#hephares

He grunts at that, the steam filling his lungs. The war foe truly was jarring, and far too easy to read, he almost felt sympathy. Almost. Ares was not a creature that invited sympathy so easily, yet he decided to give pity and moves on to the mosaic across the bath, instead of the red building upon his brother’s stupidly handsome face. He made those tiles himself, fired them in a kiln he designed, they weren’t his worst pieces of craftsmanship.

"Don't bother, I'm done with wives." The words came out rather flat, unable to restrain the bitterness that’s been built since his birth. He’s learned his lesson, the sentence from earlier making that clear, only fueling his resolve to never let himself fall into the queen’s domain again.