Ares dropped Listette's arms only when they were inside the cabin with the door shut. The night before he'd prepared it with the necessities for life, places to sleep, a dresser for clothes, a wardrobe for anything bigger. Inside of that, he'd already packed every outfit he'd ever had made for her. Electricity ran so that she could keep food in a fridge as well as have light during the nighttime. Ares had well stocked food, wood for the fireplace, and blankets and pillows to keep her warm and comfortable. A rocking chair by the window allowed a view out into a meadow that was only grass, but Ares would make sure to fill it with flowers first chance he got.
Listette sank to the floor as he let her go, her face near resting on it as the last of her tears dripped weakly. There were not many left after she'd screamed and cried on him for the last few hours of this trip. Then she'd refused to look at him. Each time he'd opened his mouth to talk, she'd walked away on the train. The slow mode of transportation had been necessary with how he'd warded the vast area against magic. No vampires would come here and harm her, though these woods were buried within society's borders so the risk wasn't great.
It had been more for Ares peace of mind as well as Listette's.
"So this is it?" Listette asked to the floor, her shoulders shaking as she refused to face him. The frills of her servant dress splayed around her, but they opened up in the front for her skin hugging pants. Neither made her look less frail as she broke down in front of him.
"This is the best I could manage," Ares said quietly. "The hustle and bustle of human society would crowd and upset you, and you would never live a day without fear in the battlegrounds. I know these woods are isolated and have not been properly managed as far as the terrain and foliage, but it will get better."
"Nothing will get better, Ares. Just go." More tears pushed from her eyes as she sobbed on the floor, and he didn't know quite what he could do to fix this. Ares hadn't known such since the moment Vincent had broken her to spite him.
"You want me to leave?" Ares asked, knowing she was powerless to make him, but he would if she requested it.
"Was that not what you planned? To dump me out here like some forgotten flame and move on? I know you no longer have any interest in me. I'm not pretty or fun anymore. So go back to that bastard's son and find someone more suited to your tastes."
Ares blanked. His mind just emptied of all thought and comprehension as his body slacked to near falling on the ground. All of these years, he'd kept his distance from Listette because he didn't want her to suffer anymore. Any time she crossed his path, she looked like she wanted to spit in his face, so there hadn't been much opening to close the distance. But for her to think he didn't want her took his heart out of his chest and rent it with claws of ice.
"Listette," Ares choked her name out past a throat too thick to do much else. "You are my mate." Those words didn't carry the weight he wished they did. She could not understand that nothing short of death could crush his love for every part of her. To believe he no longer touched her body because he thought she was unappealing meant he'd failed as her mate.
"Words mean nothing, Ares. Even so much as me touching your pants to beg at your feet is unacceptable."
"You are my mate!" Ares near yelled, forcing her to look at him with tear-filled grey eyes. "You begging at my feet is unacceptable. For all those people to see you like that, broken and weak, it tore me in two. I have loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you, and it has never waned, not even for a moment."
Listette dropped her gaze to the wood, but at least she spoke to him. "You don't touch me at all anymore," she whispered. "I see you rub shoulders with the master's mate and spend time fondly with his children, but for me, there is only distance."
Ares grit his teeth so hard he feared a fang might break. "You cried last time I touched you. I can't bear to see your tears, so I have kept my hands to myself unless touch was necessary."
Listette's shoulders strengthened somewhat as she sat up and looked around the cabin. "But you are still getting rid of me." The words choked off in the middle as more damnable tears pushed from her eyes.
"Listette, I am not leaving. We will stay here, both of us, together, forever. I promised." Ares words finally got through, and Listette opened her mouth only to close it with a snap. For the first time, she looked around to see her surroundings and not search for an escape, and her breath hitched as she leaned forward on her knees.
"Oh." The single sound escaped with more of her voice than he'd heard in years. Some of the youth crept back in as she realized that they'd finally escaped Vincent's castle and had a place that they could live together, like he'd hoped for all those years ago when he'd promised himself to her.
Then she broke down into tears.
