Spring had brought change with it. No longer did Arrow stare moodily out of the windows. Gone was the hidden anger, disappearing at the same time as the continuous winter rain. No longer did he have to check himself to prevent hurting people.
He was happier, lighter.
And gradually, spring became summer, and his mood continued to improve.

I had ridden him along the clifftops enough to trust him entirely, and the last step would be to take him onto the beach.
With the relatively calm waves, I wasn't too worried about doing so.
I suggested going down to the beach to him one morning, and he grinned at me. "What do you have to be afraid of?" He smiled. "I'd never hurt you."

"Not intentionally." I shrugged.

"Hey, aren't you the one who wanted to face Death?" Arrow smirked. He was sat on my bed, and he looked up at me as I walked towards him.

Standing between his legs, I kissed his forehead, smiling. "I don't want to die." I decided. "Because of you. You make me want to live. I want to grow old with you." I paused. "I know that sounds stupid." I finished quietly.

He lay back, tugging me down on top of him, and kissed me. "It's not stupid." He whispered. "And I'm up for growing old if you are."

"Obviously." I smiled. "I'd love to lie here with you, but-"

"You've got shit to get on with?" He whispered, and I nodded. "Then go get on with it."

"I'm sorry." I whispered, smiling as I kissed him.

"Don't forget to eat breakfast." He reminded me. "And there's a new kid coming at some point."

"Fuck them." I muttered.

"No, fuck me." He grinned, watching me pull on my clothes.

"I'd love to." I laughed, before clearing my throat. "When you're down, we'll go riding, how about that?"

"Sounds like a date." Arrow grinned, and I shook my head at him slightly.

"Idiot." I laughed.

I practically ran round the yard, mucking out and feeding, and soon Arrow was leaning against the door of the stall I was in, handing me a jam sandwich. "Don't try telling me you had breakfast." He smiled, and I took it from him, shaking my head.
"You nearly finished?" Arrow asked, and I smiled.

"Almost. You could come help, you know."

"Sure, hand it over. You're being way too slow."
I handed him the brush, and he quickly passed it back to me. "Just joking, Ren!" He grinned.

"Fuck you!" I laughed.

"Well you missed your chance this morning." He replied.

"And don't I regret it." I retorted. "You, moaning, screaming my name, making those faces of yours-"

"Shut up." He clamped his hand over my mouth. "You're just as bad, Enzo."
And then we were laughing, startling the horse in the stall with us, smiling at each other, lost in the other's touch.

"Loukianos? Loukianos Geminus?"

I whirled around, the smile wiped from my face.
"No." I replied.

"Sorry, you looked a bit like someone I know." The girl outside the stall muttered. She was speaking Italian. Arrow could understand her.
I wanted her to go away.
I needed her to go away.
"I'm Kore." She smiled. "I'm looking for Miriam?"

"Follow the signs for stable office." Arrow smiled, and as soon as she was gone he turned to me. "What's wrong, Renzo?"

He hugged me, and before I knew it I was crying.
"Loukianos." I whispered. "Luca. She must be the Kore we grew up with. I didn't recognise her, but she recognised me. At least, she recognised him. Why did it have to be her? Out of all the people in the world, it had to be someone who knew us."

"You had different names in Greece?" Arrow asked.

"We had different names when we came to Venice." I muttered. "My mother thought we'd fit in better if we had the Italian versions of our names." It was a whole part of me that had been almost forgotten, until that girl had mentioned Luca.

"Then what's your name?" Arrow asked gently.

Names had power, but I told him regardless. "Lavrentios." I muttered.

"Cute." Arrow smiled. "It's okay, Renzo. We just won't mention Luca, or your last name. We'll get through this, it's not like you speak much to the others anyway, so you can probably ignore her."

I nodded. "Take me riding?" I whispered.

"Thought you'd never ask." Arrow smiled, pulling his t-shirt off. "Hey, Ren?" He paused.

"Yeah?"

"Stop watching me." He grinned.

"Whatever." I laughed, heading out to get his tack.

