Aphrodite's Flame

10.

Winter is closing in on us. Before long the first snow will settle on the world. I'm sitting outside the cabin on the wooden porch, day dreaming about the times Adonis and I made love, when I hear branches break. I look up, expecting to see my lover return from the last hunt of the season. Instead, a pale looking Ares limps from the shrubs before falling down on the forest floor. I rush over to him, taking his head in my hands.

He is clearly injured. If one would think a god does not bleed, they are wrong. A god bleeds, a god hurts. Maybe even more than any mortal, because that is the difference. We do not die.

Ares' eyes turn away in their sockets, his breathing is shallow. I push his dark hair away from his face before I get up and go inside to go find a cloth to clean him up. The last time I found him like this was during the Trojan War. I feel a heavy pain on my chest remembering that event. I was trying to get him to safety when Athena attacked us in her fury.

'Here you go, Ace,' I whisper to him while cleaning the bloody wounds around his ribs. There are only a few who think Ares is handsome. I am one of those few. I think his scars make him all the more interesting.

'It's been a long time since you called me that,' he rumbles. Even his teeth are stained with blood.

'Why do you keep doing this to yourself?' I sigh.

'Honestly? Because it gets your attention.'

'Don't be daft, you fool.' He chuckles and is immediately punished for it, moaning in pain. While I am tending to his wounds, he is looking up at my face, which in turn I'm trying to ignore. Slowly he moves his hand up, and tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

'Why do you never come down here?' he asks.

'Why do you always come down here?' I retort.

'I love being around those dumb mortals. They always tend to be a little deaf and a little unfeeling and a little blind, you know. They're not the same as we are, it makes it fun.'

'And I think they are too easy to manipulate and rarely fun.'

'Hermes told me about your boy.' I put a little more than necessary pressure on his wound and he grunts.

'Adonis is not a boy.'

'Loving a mortal is lazy, Di. You only need to snap your fingers and he does anything for you.'

'I haven't asked him to do anything. Now, if you want to stay here while you recover you should shut up about him.' He swallows whatever he wanted to say and gives me one hades of an eyeroll.

'Couldn't you at least have picked a king so you could live in a palace instead of this shack?'

'Stop being rude,' I warn, trembling with an upcoming anger. He smiles warmly, not in the least intimidated by me.

'So I found you liked the rose I handpicked for you.' Now it's my turn to roll my eyes at him. Roses are my favourite.

'It was lovely.' He snickers.

'I'm sorry I left so suddenly. My depart was overdue already, but I needed to see you first.' Really? In the dark? 'Don't tell me you're going to avoid me for another thirty years again, Di?' There is something sincere about his pleading, something that makes me smile.

'You are here now, right? I'm not leaving you here.' Relieved he repositions his head.

'Where is th- Adonis, anyway?'

'Hunting. How was Athena?'

'Angry.'

'You probably deserved it.'

Ares and I eventually hang out together the best part of the late afternoon. Although he touches me in intimate ways - caressing the back of my hand, webbing our fingers together, tucking my hair behind my ear - he doesn't overstep any of our boundaries. When the sun starts to set he has rested enough to return to Olympus. Hermes is already on his way to come get him.

'I had fun today,' he tells me, getting up and getting dressed again. I'm kneeling in front of him to help him button his shirt.

'The first or the second part of the day?'

'Difficult question, there is only one thing that could definitively answer that.' He grabs my hair, that is hanging over my shoulders and pulls me closer to him. I can feel his breath on my lips and for half a second I want to give into him. But I always do, and he doesn't always deserve that.

'You should go,' I whisper. He looks at me with darkened, sad eyes before letting go. He smiles wryly.

'Hermes should be here, anyway.' I help him to his feet and follow him out into the darkness. Adonis isn't home yet, a cold worry is setting in my veins.

'There you are, honey,' Hermes mocks the god of war. They bow their heads in reverence to me before disappearing. I head back into the cabin to grab something to keep me warm so I can go looking for Adonis, when the door behind me opens.

'Hey,' Adonis says upon entering the cabin. I turn around and hurry over to him to wrap my arms around him.

'I was getting worried,' I tell him. He smiles, but only barely.

'I'm okay. Tired, though.' He pulls his shirt over his head and kicks his boots under the bed. I bite my lower lip in anticipation, but he pulls back the covers and gets into the bed. I let out a silent sigh before getting undressed and crawling in with him. I put my arm around him and kiss his bare shoulder.

'Goodnight, love,' I whisper.