He was draining me. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I was sure it was happening, because the only solid thing my fast receding senses could still feel was the fierce pull in the pit of my stomach.
He was using all of my power. Everything I had. To defeat the enemies I had disarmed, with the weapon I had enabled him to get.
A tinge of red crept back into the edges of my vision, the white haze clearing ever so slightly.
A gong sounded, so loud I half-lifted my hands to my ears, but found they were too heavy to get that far, so I let them fall again, my whole torso swaying. The roar of a crowd penetrated my ears, and the pull in my stomach lessened so abruptly that I lost my balance somehow, pitching forward onto my elbows.
I took a shuddering breath, trying to see clearly, but everything was too blurry, and my eyelids simply wouldn’t do what I needed them to do. A shadow moved over me, and my instincts kicked in. Blind and half immobile or not, today was not the day a one-eyed fuckwit killed me. I dropped onto my side, my limbs feeling like they weighed a ton as I dragged them into myself, and kicked up pathetically at the figure looming over me. My steel toe caps rang against metal, and I heard Ares.
“Stand up.”
I tried to roll again, but I simply didn’t have the strength. That kick had finished me. Frustration and anger hit me so hard that the back of my useless eyes burned hot with tears. I was fucking laid on the ground in front of the world I wanted to belong to, weak as a damned kitten.
“I hate you,” I whispered. “You fucking did this to me.” Then for the second time in two days, I passed out.
21
Bella
“You really are a fucking moron, Ares. Learn to control yourself.” The voice was vaguely familiar as it pushed its way through my consciousness.
“That’s rich coming from you! I didn’t know she was still so weak,” I heard Ares snap back.
“I’m not weak,” I said, but it came out a thick mumble. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked around. I was lying on another damned stone table, but this time the room was gloomy and bare, the surrounding walls all the same color as the stone the gladiator pit was made from.
Eris stepped into my line of vision, holding out a simple stone cup.
“My brother is a fool,” Eris muttered.
“Why are you helping me?” I croaked, gulping at the liquid. It was nectar, and knowing how much better it would make my exhausted body feel, I glugged it greedily. I felt like death warmed up, every muscle aching like hell.
“As much as I like to watch him flail around like a child, I don’t actually want to see him killed. And without you, he has fuck all.”
“You know he’s using my power then?” I glanced sideways at Ares. Fierce fury leapt inside me but my exhausted body couldn’t fight and rage like it usually did, and a wave of pain beat through my head as I gripped the stone cup hard enough to make my fingers ache.
I looked away from him, back to Eris.
“Yes,” she said. “Everyone out there does now, too. It was pretty obvious when you went down like a sack of shit.”
I heard a hiss from the God of War, and forced myself to drink more nectar instead of looking at him. Zeeva jumped up beside me as I swallowed the smooth liquid. It wasn’t working yet.
“Why are you here? You always show up too damn late,” I said to the cat.
“I have changed my position on helping you.” I paused, raising my eyebrows at Zeeva. Even that small movement made my head hurt more. “Do not respond out loud. We will talk more later.”
I did as she said, finishing what was left in the cup and feeling a tiny surge in strength. Enough for my simmering rage to take hold.
“So just to recap, Ares drained all of my energy and power to defeat three cyclopes that I had already disarmed alone,” I said loudly.
“Yes. And now neither of you will have any power at all in the next fight,” said Eris, in a patronizing tone I knew was meant for her brother.
“I-” started Ares, but trailed off.
“How long until the next fight?” I asked.
“Half an hour.”
“I want a moment alone with Ares.”
The words surprised me even as I said them. I didn’t even want to lay eyes on him, never mind be alone with him. But the fury whirling through me needed an outlet before my head exploded, and if I couldn’t physically expend it, I would have to do something else.
“I’ll bet you do,” Eris said, then wheeled away from me and strode through a rough stone doorway. I watched her curvy leather-clad ass swing out of the room and took a deep breath, trying to channel some of her sass through my fatigued system. Zeeva jumped down off the stone table, gave me a lingering look, then sauntered off after Eris.
“If you are expecting an apology-” began Ares, but as my eyes snapped to his, he stopped speaking. He wasn’t wearing his helmet so his reaction on seeing my face was clear.
“You are surprised by how angry I am?” I hissed. “You, who shares my power, who knows what it is like to fight and win, to revel in strength and victory, are surprised to see me so angry when you drained me of all my strength and let me crumple helpless to the ground in front of the fucking world?”
More blood pounded in my head, the rage making it throb harder. Ares’ mouth set in a hard line, and he dropped his gaze from mine.
“I have not been able to use my power in a fight for some time,” he said quietly, still not meeting my eyes.
“You’re a fucking god, not a child! How can you have so little control of yourself? And at someone else’s expense?” I spat. I mean, I’d lost control before, of course I had, but I hadn’t hurt someone who didn’t deserve it since I was a teenager.
I saw anger in Ares’ eyes as they flicked to mine, but it died out fast as I glared at him. “What is done is done. We must now work out how to survive,” he said flatly.
“Fuck you, Ares. I can’t fight with you. I can’t work with you. If you had helped me smash the staffs in the first place you’d have got the sword faster, and we both could have taken out the cyclopes, but you insisted on acting like an arrogant asshole.”
“We have to work together,” he ground out.
“Why? I’m no damned use to you like this!” I yelled, gesturing at my aching body, anger reaching fever pitch. Feeling so useless was burning a hole in my gut, in my soul. I always had my fighting spirit, my speed and strength. Not having it was unbearable. “You’ve taken everything out of me, right before a fight! Do you know how that feels?”
“Yes!” He shouted back at me so loudly that my churning fury was momentarily halted. “I know exactly how that feels,” he roared. “I have been living with it for months! Zeus stole my power and to taste it again from you is-” He stamped his foot, snapping his mouth closed as if he’d said too much. He rubbed a hand across his face, his long hair falling over his shoulder, and an unexpected stab of empathy jolted through me.
He’d gotten carried away in the fight. He got a taste of the thing he missed most in the world, and he got carried away. I could understand that, on some level.