The Heart of War (25 page)

“I saw him.”

Ares believed her as he leaned in closer, so close his lips were almost touching hers. “Tell me, sweet Katrina, how do you even know my brother?” Fear flashed in her eyes, it was clear and bright, just before Ares reached down and snapped her neck. “I’ll ask Alena. I believe she’ll tell me the truth.”

Chapter Eleven

The Mouths of Babes

1

Alena was very upset at having been so rudely and suddenly dismissed but she put that aside to take care of Onya. A trip up the stairs wasn’t in the young woman’s best interest so she took Onya into the bedroom Ares had given her. It had a soft bed, nice fluffy pillows, warm blankets, and best of all it was on the main floor. Sitting the battered young woman on the bed, Alena dashed down to the lower level. She drew a large pitcher of water and gathered up clean towels. Down here was a storage closet; she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to know about it or not, but Alena did. It had medical supplies, and she went to it to grab gauze, bandages, tape and antibiotic ointment.

“I’m bleeding on your pretty bed,” Onya said softly when Alena came back into the room with her supplies.

“Oh, we’re not going to worry about that,” Alena returned with a smile as she set the items down on the nightstand by the bed. “Thankfully, most of it isn’t yours.” She took the pitcher over to the fire where a cast iron kettle sat by the ever-burning flames and put a cup or so of water into it, then she hung it on the hook to boil before going back to the bed and the woman soaked in blood. Most of the rest she poured into a matching porcelain basin. “Can you stand up for a moment? You can sit in this chair here by the fire, I’ll help you.”

Onya wasn’t sure why she was being asked to get up, she only knew that everything hurt both inside and out. Alena put an arm around her waist and helped her the few steps to the wooden chair sitting by the fire. Alena put her fingertips on Onya’s forehead to tilt her backward before she began pouring the warm water over her head. It was steamy and soothing as it flowed as softly as Alena’s gentle hands moving over her tender skin. Onya let out a little grunt of relief as Alena washed the blood from her hair and face.

It took a few minutes because Onya’s hair was long and beautiful but Alena managed to get all of the blood and dirt out of it. “That’s all done now. Come back to the bed with me.” Onya looked up at her with wide distant eyes. “Just over there,” Alena prodded softly and wrapped her arm around Onya’s tiny waist once more to bring her back to the bed. “There, that’s better. Just lay back and let me take care of you. I’ll get you cleaned up the rest of the way. Let’s get rid of this.” Very gingerly she reached out to tug on Onya’s little fur halter—it was ripped to shreds and covered with blood, most of it Nicco’s, like the blood in her hair. Undressing might not be something Onya welcomed right now. Being touched might not be, either. If that turned out to be the case, then Alena understood. “What do you say?”

Onya looked down at her favorite top and saw it was nothing more than a rag. It was bearskin, Ares hunted the bear, and he’d brought it back here and given the softest patches of the pelt to make a new outfit. Kat had been jealous even then. She sat up, took it off and threw it to the floor before lying down again.

“Just stay still, everything will be all right,” Alena soothed as she dipped the smallest towel into the steaming water, rung it out, and then began to wash away the blood, dirt, grime and stink from Onya with a loving touch. The wounds weren’t too bad, mainly scrapes and gouges. Alena didn’t see any broken bones or major breaks in the skin that would require stitching. While that was good, it didn’t make the pain any less bright or the wound on Onya’s soul any less deep. “Is that ok? Too hard?”

After the grope session from hell Onya had just endured, Alena’s kind touch was heavenly. Quite Motherly as a matter of fact, or at least the way a mother’s touch was supposed to feel. Onya didn’t have much firsthand experience in that area. “No. Thank you.”

Alena gave her a wan smile and continued gently washing away the remains of the awful day. Eventually she washed away all of the blood that belonged to Nicco or Scopas and was down to Onya’s own wounds on her arms, hands, neck and breasts. “You’ll be all right,” Alena said again. “It’ll be a while but you’ll be all right again, maybe not exactly the same, but…good enough.” That didn’t sound as cheery as she’d wanted it, but then again halfway through the statement she realized she was lying, reversed course, and decided to tell the truth. “I have a nice nightgown Ares let me wear.” Alena went to the armoire and retrieved the gown. “It’s soft, you’ll like it. It will keep you warm.”

