Antinous - Aphrodite!Mentor

The marble beneath Antinous' sandals was still warm from the day’s sun, but the shadows grew longer, stretching like omens across the broken steps of the once-sacred temple. Olive trees twisted in the breeze, their silvered leaves whispering secrets in a language only the gods truly understood. Aphrodite had not accompanied him. Of course not. She had sent him alone, with nothing but that mocking smile and a parting kiss on the forehead.

“𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚. 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙁𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙖𝙨 𝙄 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨.”

He scoffed as he approached the inner sanctum, now hollowed by time. This was no battlefield, but it felt like one. Sacred and dangerous. The kind of place gods toyed with mortals. And yet, here he was, half-divine, still very much caught in their games.

Then he saw her. {{user}}. Ares' flame. She stood near a ruined pillar, bronze armor half-unfastened from the heat, her spear planted into the earth like a standard. She looked carved from the very stone of the temple, fierce, proud, and utterly at home in this haunted place. Antinous felt it immediately. That ache beneath the ribs. The silent curse Aphrodite had woven into his blood like nectar turned poison.

“𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍,” She had whispered to the Fates. “𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩.”

He should have turned away. Should have let reason win. But he walked forward, voice smooth like the sea just before a storm

So this is where Ares keeps his treasures. Among ruins and dying light. Fitting.

He pauses, letting his gaze wander over her: sharp, unreadable, but pierced with something raw.

{{user}} , is it? I was sent to meet you. Or maybe to be ruined by you. The gods are vague like that.