Page 166 of Bonds of Hercules
I’ll die on the sands.
Ceres was waiting for me back in the villa, and she believed in me.
With visceral terror pounding through me, I stood tall. “Zeus is right!” My voice rang, strong and clear.
Zeus turned slowly. “I … am?”
Everyone looked at me.
I needed to play the naive idiot, one last time.
“I’ll be fine.” I stared at Hades and Persephone, mentally pleading with them to trust me one more time. “I’ve been training—I’ll face the labors, all … twelve.”
“Are you sure?” Zeus asked, his gray eyes wide with what looked like concern.
I forced myself to act casual. “I can handle him … I meanthem.”
Zeus’s expression didn’t change, but the corner of his mouth twitched down like he was confused. For the first time, he looked unsure.
Persephone nodded as she studied my face—she saw through me in a way that only a mother could. She grabbed Hades’s arm and whispered in his ear.
Murmurs erupted in the stadium.
I widened my shoulders.
Nyx hissed, “Oh, nowthisis going to be fun.”
No one fears the weak.
I would play Zeus’s game, until it was time to play mine.
30
THE ELDEST HEIR
AUGUSTUS
Poco was wrapped around my head, purring soothingly, and I leaned into his touch. I’d missed him so much that it hurt to think about our time apart.
Wall sconces burned low, and shadows crawled across the ancient coliseum stone.
We’d been locked in the room for hours, all of us lying in the one bed.
Alexis lay stiffly pressed against my back, her breathing shallow and harsh—buttons clicked as a faint green light illuminated the screen—she pressed her calculator while muttering about statistically unlikely events.
Kharon grumbled and shifted.
We were on either side of her, half hanging off the much too small mattress.
It should have been heavenly—it was tortuous.
The urge to wrap my arms around her and pull her close was driving me mad.
I wanted to touch, kiss,caressher.
But I also wanted to respect her—she thought what we had was just physical; I needed to prove to her that it wasn’t. She could have severed the bond between us with her blood, she could have chosen to stay in the room with Patro and Achilles—but she’d chosenuseach time.
I couldn’t ruin the trust that was growing between us by being too sexually aggressive.
