OF WAR Anthology Novels 1-3

by Lisa Beth Darling

  “Some say love it is a river that drowns the tender reed, some say love it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed, some say love it is a hunger an endless aching need. I say love it is a flower and you its only seed.”

  Every night it was the same song and Alena sang it over and over in her beautiful alto voice, so low and husky, soothing. When she was tired or thought Ares was asleep, if Raven was uncooperative, she even brought the baby into bed with them in the middle of the night. Come morning he’d find her body wrapped around the infant, who was already awake and suckling as he looking up at Ares with devilish eyes.

  Just to get some time alone with his Wife, Ares insisted they work on discovering Alena’s true powers, all of them, their depth and scope. He repeatedly asked about her visions and if she’d had any. Alena hadn’t had a vision since Raven was born and she’d told him all about the others, but he wouldn’t give her any clues to their meaning, although she felt certain he had a few. Just as they did back on the island, they went to the basement of the Fortress for one hour a day and she practiced while he coached and made demands.

  Even without the Druid’s Staff—which burned up along with Cernunnos’ Keep—Alena levitated objects with ease and called them to her hand. She could make small objects appear seemingly out of thin air just like any Olympian or God. The trick she discovered wasn’t in trying to create the object but rather in knowing where the object was, no matter how far away, and then bringing it to her hand. Once she learned that, dressing herself in the blink of eye became child’s play. She tired easily and was unable to recreate the bolts of energy in her hands that she’d so easily discharged from the Staff. The more he tried to force her into doing, the less she succeeded and the more frustrated she became. The result was several shouting matches where Alena kicked up her heels and stormed off. She wouldn’t speak to him for the rest of the day.

  Yet, all the while, right under Ares’ distracted nose there was little relationship starting to bloom on Olympus. It didn’t escape Alena’s attention that there were several interesting glances being passed between Eros and Onya. Alena couldn’t approve more. She thought it would be good if Onya had a boyfriend or even someone more serious than that in her life. What better choice than Eros? Yesterday, he even brought Onya a bouquet of wildflowers, but he hadn’t given them to her in front of Ares, not just yet. After all, technically like Iris and Arianna, Onya was still one of Ares’ women and Eros was moving in on his Father’s territory, which wasn’t likely to be greeted with a happy smile, even if Ares wasn’t availing himself to Onya’s pleasurable company any longer.

  Just before Raven turned three months old, Ares went out for the day. He just walked out of the front door totally unnoticed by his Wife, who was too busy with the baby to take note of anything else. Ares had enough. He was tired of being rejected in bed and in his son’s life; Alena hardly let him near the boy. At his wits’ end and with nowhere to turn, Ares found himself knocking on the door of Eros’ Tower. Asking Eros for advice on his love life wasn’t something Ares undertook lightly, but the God of War felt that if anyone had an answer for him, it would be the God of Love. “What’s wrong with me?” he asked as he pushed his way through the door to the Tower.

  “Would you like a complete list or just a few examples?” Eros asked as he took a few steps back to get out of his Father’s way. “If it’s a list then we could be here for a while, but I don’t have any plans.”

  “I didn’t come here for sarcasm,” Ares grumbled and then threw his arms up in the air, “just look at me, ok, look. What is wrong with me?”

  Closing the door, Eros turned back to Ares. “You know, Father, I only wish I had the slightest idea what you are talking about.”

  “Me, I’m talking about me. What is wrong with me? I’m strong, I’m powerful, I have money, station, and I’m handsome as hell…”

  “Modest as the day is long,” Eros interjected as he led Ares across the room to the sofa by the hearth where Eros settled down and waited for Ares to explain, but he just stood there staring at him. “You have all of those things and more, so what’s the problem?”

  Sitting down in one of the chairs across from the couch in a huff, Ares gritted his teeth and stated his reason for being there. “Why doesn’t my Wife want to make love with me anymore? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with her?”

  “I see,” Eros mused, feeling though he’d been put in a strange spot and wondered why Ares came to him at all. He must have known that Eros could use the sad yet intriguing information to drive a further wedge between them. Although Ares had tolerated Eros’ increasing presence in the Fortress, he knew Eros had deep-seated feelings for Alena and he never left them alone. That was probably a wise move on Ares’ part. “Well, I hate to remind you of this but you did crush her heart. To add insult to injury Mother’s new baby…”

  “I did it for Alena!” Ares roared.

  Eros held up his hands as though he were surrendering. “I know that, Alena knows that. Have you tried a little patience?”

  Ares let out a groan and shook his head. “If I’m patient any longer my balls are going to drop off from the weight!”

  “Calm down, relax,” Eros encouraged. If that was Ares’ approach, he was probably scaring the wits out of her. “I meant have you tried a little charm? A little love and tenderness? A heartfelt apology, flowers are always appreciated, chocolates are good, a night by the fire where you just massage her…no sex. Anything like that?”

  “If she’d let go of Raven for five minutes I might have a shot with those things. He’s always in my way.”

