She flashed him a bright smile. “He’d like that.” Morrigan shoved the pizza at him. “The kid at Pomegranate Pizza told me this one was one the house.” She shrugged. “And pretty much every pizza we order until the end of time. They feel really bad about the mix up.”
“As well they should.”
“It’s actually not their fault.”
“Well, if Thalia—”
“Not Fate either, strictly speaking. But that’s not why I’m here.”
“No, no. Back up. You forget how well I know you. You know who did that to us and you don’t want to tell me because you’ll think I’ll go start a war or something.”
“No, I’m pretty sure you’d finish it. I believe I told him you’d rip him limb from limb with your bare hands.”
He hopped to his feet as fury coursed through him. “You bet your sweet ass, I will. Who was it?”
“Sit down and breathe.”
“I don’t want to breathe. I want to kill this motherfucker.”
“What’s happening here between us is more important than anything that guy has ever had to say.”
She was right. So he inhaled deeply and forced his brain to move from DEFCON KILL YOU to Let Morrigan Talk. “Okay.”
“I had to tell you something and it trumps all of the chaos around us.”
For one horrible and wondrous moment, he thought she was going to say she loved him. There was this terrible hope and fear all tangled up in his gut.
“The awkward morning after thing… you didn’t need to shield me from that. I was thinking we needed it.”
“Really?” That strange amalgamation of emotions had settled and felt oddly like disappointment.
She nodded. “Definitely. Look, Ares, no matter what happens you’re my family. I love you.”
Those words had never crushed him more. He didn’t want her to be in love with him. These feelings she expressed were what he wanted from her, but now it was like drowning.
“I love you too, Morrigan. Always.”
She put her arms around him. “We needed to say that. I don’t care if it goes against your feels rule.”
“No, you’re right. We did.” He held her close. “Since we’re coming clean, I have to tell you I’m sorry.”
“For what? If you say for the sex, I’m going to punch you. It was good.”
“Oh, it was so good. I mean, how could it not have been? We’re the pinnacle of god and goddesshood.” Ares grinned. “No, about… I had a pretty nasty realization this morning and it’s fucking with me.”
She pulled away from him, but only so she could meet his regard. “Tell me.”
“I’ve not been the friend to you that you’ve been to me. This isn’t an apology only for Atlantis, I mean, ever. I’ve been weak, cowardly…”
“Ares, if anyone else had said that about you, I’d smite them.”
“No, I’m serious—”
“So am I!”
“Morrigan,” he grabbed her arms, “let me say this.”
She nodded.
“I’m going to do better.”
“There is no better. There’s you. That’s all I want, Ares. Don’t ditch me at Atlantis, and we’re good. Don’t you think if I thought you were being any of those things you mentioned, I’d tell you?”
“Of course you would. You know me better than anyone, but you didn’t know these things because I hid them even from myself.”
“I’m only going to say this once and you need to listen. When you were born, your father was wrong.”
Ares couldn’t handle any more of these emotions. He didn’t understand why humans wanted to feel these things. He needed to cut them off, burn them away—hide. Instead, he straightened and waited for the rest of her assault. For the rest of the memories to come back and slice him wide. That’s what the god he wanted to be would do.
“Your birth didn’t bring war to the world. Every bad thing that happened is not your fault. You were born because war was already in the world. Do you understand?”
She saw him more clearly than he’d ever dreamed, which made all of this so much more traumatic. He thought he’d been hiding his sins, his fears, and instead she’d always been able to see all of it.
“I’m not ready for that kind of introspection.”
“Really? Seems to me like you’re doing it to yourself all the time, but with a dirty lens.”
He didn’t know what to say and she seemed to understand that, too. She simply embraced him, held him close against her. Ares drew strength from her, peace that only her presence could bring.
He was worried he’d lose that. Worried that touching her for a different kind of pleasure would erase their bond.
Ares changed the subject. “Now that I’m calm, tell me what happened.”
“I want your word that if I do, you’re not going to do anything. If I wanted him harmed, I could’ve done it myself.”
His rage simmered, but he’d promised.
“It was Dagda.”
“What? Why?” He felt as if he’d betrayed her all over again by ever thinking the god was worthy of her.
“He thinks I took his power and left him to rot. He said he thinks I should’ve encouraged my priestesses to follow him as well.”
“Is he high?”
“Oh, there’s more.” She patted his shoulder. “He’s obsessed with you. I told him that maybe you’d throw him a pity fuck, but that was before he threatened me.”
“He what?” Ares couldn’t have heard that correctly.
“It’s fine. You know I’m more powerful than he is.” She shook her head. “That whole interaction was part of why I had to come over. He thought that giving us that pizza with the aphrodisiac would break us. Specifically, it would break whatever magick spell I put on you so he could have you.”
“That’s insane. Certifiably.”
“Yeah, because we are unbreakable, Ares. I thought we both needed to hear that.”
“Does that mean I can touch your butt and it won’t be weird?” he teased.
“No. Not unless I can touch yours.”
“You can do whatever you want to me. I’m not scared.”
