Page 282 of Blood of Hercules

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“Never,” they replied in unison.

It was too much.

All of it.

The room spun unmercifully, and my vision faded—this time, I didn’t fight to stay awake—I let the darkness pull me under.

I passed out.

Chapter 34

The Stalker

Kharon:Five months earlier

The initiates’ first lap of the Crucible (Kharon’s omitted realization)

Aninsane realizationhit me, and my breath left my lungs like I’d been punched as Alexis and the drowning boy splashed in the water.

No.

It can’t be.

It’s not possible.

Alexis’s eyes were bloody and glowing.

They wereChthonicred.

I quickly did the math in my head—there was only one Chthonic child who’d died as a child.

Hercules.

My jaw dropped.

She was the famous daughter of Persephone and Hades. Everyone in Sparta knew how they’d tragically lost her after Titansattacked.

Plot twist—she was very much alive.

The boy screamed louder in the water like he was being torn to pieces as they tussled.

My breath left my lungs like I’d been punched.

Oh my Kronos—she’s killing him.

The boy splashed harder, and Alexis yelled something, but I couldn’t hear it over the rushing in my ears.

The federation doesn’t know.

They don’t know she’s Chthonic.

No one can know.

I smiled so widely that it hurt my face—she was the solution to the marriage law; she was the loophole we’d been searching for.

I call dibs.

Pure euphoria filled me.

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