day she died. That didn’t make the pill any easier to swallow. “I couldn’t let Zeus do that to him.”
Again, Ares looked at his Son with the understanding that the biggest rival he would ever face for Alena’s attention, affection and loyalty wasn’t even old enough to talk yet. Still, he had come to his mother in a vision and tried to take her away from Ares. The God of War already told his Son that no man would ever part them. “You’re not answering me; how many visions have you had and what were they?”
If there was one thing Alena really hated, it was a hypocrite, and as she sat there steadfast in her defiance she realized she’d turned into one. If she loved Ares and wanted their marriage to survive, she had to tell him the truth and should have done so long before now. “Don’t turn this around on me; you want to talk about my visions, you tell me about these Trials. You tell me why it’s so goddamn important to you that Raven be welcomed into their wicked fold.”
“Would you not want him welcomed warmly into yours?”
“I don’t HAVE ANY!” Alena shrieked. Raven jumped, pulled his little lips away from her nipple and began to cry while milk dribbled down his chin. “All I have is you and him.” She gazed down at the crying wriggling baby in her arms. “Why do you want to take it away from me?”
“Take it away?” Ares’ demeanor softened as he sat down on the bed next to her. “I don’t want to take it away, I want to ensure its future. Our future. Even if you are a Dark Fae, Alena, I love you. I don’t care that Cernunnos’ blood runs in your veins.”
“Zeus does,” she said sorrowfully, her breaking heart beginning to listen to her Husband and the sadness in his own voice. “Why? I didn’t have anything to do with Cernunnos killing Artemis…I didn’t…”
“I know,” Ares interrupted, “I know. So does my Father. He is just a bitter old man who can’t let go of the past. Unfortunately he’s also a God, so when he throws a temper tantrum it’s a doozie.” The blood vow he made didn’t extend to this area, but custom and tradition forbade him from speaking of the true past of the Olympians and the Ancient Gods that once walked this Earth.
In her arms, Raven settled down once more and began to nurse. His gray eyes started to close as sleep took over his little mind. “Do you love her?”
Ares groaned and then put his arm around her sagging shoulders. This question was not within the purview of his vow and he could answer it freely and without repercussion. “No, I never have and I never will.”
Her vision told her otherwise. Perhaps this was just the beginning of their affair and Ares had yet to give his heart to the Goddess of Love and Beauty. If that was the case, then maybe she still had a chance to change the future. In order to do that, she had to set aside her anger and her pride. With the warmth and weight of his arm around her shoulders, Alena turned toward him and met his gaze with honesty. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” When he reached out to put his other arm under Raven, the scar was clearly visible. The flesh there was full of blisters and still smelled burnt. She couldn’t force him to talk about the terms and conditions of his vow without breaking it. Doing so would not only cause him a
gony but it would free Zeus of whatever his end had been, and no one wanted that. “Can’t we leave here? Can’t we go back to our island and forget about these awful people?”
They could do that, they could live happily—more or less depending on the level of interference from the Olympians—on their island in the warm sunshine with the breeze coming in off the sea and good land for Alena to till with plenty of wildlife for Ares to teach his Son to hunt. Ares could father as many children with Alena as he wanted without her finding out about those he had to father with Aphrodite, until the day came when Raven had to decide whether or not to go through the Trials and take his rightful place among them. It was Raven Ares was thinking of when he made his vow; the Trials the Olympians would set before him would be nearly insurmountable just because of Zeus’ hatred for the boy’s mother and all of her kind.
On top of that, never in their very long history had someone accepted the gifts bestowed upon an infant and then refused to accept the designation of godhood offered to him. Until today. It had been done by a Fey (Dark Fae or not), a Celt no less. Zeus must be seething in his palace.
In order for a half-blood like Raven to claim his place among the Olympians, he had to endure five trials given to him by the oldest Olympians. When he reached manhood, Hades would test Raven first with a Trial of the Dead. If he survived, then Poseidon would lay before Raven the Trial of the Seas. If he survived that, then Hera would lay before Raven a Trial of the Mind. If Raven completed it then Aphrodite would lay upon Raven a Trial of the Heart—chances were that trial would be particularly difficult. Should Raven pass all four Trials, Zeus would lay before him a Trial of Life. Undoubtedly it would be something so reprehensible that Raven’s chances of completing it would be nearly zero.
