But one thing was certain: that old witch didn’t want to end this game yet. He was her puppet, and she wasn’t about to cut the strings.
Chapter Eight
Siblings and Fate
Kaye fastened her seatbelt and reached for her book. She’d expected Ares to have some form of entertainment, but he sat with his hands folded in his lap. With his checkered shirt and blue-washed jeans, he almost looked like a normal guy, with a football player’s physique of course. Except, when she tilted her head the right way, his bronze skin glowed in the sunlight, just like Syrinx’s white-gold hair. The glow gave Syrinx an otherworldly look, and with Ares, it made him look irresistibly hot. Not to mention the fact he smelled like summer rain.
She squirmed in her chair, her left leg inadvertently brushing up against his. Could she sit this close to him for three hours and keep her cool? “Didn’t you bring something to do? It’s a three-hour flight.”
He shrugged. “I thought we could talk.”
Talk? He hadn’t been much of a talker yet. Kaye put her book down. “Really?”
He nodded. “Tell me about your family. If I’m going to meet them, I should have some knowledge of who they are and what they expect.”
Kaye laughed. “What they expect is for me to show up alone. You’re already proving that wrong.”
Ares looked her up and down. “So you’ve never brought a companion to this type of event in the past?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say never. But the guys I’ve brought are a lot different than you.” Did she see jealousy pass through his eyes?
“What do you mean by ‘a lot different’?”
“For one thing, they weren’t gods.” She rolled her eyes. “Unless you counted gods of their own video game.”
“These men played games for a living?”
“They wish.” She smirked. “No. One was an accountant, another worked at a bank. You know—business type of stuff. Nothing like you do.” She couldn’t help the way her voice changed with her last comment.
Ares picked up on the change. “You do not approve of what I do?”
“I didn’t say that.” Kaye bit her lip.
The plane started to take off, and she leaned back in her seat. This part always made her nervous. It didn’t help that Ares was interrogating her about past boyfriends and her stance on war and peace.
“But, there is something about war that bothers you?”
She gritted her teeth as the plane lifted from the ground. “Yeah, the part where you have to kill people.”
“It must be done to ensure the safety of my kingdom.”
“I get that. And I have to admit, I’ve been into watching battle movies recently. There’s something really exhilarating about fighting with a sword.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
Wait a sec. Does he think I said that to impress him? How arrogant! She wasn’t that desperate. Kaye summoned a stern face. “But, I also think there are other ways around war, and you have to explore all options before chopping off someone’s head.”
Ares sighed and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Gods aren’t like mortals. You can’t put them through a justice system then lock them in a cell. Their powers are too great. If you don’t eliminate the threat, the threat will come back to haunt you.”
Kaye thought about his words. It was the most he’d ever said all at once. It almost made sense in a crazy way. If everyone was Superman, how could you control anything in the world?
A young flight attendant with bright red hair and thick black glasses pushed a cart down the aisle and asked if she’d like anything to drink. Kaye ordered coffee, and Ares ordered orange juice.
Kaye took the opportunity to change the subject. If they were going to appear as a loving couple at the reunion, then she’d have to try less testy topics. “You wanted to hear about my family?”
Ares nodded, accepting his orange juice from the attendant. “Thank you, miss.”
“You are very, very welcome.” The attendant gave him a big smile, hardly noticing Kaye.
Kaye ignored the woman’s drooling and sipped her coffee. “My parents are pretty normal. My dad’s a software engineer, and my mom’s an editor for a fashion magazine. Grammy’s the best, but you’ll see for yourself. She used to be a professor. The anomaly in my family is my older brother, Bradley. From birth he excelled at everything—academics, sports, you name it. I was always trying to live up to the standards he set.”
Ares leaned in as if completely absorbed by her family’s history, which was boring enough to put someone to sleep. “Is Bradley attending this reunion?”
