Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine (14 page)

Achilles took my hand in his. “Take us to
our chambers.”

Erebus frowned at Achilles, but he shook his
head and turned around. “This way, please.”

Why were you so mean to him?

Don’t let Erebus deceive you. He’s extremely
powerful and very conceited.

It seems as though vanity runs through most
sidhe’s veins.

Achilles laughed and squeezed my hand.
“You’re right about that.”

We walked through several stone hallways
much like the ones in Zeus’ castle before finally coming to a
bedroom. Erebus stood on the outside of the bedroom and smiled.
“Here it is.”

I smiled back at him and walked inside. The
room was decorated in various shades of blue and was as large as
Darren’s house had been. Achilles shut the door and then walked
quickly to the dresser. He opened the drawers and pointed inside.
“These are all yours.”

I stepped forward and looked down into the
drawers and at the various folded dresses and corsets. I pulled out
a dress that matched my eyes and held it up in front of me in the
mirror. “It’s perfect.”

Achilles whispered, “You’re perfect.”

I turned and looked up at him in shock. He
ran his thumb down my cheek and bent down, his lips a breadth away
from mine when someone knocked on the bedroom door. He stepped back
and I walked quickly to the bathroom to put on the corset and
dress. Luckily the corset was the kind you tightened and then
simply zipped up. I smoothed the dress into place and adjusted the
bodice a few times before I was happy with the placement. I smiled
at my reflection in the mirror and touched a couple of the purple
highlights. The dress definitely looked great with the highlights
and my new skin designs. I stepped out of the bathroom and stared
at the doorway where my older, blonder, more blue twin stood. At
least we could have passed for twins in the human world, if she
hadn’t been blue, but with her in the same room as me I could feel
the power she possessed and the difference in age. She stared to
walk towards me and I felt incredibly nervous.

“Hello, daughter,” she said softly.

I swallowed and tried to fight the tears in
my eyes. “Hello, mother.”

Are you going to hug her?

I don’t know. I never knew she was blue.
Should I hug her? Do you even think she wants to hug me?

Before I could decide, she rushed forward
and hugged me against her, crying. “Oh, I’ve been such a fool.”

We held on to each other for a few more
minutes, each of us crying softly. When we pulled back she looked
from me to Achilles and then back again. “Why are you able to
communicate mind-to-mind?”

Achilles actually began looking nervous, he
stepped back a few feet and said, “Well, you see Hera was upset and
was trying to kill Artemis so I bound her…”

Athena was known by the humans as being the
Goddess of Wisdom, the one who was the best strategic planner. As
her skin began glowing and she turned on Achilles, I could see why
a Goddess of Wisdom would frighten you and you might consider
worshipping her. “You bound her?! How could you do such a
thing?!”

“Hera was going to kill me,” I said in
defense of Achilles.

Athena stopped glowing and looked at me. “Do
you understand what it means to be bound?”

I shook my head and Achilles said, “I
haven’t had time to explain it to her.”

Hera took the opportunity to walk into the
bedroom. “Aw, I see you’ve been reunited with your daughter.”

Athena nodded her head. “Yes, but Achilles
was just about to explain to Artemis what it means to be…”

I held up my hand and looked at Achilles.
“How long until Ares is here?”

Athena and Hera gasped in shock. Athena
asked, “What do you know of Ares?! Has he hurt you?”

Hera’s skin began glowing. “He better not
show his mongrel face in my Court.”

I looked at Achilles frantically. “You said
he was going to meet us here. You said…”

Athena interrupted me to yell at Achilles.
“You let Ares near her?!”

Achilles held up his hand and said, “You’d
better sit down.” Athena and Hera sat in a pair of chairs I hadn’t
seen before. Achilles sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed.
“Where to begin?”

Athena spoke through clenched teeth, “How
about start at the part where Ares was near my daughter.”

“Artemis met Ares before I had a chance to
find her.”

Hera looked at me. “Well, explain.”

I folded my arms over my chest, feeling
angry at their reaction of Ares and defensive of him. “I am not
just Artemis of the Werewolves or Artemis, Darren’s daughter. I am
Artemis Lupine, mate of Prince Ares of the Werewolves. I am Ares’
passt genau
.”