“I love you with all of my heart, but they’re intolerable, my Love.” This time when she said the two words that always made his heart soar—my Love—there was no sarcasm in them; they came from the heart as they always had before. “How do you put up with them?”
“It’s not easy,” he answered quickly, “but you get used to it.”
“Never,” Alena muttered. “I don’t want my son anywhere near them. I don’t want them to influence his life…Ares…they’re horrible.”
It was true; redeeming qualities were hard to find in the Olympians. Zeus may have made a very big mistake in laying upon Raven the title of God of the Damned. If Raven completed his Trials, he may well end up lording over all but his mother. Even if there was Dark Fae blood in her, surely Alena was heading straight for the Elysian Fields when she left this world. She didn’t deserve to live her life here among them. “I promised my Mother, Alena.”
“So what? Is it like a blood vow?”
“More stringent,” he sighed. “What she did for us, giving you part of me so that you could live took a great deal of energy and power from her—and from me,” he confessed, but continued quickly before Alena could speak. “To break it is tantamount to treason.” While Aphrodite could get away with such a thing, Ares doubted he would be as lucky.
“From you? You said nothing changed, you said you’re still Immortal and you still …”
When Ares raised his fingers to her lips to silence her, it was clear to him that she was genuinely concerned, worried even, for him. Nothing changed there, Alena would still do almost anything for—no, anything at all, it might cost her part of her soul and she might loathe it but in the end she would do whatever he wanted. That was a power Ares did not want to lord over her. “I am, but things are different now. In return for your life, I vowed to protect you, to be a good husband and father, to put you and Raven before me. Before you, the source of my strength was hatred and chaos. You are the source of my strength now. If you leave me, Alena, you take it with you.” Ares had kept that little secret hidden the last nine months. It was more out of a deep-seated fear of appearing weak, of letting anyone know there was a chink in his armor, than it was out of mistrust or malice. “You and Raven are my world; I would do anything to keep it safe…anything, no matter how disgusting and revolting I might find it.” Taking his fingers from her lips and tracing them along the curve of his face he added, “Don’t you know I’d do anything for you? You’re my world. I never felt love before or this deep desire to guard someone. I never knew what it was to hold something precious and sacred before you,” Ares looked down at Raven, who’d fallen asleep at his mother’s breast, “or him. I only felt restless, but now I am at peace.” Coming in close enough to lay his forehead against hers he whispered, “Just know that I didn’t do anything with hurting you in mind. I never want to make you cry or cause you to turn away from me.”
How could she, Alena MacLeod, a half-blood Fey herself, possibly be the strength of the God of War? It didn’t make any sense to her and yet, on another level, it made perfect sense. Ares gave up a part of himself to save her life and in so doing, she became responsible for his. If by sleeping with Aphrodite he had truly broken that vow, surely already there would be some repercussions. So he must be telling the truth, he’d slept with her at Zeus’ demand and in order to protect her and Raven. Funny how that didn’t seem to make it hurt any less. “I know,” Alena confessed and reached out to put her hand on his bearded cheek, “I know.” She wondered what would happen to her if she left him. If Ares would weaken and lose his power and he was an Olympian, then leaving his side could cost Alena her life. What would happen to Raven then?
Chapter Fourteen
Calling Dr. Love
I
When Raven turned exactly one month old, there was another Olympian Family Dinner. During it, Aphrodite announced her pregnancy and broke Alena’s heart all over again. As Aphrodite and Apollo stood together, his golden arm around her alabaster shoulders, announcing their happy news, the ensuring silence in Zeus’ dining hall was deafening.
All gathered at the table froze, utensils and chalices dropped from hands, food fell from open mouths, and the sound of choking was heard. From across the table, Alena watched as Ares closed his eyes and hung his head while Eros, seated next to her, stared at Alena. Slowly and skeptically all of the other eyes in the room turned to the couple who’d been bumping uglies for the last century without so much as a whisper of offspring. None but Zeus, Apollo and Aphrodite caught the looks of disillusionment, disgrace and disquiet of the faces of Alena, Ares and Eros respectively.
