Chapter Text
When Phobos and Chrysafénios returned home after properly burying her husband, they were met by dinner and a decidedly unimpressed-looking Deimos.
It was simple soldiers' fare, like what her brother cooked when left to his own devices, but it was actually more than she had expected from Deimos.
"How do you like the distaff and the hearth, brother?" Phobos asked.
"I will kill you."
"You sound like our father, brother. You cannot kill me. I am immortal."
"I will make you wish I could kill you."
"Neither of you will kill the other, or try to. I need your brother to be able to fight—and you will probably have enough trouble washing the blood out of these clothes uninjured," Chrysafénios said.
The shackles on the wrists of the twins flickered for a moment.
"Understood, mistress," Phobos said.
"You…want me…to wash clothes?"
"You will not follow my orders willingly. So yes."
Phobos snickered.
Deimos scowled, but dipped his head reluctantly when his shackles flickered.
"As you order, mistress," he said.
"Thank you for dinner, by the way. You did better than I expected," she said.
Deimos spoke against his will.
"Thank you, mistress."
Then he scowled.
It was clear he was seething.
"Let's eat," Chrysafénios said as she sat down. Phobos and Deimos exchanged a glance, and then sat down as well.
Suddenly, Ares appeared in the room. His smile was broad, revealing his sharp canines, and he looked like a small child who had just been given a treat.
"Pipsqueak! Just heard the news! You were terrific! Not quite as bloody as I wanted—but hey, it's your first time in the field."
He casually grabbed an entire fistful of fruit and shoved it into his mouth as he kept talking.
"I wish I had a hundred of you!"
Then he glanced at his sons with a smile.
"How about you, you little terrors?" he asked.
"The mortals do not know what to make of her, father. They believe she is one of your Amazons. And she uses fear well. I did not think I would like working with her. But she is a soldier in the field," Phobos said.
Ares ruffled his hair almost fondly.
"You and my Pipsqueak will set all of Achaea on its ear when I'm done with you!"
Then he turned to Deimos.
"And you?"
Deimos scowled.
"You dressed me in rags as a captive. You bound me to a mortal widow, and bade me call her mistress, as if she were not a mortal. And she mocks me, father! She put her distaff in my hands, and ordered Terror to keep hearth and home like a woman. Would you have your sons humiliated in this way?" he demanded.
Ares laughed.
"She defeated you straight, and you, who cannot die, whined about it while she did not. You have become spoiled. You think that because you are my sons, you can lose without consequences. But that is not the case. She proved herself the conqueror, and until she dies, you are what she makes of you. If she wishes to make you clean her house and spin for her, then you do it. She has lived an entire life of it, and never whined. That you cannot endure it for a day proves my point. You have been spoiled. This will remind you what War is," Ares said.
"But father–"
Ares lifted up his son's hand, which was covered in ichor.
"And you have battle scars already!"
"Battle scars, indeed. Why does thread cut as much as a sword?" Deimos muttered.
Before the conversation could continue, an owl flew through an open window, and suddenly a woman stood before them, tall and beautiful, but armored like a soldier.
Although Chrysafénios had never seen her personally before, she knew that this must be her brother's patron, Pallas Athena. ‘
And a few seconds later, her brother himself walked through the door—and stared at her in a mixture of shock and horror.
"Sister—what have you done? What have you done?"
"I did what you would not do, brother. I avenged my husband. I made Calliarus pay for its outrages against both mortal and divine."
"And you sold your soul to slaughter itself! Fear and Terror ruled our home, and you would ally with them? Ares destroys all in his path, and you would call yourself his servant?"
"Ares does not tie me to my loom and say I am too weak to fight, as if I have not been in battle since I was a child. His sons do not patronize me—but treat me as any other soldier. Can you say as much, brother? You love me, I know, but you treat me like a child, and do not listen when I speak. You would have me wed, even now, because you believe I cannot protect myself. But my husband knew better. And so too does my patron."
"Sister, sister, I am the man of our house, not you. I defend its honor. For you to do it—-it is unnatural, sister. Men will say that I did not respect you enough to protect you."
"Then why did you not avenge my husband? I asked you to, and you refused!"
"Sister, please. This will ruin you. The champions of Ares always die—and men despise Amazons."
