Bonds of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #2)(63)

Kharon pointed his knife at me, looking betrayed.

“So it’s come to this,” Augustus said, his words clipped as he glared at my mentors. “They want you to use your power to free yourself from the marriage bond … from us.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, to explain that I was never going to do it, then clicked my jaw shut. How dare they act like I’m the one at fault. It was Patro and Achilles’s plan, not mine.

I was done apologizing to men.

They could beg for my forgiveness or go fuck themselves.

Kharon smiled cruelly as he stepped back from the table—Hell and Hound left my side and sauntered over to Kharon, flanking him—crimson filled his glowing eyes.

His protectors’ turquoise gazes also changed—their flame eyes flickered a vibrant red.

Kharon straightened, his face unnaturally slack—he opened his mouth, and so did his beasts.

“I am my hellhounds.” His words echoed strangely around the room as all three of them spoke at the same time in a growling cadence. “What they see—I see.”

Ringing increased in my left ear.

His stalking was even worse than I’d thought.

Kharon bared his teeth and nodded, so did his hounds; a puppet master and his puppets.

“I heard your discussion with Patro,” Kharon’s garbled deep voice projected eerily around the room. “I saw your longing for what they were offering—wife.”

Fluffy Jr. growled next to me.

The blood slowly receded from Kharon’s eyes and his hellhounds looked back and forth between the two of us like they didn’t know who to choose—after a long moment, they slunk away and lay in the corner of the room.

Kharon lazily twirled his hunting knife, waiting for my reaction.

Dark emotions churned in my gut, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of showing that I was afraid.

“So … are you going to kill me?” I asked softly.

Augustus’s smile was sinister. “Oh no—wife. You’ve got it all wrong.” He turned, revealing a drink cart. He picked up two empty whiskey glasses and placed them gently on the table.

Kharon held my gaze and he stuck out his tongue.

Wait.

He brought the sharp edge of the hunting knife up to his open mouth.

I shouted as he violently slashed it across his cheeks, lips, and tongue. Scarlet poured down his chin.

Augustus uncorked the vial with a pop and dumped my blood into the two crystal glasses.

They wouldn’t.

“Don’t worry,” Augustus said silkily, his midnight eyes predatory. “We’re going to give you exactly what you wanted, my carus.”

Kharon handed the knife over and picked up the glass of my blood. “Cheers, Alexis.”

Kharon threw back my blood and swallowed. Augustus stuck out his tongue, cut himself with the knife, then drank from the second cup. They both smiled—revealing my blood mixing with theirs, covering their teeth.

They did.

“Fuck you,” I whispered with horror, gripping the arms of my chair. My sternum ached as my power reacted.

“Well, wife.” Kharon arched a brow, licking his mutilated lips wickedly. “Go for it. Break the bond—free yourself from us. I fucking dare you.”

I shook my head and gritted my teeth, chest heaving as I fought to try to calm myself.

Patro jerked and I met his panicked gaze. He was trying to tell me something with his eyes.

What did he say to me back in the gladiator sands? Calm my breathing?

I gasped for air.

Excruciating pain burned inside my chest. For the past weeks I’d been trying to access my power in the shower, and now it wanted out.

Kharon and Augustus sauntered around the table.

Wood scraped against marble as I turned my chair to keep them in my line of sight.

My vision blurred.

They stopped in front of the hearth, and the orange haze behind them created the illusion that they were standing in front of the gates of Hell.

Cheeks flushed, their eyes were unfocused, and glazing over with agony. They’re feeling my pain.

There was fifteen feet of open space between us.

Too far to touch; close enough to kill.

All three of us gasped for air like we were suffocating.

They swayed slightly as they also fought an invisible battle.

Patro shouted something louder behind his gag and the table shook as he kicked it.

None of us looked over.

“Do it, carissima.” Kharon’s voice dropped an octave, eyes hooded as he spit blood onto the floor. “Take your revenge—I know you want to. I saw your face. Just go for it … Man up, sweetheart, and pull the trigger. For once, hit your fucking target.”

His words were fire, and I was the oxygen.

Pain exploded in my chest.

Lightning flashed as I reared back in my chair.

“After all … isn’t this exactly what you wanted?” Augustus arched a dark brow, his scar an angry slash. “Don’t tell me you’re backing out now. Not when we’re giving you exactly what you want. Take the offering. Have your divorce … MURDER US!”

“Or were you waiting for the men to handle it?” Kharon pointed across the table at my mentors. “And now you’re too afraid to do it yourself?”

There was nothing left of the man who’d knelt beside me in the pouring rain.