Page 165 of Bonds of Hercules
I raised my fist to throw a punch, twisting my hips for power and—
Ajax’s neck snapped to the side.
My fist hung suspended in midair.
Kharon was holding Ajax’s twisted head—he threw the limp body down—Ajax’s skull hit the side of the altar with a loud crack. Augustus moved in front of me protectively.
“Oopsie,” Kharon said. “My bad. I slipped.”
The crowd screamed.
“I’ve always liked thatKarenman,” Nyx hissed sarcastically as she slithered around my shoulders.
Hermes lunged at Kharon, but Hera held him back.
“Oh please,” Kharon said as he gestured to Ajax’s crumpled body. “He’ll befine… He dishonored my wife—he’s lucky I didn’t decapitate him.”
He kicked Ajax.
Something cracked.
“I slipped again,” Kharon drawled.
I hunched over with my hands on my knees, and Augustus gently grabbed my chin and tilted my head up. “Alexis,breathe. You’re going to be okay, darling—we’ll make sure of it. Everything is fine.”
“It was a statisticallyunusualevent,” I said with a gasp, needing Augustus to understand. The mathematical odds were truly devastating. There was a one in thirty-six chance of rolling a twelve, which meant there was less than a 0.05 chance.
Ceres was right about Zeus. I saw the dice spark.
Also, Kharon just snapped a man’s neck.
Nothing was fine.
“THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!” Hades shouted as he stalked across the sand toward Zeus. His Chthonic eyes were bloody, and fog pulsed angrily around him. “My daughter cannotfacetwelve fucking labors.”
I’d never heard him swear before.
Persephone jumped over the edge of the stadium, landing gracefully. She sprinted toward the altar, her hand raised, finger pointing at Zeus.
“Fix this!” she screamed.
Zeus held his hands up in a surrender gesture. “I agree! This is wrong—I would never want my niece to have to face this.”
He’s such a liar.
“Roll it again,” Persephone demanded as she came to a stop beside Hades, who was now covered fully in rolling inky fog. “Now.”
“I would.” Zeus’s expression was pleading as he looked between them. “But it’s written into the laws of Sparta—you both know I can’t. I swear I want to. The odds … This ishorrible.”
Déjà vu washed over me as my parents argued with Zeus in the middle of the stadium.
Ceres said the best plans were simple—ours was one of deception, not force.
I needed to get Zeus alone, and I needed to get him to talk. That meant he couldn’t suspect that Iknewwhat he’d done. I wasn’t completely sure about the details, but I had a growing suspicion.
However, entrapment was easier said than done.
Twelve labors.