Kaye took another sip. “Oh yes. He’s the biggest mama’s boy out there. He wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She studied Ares’ strong jawline. Had he ever suffered through sibling rivalry? “Don’t you have a bunch of siblings?” It had been a long time since she’d taken that Classics course, so her memory was a little foggy.
“I do. Seventeen to be exact. Athena, Apollo, Eris, Artemis, Hermes, Hercules—”
Kaye put her hand up to stop him. “I get the picture.” She finished off her coffee. “Did your parents compare any of you?”
“Our realm works differently. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. From a young age, we choose the path that will define us as individuals,” Ares mused, his blue eyes sparkling. “Or the path chooses us, whichever you’d like to believe.”
Another bunch of sentences, all together. Kaye was learning so much about this mysterious god, and the conversation flowed naturally, almost like a real date. A good date. “Which one was it for you?”
Ares glanced down at his hands. “My story is a long one.”
Kaye waved around the plane. “I’ve got time.”
Ares smiled as if she’d beaten him at a game. For a moment, she didn’t think he’d tell her anything. After a deep breath, he stared at his orange juice and began. “As a young boy, I’d walk with my sister Athena to the temple where we’d read the old texts and learn stories of our people’s history. Knowledge always attracted her, and she dragged me along for company. To tell you the truth, I was more interested in the perils of the journey than the texts.” His face grew stoic and mysterious. “Little did I know how perilous that day would become. Athena had many enemies. My father, Zeus, conceived her by having his way with Metis, the goddess of wisdom. He later repented because of a prophecy that Metis would have a child who would rival Zeus in his powers. He consumed Metis, but it was too late. A child had already been born.”
Kaye shook her head. “Your world sounds so dangerous.”
“It can be.” Ares crunched his plastic cup in his fist. “Instead of taking revenge on my father, Athena forgave him. Metis’ family could not understand her mercy. They hunted her in pursuit of their revenge.”
The attendant came by to take away the garbage, and Kaye clutched her cup to her chest, too involved in the story to interrupt. “Why didn’t they just go after Zeus?”
“He was too powerful. Besides, they knew it would hurt him more if they killed Athena.” Ares took both their cups and handed them to the attendant. “That day, assassins came for her. I was a young boy and hadn’t found my path yet. My powers were weak. The assassins surrounded us, and Athena gave herself up in order to let me live. But, they decided to kill us both.”
Kaye grabbed his arm. “What happened?”
“Something arose inside me born of anger, and a sense of terrible injustice. Athena did not deserve to die for my father’s wrongs. She was wise, merciful, just—everything I wanted to be. I could not allow them to take her from me or from this world. One of the assassins grabbed me, and I reached over his arm and grabbed his dagger. I stabbed him in the throat.”
Kaye clutched her own throat.
“He died instantly. I thought the sight of blood would sicken me. Instead, it gave me strength, knowing injustice could die like anything else.” Ares paused, tapping his fingers on his knees. “With the dagger, I k
illed the other two. Athena and I returned home safely, and I knew my path had been chosen. Whether I chose it for myself or it chose me, you be the judge.”
“Wow.” Kaye sat speechless. And her greatest worry was a few snide remarks at the reunion? His world, his life was so different than hers. How could she have ever judged him?
Even more than that, how could she ever hope to relate to him, to have a relationship with a god who’d lived for centuries and dealt life and death by his own hands? He was out of her league in more ways than one. Hell, he wasn’t even of her world.
…
Ares turned to the small window as the unfamiliar feeling of defeat spread through him. The bloody tale of his chosen warrior’s path may not have been the ideal story for a mortal. But she had asked. What was he supposed to do? Concoct a story about unicorns and rainbows?
Kaye had fallen silent. She didn’t even read the book she’d taken out of her bag. She stared at the seat ahead of her, her fingertips absently playing with the torn cover. Guilt came over him. He wanted to reach out and comfort her, but putting an arm around her might come off as too forward. The last thing he wanted to do was push her away even more.
