With Blood shall come Desire (MxM)

☽ Chapter Thirty Two ☾

𝕾ilthos admired the clear white marble walls and columns. The room was pure magic as humans would believe. You entered through a small glass door that was supposed to lead to a small chamber, but then you suddenly found yourself in a huge bathing room. The ceiling consisted of a cloud that looked as if a part of the universe had been cut out and brought here. From this, stars dripped down into the hot water that already tickled the skin with its hot breath. The water reflected the sky above. Lying in the water would truly be like swimming with the stars.

Aristaeus slowly looked around and inhaled the different smells of the bathing oils. This really looked like heaven. "Lunaan never told me about this place.", he chuckled softly. "Probably wanted to keep it to himself." Slowly, the god rid himself of all human clothes and put on a white cloth over himself. It reminded him of the garment he used to wear when he was still a young god. The old paintings of the humans that had drawn him in temples always had one thing in common. Aristaeus in a white robe over his chest and one shoulder, exposing his arms and tattoos. It went just above his knees and gave him the freedom to move. His weapon had always stayed the same though. The golden spear, his most loyal companion.

Silthos stood before the water and watched it. He was mirroring in it as a star constellation. He slowly let drop his dark red garment. It softly fell from his shoulders, then hips and down to his feet. He carefully stepped over it and tapped one foot into the water. It was pleasantly warm and slowly he dived his whole body in it.

Aristaeus followed him into the water with slight unease. Even though the constellations looked beautiful he felt unsure when he didn't see the ground. The white cloth clung to his skin and floated in the water like a cloud. "Your back..." Aristaeus had looked up and seen the stars reflected on Silthos's back. It was a beautiful sight. Aristaeus swam towards him and kissed his shoulder.

"You often are staring at my back, aren't you?" Silthos felt the arms of Aristaeus around him and felt again saved from the world. "Well, what can I do when it's so beautiful.", the other god whispered and put his arms around him.
The redhead leaned against him and noticed that Aristaeus seemed a bit nervous about the water. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine..." The god pushed Silthos's hair to the side and kissed his nape. "The water's just very... unpredictable."

Silthos closed his eyes and started to draw the scene of Aristaeus kissing his nape in his imagination. A short breath escaped his lips and he tried to continue their talk. "You... you are afraid of the water?"

"Hm..." Aristaeus continued to leave a trail of kisses down his neck, seemingly enjoying doing so. "Have you ever seen someone win a fight in the water?", he whispered, while his arms drew circles on Silthos' sides. "Humans aren't made to survive in it."

"Were you?", Silthos whispered back and turned around to look into Aristaeus' dark eyes. A bit of lust glittered in his own, the kisses had done some impact on his body. His abdomen tickled a little.

"No." But Aristaeus knew damn well that he would fight even the most impossible forces if it meant being by Silthos' side. The god of war and blood slowly let his hands graze lower, down to Silthos' hips and the smooth curve of his ass, before coming back up. "But if you wanted me to swim through shark infested waters...", he grinned slightly, grazing his lips with his own.

"You would...", Silthos ended his sentence for him and had a grin on his lips. He slowly let his fingers twirl around the soft white fabric that Aristaeus was dressed in. "Now... you really look like in the old paintings... the great god of blood and war... killing everything that got in his way for greatness."

Aristaeus hummed in agreement. "Didn't know that you visited my temples...", he murmured. Even through the fabric he could feel his skin burn from Silthos' touch. Aristaeus' temples had been vastly different from those of Silthos. The humans always visited his temples before an important fight and sacrificed animals for him.

"I..." Silthos felt caught by this fact and bit his lip. "I did a long time ago... I admired your power. Did you visit mine?" All temples of Silthos had a huge garden with the most exotic flowers ever seen. There was also always a huge pool where humans left, mostly a lotus, a flower to pray for their love to reciprocate.

Aristaeus hummed, biting back a grin. "Yes, but not to pray..." Aristaeus had done things that some might call unethical, but unfortunately the enemy's leader had gone to pray there. At least the color red resembled love. "You don't want to know... But my sacrifice to you was very big."

Silthos laid his arms loosely around his neck and darkened his voice. "Oh, you wanna tell me, darling. I'm sure."

Aristaeus leaned down, slowly kissing Silthos' lips. He savoured every second of his sweet taste, before forcing himself off to answer the question. Silthos really had a strong effect on him and it didn't help the slightest to keep his desires away. "I left you a lotus. A red one. To apologise for disturbing the peaceful atmosphere."

Silthos widened his eyes in surprise. "You were the one doing a bloodshed in my temple and all you thought about then was giving me a red lotus?" He tried looking at him with a serious and strong gaze but he immediately burst out laughing. "My Xyliath, this is so you!" He gave him a short but soft kiss on the nose. "I kept it. Your red lotus... made a whole pond full of it. They are beautiful."

Aristaeus grinned and couldn't deny the feeling of pride. His intentions had never been to try and win over the god but the fact that Silthos had liked them back then made him happy. And then he thought about what would have happened if Aristaeus had stayed a little longer and given a small prayer towards the other man. Would they have liked each other? Back when Aristaeus was still a god with emotions, untouched by Aurelius' damage. Would everything be different then?
"Glad you liked them..."

Silthos nodded and glanced at the glittering water full of stars. "Back then, I couldn't bring myself to make a sacrifice... drop the blood of innocent creatures on your shrine. I left some drops from my blood instead. I think... that was a little over the top but I really was somewhat angry at you for not admiring me like others did."

Aristaeus knew that Silthos had been pampered with attention from the beginning of his existence. It wasn't his fault that he craved the attention of someone who wasn't interested in him. Aristaeus slowly got rid of the white material on his body and looked at Silthos with a slight smile. "You can be assured, that I am your biggest admirer now.", he whispered.

Silthos gazed up at him and widened his eyes. "I didn't mean it like I was obsessed with you or that I had a crush on you... I mean..." He followed the white material getting swallowed by the universe.

Aristaeus chuckled and leaned against the edge of the star pool. "You had a crush on me? Now, that's adorable." The god of blood and war was devoted to that man. If they were humans, he would have proposed already.

"I never said that!" Silthos crossed his arms before his chest and sighed before laying back. He let his body float on the water and it seemed as if the universe was absorbing his body, like it was swallowing him.