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My response isn’t verbal, but it’s incredibly enthusiastic.
***
A few days after our return, Janie and Christopher come over for a dinner party. It took some doing, but I managed to alter Christopher’s memories so he thought Janie was only injured in the fire that took her apartment, not killed. He’s still clinging to her every second though, like he’s terrified she’ll vanish if he lets go.
I’m not much of a cook, and when Adonis was last alive, the height of culinary skill was meat over an open fire, but between the two of us, we manage to make something that won’t land anyone in the hospital. Janie is too polite to mention the taste, and Christopher is so busy staring at her that I probably could have given him a bowl of packing peanuts and he wouldn’t have noticed.
Once dinner is finished and the night is late enough that it’s almost cycled around back to early, we say our goodbyes. At the door, Janie surprises me by wrapping me in a bear hug.
“Thank you for coming for me, Pen,” she whispers to me. “I always knew you would.”
Tears flood my eyes, and I have to blink rapidly to keep them from falling. Janie’s faith in me is more humbling than any miracle or godly power. There are so many things I could say, that it was my fault she’d been taken in the first place, how sorry I am, a million different apologies falling over themselves to roll off my tongue.
But all I manage to squeeze out around the lump in my throat is, “Always.”
After she and Christopher leave, I settle on the couch next to Adonis. He looks amazing in jeans and a button-down shirt. It’s a far cry from his armor, and way better than the loincloth Azhrea made him parade around in, even if I do miss the view from time to time.
He’s cued up some music on the phone I got for him, something soft and melodic. Every time he interacts with a bit of technology, I can’t help but smile. The way he examines everything, like he’s planning an attack. Each accomplishment, every time he proves how quickly he’s adapting to this strange new world he finds himself in, it makes me feel like I might burst with pride.
“You’re certainly settling in well,” I say as I fold my legs onto his lap.
Adonis sets his hands on my thighs, his big palm cupping the curve of my knee. “There are so many marvels in this world. If I hadn’t already seen it, I would have thought this was still Olympus.”
The relaxed line of his shoulders, the easy smile he wears these days. Seeing him poking around in my kitchen, having him curled around me in bed every night. It’s a treasure that I never thought I would have for myself. It makes me want to give him anything, everything.
And if there is a tiny sliver of regret in my heart, I do my best to stamp it out.
“What do you think about traveling?” If Adonis is fascinated by my little apartment, imagine how he’s going to react to the Rockies? The Everglades? Or even further afield, we could see the pyramids. The whole world is open to us. “We should go out there, see how everything’s changed since you were last here. Just the two of us.”
Adonis actually smirks at me, one eyebrow arching up. “Two?”
I freeze, something very close to dread snaking up my spine. “I… I didn’t… I mean, if you want to go on your own, I understand.”
Does he not want me to come with him? Is he finally tired of me? A warm hand smooths over my leg in a soothing gesture.
“That isn’t what I meant,” he hurries to assure me. “I just thought that perhaps your math might be a little off.”
My mind stutters, skipping like a scratched record. “What do you mean?”
He just smiles wider.
I start to press him about it, but there’s a knock at the front door.
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I open the door, but Ares dressed in casual modern clothes instead of his usual leather breast plate and armor probably wasn’t in my top fifteen guesses.
“Ares!” I blink at him, mouth working. I have absolutely no idea what to say in this situation. The little curl of heat in my belly is definitely not appreciated though, and I stomp on it ruthlessly.
“Penelope,” he answers, his voice a low purr. Then he glances up at Adonis, who’s come up behind me, and offers a kind of grudging nod. Ares then walks past me, heading for my living room, like he’s the lord of the manor. That at least is rude enough to knock me out of my shock.
“Make yourself at home,” I mutter under my breath as I close the door behind him.
Something close to trepidation has sent its poisonous little roots through me by the time I step back into my living room. Ares is just looking around with mild interest. It’s got to be so different from what he remembers. He’s as much a fish out of water as Adonis is.
“So, if you’re here, I suppose that means everything is settled on Olympus.”
I can’t quite make myself ask him what happened with Aphrodite. She wronged him, terribly. But still. She’s my mother.
Ares, for the first time in my experience, looks uncomfortable.
