“It is not fair for you to lay this burden upon her. She just returned to us!” Ares said as he pushed me slightly behind him. He was acting protective of me from Achilles, which was a very bad sign.
“She just returned to us and already you have mated with her! I know I agreed not to mate with her, but I had no idea how hard it would be,” Achilles said as he stared at Ares.
Sensing I was not needed for this argument, I climbed into the now full tub and turned the water off. The warm water felt amazing against my skin and I relaxed into it. I had no idea what to say to Achilles or how to fix this issue so I closed my eyes and relaxed, trying to ease the pain I was feeling.
“You are just being selfish and keeping her to yourself!” Achilles yelled.
“Listen to yourself! She’s only back for a month and you’re already pushing her and pressuring her!” Ares responded.
“You would be doing the same thing in my position!”
“I would be arguing with you, but not pressuring her and causing her pain! A male does not cause his female pain!” Ares bellowed, the walls shaking with the power which was leaking out as his control waned.
Achilles jerked as if the words had pained him. I clenched my eyes tighter, wishing to disappear. “Artemis? Is he right? Have I caused you pain?”
I didn’t want to answer. I couldn’t lie to him because he’d be able to tell. I couldn’t tell him the truth without him getting upset. “Why can’t we go back to how it was two days ago? Everyone was happy. Everyone was sharing well. Can’t we just erase today and pretend it didn’t happen?” Without a word Achilles spun around and left. This time I could feel him and his anger as he turned. “Achilles! Wait!” I called, standing up in the tub.
“Let him be, Artemis. He needs time to think,” Ares said as he turned to face me. I could tell it hurt him to argue with Achilles so, but we both knew it was necessary.
“I needed time to think and no one left me alone,” I complained as I settled back into the tub.
Ares smiled and grabbed the sponge and liquid soap. “I’m sorry, Sunshine, but I can’t stand leaving you alone when you’re in pain.” He pulled a stool out from under the bathroom sink and sat down on it behind me.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he dipped the sponge in the water and squirted soap on it.
He pushed my head forward gently and then made slow, soft circles on my back. “I am washing your back.”
I wanted to object and yet, I didn’t. I loved it when he washed me. “I wish you hadn’t intervened when I was fighting Thor,” I whispered as he washed down my right arm.
“You whined and instinct overruled logic. I couldn’t stand there and watch another male pin you under him while you whined.”
He moved to my other arm and I asked something I’d wanted to know since my memory had returned. “Did you ever discover the true reason for Matt’s betrayal? Who it was they had?”
“Yes,” Ares answered curtly and then stayed silent as he rinsed my back and arms off.
“And?” I prodded.
“And it doesn’t matter anymore,” he said.
“Ares.”
He sighed and set the sponge down. I turned around and crossed my arms on the top of the tub and looked up into his eyes as he told me what had happened.
“The dhampirs took a female wolf he was fond of and held her prisoner. They beat her bloody and then sent him pictures. It would have been a simple matter for me to have Victor help us extricate her, but Matt tried to solve it on his own when we were in France and they caught him. I asked Victor about the girl when I found out, but that wasn’t until we were at the Dragon’s Lair, and he informed me that she had been killed a week after we left France. No matter what Matt would have done for them, the girl was dead.”
No wonder he had been acting so differently. I would have sacrificed almost anyone to get Ares back. “Poor Matt,” I whispered.
Ares growled. “The end result was his fault. Had he come to me early on I could have saved her and his life. I do not regret punishing him for his betrayal. No one who betrays the werewolves deserves to live among us.”
He was sincere and yet I heard the bitterness in his voice. He wasn’t only angry at Matt and the people who caused it, but he was mad at himself as well. “Ares, it’s not your fault.”
Ares sighed and leaned his forehead against mine. “I wish I believed that.”
“If you think about it, it was my fault. If you hadn’t been distracted by me and my immaturity then you would have noticed…”
Ares grabbed my chin and stared into my eyes. “Stop. Matt’s death was not your fault.”
“He was jealous of us, Ares. He wanted to be loved like you love me. He was jealous of how much time you spent with me instead of him. I could see it, but I didn’t say anything to you.”
“What he did was his own decision. He betrayed you and tried to hand you to Maurice. No one should do that to a pack mate, especially not a pup like you had been. Do not blame yourself for another’s reckless actions,” he whispered as he stared deeply into my eyes.
I smiled at him and whispered, “You should take your own advice, Alpha.”
Ares smiled and kissed my lips softly. “You’ve become very wise since I first met you.”
“Being one hundred will do that to you,” I whispered as I looked down at the water.
Suddenly water splashed over the side of the tub as Ares climbed in with me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me against him. “I tried to find you. I searched all over the world and threatened hundreds of people, but no one had seen you. Achilles couldn’t find you with your bond either. It was as though you were invisible. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you all these years. If I could take them all back I would.”
I nuzzled his neck and kissed it softly. “I know.”
~~~
Chapter Seventeen
Over the days that followed I continued sparring with Thor and Erebos brought Sidhe out to teach me Sidhe magic I did not yet know. I was learning quite a lot in a short amount of time and I could tell they were impressed by me. Slowly my reputation built within the Sidhe community and changed from fear and hatred to awe and respect.
