Page 280 of Bonds of Hercules
I chose my mentors as my hunting partners.
The next day, I woke up in the villa.
It was the middle of the night, but I couldn’t sleep because I needed to find a solution to the problem I’d just created.
A woman’s wails echoed—and for a second, it sounded like Medusa—in a blind panic I followed the sound.
I stopped when I realized the woman in the dungeon was Ceres, the traitor who’d worked with Theros during the crucible.
As I stood in the damp dungeon, an idea struck.
A horrible,brilliant, awful idea.
“Did you … help Theros kill all those children?” I asked softly.
Ceres went still, eyes widening.
“Did you help Theros?” I repeated. “Yes or no?”
She didn’t answer, her silence a damning omission.
Gathering my courage, I sliced my forearm open on a jagged stone, grabbed Ceres’s chin roughly, and dripped blood onto one of the open wounds on her face.
Pain exploded in my heart and my fingers tingled with the strange pain.
“Did you assist Theros in killing all those children of the House of Zeus?” I asked.
She grunted in pain, twitching as my blood poisoned her.
“ANSWER ME!”
“It was my pleasure,” Ceres spat as she writhed in pain. “They deserved to die the—”
Sharp pain flared in my sternum, and I let the rage free.
She gurgled, unable to speak as foam dripped from her lips.
Seconds later, Ceres lay limp.
I backed away.
It was all over in seconds.
“Fantastic work, kid,” Nyx hissed on my shoulders.
I waited to feel …anything. This time, there was no satisfaction, only emptiness.
Regret welled up.
I shoved it back down—I couldn’t afford distractions—I needed to stay out of my head. I was making choices.
Turning, pulling at my hair, my thoughts raced.
The dungeon was shadowy and ominous, magnifying the feelings of doom.
Tingling fingers pressed over my chest as I tried to physically slow the racing beat of my heart.
“Breathe,” Nyx coached as I gasped in the dark.