Athena wailed loudly and began crying. “No.
No! It can’t be true.”

Hera stood up and started towards me.
Achilles stepped in her path and said, “You cannot kill her without
killing me too. We’re bound, remember?”

I looked up at Achilles’ back in shock.
“What? What do you mean by that?”

Hera stomped back to her chair and tried to
console Athena. Achilles turned around and sighed. “I planned on
telling you, but we haven’t had time. When you’re bound to someone
if that person dies, then you die too.”

“So if I die, you will die as well? Or if
you die, then I die?” He nodded his head. “You’re a fool! You
should have let me die! I’m not worth your life!” I yelled angrily.
I wasn’t ready to be responsible for someone else’s life!

Athena sighed. “We should have killed her
when we were supposed to. No, I should have never fallen for
Darren.”

I spun around and glared at her. “Ares is a
good man! You have no reason to hate him like this. He has been
great to me. Better than any of you have been!”

Athena stood up and glared back at me. “I
will not allow my daughter to be mated with
him
.”

My skin began glowing as I grew madder.
“It’s not your decision!”

“The hell it isn’t!”

“You lost the power to make decisions when
you left me!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

She blinked at me a few times before
stepping back and sighing. “I see the wolf is very present in
you.”

I gaped at her. “Just because I’m angry
doesn’t mean it’s because of my wolf. You were just talking about
how you should have killed me! What the hell is wrong with you
people?!”

Hera stood up and looked at me. “I will not
allow you and Ares to bring another mixed blood into this world.
Having two of you is bad enough. You will not be allowed to
procreate.”

My anger rose again and with it my sidhe
powers. My wings popped out of my back and my skin glowed brighter
than usual. I started to levitate off of the ground and said, “I’d
like to see you try and stop us.”

Hera’s body began glowing and she began
levitating as well. “One son is not worth a pair of mixed bloods
breeding!”

I hadn’t even felt him approaching, but then
he was just there. A warm presence in the cold room. “Enough!” Ares
yelled.

Hera spun around and glared at him. “You!
Get the hell out of my Court!”

She started towards him and I shot her in
the back with a fireball. “Don’t you dare touch my mate!”

Achilles moved next to me and took my hand
in his. “Artemis, please calm down. You do not need to fight.”

Ares rushed forward and had Achilles in the
air by his throat before I’d even blinked. “You had better do some
quick explaining Achilles,” Ares said through gritted teeth.

Achilles nodded his head and Ares dropped
him to the ground. Achilles rubbed his throat and whispered, “It
was an emergency. Hera was the one attacking her in your meadow and
she was sucking the life out of her. I only did it to save
her.”

Hera said, “I would have killed her if he
hadn’t done it. In fact I’m still thinking about it.”

Ares growled. “Unless you want a war with
the werewolves, I suggest you wipe that idea from your mind.”

“Ares,” I whispered.

Ares turned to me and for the first time
really looked at me. He walked forward and grabbed a strand of my
purple hair, looked at my wings behind me and then ran a fingertip
along one of my new vines. “I wouldn’t have thought it was
possible, but you’re even more beautiful now.”

I released my sidhe powers and put my wings
away and hugged him. He hugged me tightly and kissed my lips. “I’m
sorry, Ares,” I said softly.

He stroked my hair and shushed me. “None of
this is your fault and we’ll deal with the predicament Achilles has
put us into later.”

Athena hissed, “Step away from my
daughter.”

Ares and I turned to face her and I said,
“You don’t get to pick and choose when I’m your daughter. Either
you want me dead or you don’t. You can’t keep changing sides.”

Hera sighed. “We should have killed Ares
when we had that slut abort their baby.”

Ares growled and his eyes turned golden. I
turned to Hera. “You killed one of his children?”

Ares turned away from everyone as he tried
to calm himself. Hera sat down in the chair again. “He seduced and
mated with one of the sidhe women. Halfbreeds are not allowed, you
and Ares are…
exceptions
, but we have strict rules for a
reason. We made her abort the abomination before it had a chance to
develop into,” she gestured at Ares, “this.”