“I have to go upstairs.”

Alena sat down on the bed. “Not tonight. You stay here.” She held out the satin nightgown and held up a key. “When I go, I’ll lock the door, and then I’ll slip this under. No one will bother you tonight. Well, no one but Ares…can’t keep him out, I’m afraid.” Alena slid the gown over Onya’s head and then settled her down in the bed. “I’m so sorry they did this to you. It’s my fault,” she confessed, wanting to break into tears and beg the younger woman’s forgiveness, “it’s because you were nice to me.”

“No,” Onya snorted and then let out a genuine smile. “It happened because Kat’s a bitch, a jealous bitch who can never stand it when someone else gets five minutes of his lordship’s attention.” She reached out and put her hand on Alena’s arm. “It’s not your fault.”

Alena patted Onya’s hand. “I feel that it is, but that’s very kind of you.” Onya was weary, sleep would do her good, and the kettle was letting out a thick steam.

“You fight good.”

“Well,” Alena corrected before thinking. “Thank you,” she said more contritely and told herself she was no longer a schoolteacher, so there was no reason to correct anyone’s grammar.

“Where’d you learn how to do that? Will you teach me?”

“My father.” Alena paused for a moment. Onya had the best teacher in the whole world for such a thing, why ask her? “I’m sure Ares would be glad to show you how to defend yourself when you’re feeling better. Yes, I’m sure he’d like that very much.” Alena got up, took a porcelain cup from the mantle over the fire, and put in some of the herbs that she’d been collecting on her journeys across the island before she poured the steaming water over them. The herbs, flowers, leaves and roots hadn’t had much time to dry, but they would do the trick.

Onya was going to say something else but Alena fell very silent as she stood by the fire holding a hand over the rim of the steaming cup. Onya watched her little silver haired friend as she stood very still, seeming to pray over the cup. When she was done, those gray eyes opened and turned to Onya, who swore she could see a peaceful misty morning in them.

“This will help.”

“What is it?”

“Just some herbs, they’ll help you sleep and take away some of the aches, though not the one that matters most, I’m afraid.” She reached out and soothed Onya’s brow as she pushed a stray bit of hair away from her face. “That will take a bit of time.”

Whether it was in the woman’s eyes, her voice, or simply her words, Onya wasn’t sure. “You know, don’t you? You know.” Onya didn’t know how that could be since Alena had arrived with a golden chastity belt around her waist, but she did know. She knew exactly was it was like to lay here in a place like this in a moment like this.

Onya took her first sip of the tea. It smelled funny, almost like old sweat socks, but there was light floral scent to it as well. The taste was slightly bitter but had the tang of oranges; overall it was very tasty and soothing, like Alena’s touch. “It must have been nice, having parents who cared about you, or at least, ya know, liked you.”

Alena uttered what most other people might. “I’m sure your parents loved you very much.” Without thinking about it, she slipped her hand around Onya’s and ran her thumb across it in long slow strokes.

“No, they didn’t,” Onya said with a frown. “My parents loved booze and parties. Me? Nah. I was just in the way. I was just one of the things you’re supposed to do.” Alena looked at her with questions in those stormy eyes. “You know, you’re supposed to grow up. You’re supposed to get a job. You’re supposed to get married. You’re supposed to have kids,” she rattled off quickly. “Someone forgot to tell them that when you have kids another thing you’re
supposed to do
is stop staying out to all hours of the night all week long and drinking so much.”

“Is that how you came to be here with Lord Ares?”

Onya shrugged her aching shoulders and took a long drink of the tea. “Sorta, I guess. The reasons I came here, they don’t matter I guess, let’s just say he offered me a home when I needed one.”

“Well, that was nice of him.” Although she didn’t mean it, Alena’s voice held a tone of disbelief.

“Yeah, and, well, ya gotta admit they don’t come much hotter than him.” Onya bit down on her bottom lip in spite of the pain and her eyes lit up.

“I suppose he’s all right,” Alena agreed softly, thinking the tea was already starting to do its job. “If you like them big, brawny and brooding, that is.”

