Ares didn’t react when I stood and tried to pull him up by the hand. He remained sitting in the water with the waves lapping against his back, his eyes smoldering like bright embers as he stared up at me.
“We shouldn’t stay,” I said softly. “I don’t think it’s safe here. We can rest when we get to the lake.”
Maybe it was just the combination of my weariness and nerves, but I kept getting the niggling sense that neither of us should be lingering so long out here in the water, even in these shallow depths. But even when I urged him to stand with another gentle pull, he didn’t respond: his hand that had always felt so strong and sure before (I was careful not to dwell too long on what circumstances that had been under) now felt loose, slack. His skin radiated as much heat as ever, but there