"Men called me a witch and an Amazon for having a will of my own before I did anything to validate the charges. If they call me unnatural, then I will earn it!"
"Sister—sister. Please. You have set a city-state into fury. You will have more enemies than even I can protect you from."
Phobos smiled.
"Fear does not break you, man of ice. But it breaks armies. And your sister is now our mistress."
"My sister is—what?"
Ares smiled broadly.
"My little terrors are spoiled. Your sister beat them head-on—not with tricks like you did, but with wrath and fire like I've never seen. And by the laws of conquest that let you force me to ransom my own chariot, they are now bound to her. She is the victor, and they are her spoils. My Pipsqueak wields Fear and Terror themselves. And if all else fails—she is mine, man of ice. Mine, mine, mine. I will kill to keep her mine. Anyone who threatens her will raise their hand to me."
"Brother, you shame yourself. You would enslave your sons to a mortal widow? You would raise a woman—not one of your Amazonian brood, but a woman of Achaea—to the status of a soldier? In your endless pursuit of slaughter, you have disrupted all bonds. You have already set a polis to chaos, and for no end but vengeance. I will not stand for this violation of my domain."
Ares laughed.
"You raised a man of the dust and allowed him to force me to ransom my own chariot. I raised a widow woman and allowed her to honor our uncle and his dread queen. To the victor, the spoils—and my champion is the victor. And she likes me! Sister, she likes me!"
"If so, she is a fool. You are death and destruction, sound and fury—and no more. You destroy all that you touch."
"Not mine, sister. Not mine. I protect what is mine. She is my soldier. My ally. My family. I am the chaos and passion of War, and soldiers will kill for what they love. But you do not understand that. For you, bonds mean nothing. Only reason. Only your logic. I will kill for her. Will you kill for your man, sister?"
"I would not expect her to. I watch like the owl. I wait like the snake. And I strike like both. If I needed her to kill for me, it would be because I failed to think as I ought. I do not reward stupidity. And I would not expect her to, either."
Athena nodded.
"You speak well, Katápsychros."
"You speak like a man of ice, brother! You say you love me, but you left my husband to be eaten by carrion birds! You protect my body, and stifle my will! You believe I am still the child you left behind, when you went to the fields of my patron. But I am not. I am a woman, now. My husband treated me as an equal. But you do not. Because you see me only as an idea, not as a person. I know you want to protect me. I know you want to keep me safe. But I cannot live as you do, brother. I cannot accept order when order would see me abandon those I love."
"That's my warrior! She'll take on any foe—and no sneaking around, either!" Ares exclaimed.
"Brother, your champion is yet subject to Katápsychros. She cannot serve you without his permission."
Ares snarled.
"You may have the favor of our father, Pallas Athena. But I still control my own domain. She has proven herself in my fields. And so I can claim her as my own, whether her brother wills it or no."
Athena frowned.
"You would dishonor my champion, brother?"
"You let your champion dishonor me! Now I return the favor."
Chrysafénios faced the patroness of her brother.
"Lady Athena, whose authority is higher? That of gods, or of men?"
"The gods. You would defend your chaos as obedience to my uncle and his dread queen. I say that you honored only your own wrath, and destabilized my domain."
A flame burst into the room, and the most hideous man Chrysafénios had seen suddenly appeared in the room. But she knew from the look in his eyes, and the power that radiated from him, that he was the patron of her husband, Dineuō.
"Hephaestus. What has summoned you here?" Athena asked.
Hephaestus frowned.
"My apprentice, my champion, was called a blasphemer because he was devoted to me. He was left to the carrion birds, in the defiance of the will of our father, the god king. And you would scold the woman for risking her life to bury the dead?"
"She fights for Ares, her own vengeance, and bloodshed, not for you."
"But she served me better than your champion. He left my blacksmith to rot, dishonored in death."
Athena frowned.
"My champion serves two future monarchs. Calliarus was too well-armed to be taken by a direct assault from his cohort, and only a fool sacrifices all of his men for a corpse."
Hephaestus snorted.
"And yet a widow woman buried him with only herself, two swords, and one retainer. Your champion has a man who controls storms, and he could not do what one woman could?"