The teacup was almost empty now, just about two swallows left. Lips to the cup, just one swallow left. It was nice to be sitting drinking tea and making a bit of girl chat instead of dwelling on earlier events of the day. Somehow it made things seem normal again. “All right?” Onya asked with a slight giggle. “I don’t know what guys look like where you come from but I’m from LA where everyone’s a star,” Onya coaxed as her head began to buzz. Alena didn’t say anything, she just sat there quietly looking at Onya, but she was blushing just the slightest bit. “Oh come on, Alena, it’s just you and me, he’s gorgeous, admit it, you think so, too.”

Yes, the tea was definitely taking hold. Soon she’d start to feel sleepy. “All right, fine, he’s handsome.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Onya chided and drank the last of the tea. “It’s not, you know.” She stopped for another second, not sure if she should go on but since Alena had been so very good to her today Onya thought she’d chance it and she looked up to meet Alena’s sweet gaze. “You’re wrong, you know.”

“About what?”

“I’m not his favorite woman.”

“Not from where I’m standing.” Onya was not present at the poker game and on the nights Ares allowed one or two of his guards into his bedroom, Onya was never there. To Alena, it was clear Ares kept the girl for himself and there had to be a reason for that. “I think he cares for you very much.” It might not be a bad thing to use the few minutes of euphoria Onya was feeling to poke around about the God of War. Alena took the empty cup from Onya’s hand and put it on the nightstand. “Don’t you think him capable of loving you?”

“What is it anyway? Love, I mean.” She’d like to think Ares capable of feeling, possessing, and giving genuine affection, but couldn’t say for sure. “He’s not so bad once you get to know him, you know?”

“Is that right?” Alena asked, making note of the fact that Onya had nicely avoided answering her question.

“Yeah. He’s not all bad.” She rolled her eyes and rethought. “Not all good either, but not all bad.” She looked up at Alena with eyes that were beginning to grow heavy. “He can be quite gentle and even tender at times. Just ya know, so you know.” Onya thought Alena might find Ares a bit intimidating especially for a first lover and the sounds she must hear in the night might be frightening. Ares did tend to be a very vigorous lover, sometimes overzealous. Onya had seen her share of days where she was unable to walk after being with him the night before, and she’d seen the bodies leave his bedroom. She never blamed him, not directly; she pitied him for it, even thought him cursed by the Gods. A man with so much passion, yet he was unable to express it without great risk, well, that hardly seemed fair. Surely he was cursed, wasn’t he? There was a heat between them; Onya felt it whenever Ares and Alena were in the same room with each other. (So had Kat) No one missed the way they tried not to look at each other and how they just couldn’t help themselves from doing it anyway. Onya wanted to let Alena know that it was possible Ares wasn’t an absolutely terrible choice for her first time and that she was not in Alena’s way.

“Well, thank you. I’ll keep that in mind. But I’m not like you, I’m Fey. I can’t do the things you do,” Alena said, hoping to leave it at that.

“Why not?”

“The first man a woman like me takes to her bed, he will hold her heart forever. Even if they part and she never sees him again, she will always love him,” Alena explained quietly. “Do you think Ares would take good care of something as delicate as my heart?”

Onya’s eyes were growing heavy but she gave a little smile. “That’s kinda romantic,” she mumbled.

“If you say so. You rest.” Alena ran her hand along Onya’s brow before bending down to kiss it and giving her hand a last squeeze.

“Thank you,” Onya said quietly as she looked up at Alena with her big green eyes. “I would have liked having a Mom like you.”

“I’m no one’s mother,” Alena returned softly, “and I never will be, but thank you. I think I would greatly enjoy having a daughter like you.” Alena walked through the open door into the hallway, turned around, closed the door, locked it, slid the key beneath and stood up. She didn’t have to turn around to see him standing behind her, she felt Ares there when she came out of the room. “Do you always skulk around in the shadows listening to people’s private conversations?”

“It’s my home. Nothing is private from me.”

“How much of that did you hear?”

“Almost enough.” Ares would have heard all of it if he hadn’t been busy building a massive pyre upon which to burn the bodies. He spent several moments speaking with the Golden Hind and his men regarding the day’s events before returning to the cave.

“Kat?”

“Dead.” There was no emotion in his voice.