Asriel followed the shouts and cheers of encouragement as far as the colosseum. Sure enough, there everybody was, with their tacky giant foam hands and coloured ribbons, mostly hollering their support to none other than her own little sister. Well, half-sister. Clarisse La Rue. Daughter of Ares and some mortal or other that he'd taken a fancy to a few years ago. Asriel wouldn't have admitted it out loud to anyone, but Clarisse was tackling the obstacle tower pretty expertly, competing against a boy with dark hair and flimsy-looking elbow protectors.
On the opposite side of the compound, on a platform beneath a canopy, Chiron stood chatting to Dionysus, who was watching Clarisse's progress with interest as he poured himself a glass of wine that changed immediately to water. Asriel was sure her uncle considered that to be the absolute worst part of his exile. Becoming the director of Camp Halfblood for a hundred years was nothing compared to the God of Wine being denied his favourite beverage.
Well, Asriel thought, I may as well make an entrance that Dad would be proud of.
She hit the bottom of the tower running, swinging effortlessly onto the rope ladders whilst simultaneously deftly dodging the thumping gauntlets. She met the dark haired boy halfway. He was going down. Some kid dangling by his foot from a ladder had called for help. Clarisse had ignored it. So had she. His rescuer was knocked to the ground for his troubles.
Just her and little sis, then. Asriel grinned to herself. Clarisse didn't yet know that her elder sister was there, she thought her victory was assured.
Ha! Asriel laughed inwardly. We'll see about that, and she smirked to see the surprise on Clarisse's face when the tower stopped spinning right before she swung herself onto the uppermost level.
Dionysus didn't realise it wasn't Clarisse that had won at first. He was too distracted by his beloved glass of red becoming water, and so used to seeing his youngest niece holding the glass eye aloft that it took a moment for the realisation to sink in.
"Oh, no," he muttered.
"What?" the centaur asked, following his line of vision. "Oh, no..." he echoed in dismay, earning himself a glare of annoyance from Dionysus.
Asriel. Goddess of Temptation. Her black hair was streaked with red this time, instead of blue. Her lips were dark, and she still had those irritating tattooes around her eyes that drove Dionysus crazy. The sunlight made the gem in her nose sparkle, and she was dressed completely in black. Clearly going through what the mortals called a 'goth' phase, Dionysus decided, with a roll of his eyes.
She grinned down at him, almost scornful in her triumph as she raised her eyebrows at her younger sister in a mock apology. Clarisse glared back and the two young women somersaulted and flipped their way down the tower together, landing on their feet in the gravel at the exact same moment.
"What are you doing here?" Clarisse questioned rudely.
"Grandfather sent me. Apparently one awkward god causing conflicts on Olympus is enough at the moment." She was referring, of course, to Ares, who always managed stir up trouble wherever he went, a trait both girls seemed to have inherited and mastered with very little effort.
"Asriel. How lovely to see you," Chiron greeted smoothly, looking like he would rather have been stabled for a month than spend an hour in her company.
"Hi," Asriel said, striding past him and leeching herself on the edge of the table Dionysus was seated at. He stared at herm and she looked back levelly.
"Did Zeus send you?"
"Hmm hmm," she answered, clearly unphased by the lack of greeting, taking the glass from his hand and holding the stem nonchalantly between her thumb and forefinger as she disdainfully tipped the remaining water onto the porch floor. She then proceeded to fill the goblet with wine, and Dionysus gazed at it longingly as she lifted it to her lips and drank deeply.
"It was a very good year," she murmured, when she came up for air.
Dionysus peered at her contemptuously, knowing she was doing it to get a rise out of him, but unable to stop himself falling for it.
"Have you been a bad girl?" he asked.
She gave him a stare that anyone else would have backed away from, but he simply lounged back in his chair, knowing he'd grazed a nerve.
"Why else would I be stuck here with you?" she replied sarcastically.
"Oh, yeah, because my life will be soooo much easier with you here, won't it? He's done this to torture me. It can't be for any other reason."
"Maybe he thinks you look lonely, and need some family around you."
"Whatever. How long are you staying?"
Asriel shrugged. "Until he misses me, I guess."
Dionysus rolled his eyes again, and heaved himself to his feet.