  “First off, he’s your Son and an infant so he’s not exactly in your way; don’t treat him like an adversary.” Eros pursed his lips and let out a sigh, knowing that if that was true it wasn’t just because Alena so loved her son, but because she so missed her Husband and needed someone to replace him. Alena had a big heart and she needed someone to whom she could give that love. Raven was safe, he was an infant; she could pour all of her love into him and he wouldn’t ask for anything more than to be fed, changed, and played with—just like any grown man but in a different fashion. Again, Eros felt the opportunity to guide his Father in the wrong direction and move in on Alena dancing in the palm of his hand. Eros could charm her, especially now that he knew she was lonely and vulnerable. She was ripe for the picking; he could just reach out and pluck her like a grape from the vine, snatch her right away from Ares. But the God of Love was unable to ignore the love in Ares’ eyes hidden behind his anger and confusion. Alena loved Ares and he loved her, so, in the end, Eros had no choice but to do the right thing. “How about you let me take Raven for a night? Then he won’t be a problem. You plan a romantic evening alone with her and she’ll be safe in the knowledge that Raven is being well cared for.” After the words were out of his mouth, Eros realized the mistake in his plan. “I’ll help you come up with something perfect for the night, all right?”

  “I don’t know,” Ares grumbled, feeling as Eros did that Alena wouldn’t be so keen on the idea of parting with her precious baby boy for a night. If Raven wasn’t there to fill the awkward silences between them, what would they do?

  “I’m wonderful with kids, I love them. She’s seen me with Raven, and she will trust me with him for a night.” Eros leaned forward and took pity on his Father. “I know you didn’t mean it but you really hurt her. She’s a Fey, her heart is delicate and never given away lightly. She still loves you; she will always love you, but she fears you have abandoned her. That you’re in love with Aphrodite. You have to show her that you’re not.”

  Ares balled up his fists and let out a low growl. How many times was he going to have to proclaim he had no feelings other than disdain for Aphrodite? “I’d never abandon Alena. I never loved your Mother.”

  Those last words should have stung; they would have hurt nearly anyone else, but Eros was long aware of the fact that Ares never loved Aphrodite. Aphrodite was still trying to come to grips with
that fact. “Look, why don’t you take her down to the island for the night? Get her away from here and the madness you and I have come to consider normal just for a little while.”

  A night on the island with the salt air and the warm breezes, a night away from Olympus and all of the chaos sounded very good to Ares. If Raven was staying on Olympus then Hera couldn’t complain. “So there’s nothing wrong with me?”

  “Other than you’re still an ass? No, Father, there’s nothing wrong with you.” Eros rose to see Ares out. “You’re still the same old charming fellow you always were.”

  With Ares gone and Eros’ head starting to ache, he thought of more pleasurable thing to take away the dull pounding his Father left in his temples. If Ares and Alena went away for a night (or even more) then he would have that time alone with Onya. Even though it had the exhilarating bonus of making him feel like a spry teenager again, Eros was tired of sneaking around behind his Father’s back. It was difficult to keep his eyes to himself when she was in the room or the smile in his heart from bursting out on his face. Even more difficult was getting time with her, so they stole a half hour here and an hour there out from under Ares’ nose. Twice Eros had been daring enough to fly to her window at night and then take her away to the tower, only to return her to the window before first light. With Ares out of the way they would have a whole night with each other.

  A day later, Eros again found himself in the unenviable position of playing Marriage Counselor when Alena came to him with the very same question; what’s wrong with me? Eros stopped by the Fortress as he did every day to visit and Ares ducked into his woodshop as he gave a nod toward Alena. Eros thought Ares wanted him to start laying a bit of groundwork for their little getaway. Raven was sleeping. Alena looked frazzled and tired; she asked if he wanted a cup of tea. They sat in the small parlor of the Fortress when she suddenly asked him what was wrong with her.

  Among the powers they were discovering in her was a great capacity for empathy and to sense what those around her were feeling and why. Unfortunately for Alena, once she tapped into this ability she couldn’t untap it, and it caused her a great deal of distress when she was around Ares where she acutely felt the agony in his heart at her rejections of him, and the doubt forming in his mind as to the future of their marriage. Yet, overriding the agony was the sense of a little boy crying out to be loved again and the anguish of a man who was begging for his wife’s return to his side. It made her feel guilty. “I know he’s sorry, I know he didn’t do it to hurt me, I know he still loves me but I just…can’t.”

  “Why not?” Eros asked, trying to sound interested but casual and not tip his hand that Ares had come to him the day before. “If all of that is true then what’s stopping you? Don’t you love him anymore?” In the deepest part of his heart, Eros hoped she’d say ‘no’ but…

  “Yes, of course I do. I love him so much but…but…”

  “But what?”

  “Look at me,” she cried quietly and pointed to herself, “now think of your Mother.”