After a long training session I sat on the ground and ran my fingers through the grass to calm myself. My training group dispersed and Achilles and Ares walked to my side. “We should visit Father,” Achilles said with a smile on his face.
Ares nodded his head. “Alright.”
I smiled happily and grabbed each of their hands. “Ready?” They nodded their heads and I teleported us to the front steps of the castle. The two werewolf guards jumped in surprise and then bowed when they recognized Ares and Achilles.
Achilles led the way through the castle to his father’s chambers where he knocked loudly on the door.
The door opened a moment later and Zeus stood before us with his long, white beard and handsome face. His power was extremely impressive, pressing down upon me in a way I hadn’t noticed the last time I’d been here, which was strange.
Achilles stood in front of Ares who stood in front of me. I wanted to move forward, but Ares gripped my hand to still me.
“Achilles! Ares! My sons! To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”
Ares stepped around Achilles, spreading his arms and said, “Looks like I’m Sidhe after all.”
Zeus’ eyes widened in astonishment and then he regained composure long enough to pull Ares into a hug. “I knew you had powers.”
He released Ares and I stepped around Achilles. “Hi, Zeus.”
Zeus’ eyes met mine and he stepped around Ares quickly. He looked at Achilles and Ares and then back at me. “Artemis? You…you found her?”
Ares smiled. “Yes, Dad, it’s her.”
I smiled. “Yeah, they found me and made me whole again.” I spread my arms out and released my Sidhe power, letting my wings out. I flapped my wings and wiggled my fingers. “All one piece again.”
&n
bsp; He grabbed my arms and pulled me into a hug, which nearly crushed my ribs. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
I pulled my wings back in and relaxed into his hug. Why did he make me feel so at peace? Was it because he was Ares’ and Achilles’ dad? Or because he was the king of half of my bloodline?
He pulled back and looked at my face. “Your power has greatly increased. It’s amazing.” I felt a push against my body, like a person leaning on me and then it was gone. “By the goddess, how did you obtain so much power?”
I stepped back from him to stand between Ares and Achilles. “I gained some while I was without my memories and more from the dragons and then I gained most of what I have from mater when I channeled the rest of it to Ares.”
Zeus stared at me for several moments and then clapped his hands together. “This is wonderful! We need a feast!” He snapped his fingers and two beautiful Sidhe women stepped out of his chambers to stand beside him. He turned to them and said, “Prepare a feast in honor of the return of Artemis and to honor Ares now taking his rightful place as Prince.”
The women bowed and scurried away to do his bidding.
“Come, you must tell me everything that has happened!” said Zeus as he put his arms around Ares’ and Achilles’ shoulders and pulled them away from me and into his chambers.
I followed behind them, a smile nearly splitting my face. Zeus sat down in his large overstuffed chair and waved his sons and me over to a large couch. I sat down between Ares and Achilles and leaned against Achilles’ side while Ares held my hand.
Zeus smiled at me and then said, “Artemis can you tell me where you’ve been the past one hundred years?”
I nodded my head. “For the first forty or so I was in wolf form running with wolf packs.”
“Wolf packs? You mean you were with werewolves and they didn’t contact Ares?” Zeus asked in shock.
I shook my head. “No, I mean wolf packs, like the real animal.”
His eyebrows raised in shock. “Oh.”
“I don’t know this part of the story myself, but Selene said that they’d been hearing about an unusually large wolf in a local pack which wasn’t afraid of people. Then they got reports of a naked girl seen begging for food and they were worried the vampires would get me. So, Selene decided that as a friend of the werewolves it was her job to investigate. What she found was me separating from the wolf pack and trying to become human again. You see I hadn’t changed out of my wolf form in forty years so I couldn’t even remember how to speak, and I barely remembered how to change forms. She thought I’d been abused by vampires or was on the run.
“As you can imagine, I wasn’t in the best shape when she found me. My body was filthy, my hair was matted and I had lice and fleas. She recognized that I had inherited witch’s powers by the woman who had cursed my father so she took me in as a witch so that she could bypass contacting the werewolves or the vampires. She crafted a pendant which could hide my smell and my skin designs and made me for all intents and purposes human.”
Ares exhaled. “Well, that explains a lot.”
Achilles nodded his head. “Yes it does.”
I continued. “I lived with her coven for sixty years and was assigned as the youth counselor to help the young members of our coven come into their powers. I only left the coven’s walls to go to the magic shop when Selene needed special items. That’s when Ares first spoke to me.”
Ares smiled. “Yes, and then you had your dragon attack me.”
I frowned. “He didn’t attack you and besides, he knew who you were and I didn’t. He knew who you were because you killed off most of the dragons before.”
“Most of the dragons? You have a dragon?” Zeus asked in shock.
Achilles nodded his head. “We went to the Lair for their assistance in removing the block on Artemis’ memories. There were at least two hundred dragons in the Lair alone.”
“Draco-Blu has thirty dragons in his flight,” I said softly as my heart ached at the separation of Blu.
“We could visit him if you wanted to,” Ares said quietly. “Of course it would have to be after the battle.”