"Oh, joy." He grabbed a long-handled metal object from behind his seat, and lumbered down the steps. "Perry Johnson!" he barked, addressing dark haired boy from the obstacle tower.
"Actually, it's Percy Jackson, sir."
"Whatever." Asriel heard Dionysus respond, as he cupped his arm around the kid's shoulders. She watched the demigod guide the boy across the compound, and present him with a rake before walking off in the direction of the Big House. Asriel considered the boy for a while as he worked, and then she, too, headed for the camp's oldest building, wandering in like she knew exactly where she was going, which, indeed, she did.
Dionysus was sat behind his vast desk, his head supported by one hand, glaring at the unopened bottle of Merlot in front of him, when Asriel appeared silently, leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded across her chest.
"What?" he asked grouchily, when she continued to say nothing.
"It's not the same without you there."
"It sounds like your father has more than made up for my absence."
The goddess shook her head decisively. "No, Dad's... destructive. You bring... fun."
Dionysus sensed her words were not what she was originally going to say, and his dark eyes softened as he studied her suddenly serious face.
"I've missed you," he said gently, his gaze demanding to be held.
"Don't," she whispered, wanting to look away.
"You kept them. You said you wouldn't."
"I knew how much they annoyed you."
"Is that why you didn't get rid of them? Even after I left?"
"Maybe I knew they'd still rile you up when you got back."
"They irritate the hell out of me," he replied. "And they make it utterly impossible for one to tear their gaze away from yours..." He was in front of her now. She hadn't even realised he'd stood up, let alone noticed him move around the desk and across the room towards her. "As though I needed an excuse..."
Her arms dropped to her side's, subconsciously offering him the chance to be closer to her, her fragile inhibitions chased away by the familiar want in his brown eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he murmured.
"I told you, Zeus sen- "
"No, I mean why are you here?"
Why had he asked her that question? He knew why she was there. He knew she couldn't say it aloud. So why had he asked?
She simply looked at him, the dark eyes that so mirrored his own hooded with need. He watched the soft, shining lips open and close just once as she knew she must not speak her illicit thoughts. She was forbidden fruit. It was unthinkable. And yet, she was so desperately desired. Goddess of Temptation? She had no idea.
He moved forward, narrowing the gap between them. As long as he didn't touch her, it would be okay. As long as he didn't touch her, it wouldn't be incest. She stepped forward. Full, firm breasts grazed against his chest. Doe-brown eyes gazed up at him.
"I've missed you, too."
He fought to keep his hands off her, he really did, but one moment she was standing before him, and the next, her buttocks were pressed into the front edge of his desk, his fingers gripping her hips to keep her anchored there. As long as he didn't kiss her, it would be okay. As long as he didn't kiss her, it wouldn't be incest. Her hands clutched at the desk. Her moist lips were parted, reaching for his mouth.
"I can't do this."
"I know." Her teeth nipped lightly at his lower lip, and he fell, hungrily claiming her mouth for his own. She was soft, sweet, willing. Forbidden. His.
Her fingers were still grasping his desk, his hadn't moved from her hips, but her tongue caressed his like it had been doing so all its life. Their kiss was so harmonious, so... pure... that it was hard to believe it had never happened before, that this was the first time he had sinned with her. As long as he didn't touch her there, it would be okay. As long as he didn't touch her there, it wouldn't be incest. She ground her pelvis forward against his, forcing him closer to heaven, closer to damnation. His fingers slipped lower.
"Dionysus?"
He leapt back like he'd been scalded when Chiron's voice resounded along the corridor leading to his office. Asriel's eyes snapped open, panting heavily, her lips swollen, and when the centaur entered the room, he glanced between the pair who stood a little over an arm's length apart, gazes locked firmly on each other, looking like they both wanted to commit murder. He failed to see the lust still clouding Asriel's eyes, and if he could smell the heated scent of arousal that lingered in the air, he did a superb job of ignoring it.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, I can see you're, er, busy, but Dionysus, I have something rather urgent to discuss with you."
And, just like that, the moment of madness was gone.
"Well, it's a pleasure to be back, Uncle Dionysus." And her hips swayed as she left the room without glancing back.