  Alena pulled the shawl around her shoulders tight across her chest and held her hand under her chin to keep it closed. To Eros it suggested she was trying to hide or cover herself. That was part of the root of the matter; not that she didn’t trust Ares anymore or that she didn’t love him, but that’d he made her feel unattractive and not desirable. He’d shattered her fragile self-confidence when it had only begun growing healthy and strong. If he were Apollo then he’d use this precious moment to stab Ares in the back, but he wasn’t Apollo and he had no score to settle with Ares. “She’s no more beautiful than you. Certainly not on the inside by a country mile.”

  “You’re very kind.” Alena reached across the table and patted Eros’ hand. “She’s voluptuous and sexy, she’s witty and stunningly gorgeous, and she knows things that I don’t.”

  “Things?” Eros turned his hand around so that he was holding hers. It was fragile but strong as it wrapped around his. “You wish you had more experience, more lovers before Ares so that you would please him better in bed?” He could sit here and tell her everything he found completely enveloping about her but she wouldn’t believe him. Ares had to tell her; showing her would be better.

  “Wouldn’t that be better?”

  “Why would that be better?” With his free hand, he reached across the table to run his fingers along the outline of her face. Eros thought it would be wonderful to fall head over heels with a woman only to discover that, throughout time, he would be her only lover. There was something irresistibly quaint and old fashioned in that lovely notion. “I don’t think it would be. So your hair is silver, so what? You are not old, certainly not for a Fey. You don’t have the experience Aphrodite does; again, so what? Does that mean Ares would desire you less? You are a beautiful woman, Maggie, any man would want you and they do.” So they did; Cernunnos, Apollo, Ares, and even Eros all wanted her for themselves. “You have a charm, a gift, an inner glow that just calls out to the men around you like a siren song.”

  “Is that why you took me from the camp?” Then she quickly added, “I didn’t mean it to come out that way and I know I shouldn’t ask, I should just leave it alone but, I’d just like to know why.” She hadn’t had the chance to be alone with Eros to tell him or to ask him about the time she’d spent with him and thought the chance might not come again. Therefore, while it was here, she was going to grab it.

  “Ares told me you remembered.” He ran his thumb across the back of her hand, feeling sorrow sink deep into his heart as the color ran out of his bronze faced. “About Apollo, Maggie I never wanted anything like that to happen.” If he didn’t get the chance to say anything else to her about it ever again, he wanted her to know that much. “I took you from the camp because it was a horrible place, you didn’t belong there. I did it because even from five thousand feet above I saw you, you stood out, your radiance and your earthly beauty. You made my heart stop; I wanted to know you, and I thought maybe…maybe you could love me.” The admission was more difficult than he’d imagined it would be. “Apollo ruined everything and I’m so sorry, I tried to stop him, I’m just, well, I’m not very good at confrontations.”

  “They’re never pleasant,” Alena agreed as she let go of Eros’ hand and sipped from the fine china cup. “I just wanted you to know that I don’t blame you for the things Apollo did.”

  “Has my Father confronted Apollo on this yet?”

  “I haven’t really told him,” she confessed and finished the tea, settling the cup onto its saucer. She shrugged her slender shoulders. “It’s all in the past.”

  Eros didn’t like the tone of resignation in her voice, which was usually gentle and diplomatic, but also full of fire and energy. “And you have to live here on Olympus with Apollo and me so why do anything to rock the boat, is that it?” Eros leaned across the table and spoke quietly as he was unsure how much time was left to them. “If you tell Ares, he’ll kill Apollo and your problems will be over.”

  “Zeus will kill Ares,” Alena said sadly, “so you see my predicament.” If she told Ares all that, she knew then there would be two less Olympians on this godforsaken mountain. Surely Ares would kill not only Apollo but Aphrodite as well instead of bedding her. Then Raven would grow up without his Father and Alena couldn’t abide that. It was best to keep the God of War in the dark on such matters and keep the peace, as Eros said. “Have I ever told you how much you look like your Father?”

  “Me?” Eros said with genuine surprise as he pointed to himself. “Most people think I look like—,” he let his voice trail off, not wanting to bring up an already sore subject.

  “Your Mother,” Alena finished, although it was hard to get the last word out of her mouth. “I can see that but it’s just the blonde hair. You have Ares’ cheeks and his strong jaw.”

  “If I only had his courage then I might be doing something,” Eros mumbled to himself, knowing that she meant her words as a high compliment, how could she not. He knew how much
she loved Ares because it was dancing there in her eyes. “Thank you, Maggie.”

  “Alena, my name is Alena,” she corrected with a bit of sorrow, “Maggie lived in another lifetime and another place,” she finished as she gazed at her surroundings.

  “Of course,” Eros replied, feeling the sorrow in her voice and not knowing if it was a good or a bad thing, but Eros being Eros he hoped for good. If she identified with and wanted to be called by the name Ares gave her, then that was another indication of how committed she still was to him. “Alena, forgive me.”

  There wasn’t anything to forgive so she let the comment pass by. “I just want things to be the way they used to be between Ares and me, that’s all.”

  “I have a feeling you’re going to get your wish sooner than you think.”