Slightly worried, I headed him towards the beach. The likelihood of him forgetting himself was high, and I knew I could die. But at least I'd die at his hand, which I wouldn't mind.
Arrow would never drag me down, and whilst Arroyo might, I trusted him enough to at least find out.
He walked calmly across the beach, leaving hoof prints in the sand.
Careful to always turn him away from the sea, I started to get him to trot a figure of eight shape, before pushing him into a canter, and then we were galloping across the beach, kicking up sand behind us as we went, a thin layer of seafoam forming on his withers as we raced under the hot sun.
I slowed him to a trot after a while, turning him back towards the farm.

"Was I any good?" He asked, pulling on his t-shirt in an empty stall.

"Always are." I laughed, kissing him.
He slung an arm around my shoulders, and we walked towards the farmhouse to have lunch. He no longer had to frogmarch me into the kitchen, but he would still quite often physically ensure that I couldn't avoid walking into the house with him. He thought I hadn't noticed, but I had. But I didn't flinch away from his touch like I once would have. I leant into him, and he hugged me slightly as we walked, talking and laughing our way into the farmhouse.
Once our feet crossed the threshold, we automatically separated. We didn't exactly hide our relationship, but I wasn't confident enough to flaunt it. And after Cesca had turned Dani down, it seemed almost mean to start. I personally didn't care how my relationship made Dani feel, but Arrow was too nice to do anything to hurt anyone.
Alessa and Kore were sat at the table, eating, and I groaned quietly.

"You're staying and helping me." Arrow hissed in my ear as I started to head towards the stairs.
We started to make our own lunch, working quickly so that we could go and eat upstairs or in the yard or basically anywhere where Kore wasn't.

"Lavrentios?" She spoke up as I took our food out from under the grill. I almost dropped the grill pan, almost giving myself away by turning round. But I didn't, pretending that she hadn't spoken.
Arrow took a plate in either hand, and we rushed up to my room.

"Fuck that." I muttered, sitting down on my bed. "Fuck all of this. Fuck everything."

Arrow smiled suggestively. "You do that." He smirked, kissing me.
I kissed him back, our lunches forgotten. Finally, after hours, the desires created by that day's underlying jokes were fulfilled.
We were only halfway through the day, but I wanted to pretend like it had only just started. I wanted to go back in time, stay those few more minutes in bed with Arrow. Maybe that way Kore wouldn't have come to the farm, apparently reminding me of Luca with every breath she took. Maybe if I'd stayed in bed I wouldn't have had to wait half a day to forget the pain that was building in my heart.
Pain that Arrow could evidently feel radiating off me. Pain that disappeared when I touched him. When he touched me. I never wanted to break our contact, but all good things come to an end.
"I know you're hurting." He whispered quietly. "I can tell you're slightly angry-" he smirked. "But you're so amazing when you're like that."

"Shut up." I smirked, kissing him. "I should probably get back to work."

"Damn right you shou- you meant in the stables, didn't you." He frowned, making me laugh.

"Numbskull." I smiled, kneeling over him and kissing him lightly, before hopping the rest of the way over him and out of my bed, pulling on my clothes.

"Eat something." He muttered, sitting up to watch me.

"Sure." I muttered absentmindedly.

"Renzo, I'm serious. Eat something."

"Okay." I smiled slightly, grabbing a piece of cold toast from his plate, and heading towards the door.

"I'll be down soon." Arrow said, and I smiled at him before leaving the room.

Kore and Alessa were still chatting when I walked the kitchen. They started giggling when they saw me, and I swore at them both silently whilst pulling my boots on.
"Sounded like you and Arrow had a good lunch." Alessa smirked.

I ignored her, heading outside.
Footsteps hurried after me, and Kore stopped me by the door of the tack room. "You are Lavrentios. I can tell." She said in Greek.

She may have been trying to trick me. She may have just forgotten about languages in the excitement that was evident in her voice. But I played dumb, looking at her in faked confusion, pretending not to have understood.

Kore looked at me, her face painfully familiar. "I don't know why you're refusing to admit it."

She was definitely trying to trick me. I continued my act. "I don't know what you're saying. Leave me alone." I tried to step into the tack room, but Kore stuck her arm out, blocking me. I could easily have dodged her, but that would have thrown suspicion on me.

