Chapter 57
The hours seemed to have only crawled by, the sun slowly making its usual routine across the sky and more than half of the day had already passed. Not that he was complaining about this uneventful day though, despite the initial lack of luster this unusually calm period had provided, it was quite enjoyable as far as he was concerned. There wasn't really much that he needed anyway and the one thing that had become his main priority over the last several months was cuddled up safely in his arms. His sweet Princess was still sleeping and she hadn't stirred an ounce since she drifted off to sleep after he had pleasantly awakened her earlier in the morning. She was way more tired than he had originally thought she was- he guessed that a few rounds of incredibly amazing sex throughout the night would do that to someone and he had been patiently waiting all this time for her to rouse from her slumber. For some reason, he had this desire that required her to be awake before he could start his day, what was left of it anyway.
She seemed extremely relaxed while she laid there, her body lazily lying against his while she used him as her own personal pillow. She only seemed focused on draping her tantalizingly sexy body over him like a sheet each time she moved, squirming and cozying up to him quite provokingly and her actions only managed to arouse him to the point that words just could not have described the torture she was causing him by doing that and he was having a very fierce battle within himself in order to keep himself in line.
During the insane amount of free time that he suddenly had, he obsessively admired her enticing form, trying to keep his mind busy from other than the fact that he just wanted to fuck her so badly and was softly running his fingertips with a feather like touch along her bare skin, a few times placing tender kisses on the top of her head. No matter how many times he touched her though, each inch of skin felt like he was finding something new all over again despite the countless times he had moved over the same area and his caresses ran with the most delicate care against her soft flesh.
All that time that he had been lying there, he enjoyed tremendously the feeling of having her naked body pressed up against his, having complete access to her whenever he wanted. The mere idea of being able to freely roam his hands along her body- no barriers to hold him back, was overwhelming.
His insides felt weird, he wasn't sure how to describe it exactly and the only thing he could think of that came close to it was some type of fluttering sensation. Every time she moved the feeling roared to life while her skin rubbed against his, making it flare within his entire body maddeningly, causing his heart to race at an alarming speed as it wildly pounded against his chest. It was completely confusing to him because he had no idea what was causing it and in his mind, the only logic for trying to keep it under control was to only pull his Princess closer in an unbelievably tight embrace. He let out a soft sigh, attempting to push it from his mind for the time being and allowed himself to relax a little more, which surprisingly wasn't as hard to do unlike other times. Having his Princess there, seemed to relax him like nothing else ever could.
A few moments later, while his hand started to teasingly dance along her leg, he desperately wanted to start pleasuring her again while he slowly inched his hand closer to her inner thigh. He gradually began to seek out what he wanted and was causing his sweet Princess to shiver from the feeling of his playful movements, making her shift against him again. He groaned from the contact. Those illegally voluptuous breasts were teasingly rubbing against his chest now and feeling her nipples starting to harden against his skin made him want to just suck against them hungrily, when all of the sudden, Ares heard one of his generals calling out to him and he rolled his eyes, completely irritated with how they had the worst timing in the world.
What could he possibly want now?! He seemed almost desperate and then the Olympian realized that was the first time that their calls had even registered with him since the day before. It was unusual to have gone this long without having at least heard one of them pleading for some type of help in one way or the other but on the other hand, his thoughts had been entirely occupied with something far more pleasurable and that had really held his attention captive.
He could still feel the sensation of his passionate Princess brutally marking his back with her nails while he claimed her several times over. A reminiscent grin began to pull at the corners of his mouth while the sounds of her irresistible screams filled his head and then, for a reason that was completely unbeknownst even to him, Ares tightened his embrace around Xena and soon vanished from the bed with her still in his arms.
They soon materialized within his bed chamber and he softly laid her down in his bed and he made a thick fur blanket appear and gently draped it over her and she immediately curled herself into it, greedily pulling it tighter around her and trying to get back that warmth that had been keeping her safe. After making sure that she was all wrapped up cozily- which meant staring at her for another thirty minutes and from time to time readjusting the blanket that he was slightly envious of since it was replacing him to some extent- Ares placed a tender kiss against her lips and ran his fingers through her hair before he finally pulled back from her completely.
There, now she was right where she was supposed to be… Wait a minute, what was that thought even supposed to mean exactly? That had completely come out of nowhere and then he started to wonder why he didn't just leave her in her room? This unnecessary decision of his didn't make any sense but he suddenly had this uncanny urge to have his Princess sleeping soundly in his own bed.
