The courtyard buzzed with attendance to the departing of the monarchs to Cape Sounion. Servants carried a golden chest within the litter, heavy with treasure to be presented gifts to the god of seas.
Ares was ascent his royal steed, a rugged sight of paramount splendor – wavy pompadour over trimmed beard, slick and black as his soul. The scar under his eye had become more of an accessory than flaw. His cuirass was tough boiled leather, shades of coal and gold with thin chainlinks dropped across shoulder to shoulder. A cape of very deep purple swept across half his chest. Personally he was never much the narcissist, and preferred fetishes on weaponry. But right now it was difficult to tolerate the absence of his swordbelt and blades on scabbard. Bearing himself unarmed was a great vexation.
He leaned forward, sluggishly biting an apple when the Queen appeared on horseback with all glory held in mercuric eyes.
Ares watched her move through the parting crowd, at such an aloof kind of loveliness – the untamable hair and nearly mannish superiority, thick rose gold choker, halter cut tunic beneath hood and cape with the color that matches his own, a seashell brooch she hid underneath the folds.
"Mmm…" the King slowly chewed as she halted beside him, already doing unspeakable things to her in his mind.
The groan of opening gates went by before them. Athena patted the mane of her horse, glancing at her husband with a polite smile. "You look… nice."
Ares swallowed and neared over with a glint of interest in his face, "Does that mean I'm getting laid tonight?"
Immediately her smile disappeared with a look of disgust. She pulled the bridles and went forth, leaving Ares and his dirty grin. The litter was pulled along by a pair of stallions.
Despite the strong queenly look on outside, Athena's neck was near to snapping. Her hair felt like a tower, two layers of tease supported by metal coils and the tumbling curls draped over by strings of white sapphire. She dreaded the mother of headaches coming along at the end of the day. Along the way to the gates she looked up the parapets only to see Aphrodite blooming from where she stood. The Queen felt the weight of the shell brooch on her chest and she nodded at the other goddess who smiled faintly in return.
Above Sounion Cape, the Queen took in the sea's extreme vastness from world's end to end – its dormant strength and rolling waves of riparian blue. Deep tremors came from beneath the cliff as walls of water slapped against the rocks. The salty breeze caressed her skin and despite the heat of drought, she shivered. For underneath such enticing waters were violent undercurrents and unimaginable creatures.
From behind she felt his hand snake across her shoulders. Athena reposed as the King pressed her back against his broad chest. She closed her eyes and inhaled his scent. Musk. Balsam. She momentarily surrendered at his usual territorial display of her, at the sheer masculinity in such a simple gesture. Would that any woman could swoon proudly in his arms.
"Do you really want to do this?" Ares murmured, eyes transfixed at the same direction of hers. "You adore him."
Athena sighed. Oh but there are many things she did not want to do but would have to. She closed her palms around the arm that held her. Resting her forehead on his neck she felt him swallow thickly, poorly hiding his heart's control.
"But I adore you too, Ares," she whispered and his spine flipped. The way she breathed against his neck was making him vulnerably soft underneath the covers, scalding heat spilling across his body with her concluding words – "And there is such a great difference."
A portico of six columns towered over them, pure white marble varnished before the rest of the rectangular structure. In and out the double doors Oceanids skittered in gauzy robes, bearing incense and trays for a feast. The Queen noticed guards about the place, some she can name as sons of Poseidon… fully armed and wary, to her curiosity.
She descended her horse upon sight of her uncle, dressed in elegant layers of white chiton fringed with blue and gold meander key. He came with open arms to greet them.
"My most favored niece…!" Poseidon beamed, enclosing her in an embrace before briefly pressing his lips on hers.
The Queen retracted quick, words startled from thoughts but Poseidon seemed unconcerned. "Uncle uh," she detangled herself from his arms, "I… greetings… are we, are we late?"
"Nonsense! We would not commence without our most honored guests," the god of seas chuckled. He grinned at Ares, who, in silent fury, could barely hold back his seething marked by white knuckles over the reigns of his steed.
They heard a delighted squeal and Amphitrite appeared in genuine courtliness. She hurried down the steps, her pearl-studded black hair inflecting blue under the sun, netted into a bun just above her neck.
"Finally," she greeted with a kiss on both Athena's cheeks, "My husband was so anxious of your arrival. You haven't sailed?"
Athena reciprocated the smiles warmly. "We took the road. Thank you for welcoming us… we brought gifts." She lifted the curtain of the litter to present the chest within, marked by pleasance in their uncle's face.
