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CHAPTER 1

ALEX CLENCHED THE TITANIUM BARS HONED BY Hephaestus and Apollo, a with hate But those eyes… they didn’t belong to Alex

Alex’s eyes arood whiskey I’d memorized those eyes the first time I saw them in that warehouse in Atlanta This was a different creature entirely

When we’d moved her to the safe house deep in Apple River, Illinois, we’d al me, had been ready for the full display of her power If Apollo hadn’t finagled Hephaestus—the only god who could build so a room to keep Alex in, ouldn’t have been able to control her

“If you don’t letto rip your brother’s ribs out and wear them as a crown”

I showed no erown used to the inti to kill Deacon was one of Alex’s favorites She’d grow bored with it soon enough It hadn’t been like that at first She’d been… almost normal, except for her amber-colored eyes She’d talked and sounded like Alex Cracked jokes like Alex Argued like Alex And she’d reasoned like Alex

She clenched the titanium bars Each bar had been encased with an unbreakable chain-link net that Hephaestus had used on Aphrodite once Not even the Apollyon could break through it

Above her, severalher, but enough that she wasn’t a danger to herself or others

For now

My blood boiled at the memory of what’d happened after she’d Awakened She’d connected with the First—Seth—and there was no doubt in anyone’s iven up her location I’d completely understood that she needed to be ree with how Apollo had done it

He’d hit her with a god-bolt

And I’d punched him

I was still surprised that I was alive

“Do you kno it’s going to feel when you stand there and watch me do it?” she taunted “Just like you stood there and watched your parents get slaughtered by daimons, but this will be much, much sweeter”

I folded my arms

Exhaling slowly, she lowered her head and blinked back tears “Please Aiden please let me out of here”

I closedmy jaw This… this tactic was the hardest

“Why are you treating ood I hurt Why did you let them hurt me like this?”

My eyes flew open Every id Tears spilled down her cheeks, and for a ot that it wasn’t really Alex in there, pleading and begging me

“I thought you loved me?”

I h the bars, clasping the sides of her face My forehead pressed against the cold bars and ry Desperate She went still, unsure of how to respond Several tiht hours it had been the only way to shut her up

I pulled back, releasing her “Because I love you, I won’t release you”

Frustration rolled off her and threatened to tear the skin froone in an instant Alex screamed and threw herself to the back of the cell Ten feet away froainst the wall, back bowed “You can’t keep me in here forever”

“I can try”

“He’s co for me”

“He’ll never find you,” I said, sitting down in the metal chair placed before the cell I’dshe needed in there—a small bathroom off the one room, a bed that she’d destroyed and had been stripped down to just a

Alex laughed, pushing off the wall “You can’t take him”

My gaze fell to the untouched plate of food by the barred door “Eat, Alex You need to eat”

“You can never be him”

I rubbed the growth of facial hair along my jaw as she slowly approached the plate of food, and hope sparked deep inside me She hadn’t eaten in the four days since she’d Awakened I had no idea how she was still walking around Picking up the plate of food, she backed away

“Are you going to eat the food this time?” I asked wearily

Alex smiled and then threw the plate directly at where I sat Plastic crashed against titaniu on the floor Pieces of food—h the bars, splatteringher ceramic plates after she’d tried to turn the broken shards into weapons

Drawing on patience I was running out of, I slowly knocked the chunks of food off me “Did that make you feel better, Alex?”

She pouted “Not really” Then she started pacing, herin spite of the fact she’d thrown her dinner at er Let me out or, so help me, I will destroy you”

I shook my head “Alex, you have to be in there I know you My heart would not be beating if you were truly gone”

Dropping onto the rowled “Gods, isn’t that just so sweet? My heart is all aflutter”

“There he is” I stood and grasped the bars,it would take to bring you out Does my love for her bother you, Seth?”

She rolled onto her side, brows pinched and face pale “Seth’s not in here, you stupid pure-blood”

“It hurts when he’s connected to you, doesn’t it?”