The night sky was spectacular. Spectacular enough that Ares had pulled out the mattress for us to lay and stare in quiet awe.

He was on his back, using one of his arms as a pillow. I couldn't think of anything more uncomfortable, but he seemed content enough. I was snuggled against him, with a pillow between my head and the crock of his arm. I had to admit that I was comfortable enough for the two of us.

His skin was warm; warm in a way that I knew that his fire was contained just beneath his skin, all for my sake. I had forgone a blanket and lay in nothing but panties and one of his shirts. The heat of him was enough to drive away any chill the night offered. Ares wore no shirt, and I did not complain as I caressed every hard curve of his chest and abdomen.

The night was filled with magic; from the glowing stars, from him and me.

Ares' eyes reflected the stars – oh, how they sparkled.

I found myself gazing into his starlit eyes instead of the sky. I saw the constellations glitter in his irises, and I was once again reminded of how mesmerizing Ares truly was. I wondered if he was not a creature of the sky.

There was a faraway look in his eyes, one that told me that he was not with me. He was watching the stars, and I wondered what memories he saw in them.

Had the stars been the same when he was born?

Probably not.

The arm around my back clenched, I would've taken it for an involuntary twitch, but Ares rarely did anything involuntarily. His hand, that had been steadily caressing me for a good half an hour, stopped. I kept staring at his face, seeing the evidence in his eyes. They turned wrathful and cold, it was only for a second, but the flash had been there. The tic in his jaw had been there too. I'd never noticed or put any weight into those small movements.

He swallowed hard before he resumed stroking me.

I had given it a lot of thought – Ares and his actions. I had studied him, as I had never studied anyone before. I had thought of the times when he told me we were alike, that my mind worked as brilliantly as his did.

The evidence had been there all along, staring me right in the face.

And I decided to take a shot at what my gut told me.

"Did you lay like this with her?"

A flare of heat licked me, but it did not burn. His hand stopped again, and Ares turned into stone. I knew that I'd been right. His lack of breath told me that he was afraid to speak.

Which words were on the tip on his tongue?

I had been so sure that he acted like he did because he possessed too much power and arrogance. That time had turned him into an old bitter creature, one filled with want for his long-awaited mate. I had never contemplated that he was in grief, that the statue of him in the garden; the one after the war was the image of him after her. I had always assumed it had something to do with his mother.

Ares had already confessed that he and the others had lied to me a lot. About trivial things – about vital things. I had never questioned him, not before this new us.

He stayed quiet and tense. I didn't know whether to speak or not, I took another gamble. "Do you want to talk about her?"

"Never." His voice was final, but not harsh. I stared at him like I had never done before. No, not harsh at all. I had never heard his voice as soft and filled with emotions. A part of me wanted to know everything, another part didn't want to intrude. But I was sure that he would answer my questions, that some part of him needed to keep the memory of her alive; she needed to be real to someone else but him.

How had I never noticed that he'd been hurting all along?

Well. Because I hadn't cared before. Another thing that had changed without me realizing when. I could admit it to myself now, that I cared enough to want to know. And…another part of me did not want him to hurt. At least not alone.

"You lost her after the war."

"Yes." I couldn't understand how his voice could keep being level all the while breaking. "It was a long time ago," he said and kept watching the stars in answer.

How many times had he begged them to return her?

The stars had not listened.

Me lying here with him was answer enough.

"That is why you were cruel." It was hard to think that Ares was still the same male as before. The one that wanted me, but hated me all the same. His hatred was no longer there, it had evaporated after the God. His demeanor towards me had…softened – no more snarling or growling. There was still some distance between us, chances were there always would be. But the sad truth was that I had never been as near to another man before, Ares was the closest I had ever been to another being.

He moved and placed me beneath him, still with my head on the pillow. His body was inches from mine, one of his arms supported him, his other cupped my cheek. He was still warm, maybe a bit warmer than before. But his eyes were calm – and filled with great sadness. They were suddenly as deep and old as the sea, as knowing as the sky above us.

"Tell me, how would you feel if I would've been like your Kevin?"

The mention of his name no longer ached. I stared into Ares' face, at the lovely face that I had come to admire. Yes, thinking of Kevin no longer hurt, because of the man on top of me.

"What would you do, if you could not even look at my smile without seeing him?" He asked me before I could open my mouth. "If every expression in my face was a reflection of him, would you be able to look at me?"

I had never even thought that I would be alike his mate, let alone keep reminding him of her. But I thought of it now, what I would have done and felt had Ares been Kevin's replica. The pit in my stomach, the one that had forced me to look after Kevin suddenly gaped open. Memories were all I had of him, and I cherished them; cherished the time I got to have with him. I would have thought it beyond unfair if Ares would've been like him. If every little move of his would remind me of Kevin.