The small seat and cramped passenger compartment stifled him, and he cursed Hekate for the hundredth time that day. If he’d had his powers, they could have avoided this whole trip and zapped themselves to the reunion in seconds.
After the plane finally landed, he helped Kaye with her bags, and they found a temporary metal chariot. Kaye drove while he leaned back and contemplated all of the things to avoid discussing while in the presence of her family.
Number one: the curse.
Number two: anything having to do with war.
Number three: any story with beheading or blood.
“You’ve been quiet lately.” Kaye glanced over from the driver’s seat.
Him? Look who’s talking. Ares calmed himself, thinking of something to say. “I’m preparing to meet your family.”
“Don’t worry.” She touched his arm and smiled to herself. “They’re going to be so impressed.”
Impressed? She certainly had high expectations. They might be impressed at first, but if they discovered he planned to use Kaye to win his powers back, they would all despise him. This was worse than the eve before battle. “I’ll try not to disappoint you.”
“You won’t.” She placed her hand back on the steering device. “This is the first time I actually feel confident going into one of these events.”
Funny, it was the first time he didn’t feel confident. Not only was he out of his element, but he also had no powers to fall back on. Give him a gruesome fight to the death any day, but make him come up with small talk, and he had the urge to run for the hills.
They pulled up a long drive lined with palm trees to a white building overlooking the ocean. Ares had seen many gorgeous sights in all the eons he’d spent on Mount Olympus, but the way the waves gleamed green and blue made him believe he’d found paradise.
He stepped from the chariot, and a light wind blew through his hair. Surveying the coast, he watched a white sailboat meander a trail parallel to the golden beaches. The tangy smell of salty air and ocean turf surrounded him. “This is beautiful.”
“Only the best for my mom. She’d rather die than host a party in a place less than four stars.”
What significance did stars have? If he judged by the view, then a lot.
They unpacked the bags as a mortal took the chariot. Another offered to help with the luggage, but Kaye waved him back, heaving all of her bags on her back as if they were made of thin air—an attribute from his stolen powers. It made her sexy as all hell.
Ares took his own bag, trying not to be too impressed. She had to care for him, but he could not, under any circumstances, feel for her.
Two glass doors opened, and they walked inside.
“KayKay, my dearest! I’ve been waiting for you all morning.” An older woman who had Kaye’s black curls with a touch of gray waltzed toward them from the couches in the lounge. Her features were shrewder than Kaye’s, her nose a little more pointed with narrower eyes, but the family resemblance was striking.
“Mom.” Kaye hugged her. She didn’t waste one heartbeat with pleasantries. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Her mother’s gaze traveled to Ares. Her eyes widened, and a look of shock, followed by disbelief and confusion crossed her face. “That can’t possibly be…”
He extended his hand as Kaye had done at the wedding. “Armin Warhammer. Nice to meet you.”
She took his hand and shook it in slow motion, gaping at his chest and the width of his arms. In the background, Kaye clapped silently.
Ares had an overwhelming urge to smile, but he held it in check. “You are as gorgeous as your daughter, Mrs.Underhill.”
“Oh my. Thank you.” She fumbled with her golden necklace. Charms clunked together between her fingertips. “My apologies. I’m usually quite the talker, but you’ve caught me off guard.”
“Have I?” He glanced at Kaye, and she winked.
Her mother shook her head. “It’s just…somehow I pictured you differently…shorter perhaps?”
A young man came down the steps two at a time. “Well, if it isn’t Clumsy Kaye?” He had the same head of curls, although his were cropped around his ears. His features were blunter, his nose broader than Kaye’s.
Clumsy Kaye? Was she going to ignore such mockery?
Her brother’s easy overconfidence reminded Ares of his own brother, Apollo. Not his favorite sibling. A sudden urge to stand up for Kaye swelled through him, and he clenched his fist. Better not start a war just yet.
The young man punched Kaye in the arm, before noticing Ares and sizing him up. “This is your date?”
