25. Getting Worse

Ares returned to the apartment. He reached the front door just as Jaz opened it to leave.

"Ah, she called for you." Ares surmised and smiled pleasantly but his eyes were cold. Jaz studied the war god warily. He shut the door so that they could talk privately in the hall.

"I know what they tried to do."

Ares waved a dismissive hand but Jaz could feel the residual anger radiating off him. Jaz's expression became stern. "It's not Sage's fault."

Ares looked away but his jaw was rigid. Jaz continued. "When you thought her obsession was you, you promised to protect her – to make her happy. Can you promise to protect her still?"

Glowering, Ares raised his hand to show the carrier bag he was holding. Jaz was taken aback by the contents inside. "Her favourite snacks?"

Ares nodded. Jaz appraised him, nonplussed. "That's what you left to do?"

"I left to see my uncle. To force him to let me drink from the river Lethe. I failed. So now I'm trapped. Eros' arrow continues to work and I'm enslaved to love forever that mortal woman."

The pain Ares felt was leaking bitterly into every word. Jaz nodded slowly.

"She'll enjoy the snacks." He replied, before stepping out of the way.

Sage soothed the covers down over a sleeping Sophia, tucking her in. She thought about the story Jaz had told her. It had seemed unfair. The descendants didn't deserve to pay for the crimes of their ancestors and the two sister's crimes weren't equal either. Sage heard footsteps behind her. She turned, expecting to see Jaz back for something, but she froze in surprise. Ares stood very still and stared at her.

"It's late," he murmured. "I didn't think you'd still be awake."

"I'm sorry-"

Ares put up a hand to stop her from saying more.

"Enough. I don't want to hear it." He thrust the bag of snacks at her. Sage took it and blinked in confusion.

"These are my favourites..."

"I know." Ares' voice was hard. "I know because I love you."

Sage swallowed and dropped her gaze to the ground.

"Thank you." She mumbled guiltily.

"If I didn't love you, I'd probably kill you for what you did."

Sage trembled and her eyes filled with tears. Ares sighed heavily. "I'll continue to be good to you, Sage. Because I have no other choice."

Sage sniffed, her grip tightening around the bag strap. "Goodnight." He slowly walked past her and disappeared up the stairs to his bedroom. Tears rolled down Sage's face.

Sage woke up mid-day, feeling even more tired then when she'd gone to bed. She padded barefoot into the kitchen and found Sophia and Ares already up and about. Sophia was scrubbing the floors. But, whenever they were almost clean, Ares would deliberately pour his drink all over the tiles. Sage shivered, observing Ares' cold actions.

"Drink this." Ares spoke, not looking at Sage but thrusting a thermos in her direction. She hadn't realised that he'd noticed her standing there. "Jaz made it to help with your... curse."

Sage dutifully sat down on a barstool and drank the flavoured tea. She watched Ares pour a cartoon of orange juice over the kitchen floor, some of the sticky juice splashing over Sophia's head and seeping down the collar of her shirt. Anger was rolling off him in waves. They'd tried to kill him and they weren't forgiven.

Sage's stomach was in knots and she downed the last of the tea. A cold shiver ran down her spine. If the spell of Eros' love arrow ever broke – and Ares' love ended – would she get to live another day?

Probably not.

But the longer she dwelt on that idea, the more she felt sadness rather than fear. Because in a way, she had killed Ares. She'd killed the Ares that smiled at her, the Ares that carried her home when she was tired and that looked at her as if she meant something. A dull ache throbbed in her chest.

Sage and Cesar were working in the café, serving coffee and cake to Ares' disappointed fans (they'd been hoping that their idol would show today).

"Jaz should pay your boyfriend to do some advertising work." Cesar mused. "I bet if we had him dressed as Eros in an add, the place would be flooded with hormonal teenagers."

"He's not my boyfriend."

Cesar nudged her playfully.

"You could play Psyche."

"He's seriously not my boyfriend, Cesar." Nor was he asking to be anymore.

Sage suddenly dropped the tray she'd been carrying.

"Sage?" Cesar came to her side, concerned, as Sage stared at her trembling hands.

"I'm fine." She lied. She crouched down and tried to quickly pick up the tray and its contents but beads of sweat were rolling down her neck. "I don't feel well." She muttered, giving up on the tray and staggering to her feet.

Customers were looking at her strangely. She felt their eyes on her and she fled from the scene – retreating to Jaz's office.

"Sage?!" Cesar called after her but Sage was fast and burst into the office, slamming the door shut behind her.

She scratched her arms furiously, her back against the door. Jaz, who had been doing paperwork at the desk, rose quickly to his feet.

"Sage?"

"It's getting worse." Sage's eyes were wide with panic.

"When did you last drink my tea?"

"This morning. It's not working anymore." Her nails were turning her arms red raw but she couldn't stop clawing at them. Jaz reached out and put his fingers to Sage's neck, checking her pulse. It was racing.

"Your body can't keep fighting the obsession. You have to go to the Mad Dog."

"But what about Ares? He'll hurt him. And if Ezekiel gets hurt because of me I could never forgive myself."

Jaz put his hands on Sage's shoulders and spoke firmly.

"If you don't go to Ezekiel, the obsession will destroy your mind."

Sage shook her head, not wanting to believe it. But in her heart, she knew he was right. Fighting the urge to see Ezekiel was tearing her apart at the seams. "Go!"

She turned and flung the office door back open, hurtling out of the room. Jaz watched her leave.

"Jaz? What's going on?" Cesar asked, sidling up to the doorway and scratching his head in confusion. "Should I go after her and check she's alright?"

Jaz shook his head.

"What ever happens next... it's in the hands of the fates now."

"Huh?"

Sage ran out of the café and hesitated. The cold air was failing to soothe her feverish skin. It was approaching lunchtime, where would Ezekiel be? She ran down the street but kept glancing back over her shoulder, fearfully expecting to see Ares following after her. Sweat dripped down her back making her uniform cling to her. She was panting, already exhausted, but what consumed her the most was the need to see Ezekiel.

Just to touch his shadow might be enough to defeat the ants that were crawling under her skin and burrowing behind her eyes...

Sage staggered into the road and a car's tyres screeched. She was too close – much to close for the car to break in time. Sage turned, her hair spilling out from its ponytail as she stared - wide-eyed and horrified - at the car that was going to hit her.

But it didn't.

Sage blinked. Her heart skipped a heavy beat. And she stared at the equally shaken driver. She ran on, too out of breath to even utter an apology for running recklessly into the road. She didn't see Ares crouched behind the car with his grip on the fender.

Once she was out of the way and gone from view, Ares released his hold and the car lurched forward. The driver was scratching his head in confusion. But Ares paid the mortal no attention. His gaze was downcast.

The war god glared miserably down at the tarmac and his heart ached.