"Where's Loukianos?" She asked.

"I don't understand you." I shook my head, still pretending.

Kore looked at me, and I could see anger in her eyes. I had possible gone to far, maybe I hadn't gone far enough.

"Loukianos. Where is he?" She hissed, finally in Italian.

"Who?" I would feign ignorance for as long as I could.

"Loukianos. Your brother."

"I don't have a brother." It wasn't a lie, not now anyway.

"Don't lie to me Lavrentios. Tell me where he is." I could see a dark figure moving behind her, but whether it was my imagination or not I couldn't tell. My eyes were fixed on her, sirens going off in my brain, telling me to get out of there.

"I don't kn-"

"WHERE IS LOUKIANOS?" Her shout made me jump.

"HE'S DEAD, OKAY?" I shouted back, seeing red.

Arms wrapped around me, safe and warm. I could hear Arrow behind me, facing off the nightmare girl in front of me. Arrow's voice was laced with anger as he hissed at her. "Leave. Now."

***

Lucifer raced over the sand, his hooves kicking up clouds of dust, the wind created by his speed, combined with the wind coming off the sea, making my hair whip around my face.

I could hear Arrow's distant shouts as he followed me on Sea Dragon.
"Ren! Wait!"
"Please talk to me!"
"Nile, slow him down!"
"Renzo!"

But I didn't stop, didn't pay heed to the tears streaming down my face.
It had been different, telling Kore. Not just because we had been shouting. It had been different because she'd know him, whilst Arrow hadn't. Arrow's face hadn't shown sadness for Luca's death. I hadn't had to see that split second of mourning. The pain behind his eyes when he heard the news. The only pain, the only pity, had been for me, and me only. There had been no history, no backstory that he already knew. I had been able to tell him coldly, detached. As part of a truth-for-a-truth deal.
So Kore had been different.
I had had to watch her killing her friend in her mind. Up until that point, Luca had been alive for her. And I had killed him.
I had been the bringer of bad news, the harbinger of death.
Only it was a death that already happened, years ago. I had adjusted, but she still had to. We weren't close, but she had known us. She didn't know that this world had dealt without Luca for years. That I had dealt, although badly.
Kore hadn't known.
Telling her had been very different.

Something reached out, grabbing Lucifer's reins and slowing him down. I was roused of my thoughts, and found that it was a horse, biting down on the leather, holding Lucifer still. It was large and reddish brown, and I realised with a jolt that it was an Aqua Equus. No wonder Lucifer was spooked, tugging at his reins, trying to escape from it.

Arrow trotted up on Sea Dragon, and took my reins from the Equus. "Thanks Nile." The Equus nickered slightly. "Yeah, we'll catch up later." Arrow smiled, waiting until it disappeared back into the sea before turning to me, a worried look on his face.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"My cousin Nile. You're lucky that I convinced him to only catch you, and not to pull you into the sea." Arrow smiled slightly. "Now, are you going to tell me what happened?"

"She cornered me, started asking me questions. I didn't mean to tell her but I just saw red and that was it and-"

"Calm down, Renzo." Arrow whispered, wiping tears away from my eyes. "It's okay."

"It's not." I muttered. "It was different, telling her. It was terrible."

"You were shouting at each other." Arrow agreed.

"Not because of that. Because she knew Luca." I whispered. He pulled me into a hug, which was only brief due to Lucifer moving. It was then that I realised that, whilst I had no saddle, Arrow was riding Sea Dragon completely bareback, with nothing but his fingers entwined in her mane. An impressive feat- riding down onto the beach at that speed, with no reins. But he was completely in control of her, reminding me of the terrifying creature hiding behind his smile.

"Come on, let's get home." Arrow smiled, spinning Lucifer around easily.

"Arrow-" I finally spoke up, pulling the reins towards me, stopping Lucifer, and so also Sea Dragon.

"What?" He asked kindly.

"Sorry." I muttered.

"What for?" Arrow smiled, confused.

"Everything." I shrugged.

"You don't need to apologise." Arrow brushed a thumb over my cheek gently.