Without actually knowing that he was doing it, his auburn eyes adoringly dwelled on Xena for a few moments more, watching her while she snugly burrowed herself further into the bed until she found the perfect spot to rest in. At that moment, everything just seemed to have fallen into place and for the first time in millennia, it just felt right.
'My Queen…' a very faint voice whispered inside his head, so low that he wasn't even aware that he had actually even heard it. For some outrageous reason, she looked like she was meant to be there and trying not to think about it for too long, the thoughts that it were bringing up were just confusing him even more with his strange actions, the War God soon vanished from the room to take care of whatever it was that was so important from his general who was making himself hoarse by calling him.
Xxxxxxx
"Ares!"
It wasn't until the completely excessively hyper voice had shouted his name that the War God finally realized where he was. His thoughts were still stuck back at his temple where a certain raven haired Goddess laid safely within his bed. Now how and why was he even here, this was certainly not the destination that he had in mind when he left the Halls of War. Within the matter of a second of the thought coming across his mind, he was soon being molested by the Love Goddess who thought it was a brilliant idea to just throw herself at him and engulf him in a hug. Ares just groaned out annoyed with the gesture, why did she always feel the need to attach herself to him when they hadn't seen each other in a while?
After having to endure this unnecessary display of affection that had gone on way longer than it should have really, a few seconds' tops not ceaselessly long minutes, the War God eventually managed to pry himself free from her grasp.
"Do you always have to do that?" he asked grudgingly, dusting himself off a bit with the hope of getting rid of that wretched glitter that she sometimes wore that seemed to have now attached itself to his vest.
"Can't a girl just be happy to see her brother after not having seen him in like…months?" she amusingly replied while she watched Ares trying dreadfully to get the little sparkles off of himself, "… and that reminds me, what took you so long anyway?"
Now by this time, Ares was having a very hard time getting the annoying glitter off, no matter how hard he brushed against himself, it just wouldn't budge. Plus, as if it just wanted to mock him further, now he had it all over his hands- somehow it seemed to be duplicating at a significantly alarming rate, so that he only ended up smearing the accursed dust around some more and what was once a small spot had soon turned in to taking over the complete left side of his vest. This must have been some sort of sabotage and he didn't think it was all that funny really.
"I was a little busy." he stated with irritation, intensifying his vain efforts to rid himself of the little glimmering pieces that had now decided to congregate themselves along his arm- just what kind of crap was this?!
The wheels started to turn within the Love Goddess' head at his words. So he was busy, huh? Now she had known him for a very, very long time and when she said long she meant their whole lives and there wasn't much that would have kept his attention for long and would have prevented him from at least visiting her every now and then. I mean, he had been gone for months and when he finally did come back his first stop wasn't even one of his favorite sister's temples. That had stung Aphrodite deeply when she first found out that daddy had allowed Ares to return home, she had missed him terribly and he didn't even think to show up just to let her know that he was still alive. What could have possibly been more important than her?
She studied him for a moment trying to figure it out, he seemed a little different to her, though she supposed that spending all that time in the Norse lands would do that to anyone. What a horrid place to have been stuck in, all gloomy and cold and what not, although he did seem to like things like that. Why, she would never understand but it had to have done havoc on his state of mind if it managed to change his mind enough when it came to visiting her. The Goddess didn't know how he had survived all that time, she would have gone insane in a place like that.
All those simple tone colors… Good Gaia she would have freaked out within the first couple of hours and just thinking about it now was making her a little edgy. But no, it was something else, heck he even smelled a bit different to her. She couldn't quite place what it was exactly but his usual masculine cologne held a tiny resemblance to something more… oh, it was on the tip of her tongue… floral like was what seemed to keep coming to mind. On the other hand, that was completely absurd, the God of War and flowers? That didn't make any type of sense at all and she chuckled to herself at the silly thought before she quickly banished that nonsense from her head.
Nonetheless, wanting to know what it was precisely was starting to eat at her like a nasty little sea urchin. He had been spending his time elsewhere, which apparently was of major importance enough to have snuffed the Goddess off of his radar for quite some time. He had strange scents that hadn't particularly associated themselves with him before and there was this vibe- although it was somewhat faint- that he had when he first arrived, was radiating from him that she could pick up on clearly now. She knew what that was, of course she did, but for some reason her brain wanted to frustrate her even more and it was holding back that crucial piece of information that would have made everything crystal clear. That feeling, what was that, it seemed so foreign to her since it had never appeared in his presence before and it completely threw her off of her game but there was no mistaking that.