Koda, who I hadn’t noticed until then,
rushed forward and began trying to console Ares. Ares shrugged him
off and turned around. The pain he felt leaked over to me through
our bond and it became too much for me. I could feel how much pain
he was in and it summoned my rage.

I ran forward and started attacking Hera.
She was quick though and dodged my first punch and managed to get
up out of the chair and to a more open area. I attacked her with
all of the training I’d received for my fight with Natasha. I
opened three cuts on Hera before she managed to land a hit on me.
She stumbled backwards and before I could move to attack her again,
Ares was in front of me and holding me. Achilles rushed forward and
stood in front of Hera.

“Artemis. Sunshine. Look at me,” Ares said
loudly.

I pushed against him, trying to get to Hera.
I wanted more of her blood. More blood from the one hurting my
mate.

“Artemis, this is no longer a battle. You
can’t save the baby, its dead. The mother has moved on and is
happily mated to a new man. I’ve moved on and am happily mated to
you. Please. Stop.”

I stopped moving and looked up at him with
tears in my eyes. “They killed your baby. They separated you from
your mate.”

He nodded his head. “Yes.”

Tears leaked down my face. “They want to do
it again.”

He nodded his head. “I know.”

I growled, the sound rumbling my chest. “I
won’t let them.”

Ares kissed my cheek. “I know.”

His tenderness stole my rage and I sagged
against him, letting him hold me up against his body. He kissed my
forehead and rubbed my back slowly as tears leaked down my face
from the emotions we were sharing.

Ares and I regained our composure and turned
back to Hera and Athena. I whispered, “You do not get to decide who
we mate with. You do not get to decide if we breed or not. If you
try to separate us, we’ll consider it an act of war against the
werewolves. If we have children and you try to hurt them, we will
consider it an assassination attempt and thus an act of war. Do I
make myself clear?”

Hera glared at me a moment before saying,
“You’ve learned a lot in a short time. I understand your views.
I’ve heard your statements.”

Athena stood up and smoothed her dress down.
“We’ll leave you alone now.” She turned and left with Hera without
a second glance back at me.

Ares rubbed my back and asked, “Want to stir
up some gossip?”

I looked up at his smiling face. The change
of subject so quick it made my head spin. “What?”

He tugged on my hand. “Come on. It’s been a
century since I’ve been here. Let’s go walk around so you can see
everything and people can have something new to gossip about.”

I shook my head. “You always surprise
me.”

Ares laughed. “Oh, this is only the
beginning, Sunshine.”

Ares took my hand and lead me back through
the castle hallways and then out a pair of large wooden doors. I’d
expected a similar scene as the Dark Court, but the Light Court was
different. Waterfalls, at least a hundred feet tall made a wall to
the left. The waterfalls fell into a beautiful river that flowed
through the center of the realm. Vines with beautiful flowers
covered every building. The buildings seemed to be carved trees or
trees grown into the shape of buildings.

Ares whispered, “A few of the sidhe are
gifted with nature abilities. They were able to charm the growing
trees into the shapes of their buildings. The buildings, now being
centuries old, are as sturdy as any rock fortress.”

I sat down on a wooden bench and looked at
Ares. “Who is your father?”

Ares turned and looked at me in shock.
“What?”

I turned away from him and looked at the
waterfall, suddenly nervous. “I know what you are.”

“Oh.” Ares sat down beside me and sighed
loudly. “Who told you?”

“I figured it out by your name.”

“I had planned on telling you later.”

“Who is your father?” I asked again.

“Zeus.”

I looked up at him in shock and then
laughed. “Of course! That’s why you and Achilles look so much
alike! Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together
sooner.”

Ares picked my hand up gently and rubbed his
thumb across my knuckles. “Are you mad at me?”

I closed my eyes as I enjoyed his simple
touch. “Yes.”

He bent and kissed my neck, nibbling
lightly. “How about now?”

I growled softly. “Yes.”

Ares laughed and stood up, walking again. I
caught up to him and linked hands. “Do you have any abilities?” I
asked him as we continued to walk through the town.