Kore thankfully stayed away from us after that. I had no idea what Arrow had said to her whilst I had been running to Lucifer's stall, but it couldn't have been very friendly. The few times that we did find ourselves in the same room, we ignored each other angrily.

Arrow hadn't intended to keep his promise to his cousin about meeting up, but Nile obviously had other ideas. I was pushing a wheelbarrow across the yard one morning when I saw three boys walking confidently towards me, like they knew they shouldn't be there but didn't care.

"Where's Arroyo?" The eldest asked.

"Caspian-" the middle one spoke up. "That's him."

Caspian looked at me, evidently squaring me up, before throwing an arm around my shoulders. I tried to shake him off, but had no luck.

"Caspian, let him go." Arrow was standing by the house.

"I don't think I will." Caspian smirked. He looked similar to Arrow, but almost like he was more weathered. "I think I'll have him for lunch."
I knew that he didn't mean that he'd invite me over to share his meal. He meant that I'd be the meal.

"Well he's already claimed." Arrow growled, striding towards us.

"You're taking your time about it though." Caspian smirked.

Arrow was making his way towards us angrily, and I realised that he was hiding something behind his back.
He roughly shoved Caspian against a stable door, making the boy release his grip on me, and held a blade to his throat. "He's already claimed." Arrow repeated, and I realised that he was holding my swords, one in each hand.

Caspian started laughing. "No way. Alright, I'll stay away from your boyfriend."

Arrow nodded, stepping away from him, and throwing me one of my swords. "Remember not to trust them, Ren." He smiled, and I nodded.

Caspian rubbed his throat. "Where did you get iron swords?" He asked.

Arrow shook his head at me slightly. "Around." He shrugged.

"Getting further and further from the fold." Caspian smiled, messing Arrow's hair the same way Arrow messed Teo's. "So, what's your name?" He asked me.

"Lorenzo." I said angrily.

"Well, Lorenzo, I'm Arroyo's eldest cousin, Caspian. I believe you've met Nile, and that foal there is Jordan." Caspian smirked. He seemed incapable of normal smiles.

"I'm not a foal!" Jordan complained. 

"Yeah you are." His brothers, and Arrow, all said in unison.
This was his family.

"Arroyo, let's catch up, okay?" It was Arrow's neck that Caspian threw his arm around this time.

"Renzo." Arrow grabbed my hand suddenly. "Do you have any jobs this afternoon you need me for?"

"I don't think so. You can catch up if you want." I smiled slightly. Of course he wanted to spend time with his family over me.
But his eyes were screamed something different, like he'd been hoping that I'd say that yes, I needed him.

"Sure?" He asked.

I smiled, lying through my teeth. "I do need to work with Lucifer today, but I'm sure I'll be fine without you."

We worked like a well oiled machine. He knew exactly how to make an apparently normal conversation end up where he wanted. "Not after last time." Arrow muttered. "Sorry, guys, we'll have to catch up another time." He ducked out of Caspian's grasp, ruffled Jordan's hair, and slipped his hand around my waist.
His hand was shaking.

The three boys said their goodbyes in various ways- Nile saluting lazily, Jordan fixing his hair, and Caspian scowling- before heading out of the yard with surprisingly little resistance.

"Thanks." Arrow muttered, still tense.

"You okay?" I asked gently.

"I know they're my cousins, but they scare me. What they could make me do scares me."

"What could they-" I drifted off, the face he was making making me worried.

"With just a few convincing words, they could make me kill you next chance I get." Arrow muttered. "If they had found out that you're a demigod they would have held me back and torn you apart right here." I looked at him. "I might have lied when I said that demigods taste disgusting." He whispered. "But you wouldn't have trusted me if I had told you that as a demigod you're like hot chocolate to human water."

"Interesting analogy." I smiled. "And I'm glad they didn't find out."

"Me too." Arrow muttered, kissing me. "I'll always protect you." He whispered. "I promise you."

"What if it's you that needs protecting?" I teased. Arrow was still shaking slightly, after all.

"Then I put my life entirely into your hands." He whispered, kissing me slowly.