More than anything, Thanatos thought, the idea that those words may be the truth was the most humiliating thing of all. Was that really all it took?
Ares let out a gutsy sigh, and slung an arm around Thanatos’ shoulders.
“This really isn’t my area of expertise,” he admitted. “But, listen. If you were giving this advice to anyone else—to Eros, or whatever, what would you say?”
And Thanatos knew, exactly, what he would say, but he kept his mouth shut, unable to apply it to himself.
Ares must have known that, because he barely paused before he continued. “You’d say: it’s okay to mess up, even when you should have known better. It’s okay to think the best of people, to believe in someone’s better nature, even if they haven’t given you too much evidence to prove it. You’re not stupid for be
