This Immortal Heart: A Novel of Aphrodite(118)

She pulls back, rolling her eyes affectionately. “You’re lucky I did. But I won’t again. Provided you stay out of trouble.”

He kisses her forehead and lets her go, so that she can board the chariot.

And, at last, Ares and I are alone together.



* * *



—

He’s brought me to a spring just outside the city. The stars shine back from the dark water, hazy and rippling, a shifting mirror of the sky.

“Why are we here?” I ask.

Ares crouches by the water’s edge. “Purification,” he says. “This spring is blessed.”

He submerges his hands, and I watch. Everything is silent, save for the faint croaking of frogs and the hum of cicadas, the breath of the wind and the gentle splash of water.

When he stands up again, I don’t see any difference, though I don’t know what I expected.

“Do you feel cleansed?” I ask.

He studies his hands. The water of the sacred spring drips onto the grass below. “Enough for Poseidon?” he asks. “No.”

“But for you?”

“Yes.”

I nod. “Do you think Zeus had already made up his mind before the trial began?”

“No, I think he could have gone in either direction. It’s likely he promised Poseidon he’d condemn me. Maybe he told Athena the same thing.”

“She seemed surprised,” I concede. “But she made sense of it quickly.”

“They had a plan,” he says. “But they should know Zeus can’t be trusted.”

“He wants you back,” I say. “Or maybe he just doesn’t want Eris in charge anymore.”

“That’s definitely true.” He sighs. “I know I have much to rebuild. I should never have left her with so much power.”

“But you’re staying?” I ask. “Taking your realm back, like he asked?”

“He didn’t ask; he instructed.”

I raise an eyebrow. No more evasion. “And? Your answer?”

“I already decided,” he says. “That’s why I came to you on Olympus. I can sit on a throne every now and again. I can watch over wars here and in Scythia. The moment I saw you again, I knew I had to return. That is”—he dips his head—“if you still want me.”

My breath catches in my throat. “Why wouldn’t I?”

His eyes are soft and serious, bronze embers smoldering in the black. “You saw me kill Halirrhothios. Even though I promised you I wouldn’t.”

“I’m glad you saved Alkippe. I don’t grieve his death; Poseidon shouldn’t have encouraged him.”

He nods. “But did it make you think of how many more mortal deaths are to come? How many of them will rest on me? Did it remind you of all the reasons you can’t love me?”

I hesitate.

He takes a step closer to me, reaching for my hands. “There will be more wars,” he says. “I can’t promise an end to them. Not yet.”

“Not yet?”

“But there might come a time,” he says, “when love rules the world, and war is a long-distant relic. Almost forgotten. Unimaginable to people who hear the stories of what it was once like.” He’s silent for a moment, his hands warm around mine. “That’s a future worth fighting for.”

“Wait. Which side are you fighting on?”

“Mine,” he says. “But I want you to win.”

I laugh. “I do too.”

“So what will you decide?” he asks.

I let go of his hands. He left his helmet on the riverbank and he looks so unguarded. Forever young and strong, powerful and driven, with a tenderness that only I get to see.

I hold his face between my palms, stroking the line of his jaw and the soft skin at the nape of his neck. Then I lean up and kiss him.

There are centuries of chaos and tumult behind us, and I’m certain there are more ahead. Our realms are divided, and the semblance of peace established tonight might have crumbled by the morning. But what I once believed was impossible is something I can resist no longer.

Eternity stretches out before us: the Goddess of Love and the God of War.

Whatever it is that the Fates have in store for us, we’ll spend it the way we want.

Together.





Acknowledgments


This novel is dedicated to my agent, Juliet Mushens. Juliet, I consider all my novels to be dedicated to you to some degree—none of them would be what they are without you!—but this one more than any other felt like it had to be yours. Your excitement at my initial idea, your encouragement that I should pursue the switch to writing a romance and your unwavering commitment to seeing this one through really kept me going. Your support and enthusiasm was everything I needed, and I remain in awe of how concisely you can cut to the heart of an idea and put me back on track when I am faltering. Both of us felt so fiercely about getting this story in the right place and I feel like we really brought it home. Also, my undying gratitude for your spot-on instinct that Ares should be modeled on Kevin Smith in Xena; what a source of visual inspiration!

Before I became an author, I always dreamed of a penguin on the spine of a future book I hoped to write and I could not be happier that it was Aphrodite’s story that brought me to Penguin—on both sides of the Atlantic! To all of the team at Viking in the UK and Ballantine in the U.S., I am so very grateful. Thank you to my editors, Rosa Schierenberg and Wendy Wong, for your vision, insight and ambition for this book. Writing it has been exhilarating, challenging and so deeply rewarding. Every novel is always a fresh beginning; this one even more so. It’s an incredible gift to discover ways to grow as a writer and I am endlessly thankful for your faith, passion and guidance—and so excited to continue! And thank you, Donna Poppy, for your sharp and meticulous copyediting.