Page 183 of Bonds of Hercules
The stadium silently watched the sands with horror. All chants had died out hours ago.
Kharon and Augustus sat ramrod straight on either side of me, electricity humming in a dome above the blood-covered sand.
No one spoke.
One thing was nowdisturbinglyclear—Ares was nicknamed the God of War for a reason.
He’d been in the arena for about five hours. Fivelong, painful, heinous hours.
Bright sunlight illuminated the four dead Cyclopes that were strewn around him. Each of them had been tortured to death by his touch.
There was no reason his round was still happening; he could have ended it in five minutes if he wanted to. The problem was, hedidn’twant to.
My fingers tingled as Nyx slithered tightly around my shoulders, her scales warm.
The stale taste of ambrosia was sour in my throat as I watched the heinous show.
A black Spartan helmet with a red spiky middle gleamed atop Ares’s head, and it was the only armor he wore.
An ornate golden broadsword was also strapped across his wide muscular back, but he hadn’t unsheathed it.
Not once.
Ares had used hisbare handsto murder four Cyclopes.
Now he was working on the fifth.
The rumor that he could torture people to insanity with a single graze of his fingers was right. He also didn’t appear to have a protector.Are the other rumors about him having an enormous invisible Colchian dragon true?
Blood dripped from his eyes like tears as he used his powers—his hand rested casually on the arm of the last living Cyclops.
The creature jerked in the sand as it screamed in agony.
Augustus rubbed my back soothingly.
I studied his profile.
Ares is his father.
His eyes were deep pools of obsidian.
“Are you … okay, my carus?” he asked softly.
His scar stood out in stark relief across the bridge of his nose and cheek.
How did he get it?
I leaned my head against his shoulder.
“That’s my girl.” He gently kissed my forehead.
My stomach pinched.
Down below, the God of War let out a battle cry.
Augustus was the spitting image of him.
They had the same tan skin, harsh features, and build. They both held themselves ramrod straight, postures perfect, shoulders wide.
