Page 140 of Blood of Hercules
Patro leaned forward and snapped his fingers in front of my face. “I don’t have all day.”
I purposefully coughed on them.
“Ew!” He snatched his hand back. “Did you justhackon me like a filthy, gross commoner?—”
BOOM.
More smoke filled the room.
Please God, don’t do this to me.
Not again.
I coughed harder.
“Honeys, I’m home,” taunted a deep, scratchy voice straight from my nightmares.
Satan walked into the kitchen.
God is definitely punishing me. First Augustus, now him—why can’t I catch a freakin’ break?
Glacial blue eyes flashed with danger and “Furia” was stark against his throat.
White dress-shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing veiny forearms.Stop looking at his arms. Thigh and chest holsters also bulged with weapons.
The spiky crown glinting atop his head was a reminder of just what he was.
Chthonic royalty.
Who knew evil had such wide shoulders and a tapered waist?
I wanted to shoot myself.
“Well, well, well,” Kharon said as he clicked his tongue. “If it isn’t the troublemaker. You’ve caused quitethe stir. Everyone in Sparta is talking about your little...performance.”
He sized me up.
“I told you not to harm yourself,” he snarled.
Like Augustus, he’s upset that I endangered Patro’s and Achilles’s chances of becoming generals.
“I a-am unharmed,” I said as I stumbled and tried to not pass out from sheer exhaustion.
The gold hue of the kitchen darkened to a spectral shade of blue, or at least it did in my imagination. And even with squished nostrils, the smell of a summer storm was heady.
Shadows expanded, and two voices whispered.
No, you’re just losing your mind. The voices aren’t real.The thought was comforting.
At the table, Patro’s frown transformed into a comical look of disbelief as he asked, “What could Alex have possibly done to anyone forallof Sparta to have heard about it?”
My mentor laughed like the idea of me doing anything but dying was funny.
“Don’t call me that,” I whispered.
His smile fell. “I’ll call you whatever I want to—Alex.”
The scar on my sternum twinged, and an icy, numb sensation spread through my limbs.