Meanwhile, after having battled a fierce fight with the maddening glitter that he was convinced must have been enchanted with something to make it stick the way it was, Ares huffed out an exasperated breath and then simply snapped his fingers and the frustrating sparkles soon vanished completely from his body. Why he didn't just do that from the beginning he wasn't really sure and he soon made his way over to a divan and causally took a seat on it, tossing a few unnecessary pillows to the side. He made himself comfortable on it and made a goblet of wine appear in his hand and leisurely started to sip from it, looking on while it seemed that Aphrodite's mind was whirling a mile a minute about something unessential, that he was sure of.
She must have been planning out what next shade of pink she was going to be in and somehow he just knew that she was going to try and coerce him into helping her. But there was no way in Tartarus that was going to happen, this was just a small visit, wasn't even planned actually and he really needed to get back. His Goddess was waiting for him and he really wanted to feel her close to him again and a small frown soon formed on his face from the thought, pondering the fact with just how much he was becoming outrageously addicted to his sweet Princess.
While he looked around for a moment, he couldn't help but wonder what was with all the pink anyway. It was everywhere all the time and he knew just sitting here on this couch was already affecting him in a way that it really shouldn't be and he shifted a little disgusted, annoyingly throwing a few more of those infuriatingly pink fluffy pillows with feathers attached to them towards the floor. But as if wanting to get their revenge on the War God for him having done that, a few of the brave feathers had slowly floated down on top of him and landed along his legs and he quickly brushed the aggravating little suckers off. At least they weren't half as problematic as that glitter was and they came off with ease, much to his relief.
"Lavender!" Aphrodite soon shouted out excited, startling Ares a little with her sudden outburst and causing him to spill some of his wine, totally thrilled that she had finally figured it out and the conclusion was just so wonderful.
"Am I supposed to know what that means?" he asked about a minute later when it seemed that she wasn't going to elaborate any further, frustratingly swiping away the spilt liquid, even though that word did bring to mind a most gorgeous creature and he soon got a distant look in his eyes while thoughts of her swirled around in his head.
Aww, she thought it was just so cute! He was acting like he had no idea what she meant by saying that- and a completely and totally dreamy look formed on the Love Goddess' face at the thought. She couldn't believe that she didn't pick up on it before now, of course, what else could it have possibly been? The Warrior Babe! Those two had been making googly eyes at each other for what seemed like an eternity before they were viciously kept apart. So that's where he went, she should have known and she was certainly losing her touch, ok, she could forgive him for that and giving her the cold shoulder for the last few months because this was just perfect and love came before all else and she would gladly be snubbed to the side for it.
She started to wonder how it must have happened and when it happened because there was no doubt in her mind that now that Ares was back there was just no way that he had left Xena alone for more than a second. They had more than likely got quite acquainted with each other after having to suffer all those agonizingly long lonely months apart. All that pining released in what was most likely a passionately hot encounter, Xena was certainly one lucky girl, that's for sure.
"So…" she began, ignoring his previous question because she just had to know all the details, "… how's the Warrior Babe doing?"
At the mention of his Princess, Ares' interest was suddenly peaked, his thoughts drifting to her for a moment and a naughty grin began to form on his face at the way she was screaming out when he was fucking her. Regardless of how much that arousing memory had imprisoned his mind with her sexy moans, at the same time he was a little guarded. Why was she bringing her up? He just eyed her warily, not liking at all that sappy look that was now on his sister's face.
"She's… resting…" came his simple, completely lacking in any type of description response and it only seemed to make this outrageously and entirely uncalled for smile to spread wide across her face.
Now you see, to the Love Goddess, what that totally deficient and absolutely poor state of words that her brother had chosen to use, simply told her that they had spent the whole night together. She was quite more perceptible on picking up certain things and in this department there was nothing that could get by her. She might have been slacking before but that was only because she was hurt and thought he hated her all of a sudden but now she was fully alert of the magic that was going to be unfolding in front of her eyes with these two. She could clearly feel it coming from him and she wasn't going to miss any of it. This was the stuff that she lived for and her heart was just swelling from the thought, they were like the cutest couple ever! It was like a dream come true and here he was trying to act like it was no big deal at all when she could obviously see that it was.
