Hermes
The god of roads and travelers, thieves, athletes, shepherds, commerce, speed, cunning, wit and sleep.
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When Luke woke up, he was no longer laying on Michael's chest.
Sometime during the night, he turned around and Michael's arm was now resting on his hip.
Luke felt warm and not just because of the feeling in his heart. Michael's body was pressed close and Luke was overheating.
To his surprise, Michael was actually sleeping.
The boy who always looked like he was thinking finally had a calm expression on his face. He was so beautiful, Luke had to stop himself from reaching out to touch him and kiss him.
He let him sleep and walked over to the table and drank water from the cup. Luke leaned over the window and enjoyed the light breeze on his skin.
Today was the day. In a few hours, they were leaving this town and would arrive at the temple of Selene.
Then, they would try and track down Calum. Then, hopefully, everything would go back to normal.
Luke would go back to reading. Ashton back to training. Calum back to singing and archery. And Michael back to whatever he was doing before Luke noticed him. Whatever he was doing before and hopefully kissing Luke as well.
He turned around and started at the tattoo in the middle of Michael's back.
It was a dark symbol Luke had seen before but never paid much attention to. He frowned and realized just how stupid he was.
For weeks he was trying to solve all the mysteries around the boy he fell in love with but he failed to connect what he wore on his skin to who he was.
The symbol wasn't Greek but Luke had seen him in his scrolls.
He knew what the symbol meant but he knew the meaning could be different from the word.
He remembered something. How could he forget in the first place?
Luke smiled. If he wasn't sure before he was sure now.
His prophecy.
You'll know who to trust when you'll see the rune.
Luke was ready.
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"Do we need this many people with us?" Luke asked Ashton.
He didn't doubt Ashton's plan, Ashton was the warrior, he was the mastermind behind this operation. But Luke still wondered.
"Just in case," The son of Ares answered. "They will all escort us to the temple, then some will go with us."
We don't want Selene to think we're hostile.
Luke understood what Michael meant. They were going to her temple not to pray or worship but to interrogate. They weren't coming to praise but to question.
They wanted answers. And they didn't want another prophecy.
"I asked the locals about snakes and they assured me there were none around here," Ashton said to Luke when they were packing the last things on their horses.
Since they would be returning through the village, they only packed the necessities.
"I'm ready for anything," Luke said and lied.
What is that?
Luke turned and smiled as Michael came close. The boy pointed towards a broken arrow Luke had packed.
"I found it at the campsite, it's Calum's and I wanted a piece of him with me."
Michael smiled, kissed his cheek, and helped him on the horse.
Let's go and solve your prophecy.
Michael helped him climb on his horse and Ashton pretended he was throwing up.
Luke laughed. It was a nice change of mood.
They had around ten warriors with them and they split so the three of them were riding in the middle.
For the first time in weeks, they rode through the forest and the narrow roads force them to ride in a column.
Michael was riding in front of Luke, and the son of Athena got distracted by staring at his back. More precisely he was staring at the middle of his back where his tattoo was hidden under the clothing.
"Are you okay?" Ashton asked him. "You seem distracted."
Michael turned when he heard them talking and smiled at Luke.
"I'm okay," Luke smiled and he didn't lie.
He was nervous but excited for this journey to end and another to start.
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"We should be close," Ashton said when the forest was getting almost impossible to pass.
After twenty minutes the soldiers stopped.
Luke followed Michael to the front and looked around. There was no temple.
"Where is it?" He asked one of the men who pointed ahead.
"Why did we stop?" Ashton wanted to know.
One of the soldiers said something but it wasn't in their language.
Luke?
Michael either knew Luke could speak the language or noticed the panic on his face.
"He said it's cursed."
The soldiered explained further and Luke translated.
"It's been abandoned for years because they don't pray to Selene but Artemis. They don't acknowledge her so he turned against them."
"And no one cared to mention this sooner?" Ashton almost shouted as he looked at the soldiers he hired.
They all knew if they would disclaim that sooner they wouldn't get the money. However, they didn't know they tried to deceive the son of Ares who was the god they relied on the most.
"Wait here," he told them. "If we don't return in an hour, two of you must go and look for us."
They didn't say anything.
"If you don't, you'll regret ever becoming soldiers."
To prove his Ashton used one of his old tricks and made all of their shields dropped down at once.
"Let's go," Ashton rode in front and went into the forest.
Luke, who didn't like the way his mother's brother, fought his battles had to admit one thing. The courage that was passed on from Ares to Ashton was powerful.
Luke said a quick prayer before following the two sons of gods into the forest.
He didn't know what Selene had to do with him, maybe it was Calum who was the real target. Maybe it was Calum she hated because of his connection to Artemis.
All he knew was that he wasn't as optimistic as he was when he woke up in Michael's arms that morning.
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thoughts?
Michael's tattoo? What secret did Luke figure out? (;
The soldiers abandoning them?
Selene?
NEXT CHAPTER!! AND THE CHAPTER AFTER!! and honestly all the chapters after (; no chill from now on.
Love, Lucija ♡