No, I wouldn't have been able to stand him.

Look at him.

Touch him.

I exhaled a big breath, Ares calmly awaited my answer. My knuckle bounced off of his chest a couple of times, I just needed to touch him in some way that showed that I knew. So I kept bouncing my knuckle on him before I found the words I needed to speak.

"I would've hated you."

A soft smile spread on his lips, it was not from happiness, rather a grateful one. "I was not ready for you, I was not ready to start feeling again," he admitted as he kept caressing my face. I could picture it, Ares breathing, walking and eating without living. I had never realized that I had been the one to wake him.

I would never forget this moment, I suddenly realized. It was the first time he let me in – the first time he showed me the deep parts of himself that had been hidden from the start. And the knowledge that he was doing yet again…I was beyond grateful. He was communicating, and he kept on showing me that whatever we were, whatever we did, could work.

"I am sorry that you lost her," I whispered to him and the stars.

"As am I." His eyes darted between mine, they were searching for something, what I did not know.

"I will not ask you for more," I suddenly said, not even knowing where the words came from. "This is enough."

And I meant it. I wouldn't ask for his love, it was plain to see that he had no more to give. He had given it all to her, and left was the husk of him. It was a shame though, especially now when I saw his potential – the person he could have been if he'd been able to keep her.

No, I would not intrude on that. I would not erase the name he carried within his heart. The love he still had for her was shining in his eyes – untouchable.

The fabric of his pants brushed against my naked skin when he nestled in between my legs. I breathed him in, the scent that I could never describe but would always recognize as his. He cradled my face in his hands – looking at me like I was so much more than just a mere human; he gazed at me like I was the brightest star in the sky. "There is no going back now, omorfiá."

A part of me screamed at his words, which part…I didn't know. "Ares–"

"No," he whispered, "I have been unfair, and I will not be so again." There was a finality to his voice, one I recognized well enough, we were done talking of his mate. His words were as close to an apology he would come, it was good enough.

It was one of the things I had started to understand about him – about myself. I had started to give Ares a lot of myself freely now that he no longer demanded it of me. And I did so because I wanted to, and never because he tried to take it. He was doing the same, giving me bits and pieces of himself now that I no longer tried to pry them from him.

Bits and pieces – they were enough.

"I won't try to take her place."

Oh, the softness of his smile…like a breath of spring.

I had tried to fight it for a long time, two months to be exact. I hated how his smile made my lips move in answer to his; how his touch made my skin tingle in response. Ares was making it damn hard.

Words I had spoken to him – that I would keep my heart out of this – were no longer as easy to maintain.

Or believe.

I think he saw it; I think it was starting to get easy to see. And it was the reason why he smiled at me so softly…and so often.

"And I won't try to take his."

Damn him.

The air became hard to breathe – Ares when he was like this was hard to breathe. Too close to home; too close to our new reality. Happy as I were about this improved him, there were parts of me that could not accept it, yet.

"You wouldn't be able to even if you tried."

His rough laugh danced on my skin, he knew exactly what I was doing; deflecting since I was not ready.

At least for a while, until I knew…until I knew everything. No, that was not true either. I had no desire to know everything there was to Ares. No part of me wanted to know every wicked and depraved thing he had done – what he was still capable of doing.

I just…I still needed time.

Ares had had the luxury of deciding when to change, I had been the same for quite some while now. Deciding to fully trust him would take time.

Yes, I needed to play and tease.

He would have none of it, his eyes were still deep and searching. "Tell me why you loved him." It was not a demand, rather a soft and curious query. It had bothered me for a long time, the way Ares didn't seem to understand how I ever could have had feelings for Kevin.

"First of all," I said and pushed him away from me. I couldn't be skin to skin with Ares while thinking of being close to Kevin. Ares sat back with an amused smile on his face when I crossed my legs before him. "Do not belittle my feelings for him." His brow arched in challenge. "Oh, you've done your best to make it out like I didn't truly care for him, that I've never been in love with him."

He chuckled quietly while he broke our stare. Hearing him laugh at me still made my blood boil, just not as much. "Would you like to know why I do so?"

"No," I said even though I could tell that he would no matter what I answered.

"You never had a problem being without him. You were content with him, but you never needed him."

Never needed him? The fuck did Ares know about me needed him or not. I had not wanted Kevin for months and months, that was true. But I had needed him all the same; needed him to live to…not only breathe and walk and talk, but to be alive. Ares knew nothing of that, I was sure of it now. He might've seen many parts of my mind and everything there was to me, but he had not seen Kevin and me in the beginning.

I wasn't sure if I was able to tell him any of it.

I gave him a stare that said 'are you fucking serious', it made him laugh. I could've lost my temper and screamed at the top of my lungs, I was mighty proud when I did neither. "So my love wasn't true just because I didn't lay down and die?"

