"You." Athena frowned. Frustrated, she tightened her grip on her Aegis.

Ares barred his teeth in a savage smile. His breath smelled of blood. "You could have favoured the other side."

"Even you are not such a fool to believe that, after the blasphemies committed by their commander."

"And yet still you pity them. How weak."

"I see the stuff of heroes in some of their numbers."

"And you'll still see them dead."

She weighed the honours the young general had given her against the prayers of his adversaries. "I will have victory, not slaughter."

"You will have both, sister."