They were led within the temple whilst Poseidon boasted its flamboyance, passing along halls of colonnade and mosaic floors and herms of notable heroes. The grand bronze statue of his magnificence stood at the center, surrounded by offerings of gold and gems. The windowless room of worship hung thick with the fumes of incense and animal sacrifice. Everything was almost a touch of aquamarine and silver.
A wall of gneiss etched with the image of the trireme Athens dedicated to him upon victory against Xerxes occupied one side of the worship hall. Ares snorted with a nudge on his wife's arm, "Bloody urchin takes credit…"
The Queen looked down to hide a subtle smirk, "You have your wall to piss on then?"
By the time they arrived at the third and last hall, Ares would have sworn he'd mentally slept through the tour. Athena was otherwise taken by the guards with perhaps half or quarter of Poseidon's bloodline, unable to miss the sharp glances they give her at any given opportunity – "You're rather… heavily guarded, Uncle."
"I knew you'd notice," Amphitrite rolled her eyes at her husband. More of the guards began accumulating behind them.
"Why not?" Poseidon shrugged, "You never know when thieves would appear. Especially at newly inaugurated temples… and here we are for the main event…" he opened thick iron doors to a comely dining space, at a marble-surfaced table below a three pronged candelabrum hanging from the ceiling. Being the only ventilated hall, the view of Patroklos Island stretched from the balcony. It smelt of ocean vapor and the nearby aroma of meat over fire; seagulls and waves echoed from the coast. She could hear Amphitrite giving instructions to servants as her hand grazed across the table's edge.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Poseidon snatched her thoughts while he sat at the far end. Behind him was a small entrance and a narrow hall leading to the kitchen. She nodded, silenced at the fully elaborate arrangement of cutlery before her.
Ares sat across with a heavy slouch before taking a knife and turning it over between fingers.
The scrape of chair being pulled urged her to sit just the same and Amphitrite settled beside her. "Your uncle had been bickering over this gathering, for weeks!" she filled Athena's kylix with sweet nectar. Ares picked at a peach twice with the knife he had not let go, "I wonder why…"
Three of the same armed men appeared from the back entrance and Amphitrite's face went aghast with what they carried. Poseidon's trident was swathed in cloths, too heavy it needed three pairs of hands to bring it in.
"Dear! Put that away! You shame a sacred business with a thing of war!" His wife panicked and Athena watched on.
One of the men spoke, "Apologies… but we could not find a better space to secure it within the walls – "
"Fine, fine. Bring it in. Surely my honored guests would not mind their old Uncle and his toy," Poseidon scratched his neck ruefully and the trident was set leaning to by the side of his chair, its haunting mystique befalling the room. Yet his wife was wont to disagree.
"No. I will find a chest to conceal it," Amphitrite frowned, standing to head towards the hallway behind him, "And bring in that fine Lemnian for a taste as well."
Poseidon took her hand and kissed it before she left with two of the guards as the other remained. "My gratitude, sweetheart."
Soon the main doors were pulled by more soldiers. The floor vibrated as they thud in a lock and Athena's hands went cold.
"Mothers," the King lazily bit on the fruit at knife's edge, its juice dribbling across the blade. "I remember Hera and her etiquette whims on me when I was a boy. Said none could stand me bloody hands and hunting knife on the table…"
The Queen stayed still, her senses catching the sounds of a fight beginning to ensue behind the locked doors. They're here. She clenched her fists below the table, trying so hard not to show the worry on her face but was able to catch how her uncle's eyes momentarily froze. The guard on the side looked at the doors and tittered uneasily.
"Though it was just animal blood. Wild rabbits, commonly," Ares went on. Poseidon placed both hands on the table surface, stretching his fingers to relax his veins. He cleared his throat, his feet began tapping the floor in tepid anxiety – "I… remember that well…"
"Fox, stags… took down a bear once too, damn fat one… and snakes. Have you tried capturing a snake, uncle?"
The sea god narrowed his eyes as if to think. And Athena knew he could hear the chaos going on just along the hallway. Sword hammering against shield, muffled shouts and commands…
"I haven't got the idea, Ares…"
More footsteps running to and fro, more battering of steel against steel… and the thwack of Dionysus' face flat on a pillar (Athena could distinguish…)
"It's pretty simple," the King concluded, toying with the knife in hand, "you only have to be a step ahead…"
Athena could count her breaths as the hall fell heavy with silence and tension.
