Chapter 9
Ares sat slumped on his throne, growling.
Jessa, still in her travel cloak, lay in a disheveled, sobbing heap on the floor of Ares’ magnificent palace. Her clothes and weapons lay in a pile beside her.
Ares growled louder and lurched to his feet. He began pacing.
Jessa continued weeping.
"Grrrrooooww! Enough already!" Ares smashed his fist onto a table, shattering it.
Jessa did not react to this, she only cried on.
Ares ran out of patience. He stalked furiously over to Jessa and jerked her to her feet by her upper arms. He held her there as he shouted in her face.
"Stop this! You’re here of your own free will, so why the hysterics!"
Jessa looked at him, but did she not speak.
With a frustrated growl, Ares shook her. "You admitted you wanted to be with me – so what is your problem!" Jessa still did not answer.
He released her and she collapsed to the floor again.
A blazing ball of seething fire flared up in Ares’ hand. Looking down at Jessa, his face twisted with anger, Ares threw his arm back above his head and roared.
Suddenly, the fire in his hand extinguished – bowing his head, he curled his hand up to his chest. He closed his eyes – the fire there, died too. He turned away from Jessa. He stumbled to one of the marble columns and leaned against it with one arm. He ran his fingers through his hair – his head was lowered between hunched shoulders.
"Jessa…" His voice was rough.
"Ares…"
He turned. Jessa was sitting up, looking at him. Tears still ran down her cheeks.
"Ares… I’m so confused."
He strode over to her and, lifting her to her feet by her hands, took her into his arms – she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.
"Jessa," Ares said, "You do still want to be with me, don’t you?"
"Yes…" Her whisper was faint, but Ares heard it.
He closed his eyes and tightened his embrace.
"But I want to be with Hercules, too."
Her statement sent a painful, electric shock through his body. He pulled back so that he could see her face – it was tortured. His, was confused.
"What do you mean?"
"I don’t know… I don’t know what’s happening to me… to my feelings… I can’t make sense of it… it’s tearing me up inside." She buried her face in his neck again and clung to him.
Ares stroked her hair. He closed his eyes. "Jessa, do you… love me?"
"Gods help me, but I do." Jessa clung to him harder still.
Ares released a shuddering breath. He kissed her hair. "Then I don’t understand."
"Neither do I." Now, she pulled back to see his face – it showed pain. Hers did also.
"Somehow, I am in love with him too."
"Jessa, how can that be? How can you be in love with both of us?"
"I don’t know! That’s why I’m so confused!"
"No, Jessa, no. Listen – when we were last together, you had a lot of things thrown at you all at once – the truth of who I was, the fact that I wanted you to be my Warrior Queen, the realization of your true feelings for me – it all hit you at once! You just couldn’t handle it! That’s why you ran from me – and that’s why I didn’t pursue you right away – you needed time to absorb it all.
"But you didn’t have all the time I tried to give you." Ares face changed, deeply embedded emotions broiled under the surface and his jaws clenched and unclenched. "Listen… my feelings about that smar-… about my half-brother, Hercules, is no secret to anyone. But I’d have to be totally blind not to be able to see the effect he has on women – even if his reputation was not enough, his looks are enough to send most mortal women to mooning over him."
He cupped Jessa’s face with one hand. "When you met him, you were confused – just like you said! You were vulnerable. You still had those feelings of love – which I had stirred up – raw, and on the surface – and then he came along. You thought you had feelings for him – but they’re not real! They don’t belong to him! They belong to me! Can’t you see that!"
Jessa’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. "Then why do I still feel them – even when I am with you?"
"You just need a little time, Jessa. They’ll fade. You’ll see."
"And if they don’t?" Jessa blinked – a single tear ran down her cheek – it dropped off onto Ares chest – right over his heart.
Ares fought a fierce battle – but this one waged inside.
"Then… I’ll let you go." His face was stiff. "If, you no longer love me."
Jessa gazed deeply into Ares’ eyes.
"Alright." She whispered.
Ares pulled her into a passionate embrace – his kiss left Jessa breathless.
"You’ll see," he whispered into her ear, "It will be just as I said."
Sweeping her up into his arms, he carried her off to his bedchamber.
He was determined to do everything in his power to bind her to him – he was not going to lose her – especially to him.
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Jessa stood there – blood covered her sword, her green eyes flashed with fearless fury and her breath hissed through bared teeth. Three men lay lifeless at her feet – two more nursed grievous wounds.
"Anyone else!" she challenged, "Does anyone else care to contest my right to command!"
"That’s it Jessa," Ares encouraged her from over her shoulder, "See their faces – the fear in their eyes – the respect! They’ll accept you as their leader now!"
"Get rid of these," she commanded, gesturing at the bodies with her sword, "And care for the wounds of the others."
"No, Jessa! Those two challenged you! You cannot allow them to live!"
"But look at them! They fear me as the others do – more so!"
"Jessa, if you want to survive as a warlord, you must learn that you can never suffer an enemy to live! You forever run the risk of facing them again in battle! Or, as with these two, of having them at your back!"
