"For showing kindness where you could have been cruel," Samandriel said, tucking himself comfortably against the vampire. He pressed a kiss to the man's chest.
"I don't hate all Spartans, erastes. I don't even hate you. I have a profound distaste for their way of life, yes, but if you could look into my heart you would find not a shred of hate even for the brother who did this to me in the first place." That he'd put together the pieces enough to realize that it was part of the plan whether Zachariah knew it or not mattered not at all. In the end, he still wouldn't have hated him. "I dislike any attitude that finds something worth treasuring and protecting, something beautiful, and decides to break it instead. It's not just Sparta. It's Heaven. It's Hell. It's so many groups of beings over the course of time."
He tipped easily with Carrick's guidance, looking up at the man. "Long enough to know that if they got their hands on Imagination incarnate it would end well for no one, least of all them. You don't put the wind in a jar remember, Erastes? What do you think would have happened to your brothers if they snared me? I was still beloved by Heaven then, not only Heaven but the gods you sacrificed so much to as well, the one your fae is named for? The twin of your dear Artemis? You are not the first Spartan to desire me, Erastes. You are the first I have allowed to end his hunt."