Troy. The sight of an isolated space that held thousands of memories and lives, once a beautiful place to stay, now turned into ashes and debris. The chariot of the Sun God moved in fast yet uneasy pace, Helios was still thoughtful of letting Aphrodite stay in Troy with Kassus. He did not know when she would be back, he did not know if she would ever be back. Helios hated himself for it. For thinking that, even after what he witnessed during Naxos, he would still have a chance to be the one for Aphrodite.
"I still don't know why, Helios." Aphrodite's voice shattered every single thought, his body tensing in response.
"What do you mean?" Helios asked, his voice low enough to not be heard by the mortal warrior.
"You disguised yourself as him. Just to kiss me."
Helios swallowed hard, wishing Zeus' lightning bolt had struck him a little harder so he would not be dealing with this conversation in present time.
"I... I was under the effect of the ecstasy, Aphrodite." He responded, trying to keep his voice steady. "I'm so sorry, I know it was a mistake, I—"
Aphrodite interrupted him, making her voice a little louder to dismiss any kind of future doubt. "Just please understand that we're friends, nothing more. I can't be yours, I'll never be."
Helios' heart shattered. He just let out a sigh, trying to fully process the fact that she was rejecting him, and this time permanently. He had to push himself to keep the help, to be kind, to not let himself succumb to the anger and jealousy. He was not like that, after all. He was warm and kind.
The chariot landed softly on cracked earth, the only sound a faint hiss of embers beneath the wheels. The wind was silent, reverent, as if it too remembered the screams and fire that once ruled this place. Helios helped Aphrodite down, then Kassus. He did not linger. A brief nod, a sad smile towards her— then the chariot was gone, swallowed by the stars. Now the warrior and the goddess stood alone at the entrance of what was once Troy.
The once-great walls were now jagged debris. Stone foundations scorched black, temples caved in, marble statues of heroes and gods shattered and sunken into overgrown roots. The air still smelled faintly of smoke, as if time had not dared to cleanse it. Kassus stepped forward first, slow, quiet, hand grazing the crumbled archway of what used to be a palace.
"I was here." He muttered. "When it fell. I remember this blood in my boots."
Aphrodite looked around, her eyes falling on the destroyed city, on the skulls and bones of people that were once wives, children, warriors. She frowned, realizing the extent of her own greed.
"This was all my fault." She muttered, her voice barely a whisper, the regret evident in her eyes.
Kassus was silent, even if her sudden confession was quite abrupt. He, just like the rest of heroes that fought in Troy, only knew that the gods were involved, but nothing more. He was giving Aphrodite the benefit of the doubt, allowing her to continue. She stepped past him, trailing her fingers along what remained of a mural that belonged once to the gods, now burned and barely visible.
"Paris asked for the love of the most beautiful woman. And I gave it to him. Not peace. Not wisdom. Love." Her voice cracked at saying the last word, but she continued. "I gave him me, Kassus. In promise. I whispered in his ear, I told him it would all be worth it— she would love him, and that would be enough."
She turned towards Kassus, tears of guilt and sorrow falling freely down her eyes. "And the world burned for me."
Kassus said nothing. He did not need to. She needed to let it out.
"Thousands died..." She whispered. "Because I wanted to be chosen. Because I needed to feel like I still mattered. That I was still desired. And I watched it all happen from Olympus, wrapped in roses and pearls."
She walked into one of the various ruins, now roaming like a lost soul.
"I keep thinking... what if I do that to you? What if I ruin you, Kassus? What if this ends the same way?" She swallowed hard. "I thought love was mine to give like a prize. But it never belonged to me. Not really. Maybe it belongs to you."
He stepped closer, gently, placing his hand over hers. "It does not matter what love was before."
Aphrodite looked down at their hands, finding the feeling both foreign and somehow, relieving. She felt like she did not deserve his affection, but the moment Kassus lifted gently her chin with his free hand, she understood what he meant.
"It matter what love becomes now. What we make out of it." He said, offering Aphrodite a comforting, and reassuring smile.
There was silence. Not the kind that weighed heavy— this one floated, soft and solemn, between two hearts that had seen war and loss and still chose to stand close.
Aphrodite exhaled slowly. "Then help me make it something better."
Kassus gave the faintest smile. "We already are something better."
Aphrodite could not stop herself from intertwining her fingers with Kassus'. She led the way deep into the ruins of Troy, this time the guilt was a little lighter, as if she was no longer carrying it, but just making it part of herself. Like a scar that was not visible, but it was healing thanks to the man next to her.
They explored for hours; not because they wanted to— but because they were trying to find some place to stay for the night before finding a way to go back to Rhodes. They wandered deeper, the moonlight thin and silver through shattered archways. The earth crunched beneath their feet among bone dust, broken spears, arrowheads long rusted into the soil. Once, the place was glory. Now it was memory. Kassus stopped at a collapsed tower, his hand resting on a column split clean down the center.
"This used to be a nursery." He said quietly. "For the royal line. The women would gather here, with their infants. I remember..."
His voice trailed off, his expression sombered with melancholy and his own guilt started to show. Aphrodite took a step closer, ready to reassure him.
"Kassus, you don't have to remem—"
"I do."