Zeus broke the silence by being the first to congratulate them on their impending return to parenthood. One by one the others followed suit, even though the confusion never left their voices. Athena was the only one to venture a remark past good wishes by stating that it was very remarkable Aphrodite was still youthful enough for such a thing. Athena was well past her prime, and knowing there was little chance she would ever become pregnant even if she gave up her long-held vow of chastity, being several hundred years younger than her Aunt Aphrodite. Aphrodite just gave a little curl of her upper lip as she forced a smile and accepted the well wishes Athena offered. Ares did not offer his congratulations and neither did Eros; both of them only gave a slight nod in acknowledgment that they had heard and understood. Alena couldn’t afford that little luxury; she was an outcast here already and the last thing she needed was to make more enemies. Trying to stay on her feet and fight back the wave of nausea and dizziness washing over her, she offered her quiet congratulations to the seemingly happy couple. Alena smiled through the tears threatening to spill from her eyes and the sudden jabbing pain in her abdomen.
Upon their return to the Fortress, Alena refrained from confronting Ares, telling herself she’d been completely stupid if she believed for one moment the only thing Zeus wanted was for Ares and Aphrodite to get it on for a night. Of course the desired result of the union was another full-blooded Olympian—what else could it have possibly been? Soon Raven would have another sibling, the only question there was, would Raven ever know?
For the next two months, Alena threw herself into raising Raven. Twenty-four hours a day she doted on him
; the infant received all of her love and attention, all of her time and affection. While she still slept in Ares’ bed and stayed in his home, she kept her guard up around him. She slept on her side of the bed, right at the very edge, telling him that it was so she could be near the cradle should Raven wake in the middle of the night wanting to be fed or changed. When Raven was sleeping and Ares made advances to her, Alena told him she wasn’t ready yet. Her ordeal with the pregnancy and Raven’s delivery wasn’t over; she was very sorry but she just couldn’t resume living up to her end of the Marriage Contract.
The fact was that her body had healed and was ready to engage in making love some time ago, but Alena’s heart wouldn’t comply, no matter how much Ares still inspired desire in it. The wanton lust and heat of him that once drew her to him was something her heart no longer desired to hold. Once it brought her joy and to the heights of pleasure; now it just made her feel used, sad, and a little dirty. It didn’t matter how much her head told her heart that what Ares did was for her sake and that she should forgive him and forget about all of it. How could she when there was about to be a living, breathing reminder of his one-night stand?
So then it was good luck for her that nearly every time Ares made one of his advances, Raven woke up and began crying before Ares could start arguing with her over it all. It was almost as though Raven knew his mother’s heart was broken and he was trying to intervene on her behalf.
It was clear that Ares was rapidly growing past the point of mild annoyance with her sudden lack of interest in the bedroom. When two months passed and she was still using the same excuse, Ares started to hint—not so subtly—that she should be completely healed by now; if she wasn’t then perhaps there was something wrong with her. Alena fell back on most new mothers’ old stand-by; she was just too tired for intimacy after taking care of Raven all day. That wasn’t exactly a hollow excuse as Raven was up almost every two hours demanding to be fed. Ares started telling her that 1-Raven was ready for solid food, that was why he was so hungry all night long and 2-Raven was too big for the cradle now, he needed his own space and so did they. It was time the boy moved to the crib in the nursery. He was constantly reminding Alena that there was no reason for her to be so tired since they had three nannies to take care of Raven. Alena wouldn’t let the women mother him or step in to give her a break from him. They weren’t his mother, that was what she would tell him; only she, Alena, could do the job of raising her son the right way. As such, baby boy was usually in his mother’s arms and Ares was never in them. Alena barely let Ares hold the baby, let alone feed or change him—not that he had much interest in changing dirty diapers. When Raven woke at night crying, she wouldn’t let Ares walk him around the room so that she could rest. No, she went to Raven and Ares would lay there frustrated with a hard-on screaming for attention listening to her singing to the boy.
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