I can't help but run my hands along his face, fingers tracing the hint of stress lines that have no business appearing on someone so young. The discovery makes me frown, leaning forward to kiss those spots gently as if my touch might erase the physical evidence of what he's endured.
My gesture draws a smile from him, not the carefully crafted one he presents to cameras, but something softer, more genuine. His hand moves along my back before he pulls me into a tight hug in his lap, his arms creating a sanctuary of warmth that makes my breath catch with unexpected emotion.
"When I her bleeding out like that in my arms as I waited for help," he admits, his voice muffled slightly against my hair, "for a moment I wondered if this was some sort of déjà vu."
His chest rises and falls against mine in a deep inhale before he continues.
"That I'd be plagued with the same fate, but instead of being a woman with a past that yearned to please the world with a fake layer, it would be with a woman who's always boldly stayed true to herself, one that I've fallen hard for."
The raw honesty in his confession steals my breath, making my heart stutter against my ribs in a rhythm that has nothing to do with my healing wounds.
Because this is Ares at his most vulnerable—my beautiful King who hides depths of emotion behind flawless smiles and carefully maintained charm.
He kisses the top of my head, stroking the short strands as if trying to memorize their texture. The gentleness of the gesture makes something in my chest fracture, sending hairline cracks through defenses I didn't realize I was still maintaining.
"I want to accept my brother's request to try one more time," he continues, the admission clearly costing him. "To understand his thought process before crucifying him, because when you lose someone you probably planned to succeed and graduate from Leighton with... to engrave in your mind, body, and soul that your Maiden was going to be with you on that podium as you claimed your final titles... only to be taken away..."
He pauses, and I can feel the subtle shift in his breathing, the way his heart rate accelerates slightly beneath my cheek.
"I realize that would fuck you up. Ruin your thought process and leave you feeling incomplete."
Another kiss presses against my hair, followed by words that carry painful maturity:
"It doesn't make what he did right, but it's something I can understand."
The complexity of his perspective catches me off guard. Because this is growth I wasn't expecting—my younger King showing an emotional intelligence that transcends his years.
The ability to separate understanding from excusing, to recognize the tangled roots of someone's actions without absolving them of responsibility.
I remain silent for a moment, processing his words while absorbing the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath my ear.The fire continues its hypnotic dance in the hearth, wood occasionally shifting with soft pops and cracks that punctuate our shared silence.
His arms around me feel like an anchor, keeping me tethered to this moment when my mind wants to drift to implications and possibilities.
To what Warren's involvement in my rescue might mean for our complicated dynamic, to how my Kings are evolving in response to nearly losing me, to the growing threats gathering like storm clouds on our horizon.
The warmth of Ares' body against mine contrasts sharply with the chill trying to settle in my veins as I consider everything we're facing. Every obstacle still standing between us and the final ascension we've been working toward since I first accepted the position of Ruthless Maiden.
When did everything get so complicated?
I wonder, remembering how simple it all seemed in the beginning. The clear path to vengeance against one who made my miserable for so long, the structured hierarchy of Kings that I would gather around me, and the carefully orchestrated rise to power that would culminate in our final coronation.
Now the path forward feels shrouded in fog—obscured by engineered diseases and long-running conspiracies, by secret experiments and attacks specifically designed to break our unconventional structure.
By enemies we can't fully identify, operating on levels we're only beginning to comprehend.
Ares shifts beneath me, adjusting our position so he can see my face properly. His fingers brush my cheek with surprising tenderness, the touch grounding me in the present moment when my thoughts threaten to spiral toward darker possibilities.
"You're thinking too hard," he observes softly, a ghost of his usual teasing smile touching his lips. "I can practically hear the gears turning in that brilliant mind of yours."
A small smile tugs at my mouth despite everything weighing on us.
"Just trying to put all the pieces together," I admit, leaning into his touch like a cat seeking affection. "There's so much I still don't understand. How all these hostile actions are supposed to lead us to our final rise of ascension without taking us out.”
I sigh and frown further as I admit the nagging idea of having memory gaps. Somethings I don’t care about forgetting but I mean, would be nice to be specific to what I want versus a random monopoly of fate.
“So many gaps I need to fill."
His expression grows more serious, green eyes studying me with an intensity that makes my skin prickle.