"But…"
"No, Jessa!"
Jessa still hesitated.
"Do it!" Ares ordered.
"Wait!" Jessa commanded. Those carrying off the wounded men paused, looking back at her. "Put them down," she instructed them.
Striding over to the wounded men, Jessa grabbed each of them by the hair, pulled their heads back – and slit their throats. It was over in an instant.
There was total silence in the camp of the small band of men.
Jessa glared at all of the faces surrounding her. None would meet her eyes.
"Dispose of them," she ordered. Turning on her heel, she strode over to the tent of the camp’s former-leader and pushed her way inside through the heavy furs that covered the entrance.
"You did good, Jessa!" Ares stepped up behind her and began massaging her shoulders. "Very good! And this puny band of mercenaries is just the first, diminutive step toward what will some day be you – my Warrior Queen – at the head of a great army!"
"But Ares, those two men…"
"Jessa!" Ares’ voice was hard. "Don’t go all soft on me now! I’ve watched you in battle after battle – when you fought, you were ruthless! Nothing could stand in your path and survive!"
"But to cut their throats – they had thrown down their swords, surrendered – it was in cold blood!"
"Ohhh, poor baby! She’s a heartless, blood-thirsty bitch with a conscience!"
Jessa’s bloodied sword slashed out viciously. Strife dodged it grinning.
"Does he have to be here!" Jessa snarled.
"I know he’s a bit of a pest, but he does come in handy sometimes." Ares remarked. "Besides, he grows on you."
"Yeah," Jessa snapped, "Like a tapeworm!"
Strife snickered.
"Just ignore him," Ares advised her, "And if you can’t ignore him, just punch him through the wall – he’s used to it.
"But he is right – you can’t afford to have a conscience in this game. Jessa, you’re a warrior to the bone – what’s with this attitude?"
Jessa ran her hand through her hair. "This whole ‘warlord’ business – I just don’t know about it – it’s not what I’m used to."
"Not what you’re used to? Jessa you were raised by a warlord! You cut your teeth on battle strategies! How can you say you’re not used to it!"
"No! My father wasn’t a warlord! He was a chieftain! He fought a warlord!"
"Jessa, a griffin, by any other name, still reeks as rotten! Your father was a warlord!"
"No! He only fought because he had to! To protect his clan and those clans allied with him!"
"And the warlord he fought, only fought to protect his clan and those clans allied with him!"
Ares sighed and slid his arms around Jessa’s waist. "Jessa, no matter which side of a battle you’re on, the other side is always the enemy! Each side thinks they’re the good guys and the others are the bad guys! It’s just a matter of perspective!"
"It all seemed so clear back then," Jessa’s forehead was furrowed with confusion. She leaned back against Ares. "But ever since I was forced to leave there, nothing has seemed clear – everything has been like the chaos from which the Titans were born. In my father’s army, I always knew where I stood in the order of all things – I was a simple warrior, and I fought as I was commanded to. My days were spent mostly in battle – my nights, mostly curled up in a blanket around a campfire with the other warriors."
She turned around in Ares arms, to face him. "You were right about me – I have always associated only with other warriors, in all ways. But as for lovers, I’ve probably had fewer than you might think."
She laid her head on his shoulder. "I stood out so much from all the rest – here, amongst all those men, was a lone female warrior. Her hair as red as the fires they gathered around each night, her eyes the shade of the grass they counted on for the survival of their herds. And tall – I topped the heads of almost all the steppe people, even the men."
She sighed, "I was so different from them – I just didn’t fit their idea of what a woman should be – physically or socially. Many didn’t want to have anything to do with me. Some were even afraid of me – they thought I was some sort of demon-spirit, sent to eat the souls of those that fell to my sword!" She snorted in amusement. "They were glad I was on their side of the battle – but they preferred to avoid me, just the same.
"And those few that did share my bed – it was always the same for both of us – just the basic need to have someone to hold in your arms, if only for a little while. None ever lasted for long – either they would be gone some morning, or I would be. Or they would just not find their way back to my fire – whether they were dead or alive, who knows? There were always new faces around the fires each night – it was easy to become separated in battle."
She turned her face to Ares again – she stroked his face. "But I have never felt towards any of them, like I feel towards you – I have never fallen in love before."
"What about Hercules?"
"Strife!" Ares barked.
Strife made a hasty exit.
Jessa’s face was pained, confused.
Ares’ lips reached for Jessa’s mouth and he kissed her, deeply, long, and with great passion. He was determined to quench her doubts – drive that name out of existence in her mind.
He tilted his head back and tucked Jessa’s head under his chin. His voice buzzed deeply in the ear that Jessa had pressed to his chest. "Jessa, you’ll just have to trust me when it comes to matters concerning war – I am, after all, the god of war – who else in all the world would know better?"
"I suppose you’re right," she said, her voice low.
"Of course I am."
Ares released Jessa and walked over to a table covered with maps. "Now, then, let’s get started."
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