She laughed. “See? You. Me. Until the wheels fall off.”
“Wanna play some Fallout? I’ll be your middle school girlfriend and watch you play.”
“No, let’s play Call of Duty. Then we can kick ass together.”
“I don’t know,” he said as he released her and migrated toward the meaty meatness of deliciousness she’d brought in the pizza box. “I really need to stuff my face with that pizza.”
“Are you telling me you can’t eat pizza and play Call of Duty at the same time? I thought you were one of those multi-talented gods?”
“Morrigan, I never try to do two things with my mouth at once. I need all my concentration to taste and digest the pizza. The same way I use all my focus on cunning linguistics.”
“I suppose that’s fair. I mean, in the past, I’d have snorted and rolled my eyes, but it’s not bragging if you can back it up.”
He smirked.
This was good. It wasn’t as if they were trying to pretend that sex hadn’t happened, but they were still them. Their friendship may have had a new facet, but it was still the same bond they had.
They were going to be okay.
After sitting on the giant leather couch next to her, he took a bite of the pizza. This was his idea of happiness. Hanging out with his best friend chowing on a slice.
Dagda had threatened that. He hadn’t forgotten. Ares hadn’t spewed the volcanic rage he felt at the other god. Morrigan wanted to let it go, that was okay. She could do that. Ares, on the other hand, was going to have a word.
That word was war.
No mistake, he wasn’t trying to save Morrigan. He knew she could handle herself. No, he would wreak a bloody vengeance for trying to take away the only unconditional acceptance he’d ever had.
No one threatened what belonged to Ares.
He chewed the pizza with gusto, determined to enjoy it even more—every single flavor it had to offer him. He liked the weight of the cheese on his tongue, the savory meat, and red pepper tinge to the sauce. It was all things good.
After Morri had played for a while, she said, “So I’m still going to meet Poseidon on Saturday. Unless you have any objections?”
She was asking his permission? He wondered if he should look outside and see if the apocalypse had begun. He gave himself a moment to think about his answer before he spoke.
“I have all kinds of objections. I’d rather you didn’t.”
Morrigan paused the game and turned to look at him. “What are they?”
“Nothing reasonable, of course.” He laughed and she gave him a strange, fey smile. “I remember you said you wanted a dose of me only wanting you to be happy. So, I’m going to go with that.”
“Are you really?” She eyed him. “Or is that what you think you’re supposed to say.”
“It’s what I’m supposed to say.” He rolled his eyes, but then cupped her cheek. “But what I really want for you. You deserve all the good things in the universe. If my brother ends up being that for you, it’s not my place to say anything about it.”
She put the back of her hand on his head to check for fever. “Are you sick?”
“No.” He took her hand. “I decided that I need to stop judging your choices so harshly because I’m one of them.”
“Huh. I guess we need to have wild golden apple-inspired sex more often.”
“Probably not if you’re going to date my brother.”
She laughed. “That could be a problem.”
What he wanted to do was tell her no, she didn’t need Poseidon to make her happy. That he could make her happy. That he could be everything she ever needed and she didn’t need to give anyone else any part of her.
Only he saw the flaw in his thinking, he saw that he took and took without giving. He really did want her to be happy.
“Ares, if you don’t want me to go, I won’t,” she said after a long silence.
He thought about everything Corvinus had said to him about putting her first. Because this was his chance to say, “No, don’t go to Poseidon. Stay with me.”
But nothing had changed. He hadn’t suddenly learned to love himself. Being selfish and petty had been shadows he’d cast over his own pain rather than dealing with it.
“Do what makes you happy. I’ll always be here.”
“That’s exactly what I needed to hear.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon together, but Ares still had business to handle. “Morri, you’re more than welcome to stay, but there’s a situation brewing and I have a prayer to answer.”
“You got one? That’s great.”
“I’m sure it was in jest, but I’ll answer.”
“Are we starting or finishing?”
“Avoiding?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It could be ugly. World annihilation type stuff.”
“I’ll chill and finish my game.” Her attention returned to the screen.
“See you later.”
Only he wasn’t going earthside, not just yet. He wanted to see his brother. So he went to Atlantis.
“If this is about Saturday—” Poseidon began before Ares could say anything.
“It is,” he interrupted. “This is probably going to go a little bit like you think it will and nothing at all like you think it will.”
Poseidon nodded. “Okay, do you want to do this in my office for privacy?”
“Sure. Yeah.” Ares followed him into the officer where the doors were closed and there were no prying eyes to spread gossip all down the lane.
“Go ahead.”
“It’s really simple. Don’t be a dick.”
“I’m never a dick.” Poseidon rolled his eyes. “When have I been a dick? You don’t count. I mean with a goddess.”
“This is important. She’s special to me. I want your word you won’t hurt her.”
“I can’t promise I won’t hurt her. No one can promise that about another creature. I can swear I won’t set out to hurt her. I won’t lie. I won’t cheat. I’ll treat her the way I would like to be treated and that’s just going to have to be good enough.”
Ares snorted. “Fine. I guess I can accept that. You have to know there’s part of me that wants to tell you that if you go down this road and you make her love you, that I expect you to stay with her forever.”