He muttered something to the sky, something about me being impossible. "We will argue if we keep talking of it."

"Let's argue then," I said and fixed him with a determined stare.

His breath was as deep as the wind – just as wild when he exhaled. "Let's not."

"Why?"

"Because it will not change anything, omorfiá. It will still be the two of us here, while the two of them are lost to us. It matters not."

I took a deep breath before I spoke, remembering everything of Kevin, "I loved him because he was warm."

Ares' smile was soft and kind, he understood what I told him without needing to use more words. "So am I," he said with a wicked glint in his eyes.

My answering laugh was rough and unexpected. "Only to the touch, Ares."

He took hold of my crossed legs and drew me towards him, so I was sitting in between his parted legs. I would've hated his proximity weeks ago. And still, I was not at all bothered by the fact now; not at all bothered by the fact that being this close to him didn't bother me. "Am I not warm now?"

Oh yes, he'd seen it; seen how my eyes had started to linger; heard that my voice was no longer as sharp; that my touch was now a caress instead of a blow.

I could see it clearly now, why his mate had fallen for him. He was easy to fall for when he allowed himself to be. Especially now when he kept looking at me with such emotions in his brilliant eyes.

"Why should I give you anything when you are incapable of returning it?"

"And yet you are." I opened my mouth to protest. I could admit, in the deepest parts of myself, that a small part of me cared for him, but I was not ready to admit anything to him.

Never to him.

"Shall we talk about what the Amazon claimed?" And that had me firmly shutting my mouth.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You are a terrible liar," he said with a rueful smile.

Did he know that I'd fucked him just to avoid this conversation? Maybe. I couldn't decide just by looking at him. Ares was by no means an open book; the cover of him was there to be admired but the content was a mystery to the world.

"It's nothing I want to discuss." I let the last part hang in the air, least of all with you.

"Why not?" My answer was a withering glare. "No, omorfiá," he said and pulled my legs over his, I had to braced my hands on his chest while he kept speaking, "we have moved past such things."

"How would you feel if a day came where you went from being the strongest to the weakest?"

"We are not discussing me."

"Answer me," I said while I dug my nails into his skin. "What would you do if everyone you lived with could best you?"

"You will push yourself until you break if you continue this. You are human, Lysandra. And no training will ever change that."

Now if that wasn't a slap on my ego…

"Answer me," I demanded. Show me, I silently said. Show me that you are like me; show me that you know me.

"I would've found a way to become strong again." I hadn't even realized how hard and fast my heart thumped, not until he spoke the words that calmed it; the words that made all the difference while not changing a thing.

The breath that came out of me was one that made my body sag.

Ares cupped my cheek while he rested his forehead against mine – his skin was still warm, still so delicious to touch. "Tell me what you want, omorfiá."

I still didn't know.

I wondered if I'd ever known.

I leaned back into the mattress, still with my legs draped over his. Ares said nothing as I gazed back into the sky – looking for secrets and answers and the courage to voice them.

My sisters had asked the same months ago, and I had been unable to give them an answer…I think I was closer to one now, but not brave enough.

Ares' fingers were kneading the tired muscles in my thighs, his touch alone was enough to rejuvenate them. His grip was hard, so much rougher than it used to be. I didn't complain though, even though it was a bordering to painful. "Tell me." His please was silent, but it was heard all the same.

I kept staring at the sky as I decided to take a leap of faith. "I don't want to return to my old life."

His fingers stilled by my admission, I couldn't help but smile when I caught him off guard. It was a new experience – me surprising him now that he was no longer constantly in my mind.

It was amusing beyond measure.

His fingers started working again, so much more careful now. It took me a moment to understand that he'd been waiting for my answer; waiting to see how bad it would turn out to be. I still found it hard to believe that the creature in front of me was capable of feelings when he'd never shown it before.

Yes, he was a different Ares now.

The old Ares would have mocked or laughed at me, this new Ares bent his head down to kiss my knee – a feather light touch – innocent and pure.

I sat up halfway and braced my weight on my elbows, his eyes were already resting on me. Seeing him bent over my knee, still with his lips so close to my skin made me smile.

To think that such a large male could be so gentle…

"What do you want, ktínos?"

I saw the exact moment where the other part of him surged in his eyes, as brilliant and frightening as lightning. Oh, those cursed eyes of his made a mockery out of the shining stars above us.

Yes, I decided as I kept watching the stars dance in his eyes, he was a creature of the sky. Not at all made for walking the earth.

It dawned on me then, that he didn't know either. He was as lost as I. His eyes were sparkling in a way that was unmistakable.

"We are both broken and lost, ktínos," I told him, "but we'll be so together."

He pulled me towards him, quick and sure. He said nothing as he kissed my lips, but he didn't need to.

We spent the night beneath the sky.