Ares jerked back as she dropped her face into both hands and wept. Heavy tears ran down her face, dripped through her fingers, and soaked the floor between her knees as well as her pants. In all the years, even earlier in the day, she had not cried this hard and so openly that her entire shield of strength failed. Listette had never looked so small, and his knees buckled to put himself in front of her. Not even caring if she stabbed him in the heart, he wrapped her in his arms and held her to his chest. No mate of his would suffer weakness if he was not there to protect her from harm.
Wordlessly, she cried on him, and she nearly toppled him back when she wrapped her arms around her neck and tucked her face against it. She had not brought herself this close to him since the day he'd left her at his door for a mission fabricated by a tyrant, and he absorbed her touch. The tears ended so abruptly that Ares had whiplash as Listette stood, dusted off her skirt and turned for the door. he was on his feet in an instant, and she turned her wary eyes on him but angled them down.
"Might I be allowed to look around?" Listette whispered as she dropped her hand from the handle.
"Listette," Ares said her name gently. "I will not allow or disallow you anything. Please do as you wish, and I will be here should you need for anything or desire my presence."
With a nod, she opened the door into the sunlight and nearly skipped out. Part of him wanted to dash after her just in case she was fleeing, but he told himself to let her have some space. Listette wasn't as panicked now that she knew he wasn't leaving, so he didn't need fear so much. Ares had not expected her to calm just from knowing he would remain with her, not with how she'd avoided him like the plague all theses years.
Had it been up to him, he would have told her that they would be staying together sooner, but he couldn't have risked Neil overhearing. Idus and Reaver understood the moment Neil had ordered his mate away that Ares would be going with her, but Neil had not known what he was doing. His master had wanted to remove a troublesome human who was causing more trouble than she was worth. If he'd known he'd lose Ares too, he would not have ordered it.
Ares had needed Neil to do so though.
Ares honored his house like no other general before or after him, which meant he could not walk away from the Arcs for Listette's sake. It would bring shame upon his master, himself, and his line, as well as weaken his house for selfish reasons. But if his master ordered his mate from he castle, by vampire law it also exiled Ares with her. Masters did not split up mates. When one suffered punishment, it was to both of them, yet there was no shame for Ares to leave with an exiled mate as there would have been if he'd abandoned his house prior.
This had been the only way, and it had been eventual.
Ares headed out into the pleasant spring air to search out Listette only when so much time had passed that he was getting antsy. With the sound of her heart close, he knew she hadn't gone far, but she also wasn't moving. Part of him worried she'd gotten her foot stuck in some uneven terrain, but he found her crouching at the tree line unhindered. Approaching her had him nervous, but she turned back to him with a smile that melted every worry he had away. It was so light, free of despair and anger, and youth shone in her blue eyes as she pulled her red hair behind her ear.
"They're so tiny," Listette whispered, and Ares crouched down to join her in the grasses.
Small purple flowers dotted the base of the tree, and she poked one with a breath of happiness that had Ares panting in her scent. It had been so long since he'd breathed in her excitement and curiosity, that he could not resist.
"We can plant many more types of flowers here, Listette. There are vast fields to fil before we hit the tree line," Ares offered, keeping the few feet between them as he dared approach and speak to her. It had his heart pounding with anticipation and fear of how she would respond.
"We?" Listette tuned with a light smile that had Ares's hand trembling against his knees that he was gripping to avoid nuzzling her face with his. "Are you going to get on your hands and knees in the dirt and poke thousands of small holes in the dirt to settle their roots?" Listette asked it as if the task was beneath him, and a low purr rolled from his lips that has her pausing. It had been a long while since she'd heard the sounds he made as one of vampire kind.
"I would gladly kneel in the dirt if it were by your side, and if each movement of my hands work spread beauty through this field that would brighten your smile, then I could be no happier." Ares smiled wide enough that it showed his fangs, and his lips trembled as he opened himself up to Listette. Each time he had tried in the past, she'd shunned him, and it had struck him so painfully that he'd stopped.
Listette noticed his hesitation, and her smile fell as she turned back to the flowers. It had his teeth grinding against themselves and his eyes watering to see her turn away from him again, but he clenched his fists and told himself she just needed time.
Time that was dwindling.
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Word Count: 1934