Daughter of Death

16. Decisions, decisions..

Chapter Summary:  Shopping with Apollo for Ares and Atlas. You run into 'big boss' man and make a huge decision.

Translations (in order)
Aυτοί οι τύποι είναι τρελοί. = These guys are crazy.
δεν πρέπει να κρεμάσετε γύρω από αυτά. = You don't have to hang around them.
Μου αρέσει μόνο ο Atlas και ο Ares = I only like Atlas and Ares.
παπαρούνα = Poppy

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"who exactly is aphrodite?" Ares asked, appearing behind you. Leaning up against the hot tub, looking out at the forest borderline touching your property. You glanced at him, lifting the cup to your lips and took a sip.

"She represents love." You say, mimicking Apollo's earlier words. Ares frowned at this, the challenging tone of Black to Apollo being muffled by the glass door.

"...who is she?" He asked once more, pressing into the matter at hand.

"She's all things beautiful, Ares. I don't know much about her." You lie, biting down on your tongue and lifting the cup to your lips. Ares still looked unconvinced, his gaze lowered to the patio floorboards.

"...are you aphrodite?" He asked slowly. Keeping his voice so low that you had to strain yourself to be able to hear him. Once the words registered, your (colour) eyes widened.

Ares blushed that familiar blood red, shuffling in his stance as you dumped the rest of your tea.

"Ares, listen to me, okay?" You say, putting down the teacup and stepping closer to him. Your palms on his cheeks - feeling the rough yet soft smooth surface of bones underneath your digits. You forced him to look up at you, feeling your heart quicken in your chest - and not for the right reason.

When you caught his gaze, you inhaled softly. "Take that back." You say sternly. More afraid rather than offended. You knew how Aphrodite was when it came to her beauty - she had taken away Eros' only love because mortals are the time claimed she was prettier than Aphrodite herself - you still haven't heard about what happened to that mortal girl.

"Take it back, please-"

"what? no." He said, shaking his head from your hold. "y-your...pretty..." he whispered, his blush coming back tenfold. You dreaded what he was going to say next. "...prettier than.. a-aphrodite.."

"Take it back-takeitback takeitback!"You whisper, tightly holding onto Ares' larger hands. Your heart stops, drops and all bad things.

Ares, slightly amused, shook his head. "no, peaches... if she is pretty, then you are too." Then disappeared from your touch, light tiny magic particles tingling on your exposed skin. For a second, you thought you smelt old wood waft through the air.

Apollo ended up staying for three nights. Choosing to bug and drag you around the city to get your bearings down when it was the actual time to 'reap the souls of the dying'. His words, not yours.

You had also told him what Ares had said on the patio a few days earlier. His reaction was expected but it didn't help you feel better at all. Ever since then, you'd been careful of your surroundings and kept an eye out for any misfortune that might have plagued around you.