He crouched, brushing rubble away from a scorched mosaic, showing what was once a golden lion surrounded by stars. The symbol of the House of Priam, the last king of Troy.
"I saw Neoptolemus standing right up there." He pointed to a crumbled ledge, jagged and hollow. "He held a baby. They called him Prince Astyanax. Maybe two years old. I told myself he would hand him to a nurse. That he would... show mercy. It was a baby, after all."
He let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes, trying to shut down the memory.
"But he did not. He threw the infant over the edge, like a stone." Kassus whispered, his voice trembling, so his body was. He kept his eyes closed, not wishing to be seen vulnerable. "And he did it twice, to make sure the boy was gone."
Aphrodite covered her mouth, tears already forming. Kassus did not look at her. He could not.
"That was the day something broke in me. Not from the boy, not even from Neoptolemus. But from the silence. From the gods. From you all."
He stood again, slowly, brushing ash from his hands.
"I prayed that night. Just once. I screamed into the sky, asking Ares why. I had fought like he asked. I had killed. I had bled. I had watched brothers burn. Why was that not enough?"
He looked at Aphrodite now, eyes hollow, voice low. "He never answered. None of you did."
Aphrodite took a step closer, reaching her hand out, unsure if he would ever hold it again after the reflections of his past.
"After the war, Hera killed a child I raised as my own. You know that. You saw me break." His throat tightened after his confession. "I hated you all. For years. I still do, most days. You failed us."
And then, for the first time since the ruins swallowed them, he turned fully to her.
"But you—" he paused, voice softening, almost shaking. "You did just not show up. You stayed. You danced with me. You paid respect for my deceased daughter. You reached for me like I mattered. And for the first time since I was a boy in a war, I felt something other than hate."
She remained silent, letting the man she loved vent completely, finding Kassus' strength admirable and heartbreaking.
"I did not think I could feel love again." Kassus said. "But you have made me believe that maybe not all gods are cruel."
Silence wrapped around them like the fog in Troy.
And then, finally, Aphrodite reached for him, her hands on both sides of his face. She pressed her forehead to his, eyes closed, tears falling between them.
"You do matter." She whispered. "To me."
The broken walls of Troy's once-grand temple to Apollo offered them shelter from the wind. A small fire crackled in the corner, one that they had made with old pieces of wood from the famous horse and some dry trees. Kassus sat with his back to the wall, arms resting loosely over bent knees. Aphrodite was near him, her gaze lost in the flame. For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then she whispered. "I remember you."
Kassus turned his head, surprised.
"In the war. Word spread, even among the gods. A child on the battlefield... ten years old, they said. Too small for the armor he wore and the sword he wielded. Too fast, too angry. You fought like someone who had nothing to lose."
He looked down, silent, remembering his own past.
"I never saw you, though." She continued, her voice softer now. "But I heard. I heard of the boy who took down grown men. The boy whose hands trembled after every kill, until they stopped trembling."
She turned her face to look at Kassus, a mix of concern and pity in her eyes.
"I always wondered what kind of father would bring a child to that."
Kassus stared into the fire. "One who had nothing left. My mother died giving birth to me. My father... he thought the gods took her. Thought I was the curse."
"And you followed him anyway." She replied.
"I did not know better."
He glanced at her, and for once, the walls in his eyes seemed to flicker.
"I watched you." She said gently. "Not just then. I watched you walk away from war. I watched you carry a child like she was your own. I saw the way you hurt. And I did nothing."
Kassus frowned, but she reached out, brushing her fingers against his.
"I failed you. I'm sorry for that, Kassus."
His lips parted, but before he could speak, she leaned closer, her voice just above a whisper now.
"But this is different. You are different. And so am I. Because of you."
Her hand slid up his arm, tracing a faint scar across his shoulder, then resting over his heart.
"I'm not just the goddess of love." She murmured. "You've made me feel it. Understand it. The way you look at me... the way you still fight for me..."
Her voice broke just a little.
"I love you, Kassus."
Kassus looked at her in silence, unsure of what to say. He loved her too, he was ready to burn the world for her. But instead of saying it out loud, he reached for her. Their lips met in the hush of ruined marble and crackling flame— slow, unsure at first, like a question neither of them knew how to ask. But it deepened quickly, burning through the sorrow and the ash. His hand found her cheek. Hers slid behind his neck.
In that kiss, everything else faded. The gods, the trials, the blood. There was only them.
Aphrodite deepened the kiss, keeping it gentle, despite how much need she had for him. How much she had craved for this moment. She did not want to force Kassus into anything like what he saw back in Naxos, she wanted to let him know that this was different. That this was love.
Kassus, a bit startled first, went along with Aphrodite, letting her experience lead him. His hands moved from her face to her waist, as he gently pulled her closer, and he laid down, using his own body like a bed for Aphrodite to rest on. He was pinned against the ground by her, and he did not dare to move.
They did not remember the moment their lips parted, because the moment was filled with so much peace that they finally gave up to Morpheus. Soft snores came out of Kassus' his left arm wrapped around Aphrodite to keep her on top of him. Aphrodite rested safely in his embrace, the sweet lullaby of his heartbeat helping her sleep well for the first time in a while.