Bonds of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #2)(132)

His voice startled me out of my shock.

“Move away f-from her,” I said.

Achilles stepped back—but Patro lunged forward, and my heart stopped in my chest—his fingers tangled in her hair.

He yanked.

Pink tendrils fluttered as Helen’s fuchsia wig dropped to the floor.

Long silky black hair tumbled out.

Rattling echoed.

Three pale serpents rose from her head, pink eyes bright in the candlelight—Gorgon snakes.

An ominous hissing sounded, and all the men went still.

The snakes slithered down to her chest, twining around raven hair. She raised her right arm to shield them.

Achilles’s eyebrows rose.

“Hello again, my precious darlings,” Nyx hissed in greeting.

The other snakes fell silent, turning like they were bashful.

Patro pointed at me. “You idiot! I thought I must have been wrong. There was no way that you really did it … but you … you … you freed her.” He looked at me with betrayal. “You’re the reason for the interrogations and—”

“I know you’re not speaking to my wife like that,” Augustus said quietly.

Kharon glared at Patro. “Apologize—now.” He narrowed his eyes, but there was something different in his expression.

Hurt flashed across Patro’s face. He’d been blindsided by the truth earlier, yet he’d still lied to Zeus’s face for me.

He’d risked everything to help me.

I was in his debt.

“He doesn’t need to apologize,” I said with a sigh, and my husbands looked at me with confusion.

Patro threw his hands into the air. “Obviously—you freed MEDUSA! What were you thinking? She’s a criminal!”

Medusa shook her head infinitesimally, as she silently begged me not to reveal her secrets.

I narrowed my eyes. “They need to know what you went through.”

She shook her head harder. “Please don’t.”

Patro turned on her, radiating his signature haughty arrogance. “Why are you looking at her like that?” He spit at her feet. “Traitor.”

Medusa’s snakes rattled, rearing up from her head.

Kharon yanked me protectively behind him.

Smoke rose around Achilles’s muzzle as he stepped up beside Patro, ready to attack.

“STOP IT!” I screamed. “You heard Zeus—she was framed, she’s innocent.”

Patro chuckled darkly. “She’s Medusa.” He said her name like it was the highest damnation. “A fucking abomination.”

Medusa stepped up to Patro, poking his chest. “That’s rich coming from the son of Aphrodite.”

Patro reared back. “What’s … that supposed to mean?”

“Oh—I think you know.” Medusa bared her teeth. “Your House is known for its seduction and deceit.”

Achilles glanced between them, then turned to me. “How could you?” he signed. “You put all of us at risk. You endangered Patro.”

Hot coals burned my insides.

“What the fuck are you saying to my wife?” Kharon asked.

I signed back jerkily. “If you saw what I did, what they did to her, you would have done the same.”

“Never.” He slashed his hand violently.

“That’s because all you care about in life is Patro,” I said as I signed. “To hell w-with everyone else. Right?”

“Correct,” he signed, nodding. “No one cares about her.”

“I care,” I whispered, my throat sore from yelling, from screaming at Titans, from fighting with Zeus.

Dizziness hit me and the floor seesawed.

Kharon grabbed my shoulders, steadying me. “I care,” I repeated numbly.

Augustus rubbed my back soothingly. “How … did this even happen?” There was no condemnation in his tone. He seemed genuinely curious.

My legs gave out and Kharon caught me.

Achilles and Patro stood together, the former glaring at me, the latter still toe-to-toe with Medusa.

Gorgon snakes rattled.

Everyone wanted answers.

I took a deep steadying breath. “My last leap during the initiation hunt—I tried to get to Hades at Crete. But I was injured and … something went wrong. I ended up in … the Underworld.”





48


MEDUSA




ALEXIS: MAY, ONE MONTH EARLIER

I swiveled my head, vision blurring.

Before me, a tunnel forked.

One side led to a light; it looked like an exit. The other was dark—a woman’s screams echoed down it.

“We need to get out of here—run, Alexis. Now,” Nyx hissed as she slithered down my legs onto the floor.

With a deep steadying breath, I made my choice.

Stumbling forward, I half ran, half limped through the humid rocky corridor. Blood gushed from the bullet wound in my leg.

I ran toward the woman’s wails.

“Do you hear that?” I whispered. “Or am I imagining—”

“I hear it,” Nyx said.

Fear wrapped its fingers around my heart.

The floor was slanting downward, torches spaced out further, darkness rising. Pain throbbed through my calf, my knee, and my head.