"Did you guys make love?" she eagerly asked him, not stopping for an instant to think to filter that question or how he would respond to it, she really wanted to know how it happened and she didn't want him to leave out one single detail.
She had chosen to slip that little comment out the moment he went to take another sip of wine and he immediately started to choke on it once that question had reached his ears. After having a fit of uncontrollable coughing, Ares looked up to his sister with this completely astounded look on his face, only to find her looking at him with the most joyful expression ever - even her eyes were a little watery as if she were about to cry. What in Tartarus was wrong with her?
"What kind of question is that Dite?!" he exclaimed, suddenly feeling completely uncomfortable with how this visit had turned out.
"A simple one actually…" it was quite basic really, a simple yes or no would have been perfect, nothing that required any real thought to be put into it but yet he was acting as if she had just broken some type of sacred vow by asking it.
"You did, didn't you?" she couldn't keep the happiness out of her voice.
She never thought that she would see the day but she had always hoped that it would come for him. She had never given up on that and here it was, blooming right under her nose and she almost missed it completely. What kind of Love Goddess would she be if something as monumental as that was going on and she was entirely oblivious to it?
"That is none of your business!" he growled out defensively, not liking that she was snooping around in a topic that was of no concern to her.
"Sweet Gaia, you did! That is like so sweet! Was the Warrior Babe completely satisfied afterwards?" she still wanted to know all about it and she couldn't wait to hear how the two of them had ended up knowing each other much more intimately.
"I never even said that we did!" he menacingly growled out, casting her a harsh glare for jumping to conclusions about something that she knew nothing about.
"You didn't have too, this is my area of expertise, remember?! Doh!." she cheerfully stated, absently wiping away a few tears at this joyous occasion.
By the Fates themselves, she just couldn't believe it, they actually did and the fact that he was being completely guarded on the subject just made her melt. He never had a problem before when she brought up his many liaisons and this was like totally romantic. He was trying to protect the Warrior Babe's honor and this only screamed to the Love Goddess that he was totally in love with her, otherwise the question wouldn't have bothered him so much. This was absolutely fantastic, she couldn't have had it work out better than this and look at that face, that was a face of a man who was completely in love and had no idea that he was. It only made her heart melt more with how sweet it all was and she clasped her hands to her chest and her dreamy look only turned sappier.
"What is wrong with you?!"
"When did you know?" she asked, taking a seat next to him and waiting for him to fill her in on all the juicy details of this fairy tale love story, a few dreamily scenarios whirling through her head of how the lovely couple had rejoiced in their union.
"Know what?!" he exclaimed, confusion painted on his face, that look in his sister's eyes only starting to scare him even more. Just what had she been doing since he was gone?
"That you love her silly." she explained, her smile widening even more with the flabbergasted look that formed on his face.
He really had no clue and it just made him look so adorable, she just wanted to hug him but he probably wouldn't take too kindly to that and she barely restrained herself from doing it. She knew what the end result to that would have been and she wasn't looking to make friends with the cold marble floor.
"You're insane, you know that?!" he bellowed, getting up from the divan and pacing for a few seconds while the depth of her words started to sink in, it was ludicrous pure and simple and she had finally snapped.
She watched him for several minutes, contemplating on how she should approach this and not wanting to frighten him away from it because if she knew him at all then he would probably end up fighting it in the end instead of just embracing it and end up breaking the Warrior Babe's heart in the process and that was what she didn't want to happen. He undoubtedly hadn't even admitted it to himself yet and she needed to tread very lightly.
"You feel something, don't you?" she softly murmured out, making the War God cease his walking and get a faraway look in his eye and she knew she had hit a target.
"When she's close to you…" the words sounded like a faint whisper in his head and he thought about what happened when their bodies touched, the way his heart would speed up and pound against his chest from just a simple caress, "… when you think about her…" his thoughts drifted to his gorgeous Princess then, making a light smile form on his face while the image of her lying in his bed took over his mind, himself kissing those sweet lips, "… when you make love to her…" his body trembled a little, the sounds of her addictive moans echoing throughout his head while their bodies moved as one, her seductive voice crying out his name softly in his ear while he claimed her for himself.