I smiled. “Thank you, but I know we have more pressing matters.”
Achilles smoothed my hair back and kissed my forehead. “We could ask them to assist us in the battle. They’d be wonderful allies and the vampires would never expect it.”
“Except that Apollo knows that Draco-Blu is a friend of mine,” I said softly. “He also knows I can use the sunlight magic.”
“Apollo?! Sunlight magic?!” Zeus asked his eyes expanded to their limit.
Achilles laughed. “There’s still a lot you don’t know.”
“Apparently,” Zeus said. “What is this talk of Apollo?”
“My twin’s alive. He saved me from our father as he was trying to kill me,” I said softly. “I don’t think he’s all bad. I think…” I stopped talking because I knew what Ares would say. “And while at the coven I learned to use sunlight like I do fire.”
“Can you show me?” Zeus asked curiously.
I nodded my head and put my hands out, palms facing each other and focused on the center of them. Picturing the bright orange sun and remembering the feel of sunlight on my skin, I called the power and a small orb appeared between my hands.
Zeus walked forward and ran his hand around the orb. “Incredible. It’s been centuries since I’ve heard of someone being able to do this.”
Achilles put his hand under the orb and asked, “Can you drop it into my hand? I want to see if I can control it.”
I released the ball and watched in shock as the orb dropped onto Achilles’ hand and then dissipated.
“So much for that idea,” Achilles said in a light voice, but I could see the anger in his eyes. He didn’t like not being able to do magic that I could.
I leaned against Ares and felt my eyelids droop. “Why am I tired?”
Ares stroked my hair and whispered, “You’ve been through a lot the past few days. You should rest. I’ll tell the rest of the story to Zeus.” I nodded and laid my head on Ares’ lap and my legs across Achilles’ legs. Ares started talking and the world faded into dreams of running through the woods with Ares and Koda.
~~~
Chapter Eighteen
Ares woke me up a few hours later to attend the feast that Zeus had prepared, a feast coordinated to formerly proclaim Ares as Prince of the Sidhe, second in line to the throne of the Dark Court.
I stood on the dais between Ares and Achilles and fought the yawn trying to come out. A short, rotund, brown colored Sidhe woman had come and forced a Renaissance era dress on me. I liked the dress, but would have preferred jeans. Ares and Achilles had changed into soft breeches that tied in the front and button up shirts. I asked the woman why she didn’t give them puffy pirate shirts and she had scowled at me and stomped off. Some people have no sense of humor.
Zeus was wearing skin tight breeches like Ares’ and Achilles’ and a white shirt which showed off part of his upper chest. On him the outfit looked stunning and very fitting. Who knew the God of Lightning would look best in Renaissance clothes?
“Thank you all for gathering on such short notice today. This is a joyous day in many regards,” began Zeus. He gripped Ares’ shoulder and smiled brightly. “My son, Ares, has released his Sidhe powers. He is now a member of the Sidhe realm and a Prince of the Dark Court!”
The crowd clapped and a couple of the younger Sidhe cheered.
Zeus turned to me and extended his hand. I walked to him, being careful not to trip and embarrass myself. Zeus gripped my hand and said, “The second and most exciting revelation is the return of Artemis Lupine of the Sidhe and Werewolves.” The crowd gasped and began murmuring loudly. Zeus raised his hand and they stopped talking. “After being lost to us and as well as to herself, Artemis has returned and rightfully claims her title as mate of Prince Ares and Prince Achilles.” The crowd clapped, but I got a few dirty looks from a couple of the Sidhe wo
men. I rolled my eyes. I was not dealing with that again. Fighting jealous women was not fun and I’d already had more than enough of that at Lyngvi, the Werewolf home.
Zeus snapped his fingers and a beautiful bracelet appeared in his hand. It was made of thin strips of white wood braided together and it appeared to be holding a powerful spell. Zeus slipped it on to my wrist announcing, “So that you will never be lost to us again.”
Achilles laughed and then pretended to cough. He just put a tracking device on you.
I smiled at Zeus and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
Zeus released me and I stood back between Ares and Achilles. Ares whispered, “Why hadn’t I thought of that?” I reached over and pinched his leg, making him rub the spot and smile.
“Let’s eat!” Zeus yelled.
The tables in front of the crowd suddenly filled with food. I knew many forms of magic and had seen many spells used, but I had never seen that before.
“How? What?” I asked in shock.
Zeus winked at me. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve too, daughter.”
I blinked in shock at his name for me, but then smiled. I liked the idea of being his daughter. Ares picked my hand up and led me to the head table where Zeus, Ares, Achilles and I would eat. We ate a delicious feast of every kind of animal and at least ten types of desserts. I felt like I was going to pop by the time I finished stuffing my stomach.
I exhaled happily and leaned back. “I haven’t eaten like that in a long time.”
Ares smiled. “The Sidhe definitely know how to throw a party.”
Achilles tapped my shoulder and I turned to find him standing and half bowing. “May I have this dance?”
“There’s no music playing,” I said with a frown.
Achilles clapped his hands and a troupe of musicians walked in the side doors with instruments. “You were saying?”
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