KEEPSAKE

chapter six

     06 ITS ALL IN THE WRIST

      THE AIR THAT SHE BREATHED FELT DIFFERENT.

           It felt more surreal and fake. Like this was all a nightmare. A sick nightmare she would never wake up from. And it was all because of Adonis and his stupid idea of being a hero. To a muse at that.

    She swung her bow over her shoulder, not looking for a fight, yet. Her feet moved on their own accord, towards the god who still hasn't noticed her presence.

    "Adonis?" She whispered out, lips parting in anticipation. She's never actually met him before so she's not sure how he'd react to her. For all Artemis knows, Adonis knows nothing of her want to kill him.

     Adonis' eyes lift up from the knife in his hand. Artemis can see his knuckles turning red as he clenches his skin into the knifes handle. She can tell he's not happy to see her. His posture straightens up, and he hops off the stump. Artemis follows his movements. Slow and cautious. Like a viper.

     "How'd you find me?" He asked, extending his hand that held the knife outwards to Artemis in a threatening way.

The huntress trailed her attention to the knife in his hand, she thought it was silly. She could easily dodge a knife, especially from the god of beauty. It would be too easy, especially for the goddess of the hunt.

With a snort, she lowered the bow off of her shoulder slowly and set it on the ground, "I just wanna talk, Adonis." She explained, dodging his question, hoping he'd forget it.

"Talk?" He asked, his voice squeaked like it seemed impossible to have a conversation with Artemis. The girl who sent her brother to him, to assassinate him.

"Yes," She scoffed, running a hand over her face tiredly. "Look, I know that you know things. . .and I would like to explain myself. If you'll allow."

     He sighed, clearly having an internal battle with himself. He wasn't too sure if he could trust Artemis yet. She did order his assassination, after all.

      "You can trust me." She told him, "I'm literally defenseless." Artemis fought off the urge to dive into an hysterical laugh. The statement was so taboo for the huntress. Even without her bow and arrow, she wasn't the least bit helpless. With only the bones and muscles she carried, she could kill almost any creature.

    Adonis grunted, throwing the weapon to the ground and kicking it away from his reach. "Alright, fine. You want to talk? Let's talk."

∼∼

      The two gods ended up heading to a stream nearby. They sat on a fallen log just above the water.

Artemis let her eyes trace every feature that made Adonis. His eyes were set on the flowing water currents, fighting against each other in an endless battle. No side would win, much like the world.

Adonis let out a sigh, rubbing his hands together to do something, "Are we just gonna sit here?" He asked, his knee bouncing up and down nervously.

Artemis caught the itch and reached down, pressing her palm against his hard knee, effectively stopping the movement. Adonis flinched when her hand came into contact with him.

His eyes long forgetting of the water and now watching Artemis carefully. She didn't seem defenseless. She seemed like she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Would you just. . . relax?" Artemis started, pursing her lips at him. He looked scared and teamed up. His muscles hardening and clenching. She could sense he didn't like any of this and she knew why. She knew he knew. She knew Apollo lied to her. Somewhere inside of her, she knew.