Page 228 of Bonds of Hercules

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Tomorrow—it was Kharon’s turn to fight.

SGC DAY11

It was another bright summer’s day in the coliseum.

Thank you, Kronos.

Zeus couldn’t use his scepter to threaten Kharon during his fight. A small mercy.

I’d slept soundly, clutching Alexis to my chest. Sometime in the middle of the night, I’d wrestled her out of Kharon’s grasp and into mine.

It was the best thing I’d ever done.

Waking up to her sleepy face was like waking up to a brilliant sunset—glorious,warm, perfect.

Even now, her golden curls formed a halo around her face as she leaned close to Charlie in the row before me.

Angelus Romae.

I rubbed at my aching chest.

I wanted my arms around her like I wanted to breathe.

My woman.

The keeper of my soul.

The love I felt for her was greedy—a new sort of madness.

I tried to focus on anything but the fierce emotions gripping me.

Achilles shifted with discomfort a few seats away. The upper half of his face was covered in bruises, the skin distended and turning green.

Patro sat ramrod straight next to him, his severed tendon still wrapped in thick bandages. Achilles had a matching one around his ankle.

They’d both been mutilated.

Complicated feelings churned inside my sternum; they weren’t my favorite people right now, but they were under my charge. Achilles was a fellow victim of the House of Ares—House of Horrors, as we used to call it. They were my responsibility. My half brothers.

Guilt scoured me.

Hermos and Agatha sat further down, also covered in bruises.

I’ve failed all of them.

Drex made a noise in front of me, elbowing Alexis’s side as he tried to get her attention. She kept signing and whispering to Charlie.

Drex nudged her again.

I took a deep breath.

He’d been practically hanging off my wife ever since his round yesterday and was officially getting on my nerves.

Kharon wasn’t the only one with a jealousy problem.

Drex’s elbow touched the side of her arm, and Alexis turned to him with a beaming smile. They laughed together, sharing an inside joke.

Mental note: break his left elbow.

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