Kaye stepped between them. “Bradley, meet Armin. Armin—Bradley.”
Ares stood a good three inches taller and bulkier. Take that, mortal. If Kaye wanted to make an impression, then surely he was doing the job. Powers not included.
Her brother straightened as tall as he could and extended his hand. “Armin, is it? I knew an Armin once, a small, geeky kind of guy.” He smirked and rolled on his heels, seeing if Ares took the bait.
But Ares had a lot of practice ignoring taunts until the battle began. He put on his normal, stoic face. “Alas, I have never met another Bradley.”
Bradley grinned. “That’s because no one’s like me.”
“Come, Bradley, let them get settled.” Mrs. Underhill ushered him up the stairs. She turned to her daughter. “Once you have your room, come down and meet us in the Blue Dolphin Lounge for a few drinks. Grammy’s already here, and she can’t wait to see you.”
“And don’t forget about our volleyball tradition,” Bradley called down as he shuffled up the stairs. “You and your new boyfriend are going down.”
Ares turned to Kaye. “Volleyball?”
Kaye sighed and directed him to the registration desk. “I’ll explain later.”
Ares followed her. “Whatever it is, I highly doubt we’re going down.”
Kaye smiled and squeezed his arm. “You see, that’s exactly why I brought you.”
Ares’ skin burned under her touch. He wished to please her, to show her family how kind and intelligent she was. It wasn’t because he needed to break the curse, although he did. It was Kaye’s smile and how it undid him, tightening every nerve in his body until his only salvation was her delicate touch.
Powers or not, he would defeat Bradley Underhill.
Chapter Nine
Covert Operations
“You did so well!” Kaye threw the bags on the bed. She must have packed light, because nothing felt heavy these days. Maybe it was just the high of being on cloud nine.
“I hardly said anything.” Ares set his own bag by the windowsill. He glanced at the single bed and frowned. “Did you only reserve this one room?”
“Oh, I couldn’t book two rooms, or my family would get suspicious. We’re
supposed to be dating, and gods don’t need to sleep, right?”
Ares turned and stubbed his toe on the dresser. “Hades’ Underworld.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He waved her back. “The couch will suffice.”
“Good.” Weren’t gods above stubbing their toes? Maybe this room was a little small.
She took out her iPad and did a Google search for volleyball. Once she found the best article, she handed the iPad to Ares. “Here you go, everything you need to know about volleyball.”
He took the iPad, holding it awkwardly in both hands as if the words would fall off the screen. “Is this some manner of competitive game?”
“Oh yeah. Especially with my family.” She unpacked a handful of clothes. “I should warn you, I suck at it.”
Ares looked her up and down. “I highly doubt that.”
How he had any idea about her athletic skills was beyond her. But she’d take the compliment. “Thanks.”
Ares read the rules while she unpacked, then they made their way down to the Blue Dolphin Lounge.
Her mother and father sat at the bar, sipping drinks. Although her mother didn’t look a day over forty—thanks in part to plastic surgery and Botox—her dad had lost most of his hair, so only two white tufts stood on either side of his head. Seeing him age sent a pang through Kaye’s gut. She really had to visit more often.
Bradley sat at a table with his lovely wife, Veronica. Her straight red hair had grown long, and she wore it simply, pulled back with barrettes on either side. She glowed with her pregnancy, her freckled cheeks a bit flushed. Beside them sat a few cousins and aunts and uncles. In the center of the room, Grammy sat in her wheelchair with a pink quilt over her legs. She spotted Kaye through her bottle-thick, square glasses and waved.
Kaye waved to her dad and Veronica and walked straight to the family matriarch. She leaned over and gave Grammy a hug. The familiar smell of roses from Grammy’s favorite lotion surrounded her, taking her back to her childhood. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“My dear Kaye. Still searching for seashells?” She winked at Kaye as she pulled away. She’d had her thin hair permed so it formed a halo around her round face.
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