w a r
The warm summer’s day was unkind to War’s rough skin, his tanned shift coated with a glimmer of sweat.
Moments before, he had watched his opponent be hurried away after a swift defeat, in which he was dismissed from his Holy-Father’s presence. It seemed that he was only good for a short moment of entertainment for his fellow deities. The realisation angered him that day more than any other.
Though his ill mood, a short smile crossed his lips as he felt a familiar arm snake around his bare torso.
He took her small hand in his, her fair skin contrasting against his own bronzed shift. “Did father tell you to comfort me, Eddie?”
“Father is cruel and unappreciative of you,” she muttered.
He kissed her knuckles, feeling her mouth curl into a smile against the skin of his shoulder, “you really believe that?”
“I believe what I see,” she said.
“You see many things, Eddie,” he told her, “it doesn’t mean you have to believe it; anything can be a trick.”
With a short sigh, she shrugged off his comment. “You want to play, Brother?” Eden whispered, resting her chin on his shoulder, as he looked over the balcony at their company below.
“What do you have in mind?” He questioned with a small smirk.
Ewan felt his twin’s head shift, glancing down at the accompaniment beneath them. “The celebration is tonight, to honour the return of Lady Virtue, wouldn’t it be a shame if she may surrender her own to War?”
He chuckled, “that’s cruel.”
He spun to meet her gaze, holding her close to himself. “But wouldn’t it be funny to see her face? Her humiliation?”
“Even I didn’t perceive you as a sadist.” As she caressed his cheek, he gripped the delicate skin of her chin. Her expression seemed not to change from her small smirk, though his remark, “and if I fail?”
She smiled, “I am sure you won’t, besides I have few tricks up my sleeve.”
He squeezed his sides, “What do I get if I win?”
“Whatever you wish,” she placed a kiss on his cheek, before pulling away from him.
He watched her go, letting the smooth material of her gown pass through his rough fingers as she floated away.
A smile breaking through his hard features, War turned back to the afternoon breeze, watching Lady Virtue take Lord Times hand as he welcomed her into the Palace. Not Surprisingly, their father was not there to greet her at the gates, nor was he waiting for her inside.
Maybe, he remembers the reason why she was exiled in the first place?
Once the sun had set and the moon had risen, Ewan was determined to win their game. He was dressed in his finest shirt and tunic - even Death swooned as he passed - and slicked back his golden curls with the sweetest-smelling oils.
He searched the area with his fire-like eyes.
The gathering was lively and loud, the promiscuous Gods leaving no room for even air as they danced with one another. The only Gods that weren’t dancing was the King, who sat beside his Queen Night, and Virtue.
Truthfully, he had never known how to feel about Ines. Though his adopted sibling, he’d never called her sister or even felt an ounce of fraternal affection as he did towards his other siblings - Eden and Sadina. Eddie was his twin, though made to be his opposite, and Sadina was his playful rival; he felt nothing for Ines.
He wandered over to her, the lone Goddess noticing him. “Ewan, you need not try and seduce me; I am the Unachievable."
He laughed as he took her hand in his, placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles. “I am not here to seduce you, Goddess,” he bluffed.
Ines let out a solitary chuckle as he sat before her, “then what are you doing here?”
“You aren’t just the Goddess of Virtue, you are Women and Childbirth, are you not?” He questioned.
“All to do with the fairer sex that is holy, yes?” She responded with interest, “has a woman won your heart, My Lord War?”
He scoffed, “of course not, I am the Unlovable.”
“As your sister has reminded everyone many a time, no one is unlovable,” she answered, a thrill of anger spiking in her voice.
He noticed, “you still hate her?”
She breathed, “truthfully, I have no right - I did worse to her than she did to me - but I can’t help but loathe her.”
War tilted his head, “if I might ask, why do you despise her, she did nothing-?
Interrupted by the grand doors opening, he looked over at his dear sister; no one could help but stare. The Goddess was alone, wearing form-fitting, crimson silks that slipped from her shoulders. Her golden locks flowing freely around her, dripping to her full hips - leading his eyes to the broad slits in her skirts.
He felt a zest of jealousy from the way men and woman alike looked at her - an unfamiliar feeling - but he couldn’t help but feel an urge to be unbothered. She’d always dressed like that, ever since he could remember, but she’d never looked as lovely as she did in the illumination of the moonlight.
Virtue pulled him from his inappropriate thoughts, “well, just look at her. She’s everything I stand against; she is sex, lust, desire. None of what she is has anything to do with purity. She has no shame; she is a comic - lives to entertain - but all she does is humiliate her fellows.”
He shrugged, “maybe that why people adore her so.”
She scoffed, “she spends too much time with the mortal-paupers. There’s a reason for that; like there’s a reason that she reads to them, gives them food and funding.”
“You think it wrong?” Ewan quizzed.
“I think it tactical,” Ines answered.
Opposing her rival, she was dressed in blue linen, her silver waves pulled into a neat bun. Her raven eyes were set on him, searching him. It was unsettling, sending the rough skin of his arms to goosebumps.
“There’s a reason she dresses like a harlot, a reason why she charms anyone and everyone. it’s stratagem.” She explained the subject with an articulated tough - truthfully, everything she did was precisely planned, much similar to Eden.
War struggled to understand, “why would she do this for anything other than out of the kindness of her heart?”
“You really don’t know our sister at all, do you?” It seemed so obvious what she was alluding to, but so clouded, “around you, she’s different, isn’t she? She’s playful and teasing and sweet?”
He nodded.
“That’s not what she’s like to anyone else, little Mortality excepted,” Virtue explained, “she loves you and you adore her. You see her better than everyone else; I assume, she does it all for you. You put each other up on these pedestals, that you are the greatest Gods; truthfully, I am glad I escaped this family, though I mourn it at times.”
Ewan laughed, “you mourn us, Lady Virtue? It wounds me to even think about it.”
Her face turned to stone at his comment, “it seems your sarcastic tendencies exceed your wit, Brother.”
He recoiled, involuntarily. It was odd to hear that word be spoken by such an articulated and venomous. He understood that her wording had had the desired effect from the brief smirked that crossed her lips.
At that moment, she reminded him of himself.
Like him, her features were hard and carved out. Though not an ugly woman, she was not one to seem warm or welcoming. Her pale skin showed her cold-blooded veins perfectly and displayed a small scar running around her thin neck.
“I fear that you have developed no wit, Ines,” he spoke her name with the sweetest voice he could manage, “with all your years in exile.”
She laughed slightly, an unfamiliar sight for him, even when they were children. “What did you come to ask, Ewan?”
Out of the corner of his flaming eyes, spotting Lady Love dancing with their sister.
Eden had always had a gift for dancing, though she never did like performing a routine. Little Morality aspired to be exactly like her, begging her to teach her how to dance just like her. It appeared, she was getting better.
Swiftly, he turned back. “There is a woman.”
“There’s always a woman, War,” she noted.
“A very important woman,” he elaborated, “and she is a hard and stern woman. How would you suggest I win her affections?”
“Why not ask your sister?” Virtue questioned.
“She has not a hard nor stern bone in her body, but you, however, are almost exactly like her,” he spoke, slyly.
He referred to the woman sat before him, though she was too hard-headed to understand.
She nodded, “I suggest being a gentleman, which will be difficult for but you have shown that are capable. If you want her to love you, adorn her will all the caring and affection, but if you are looking to bed her, woo her.”
“Woo her?” He arched an eyebrow.
“Sweep her off her feet,” she added, “make her fall in love with you.”
