The Beloved of the God of War

7 - Found

Zeus surged off his throne and began descending the steps of the dais the instant the compulsion broke around us and the light of the Oracle dimmed overhead. No longer borne up by the spectral force that had overcome me just a moment ago, I stumbled back and fell gracelessly on my rear onto the smooth, dark floor. My hands hit the cold gemstone surface with a high-pitched slap.

“Where?” he demanded, his voice thundering and echoing across the expanse of the domed hall. “Where did you find her?”

I sucked in a gasping breath when his foot hit the last step and he loomed over me like a wild beast ready to tear me apart. His shadow fell over my collapsed form, and it felt so dense and alive, choking out of me what little courage I might have dreamed of eking forth.

“She found me, first.”

And suddenly, Ares’s shadow, too, was looming over me now. My eyes were still glued to the smooth floor, and I didn’t dare look up at him - but I saw his leather sandaled foot casually move sideways and plant itself in front of me. He was still facing Zeus, however, and keeping his back to me. I didn’t understand: the way he stood slightly between us, it was almost as if he were trying to stand in Zeus’s way.

But that couldn’t be right, I thought. Even in my panic-dumb terror, I was still lucid enough to know that both of these gods wanted me dead.

And yet when I slowly inclined my head, daring to look up at their faces, I saw it: Ares wasn’t just standing between his father and me. He had raised one of his arms and had placed a hand on Zeus’s chest. He wasn’t actively pushing the other god away, and his elbow was relaxed and bent, but it was clear that he was warning him off.

Why? Why was he…?

“Off, boy,” Zeus rumbled, and I cowered again. There was an even darker, more sinister fury brewing under his words now, and still Ares did not budge. “My patience has limits. Don’t test them now.”

“Didn’t you hear her? She’s the First, she said. Only the First of the New Gods. She isn’t the only one.”

Silence. My every breath rattled in my chest like marbles in a tin can, and I knew they could hear my terrified pants. But father and son continued to glare at each other for a long moment, until finally Zeus took a slow, measured step backward. Ares’s hand fell away from the front of his chiton.

I felt Zeus’s eyes alight upon me like hot coals. “You. What do the mortals call you?”

Again, I felt the truth rushing out of me before I could stop it. “Astra,” I said. My voice shook like a dying leaf caught in a breeze.

“Of course,” he mused. His voice remained colored by the last remnants of his wrath, but there was something contemplative in his tone now. Something careful, calculating. “A little on the nose, I think. Astra.”

He flashed a sudden smile at me, and I flinched at its menacing charm. The greedy curiosity I had seen before was back, but this time, there was something more ominous swirling behind it, something dark and eerie.

“How did you say you found her, again?” he asked. He kept his stare fixed upon me.

“I didn’t. I said she was the one who found me.”

Zeus scoffed. “I don’t have time for riddles. Speak plainly.”

“When I was in the Urn,” said Ares. “When Hermes and Artemis found me.”

Another stretch of silence. But as it continued, I realized there was something different simmering between the two gods this time - something that had nothing to do with me. For a moment, it was as if I had been forgotten entirely.

“You’re bringing that up again, boy?” Zeus sounded annoyed, dismissive. “Of all times to deal with your complaints.”

“I was in there for a year,” Ares seethed, and I felt another wave of heat radiate from him. I curled tighter into myself, pulling my knees up to my chest. “You didn’t even look for me.”

“You could have been anywhere,” said Zeus, and I saw him roll his eyes and look back down at me. “You’ve had your moments. No stranger to the charms of mortal women, you, and it's so very easy to lose track of the time in their arms. I suppose you take after me in at least that regard.” A chuckle, long and resonant. I shivered.

“A year,” Ares hissed again. “When they pulled me out, I thought you’d sent them. I thought you’d -”

“I said I didn’t know, you stupid boy.”

“And if you had known?”

Zeus snorted. My eyes flitted down from his face to Ares’s fist where it hung a few inches away from my face. I saw it clench, but he made no other move.

“Enough with your tantrums. You’ve done well to bring her, so don’t think to spoil the mood now. It’s a cause for celebration, don’t you think?”

And just like that, the god of thunder slipped back into his amiable facade. The kind, doting smile returned to his face, and his eyes lightened back to a clear blue. When he kneeled down in front of me, he raised a hand to brush the hair away from my eyes with the knuckle of his index finger. He tilted his head and inspected my features, and then his gaze dropped to my throat. “I see it now,” he said. “The Mark of Virgo. Beautiful.”

When his eyes dropped further below that, lingering on the fold of my white t-shirt just over my chest, I flinched away.

“You would have been raised by mortals, because that was the way Astraea wanted it,” he said. He leaned forward and caressed my face again. “So who is it? Who was so blessed to raise up a goddess reborn?”

I said nothing, but Zeus didn’t seem to mind. He craned his neck to look up at Ares, who stared down at us both. “Well? Surely you know. Someone like you wouldn’t ever miss an opportunity to dig up a vulnerability or two, hm?”

Ares’s jaw clenched, but Zeus remained smiling.

“And you were doing so well. I thought for once that you would turn out to be more than just a disappointment, but I suppose -”

“She was hiding in a township. They said she has a mother. Hestia brought me from there, so she’ll know where it was. The last place I was at.”

Zeus dipped his head in a sagely nod. “Excellent,” he said. “I’ll send Cairos to get her.” 

I couldn’t help the choked sob that broke free from my throat at his words, but his smile only grew wider at my distress. “Don’t worry, good woman,” he chided. “If you do as I say, no harm will come to her. Just something to persuade you, that’s all. And Ares?” Zeus rose to his feet and straightened his chiton. “You’ll go with her. I can tell she’s weak. We need her, but she won’t be able to do it on her own.”

Ares’s eyes narrowed. “Do what?”

The god of thunder c****d his head at his son. “Gather the lost, of course,” he said lightly. “All the missing Olympians.”