And everything snapped.
Ares jolted, faster than lighting he kicked the trident to the back wall and struck Poseidon's hand with the knife. Every wall and pillar rang with the sea god's inhuman roar – all skin, flesh and bone impaled deep through the marble surface.
"Don't even think about it, woman," Ares taunted at remaining guard with a half-drawn sword now profusely sweating with terror. Poseidon growled low, his knees shaking and other hand clutching at the armrest of his chair.
Athena looked away as her husband lifted a leg and sat by the edge of the table, just beside the pinned hand. It was difficult to witness that behind the torment was her love, her killing machine… in an even sober mood. She remembered the sickening glee he expressed at her reluctant consent to inflict the act. It wasn't the inquest that excited him, it was the torture, making bile rise to her throat. He was certifiably insane but he might as well be their best chance today.
Blood pooled under the puncture. Ares was smirking over the wildly breathing prey. His eyes glowed a rancid scarlet, filled with abhorrence and perverse satisfaction. "So… damn slow…" he leaned over with a low chuckle, "I've seen my wife take down a Hydra, faster than you could've moved… and she was in a dress."
A deep guttural moan escaped Poseidon's throat. "What is this MADNESS!?"
"You're far from dying, don't you damn worry," the King tipped his head, "That is if you stay still. Though I would have to say it'd scar, it's the only steel that could scar," he remembered the edge of an arrow piercing through his face but quickly brushed the thought. "So many veins near the wrist, Uncle, the more you move the wider you make of it."
A tray crashed to the floor and shards of fine porcelain scrambled along with wasted wine. Amphitrite's jaw hung, blood draining from her face as she appeared from where she left.
Ares looked up at the horrified eyes. "Worry not. I haven't dented your fine cutlery…" he tapped the handle of the blade, "It's forged of the rarest metal – god's iron. I know one by mere sight and a good test of it… see how it smoothly dug through immortal bone, and marble?"
"You… psychotic… vermin…" Pain rang beneath Poseidon's fury, only entertaining his nephew further.
"Complements well taken. So tell me… where the rest of us see this precious element only fit for divine weaponry, you must have so much in store to forge it in knives for your food?"
"I… I do not know what you speak of, my King…" Amphitrite's cheeks were streaked, voice and hands shaking, "What are you doing…?"
"I am plainly asking how my uncle came in possession of these because only one particular god could mine and melt such iron – Hephaestus. Who, by the way, is still fazed and yet a bit delusional in snippets of consciousness… after his forge was put to ruins."
The Queen shuddered. Despite his sadistic means, the savage was making sense.
"You brand me behind Hephaestus' demise!?" the god of seas bellowed, "I felt the quake and went to him to aid but found nothing the time I arrived! The iron they… they were shattered and disposed along the silt and I did take some but never had I touched… or even seen him. AAARGH!"
Amphitrite sobbed. Her husband's grunts of pain twisted her heart as does a blade.
"How convenient. You took some only to turn them into accessory for your plate. That's like giving you ambrosia for your wounds and yet you wipe it in your ass. No. You're far intelligent than that. So answer your wife…" Ares' mood darkened even more, "What. Are. You. DOING?"
"Let her go…"
"No," Athena shot in, finally on her feet, "Not after she knows what you plan to conspire."
Amphitrite stared at her husband, eyes still streaming and waiting for an answer.
Poor thing. The Queen sighed. A wife to be ousted without having any clue. "Our uncle plans to usurp the throne. Today was no blessing of this temple, Amphitrite, he meant to trap and force us into submission. He chose a sacred occasion to make sure we are unarmed… but he dressed his own men and enacted a chance to bring his weapon in."
"What…?" Amphitrite choked in a whisper, "I-is it true? Why would you…"
"Don't believe them, wife..!"
"Why would he not tell me… I mean…" she looked back at her husband, "I would not agree with that scheme but… you would tell me, won't you…?"
"I… I – I didn't want you to be involved in case I failed – …" "You mean to say you already have a Queen in mind in place of your wife?" Athena spoke bitterly.
The way Poseidon's face fell had given away no more escape. He could not no longer gaze upon Amphitrite already falling on her knees with throttled sobs. The Queen pulled the brooch from the folds of her cape and handed it before her uncle, "Your token of promise to Aphrodite," she watched the muscles of his jaw harden, "It must hurt… to be betrayed. Your plans and dreams shared to a trusted… family… friend… lover… only to know they've done far from concealing. We did not hurt her; she came in willingly, and for weeks I implored she sway you from this plan… and still... here we are – with our loyal companions already putting your men in chains just outside this room."