"No one was on guard for a woman and a boy. They caught the city unawares. Everyone would have been on guard for my champion and his men. The two situations are not comparable."
"The mirror magician and the son of Hermes would have been able to slip into the city just as well as a widow woman. They can deceive nearly any mortal, and have."
"To what end? To destabilize a polis for the sake of blood? The punishment of the guilty is for the courts, not private avengers."
"The court of the city who ordered the desecration of my champion? Do you really think they would punish their own, Athena?"
"She does not fight for you, or for your honor. She fights only for vengeance and to spill blood. She is our brother's mistress—and those who serve him care nothing for piety. Only destruction."
"I am not his mistress. I am loyal to Dineuō, and I will never take another man. I am no more Ares' lover than my brother is yours, Lady Athena."
"My brother is not known for his celibacy, widow woman. Sooner or later, he will desire you, and his desire consumes all in its path."
"Pipsqueak is my daughter, sister, not my lover. Sure, she is as fair as the dawn—but she's way too small. I prefer an Amazon, or a Spartan woman—someone with muscle on the bone."
Hephaestus snorted. Athena looked appalled.
Chrysafénios was relieved. Ares as a patron was one thing, but, even aside from her devotion to Dineuō, she did not fancy the idea of courting a god who had the emotional maturity of a five-year-old and the social instincts of a hound.
"I assure you, Lady Athena, that I would die before I would dishonor my dead husband. I have staked my reputation and my life to bury him and avenge his death. Would I then take your brother as a lover? Never."
Hephaestus shook his head.
"I do not trust Ares. But I trust her. Anyone who would be called an Amazon and a witch to bury her husband, and risk death in an enemy city for his sake, is more faithful than any of our brothers—or our father, for that matter."
"My sister, Lady Athena, will not become a lover of Ares. I do not approve of her actions. I fear that she has bound herself to one who will destroy her. But I also know that she would never betray her husband. She loved him ferociously," Katápsychros said.
"See, sister? Even your man of ice says that my Pipsqueak is loyal to her own!" Ares exclaimed.
Chrysafénios bowed slightly to Athena.
"I do not aim to burn the world, but to protect my family—mortal and divine. But I will not allow the laws of men to prevent me from fighting for them."
Hephaestus smiled grimly.
"Fidelity is rare, sister. I would advise you not to punish it. I make your armor, and you would have left my champion to the carrion birds. If you follow that up by pouring your wrath out on her, I will not forge for you or your champions. I will not let disrespect for my chosen workers go unaddressed."
Athena shook her head.
"Very well, brother. Because of your skill, and in respect to your champion, I will allow this insult to pass. But be warned: if my brother ever weaponizes you against my domain, and you cannot prove your piety, I will see to it that you are removed from the board. Ares destroys enough without the help of men."
With that, she transformed into an owl, flew out the window, and vanished into the distance.
Katápsychros frowned.
"Sister, please. You have taken your vengeance. Lay down your arms, and make no more enemies. I would not see you come to harm," he said.
"I cannot promise that, brother. I will not consent to accept cruelty to those I love, when I could take up arms against it. I am a soldier, now, like you. And I will live as one."
"Best leave her to it, man. Her reputation has already barred her from the normal life of women. Now she is a legend, and will live the life of one, whether you want her to or not," Hephaestus said. Then he vanished into his flame.
Katápsychros sighed.
"If you change your mind about this insanity, sister, tell me. I will always protect you."
"And I will protect you, brother. If you are ever in trouble, I will fight on your behalf, just as you would fight on mine."
Katápsychros looked at Ares.
"I warn you, Lord Ares. You swore to me on the Styx that you would not harm her. So you had best hope that she does not die in your service."
With that, Katápsychros spun on his heel and left her home.
Ares laughed.
"Well, that was fun! I beat my know-it-all sister, you can still kill for me, and you don't have to worry about a second husband! Let's eat!"
Chrysafénios shook her head. She had assumed that having the war god as her patron would be terrifying. It was, but it was also rather like having an overgrown toddler and pet wolf combined into one.
He had no concern for social niceties or proprietary. He cared only about protecting his pack, and feeding his appetites. And now she was part of his pack.
It was simultaneously comforting and deeply unnerving.