Bonds of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #2)(10)
Blood pooled in the corners of Augustus’s eyes. “What was that, my carus?” he asked softly. “Speak up, darling—do you have a … complaint?”
I opened my mouth to argue, but no sound came out. He wasn’t like Kharon; arguing with Augustus felt different.
There was a dangerous energy around him. An authority.
I wanted his approval.
Dear God, I’m ready to die.
Kharon blanched as he stared at my leg, like he’d forgotten all about the bullet lodged in my calf. Grabbing the second Taser wire still in his skin with both hands, he ripped it out of his flesh like it was nothing.
The sputtering wires dropped to the ground.
“Yep, I’m into that,” Nyx said.
Me too.
“I’ll leap all three of us back,” Augustus ordered. “Since I’m the only one of us not actively fucking bleeding.”
Both men looked at me expectantly.
Oh god.
I wanted to take him up on his offer and leap back to safety.
You’re a strong, independent woman.
A couple of months ago, I would have done it. It was the logical choice. But that was before their betrayal.
Girding my lady loins, I took a deep steadying breath and shot up a quick prayer to God to not mangle my corpse so badly … Carl Gauss was waiting.
No cost is too high for vengeance.
“Uh, kid,” Nyx said. “I really don’t think you should—”
Augustus and Kharon’s eyes widened.
“Domus,” I whispered as I concentrated on the feeling of home. Warmth. Acceptance. Hades and Persephone flashed through my mind.
I screamed as I plunged into darkness.
Unlike the other times I leapt, the agony was unimaginable. Something had gone wrong. I was being torn apart in every direction, limbs stretched and contorted.
I was lying on my back, ruined limbs spread wide.
Smoke rose around me.
Everything was dark.
A woman was screaming. Is it me?
Nyx hissed and slithered off my neck. “Are … you … kid.” Her tongue dragged across my cheek, but her voice sounded far away.
I coughed as the world spun.
Nausea cramping my stomach, I rolled onto my side and retched up everything I’d eaten the day before.
“Need … move … help.” Nyx sounded worried. That made two of us.
My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and I barely found the will to pull them forward.
Steel beams spaced out across the low rock ceiling. The air was humid and thick. Shadows flickered from torchlight on the walls.
“Kid, you gotta get up,” Nyx said as my ears cleared.
A woman wailed heinously.
Is that me, or just in my head?
The wail steadily increased, confirming it wasn’t me.
I rolled onto my hands, vision blurry. Groaning, I pushed up to my feet.
You can do this, Alexis—you’re a Spartan.
Hunched over, with my hands on my knees, muffled male voices shouted expletives as a woman screamed.
Throbbing pain pierced my skull as I swiveled my head, taking in the opposite ends of the narrow rock tunnel.
A light shone at the end of one. An exit.
A scream echoed from the other one; it was dark. A dead end.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I looked between the two options.
“We need to get out of here—run, Alexis. Now,” Nyx hissed as she slithered down my legs onto the floor.
With a deep breath, I staggered forward in agony.
I made my choice.
Unlike Icarus, I didn’t fall to my demise trying to escape—I walked into it willingly.
4
THE ELDEST HEIR
AUGUSTUS: TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER, ASSEMBLY OF DEATH UNOFFICIAL OUTPOST, SIBERIA Silently, I slipped around the corner and crept forward.
Poco was asleep, his chubby raccoon arms wrapped tightly around my calf.
“I found her unconscious in an alcove in the dungeon beneath our palace at Crete,” Hades said as he paced outside the medic room. “She jumped from Montana to Greece while injured … She’s lucky she’s not in a coma.”
He was speaking to Ares—my father.
The jagged scar across Ares’s mouth pulled tight as he listened to Hades, red rings flaring around his eyes.
Memories of torture played.
Every member of the House of War had a facial scar—he demanded it.
Lights flickered and there was a loud sputtering as the generator struggled to sustain power.
As I crept through the shadows, all three of Cerberus’s heads turned to me.
Animals could sense the Chthonic power in my eyes, and their instincts warned them I was a predator not to be messed with.
Unaware of his protector’s stand-off, Hades leaned closer to Ares. “Thank Kronos I found Alexis when I did.”
“Yes,” Ares said like he was carefully choosing each word. “It’s a good thing … you were the one to find her.”
Pain pierced my skull.
Migraines from the strength of my Chthonic abilities had plagued me all my life, but they were sharper now. Ever since the marriage bond, blood dripped from my eyes whenever I used my abilities or felt strong emotions.
My power had increased, in the most awful of ways—Kronos himself was punishing me for trapping my wife.