Twice Loved by the War God

SEQUEL TO THE BELOVED OF THE GOD OF WAR Catch the first book in the series before you read this one. Happy reading! * * * * * "She's healing, so let her rest. The more you fret, the more she'll feel it, and the more slowly she'll recover." Ares looked up and turned around on his chair to find Aphrodite standing in the doorway. She looked as magnificent as ever, and he wondered how it was that she always managed to stay so strong. He envied it. "The Horn is useless," he rasped. "We should get off the Mount and find healers to help." "And yet you can't bring yourself to leave her side." She gave him a pointed look. "Hermes is still too weak to leave this place for long, either, and I don't trust him not to get distracted while he's down there. Besides, it's better to leave Astraea be. The House is still bonding to her, and the longer she's asleep, the more receptive she'll be to its influence. It'll be too messy to try to teach these things to her while she's conscious." Ares turned back around and stared at the motionless figure lying in the bed before him. It had been weeks already, but her flesh was still veined with silver and faded black in some places. The ritual magic of the Ascension had preserved her life after she and Zeus clashed, but it was only a temporary burst of power that had filled her. Now it faded fast, and her healing had slowed to a painful grind. "You have more pressing things to worry about than this," Aphrodite said after a moment, and he heard her footsteps tap lightly on the floor as she approached him from behind. "I can watch over her, but anything more is futile. In the meantime, you and Hermes need to go find -" "We will. He's almost strong enough to leave with me." "You should be worried about yourself. You've been attached to the Horn as much as Hestia's been, and she's bedridden." Her hand rested on his shoulder, and he dropped his chin with a silent sigh. He had done well in hiding his true condition from his brother, but there was no fooling her. She must have known this entire time and simply chosen not to mention it until now. "...I'm also recovering," he said after a moment. "But I still can't leave without the Horn. Not for long." "That's a problem. The nectar is the only thing prolonging Hestia's life, so it can't leave the House. She still can't take in the ambrosia, even." His shoulders bowed slightly, a testament to his fatigue. His helplessness. His weakness - "The Giants are moving in," he said quietly. "They see the state of the House. They'll try to invade while Astra's still weak." "Then we'll just have to stop them. I know about it, I've had my nymphs going back and forth and spying on whatever's happening at the foot of the mountain. You have time; they haven't even made it past the mists yet. It'll be a few more weeks before the first ones slink through. But it's not the Giants I'm worried about. You remember the curse Astraea laid on Zeus, don't you?" "...Yes." "And you heard her say that he was disinherited, didn't you?" she pressed. "That's not her doing; you know whose it is." Of course he did. His jaw tightened, and he reached forward suddenly to try to take Astra's limp hand. But he couldn't touch her; she was still too fragile. Pain blossomed through his chest as his fingers hovered a hair's breadth from hers, the closest he would allow himself to come to her. "That means the demigods will come soon," she continued when he remained silent. "They won't let go of an opportunity like this. Thousands of years of waiting for their time, and then this door opens for them with no warning? They'll stampede through. Disinherited, who would have ever thought it would come to this...?" "I won't let them have her." He could feel her gaze burning into the side of his head, but he refused to meet her eyes. He knew what she was going to say - "As if you could stop them in your state," she scolded. "This is why you have to focus on getting stronger, so that you can protect her. That's the way you can help, not hovering by her side. If I could be the one to go so that you and Hermes could stay, I would. But I'm not a warrior, and if I'm captured, that'll just put an even greater burden on both of you. Besides, Artemis won't ever come with me. It has to be you. It has to be you and Hermes, just like before." She was right. It frustrated him that she could always see through him with ease. But this was no time for frustration, either. What she had said about the demigods was right. They would have all felt it the instant it happened, when Zeus was stripped of Gaia's blessing - their human halves. "I'll protect her," he said, his voice rumbling from the lowest, deepest parts of him. "I'll keep her safe."