To the Goddess, it seemed like he had fallen into some sort of trance, his mind focused on some distant memory. This was good, he wasn't resisting like she thought he might have done and she was pleasantly satisfied with herself for that and she mentally patted herself on the back for a job well done. Gods, she was just so good at her job! He just needed someone to help open his eyes and this magnificent love story was just going to blossom from it and she couldn't wait to see how it was now going to unfold.
"It's wonderful, isn't it? To feel the lov…"
"Lust…" Ares coldly cut off, sending her a menacing glare for daring to bring up this stupid topic, "… nothing more than pure carnal lust."
The Love Goddess' face saddened immediately with his brashness, he was completely in denial. There was no way that he was going to accept this unless he admitted it to himself and she couldn't believe that he was going to be so stubborn on the matter. She had thought that she had really gotten to him, in fact she knew she must have because that look that had been on his face just a few seconds before wasn't a look of a person who was lusting after someone. No, it was quite the opposite and it had looked like someone who was remembering fondly a memory about someone they cared deeply about, someone they loved. Before she had the chance to try to get him to let down those barriers that he was frustratingly keeping in the way, the God of War had quickly vanished from the room.
"Ares!" she called after him, but he was long gone and that was a conversation that he was not willing to have with her.
Xxxxxxx
After having finally taken care of that pesky business with his general, which was really a way to try and distract himself for a few hours really- so he wouldn't have to think about anything else, Ares just stood at the foot of his bed in the Halls of War, gazing intently at the raven haired beauty who was currently occupying it.
His precious Princess was still sleeping, nestled warmly in the center of it and he let his eyes run over her. She was indubitably gorgeous, a Goddess that he had never seen before and while watching over her, all kinds of confusing thoughts whirled through his mind like crazy. For reasons that just didn't make any sense, he hated it when he was away from her, everything just seemed so dull and he liked it when she was around and he loved it even more when she was safely cuddled in his arms.
"Is this love?" he thought to himself, he really didn't know, no one had ever showed it to him before and he was unfamiliar with how that sensation was supposed to feel like. However, she did make him feel something, something outrageously strong and it only seemed to grow more and more with each passing day. He craved for her maddeningly and the depth of that want was a bit alarming to him because he had never wanted anyone as much as he wanted his Princess and this overwhelming need to have her near him was confusing.
Consequently, having mulled the bewildering thoughts over for several more minutes, Ares slowly made his way to the side of the bed, never taking his eyes off of his most precious prize, still trying to think of something else that was the cause of what was happening. He soon climbed his way on to the bed, his leathers seeming to melt away with each move that he made, and he carefully lifted the blanket that his sweet Princess was lying comfortably under and cautiously slid himself closer to her.
He slowly moved in behind her and gently wrapped his arm around her waist, swiftly bringing her closer to himself after being away for so long, his skin flaring with that indescribable sensation that took him over whenever she was this close and he breathed in her scent before he placed a kiss against her head. He settled himself comfortably next to her, tightening his grip and right when he was all set, she finally started to move. He loosened his hold, giving her the ability to make herself more comfortable and he frowned a bit when she shifted further away from him a few inches, disrupting his perfect embrace of where he wanted her and not entirely liking that she really didn't want to be that close to him. Nevertheless, it wasn't long before she turned over to face him, swiftly huddling herself up close to him and her arm instinctively slipped under his, wrapping around him while she cuddled herself closer.
"Ares…" she unconsciously whispered out, a soft smile forming on her face while she faintly nuzzled her cheek against his chest.
It was unexpected really, almost as if she knew that he was back and she actually wanted to be held in his arms like that. In response, his grip had immediately tightened around her, bringing her impossibly close and causing his sweet Princess to sigh out softly from the feeling. This was so much better, he could hold her closer like that and he engulfed her body more with his own. Plus, he enjoyed greatly the feeling of her soft breaths against his skin, the sensation only causing him to encase her in an unbelievably tight grip.
A few seconds later, he pulled back from her slightly, softly tilting her face up a little but trying not to disturb her with his actions. He delicately ran the tip of his finger along her cheek, studying her visage as if it wasn't already seared into his mind and he didn't see her face everywhere. Then, he dipped his head down closer to hers and gently placed a kiss upon her sweet lips, for no other reason than because he just wanted a goodnight kiss. Having placed a few more delicate kisses against her mouth, never seeming to get enough of his darling Princess, Ares soon encased her snugly to himself. If this was love, then by his standards it certainly wasn't bad at all.