Poseidon closed his eyes with a disappointed sigh. Athena caught the attention of the guard, "Escort your mistress to our men awaiting outside. They must have already rounded up on your companions and whatever siege they planned to take."
When the stricken sea goddess was led off and only they were left behind did Athena hear her uncle chuckling, louder as if everything was a joke. The horrible sounds were making her blood curdle.
"You should have taken acting lessons from the muses, Poseidon," Ares shook his head, "Your pretensions with Amphitrite were bloody pathetic."
"Ahh well look at you. I would clap but…" the Sea god shrugged as he showed the obviously skewered hand now almost turning purple, "I must say you got me there, really impressive. One day this scene will be painted in amphora… and poets will sing of them in festivals… your father should be proud."
"He should have wished not having you for a brother," Athena seethed.
"As he should have wished not handing Ares over the crown," he looked at the King glaring rabidly, "Oh I forgot he's here." Again a jeering laughter clear as daylight.
Sick of games, the Queen was bent to end the discussion –
"Did you hear what happened to my son when they found him?"
There was cadence in Poseidon's tone that successfully chilled her spine. "For many days I asked what became of Halirrhotius as I waited for his body but my servants would not answer me. When I unveiled the corpse they were right to be speechless. Because there was naught to describe what your beloved husband did…"
She could not stop the cascade of heavy swallowing on her throat.
"What I saw was not my son…" Poseidon's teeth chattered and they fully knew it wasn't from fear but rather, stark rife. "It was a leftover meal – a stinking… spineless mush of flayed meat… stuffed in a box like an animal, and his skin wrapped around the surfaces like a well-sealed gift."
Athena glanced at the King, stiff as cement on a wall, sheen perspiration over his temples. She cursed him in her mind, what he was and still partially is, a scourge born with insatiable thirst for blood. And she would have to put up with the outcomes of his transgressions as if they were her own because he is her fucking husband!
"I'm afraid I could no longer reform a thing past my jurisdiction, and one that has already been adjudged by Zeus," she firmed her gut, "Ares has been acquitted at Aeropagus. Your son did a terrible thing and not just to anyone's daughter – "
"His daughter was a churlish whore with nothing to lose but the plug in her cunt!"
Ares stood in full rage about to rip Poseidon's eyes but the Queen intervened with a single look, leaving the hall heavy with tension.
"Is that how you saw Medusa?" she asked, heat beginning to gather beneath her eyes. The image of a priestess' writhing body pulled in the shadows haunted her. "I had so much to think about that day… and so much to regret. Where I was young and naïve you knew I could not vent my anger on you… so I pinned my rage on the girl as if her humiliation was not enough. I wear her image in my armor and all would see it a grand victory but it only reminds me of the day I was most senseless. Oh I've made many unjust injuries to others but unlike you, I have only myself to blame."
The god of seas only nodded feigning a look of remorse, "What… a touching… nobility!" He clicked his tongue, "Athens truly is blessed to have chosen you for their patron."
He leaned forward with narrowed eyes and Athena could detect the draining of blood on his lips masked by his supposed antagonism.
"Imagine their disappointment with you when you lose against Cronos eh? Because how could you win with something like that as a King? That lunatic brute, that monster?"
This time the Queen towered over him to meet his challenge, her expression dripping avarice. Poseidon's smile quickly faded when she closed her fingers around the handle of the knife and Ares watched with sick adoration as she slowly twisted the iron. He knew it. She had it in her, a fanged gargoyle chained behind talks of diplomacy and peace. For when reason and patience thins down to the limit, she would be unleashing this demonic side to her. And gods did it fully arouse him…
The grinding of iron against bone filled background of the Queen's fiery words. "Winning could come in many forms, Poseidon. I would rather have a loyal brute than a gentle traitor. How could you have forgotten we all are beasts of different skins and sometimes it takes monsters… to defeat monsters."
At once she yanked the blade, forcing from Poseidon a bestial scream as his blood thinly sprinkled across her dress.
A/N : Ola. Wishing you all a remarkable day despite… you know. Thank you for keeping up with me and this mess I call fanfic because I can't keep a straight plot. Lol.
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Stay safe. xx