The War God's Woman

13. Mildly on Fire

It was early morning and Jaz was up and working, whilst most of the city continued to snooze. He mopped the floors contentedly – using enough bleach to sink a ship.

"Morning," rumbled a deep voice.

"Morning Zorg." Jaz greeted – making no comment on the locked door Ares had just come through. "How's the wooing going?"

Ares sat down heavily at one of the tables.

"Terrible." He picked up a heart shaped napkin and began absentmindedly tearing it into little pieces, his expression sulky.

"I'll make you some tea."

"Coffee." Ares interjected – without a word of thanks.

Jaz made them both a coffee and took the seat opposite from Ares – though he scooted his chair further back to subtly widen the distance.

"Please," Jaz winced – his pained gaze on Ares, "use a coaster." He edged the pink coaster delicately across the table. Ares grunted but complied.

The war god's gaze scanned the rest of the table, noticing the perfect right angles of the mats and millimetre precision of the cutlery.

"You like things neat."

Jaz nodded. "Do you iron the napkins?"

"Yes." Jaz watched Ares drink his coffee, waiting for him to stop stalling. He was certain that Ares hadn't come to the shop just for a coffee.

"How do you know Eros?" Ares asked at last. Jaz didn't blink. He wasn't surprised by the question. Idly, he stroked the rim of his drink.

"We're old friends."

"Do you know why he tried to hit Sage with an arrow?"

"No," a small frown puckered Jaz's forehead. "But if he missed the first time, he will try again."

Ares growled. Sage wasn't going to look at any man other then him.

"Why did you pretend not to know what I am?"

"At first it was for Sage's benefit. I didn't want her... involved. When gods and mortals meet-  it never ends well, and it's the mortal that suffers the most."

Ares couldn't argue with that. The gods had left the mortal realm for this reason.

"I won't let her suffer."

Jaz's lips twitched.

"Can you really promise that? You have a lot of enemies, war god."

Ares made no reply, but Jaz thought he saw his jaw clench. 

Time crawled by and Jaz listened to the distant sounds of morning traffic. He pretended not to be watching Ares – but from the corner of his eye he saw how Ares' gaze kept flickering to the murals on the walls. A wry smile flickered on Jaz's face as he guessed what Ares was trying to do. The war god was feeling out Jaz's aura – trying to work out what he was.

"You make a good brew." Ares commented at last, breaking the silence.

"So I've been told."

Ares furtive attempts at figuring Jaz out were, so far, unsuccessful. Leaving him frustrated, but he couldn't waste any more of the morning pondering. He had somewhere else he wanted to be. He'd steadily learnt Sage's morning routine and his favourite part was coming up soon.