Page 104 of The Shadow Gods

No.

Hector lurched forward, grabbing Paris by the shoulders. “No.” He repeated the word that had been looping in my head. “It's not your fault. This isn't your fault.”

“Isn't it?” The prince looked at his brother and then at the still form of the woman we loved. “I thought we stood a chance. I don't want this back, not at this price.”

“You don't get to choose,” Athena replied.

“Bring her back.” Pollux looked at Athena. Slowly, approaching her cautiously, he held out his hands. “You can take this power if you bring her back.”

The goddess laughed. Pushing herself against the broken marble altar, she shook her head. “Do you think it's that easy? Bring her back from the dead? I don't even know where she went. Without Hades in the Underworld, the realm for mortal souls is unknown to me.” But she glanced away, unable to hold Pollux's desperate stare.

She was lying.

What was the point of this power if I couldn't use it? This was the cruelest trick the gods had played—giving us the strength to capture them, but not the strength to bring back the woman we loved from the other side.

In the time it took to blink, I was on the goddess. Hands around her throat, I lifted her from the floor. “Bring her back. Your curse connects you. Use it.”

She broke my hold, but it cost her. Glaring at me, she sucked in a breath. “I won't. What power is there anymore to keep my family trapped? What do you think will happen? You don't feel it yet, but they're coming. If your power has returned to you, then there's nothing keeping them away.”

Think, Achilles.

I had no doubt that every other word out of her mouth was a lie, but there was a grain of truth somewhere in there.

“If you want the power to keep your family trapped, you can have it. But first, you'll bring back Leo.” We stared at each other—goddess and demigod. I was telling the truth. Any bit of power I had, I offered freely. It was a fair trade. Leo for everything. I didn't want immortality or strength or speed.

I wanted Leo.

Athena's fingers twitched, like she could feel what the seal had returned to me. “We have to act fast.”

“Bring her back, and you can take everything you want.”

Her eyes flashed, a spark like a shooting star, and she nodded. “I have to find her first.”

“Do it,” Hector called from his spot next to Paris. “But if you fail, the first thing we'll do with this power is destroy you.”

Paris pushed Leo's hair from her face. He didn't look away as he added, “I tore one god to pieces today, and I'll do it again.”

Athena pressed her lips together. Her wings extended before she tucked them back against her body. “A trade. Leo—” She had to push Leo's name past her lips. “For your power. You agree?”

“Yes,” I answered immediately.

“Yes,” Paris replied.

The otheryeseswere repeated just as quickly.

“You will make good on this promise,” Athena warned. A hum filled the cave as the light from the few torches grew. And grew.

Until there was nothing but light and the hum of power.

Leo

“You're here again.”

I blinked, taking in the miles of rolling hills and gray sky and finally the man staring at me.

“Castor.”

He drew his dark brows together, looking so much like Pollux it hurt. “But you're different.” His gaze raked me from head to toe. “Dead. How could you let that happen? Do you have any idea what it will do to Pollux?”

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