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I laughed despite myself. “If you win, it’ll be cheating. No distractions.”
“You won’t have time to stare,” Ares teased, and his fist shot out at me before the vibrations in the air carrying his words even stopped shaking.
I ducked, moving faster than I’d been able to before. I was getting used to my new strength, my speed, the power that flowed through my veins.
I retaliated, threw fist after fist, and kicked. We fell into a rhythm. It wasn’t a fight, it was more like aggressive sparring. And it could do enough damage if we hadn’t both known what we were doing.
But Ares was ready for me every step of the way. And he’d been right. It helped to let out the frustration, the bubbling energy, the grief. We fought for an hour straight. Maybe more.
When I threw a punch and as he ducked, my body followed the momentum. He swung around and looped an arm across my stomach, catching me and keeping me from falling over.
“Thank you,” I whispered, breathing hard, and we both collapsed on the floor, gasping for air.
But he was barely breaking a sweat. The gods really had all the good and none of the bad.
“Don’t mention it. Feel like talking about what’s going on now?”
I groaned. “The point of this sparring was so I don’t have to think about what’s bothering me.”
“Humor me,” he said. “I promise it will help. And I was right the first time, wasn’t I?”
I couldn’t argue with him, especially when he sat next to me not wearing much, and I kept fighting the urge to lower my gaze.
“I feel helpless,” I admitted. “I wasn’t able to save Catina. X took her because of me.”
“X caught you off-guard,” Ares said.
“But that’s just it. When does he ever warn us he’s going to kill someone? That he took Catina is just proof I suck at my job. I’m all tied up about her disappearing when I haven’t been nearly this upset about every other soul X consumed. I’m supposed to look after humans, but what have I been doing?”
“What you can,” Ares responded, putting his hand on mine, his skin heated.
I lay on the floor and he did the same alongside me. I turned my head toward him. His eyes were like emeralds and so intense I felt as if he were staring right into my soul.
“It’s not enough,” I said. “All those innocents have families who are grieving for them, and I should have done more to help.”
“So,” Ares replied, rising up on his elbow next to me, “do more.”
It sounded so simple when he said it. And maybe it was, but the thought of doingeven morenever hit me this hard before. Catina’s kidnapping had messed me up, and I couldn’t find a way to stop the sorrow from shackling me.
“Do you ever lose?” I asked to change the topic. “When you fight?”
“I lost against you.”
I could see the flecks of silver in his eyes.
His angular jaw, distinct cheekbones, and tanned skin made him devilishly handsome.
I raised my eyebrows. “Sparring doesn’t count.”
“I wasn’t talking about training.” His voice was rugged and so sexy.
His eyes bored into me even deeper, and I realized what he was saying. He felt something for me beyond physical attraction. And if I had to be honest with myself, which I was trying to be these days, my feelings were growing for him, too.
And this time, there was no guilt that I was wrong about my attraction. Because underneath all that bravado and aggression, Ares was really a nice guy. And way too similar to me in ways that made me want to spend hours with him chatting about training and the universe—and one day, I’d be curious to know what the heck his deal was with Aphrodite. Only out of curiosity, in fact, not jealousy.
The atmosphere shifted around us, and my power flared, tingling over my flesh, bubbling in my chest like an inferno. A scorching heat surrounded us, pressing against me as if I wore a fur coat. When I met Ares’s gaze, his face was so close I could breathe him in. His nose tickled mine.
I let out a tiny gasp but didn’t move away. A light crackling sounded in the air as it had last time we’d come together, the excitement of having the God of War all to myself.