“But the other part of you?” Poseidon was strangely understanding.
“The other part of me is struggling to be rational.”
“I assume she doesn’t know you’re here and if she did, she’d be pissed.”
“Probably, but hey, I’ve made strides.” Ares poked his own chest for emphasis.
“Yes, you have. Good job.” He wasn’t the least bit condescending when he said it, either.
“Have you been listening to the gossip?”
“Oh, that stupid nonsense about the betting pool?” Poseidon waved it off.
“It’s true.”
Poseidon blinked. “What?”
“Yeah, and the god who won it? I’m going to punish him. I haven’t quite decided how, but he’s the reason.”
“You need to back up and start over, little brother. I’m missing something.”
“Dagda, Morrigan’s ex, he made sure that we got a pizza meant for Priapus.”
“So we’re going to end him.” Poseidon said, conversationally.
“For more than that. He tried to attack Morrigan.”
“I assume you say ‘tried’ because he failed miserably?”
“He threatened her. Threatened Corvinus, threatened me, and her peace of mind.”
Poseidon nodded. “That’s the biggest offense.” He nodded some more, almost as if a plan had hatched as he’d been speaking. “You know, I have dominion over the seas and all the treasure in them. Including some dirty secrets that would kill a god.” His trident glowed.
“I was thinking we should lock him in with the Kraken. Fred’s been pretty lonely. He could use a friend.”
“I’ll make sure to tell him he’s food, not friend.” Poseidon said with malice. “And I’ll make sure that his parts grow back every day.”
Ares arched a brow. “This is a slightly bloodier side of you, brother.”
“Just because I like to surf doesn’t mean I can’t be brutal.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“No matter what Morri means to either of us, she’s always been family. You’re my brother. Didn’t you expect my support?”
Ares realized he hadn’t. “I didn’t think I deserved it.”
“Shit.” Poseidon shook his head. “All this growing and honesty? You’re in love. Real love, not like the childish games you and Aphrodite used to play.”
Ares shook his head in denial. “Not you, too.”
“Just calling it like I see it.”
“She’s not into me anyway. When we talked today, she said she was still going to keep her date with you Saturday.”
“Doesn’t matter. I can take her out until humans discover how to speak whale, but I’m not you. You don’t know how she looks at you. She’s just waiting for you to realize you love her.”
“No, she’s really not.”
“Maybe she doesn’t even know it. Trust in me, little brother.”
“How about we focus on the task at hand?”
“Operation Fun With Fred? Yeah, we need a plan to get him here.” Poseidon pulled out his Book of Treasures and thumbed through the pages. “I will assume that Morrigan will not be included.”
“No, but Corvinus should be.”
“You and the birdie making nice?”
Ares nodded. “We’ve come to an accord.”
“As have we, my brother.” Poseidon nodded. “As have we.”
12
MORRI
She finished her game and when Ares hadn’t returned, she decided
to go earthside. She could hear modern witches praying to her for guidance and protection. She’d see what she could do to help them out.
She was on the steps when she saw Aphrodite.
“Is it true?” the golden goddess asked her.
“Which thing? I seem to be the topic of plenty of gossip today.” Morri rolled her eyes. She was tired of everyone being up in her business. She didn’t mind Aphrodite so much, but she knew this was a symptom of what was going to become an epidemic of people stopping her in the street to ask if she’d finally boned Ares.
“Which thing would I be asking you about?”
She wanted to squirm away from the question. To her, it seemed like the other goddess was asking to be stabbed in the heart. “Aphrodite, I’m uncomfortable talking to you about this. I feel like anything I can say would hurt you.”
“No, see…” She pursed her lips. “That’s the thing. I’m not hurting. This morning, it was like someone turned on a light. All of my sadness and my pain was simply gone.”
“Glad I could help?” It was definitely a question. She didn’t know what kind of magic Aphrodite was snorting, but Morrigan wasn’t sure she wanted any of it anywhere near her.
“So what happened? Tell me all about it.”
“Okay—whoa.” Morrigan held out her hands. “This is too weird.”
“Why?”
“Um, let’s see. I slept with your ex. You slept with mine. What else do you need?”
“That angst is all over and done with. Trying to be with Ares when he wasn’t meant for me was tearing a hole in my being. That’s why I was in pain all the time. The only thing I feel now is joy.” Aphrodite shook her head. “There’s so much of it, I’m going to burst.”
“You’ll have to watch it. You might start doing that glitter thing again and I’ll have to call you Heart Fart.”
Aphrodite grinned. “I will shower you in glitter if you do.”
An explosion of glitter burst from her fingers washing over Morrigan in a wave of what she would call “glitter spunk.”
“You just shot your load on my face, Aphrodite. Not cool.”
Aphrodite laughed and Morrigan had to admit that it was indeed a beautiful, sonorous sound. It seemed as if being free from Ares had only added to her beauty. Or maybe it was there all the time and Morrigan had never been able to see it because she was in love with him.
Ambrosia Lane 1-3: Saranna DeWylde Page 56