Bonds of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #2)(124)

Up close, they were covered in bruises.

Kharon swayed slightly and Augustus stumbled, like they’d been drugged. They righted themselves, clearly fighting off the effects of whatever the Olympians had given them.

They glanced down at the staff in my hands, recognition flickering.

This can’t be happening.

A booming vibration rattled as the stadium stomped, a chant starting up, “Angelus Romae … half Olympian, she wields the fated staff … Angelus Romae … half Olympian, she wields the fated staff.”

Twelve House flags waved in the stands.

Olympians screamed at me to finish the men, as if they’d reclaimed Persephone, as if I was now one of them.

The ancient coliseum spun.

Kharon cleared his throat.

I looked away.

You just have to defeat them and render them unconscious.

I couldn’t do it.

Memories played: We held each other as we slept. Kissing. In the shower. On my knees. Them between my legs while I sat on an altar. “I love you,” they whispered, and I breathed back, “I love you.”

“My carus,” Augustus said.

Kharon worked his jaw back and forth, his eyes cold as he stared at my injured side.

Voices screamed all around, begging for violence. The greatest trick Spartans ever played was convincing humanity they were civilized.

I missed the nuclear wastelands of Montana.

“Alexis—look at us.” Augustus’s voice was hard as steel.

I couldn’t. I was too busy shattering into little pieces.

Augustus’s combat boots stepped closer.

I flinched, eyes squeezing shut.

“Wait,” Kharon said slowly. “Alexis—do you think … we’re going to … harm you right now?”

I took a shaky step back, and Augustus inhaled sharply.

Kharon swore.

Lethal emotions stretched between the three of us.

“You will face us,” a smooth masculine voice echoed inside my head.

It had come from within.

I’d officially made the final descent into evil—possession—only an exorcism could save me now.

As if in a trance, I looked up.

Blood covered Augustus’s face, streaking from both his eyes; Kharon stood unnaturally still, his jaw clenching and releasing.

“Why?” Kharon asked.

“You have to defeat me,” I whispered, the rightness of the words settling over me. “I won’t let you get branded … not again. Not for me.”

“Did you really think—” Kharon’s lashes fanned across eyes so cold, they were more gray than blue “—that I was going to come out here and fight you with my bare fucking hands? The woman I love?”

I held his gaze. “Yes. Because I won’t do that to the men I love.”

Augustus stared at me in silence.

“Your pain is mine—you’re my fucking heart and soul,” Kharon said as he thumped at his chest. “Do you know what that means, Alexis? I would sooner die than see you hurt. I’ve given you my ear … What more do you want from me? What do you need me to do to prove to you that I’m madly in love with you? Do you want my heart ripped from my—”

“I have to be the one to lose!” I cut him off, terror and rage spreading like fire, leaving me desperate.

I spread my arms wide.

“Defeat me,” I begged, the wound in my side throbbing.

Kharon shook his head as he backed away. Augustus stood still, unmoving in the face of my desperation.

“DO IT!” I screamed.

Neither moved.

“Please,” I whispered with a broken rasp.

Darkness closed in as my injured eye filled with blinding tears.

“We’re sorry we couldn’t be there for you this morning,” Augustus spoke slowly. “They must have drugged us at the symposium. When we woke up, you were fighting already—we tried to leap through the electric dome—guards stopped us.”

That was why they looked so awful, why I’d woken up with aching limbs.

“We’re sorry we failed you,” Kharon said with anguish. “This is all our fault.”

Tears fell faster and I staggered into one of them. They righted me and I pulled away.

With my right eye swollen, I was fully blind.

I spread my arms wide again. “Just fight me!” I pleaded. “Just get it over with. Please. I love you—I can’t do this.”

Calloused fingers gently touched my face, restrained by manacles—I startled, not realizing he’d gotten so close.

“Alexis. Why are you acting like— Your left eye seems fine …” Augustus trailed off, air whistling through teeth.

He stilled.

A new sharpness expanded between us.

“No,” Augustus said shakily.

“What is it?” Kharon asked, his voice getting louder as he neared.

Augustus didn’t speak. His thumb burned where it traced against my skin. The pungent scent of ozone stained the air, as if lightning had struck.

“It’s on the same side as your …” Augustus’s voice trailed off.

Ear.

Kharon stepped closer so all three of us stood chest to chest. “What are you talking about? What’s going on? Someone explain.”