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She shook her head in denial "I brought you back because I loved you"

"That&039;s the lie you tell yourself, but I know the truth You brought oddess!"

"And I&039;od One whose powers ain as she tried to buck hieance for it"

"Then take it out on me"

She froze at his words and for the first time since she&039;d attacked hi?"

Ash took a sain if he needed to "I&039;m the one who betrayed you If you want to make someone bleed, then I offer myself to you as your victim But you have to swear to me that you&039;ll never lay a hand on Soteria Ever"

The flame of sexual heat in her eyes sickened hiot off onhim bleed and suffer She always had "Only if you swear not to use your powers to heal yourself You will take the punishment you have earned and you will suffer for what you&039;ve done to me"

Because it was always about Artemis

Of course he wouldn&039;t have been with Tory because Tory was kind to him The only reason he could ever be with someone else was to hurt Artemis and for that he&039;d bleed

Yeah

"I swear it"

She lifted her chin "Release me"

"Not until I have your word"

"Oh I proed at her words and their unspoken threat against Tory "And that you won&039;t send anyone else after her either"

She balked

"Artemis?"

She pouted like a toddler who&039;d just broken her favorite doll It wasn&039;t until she realized that he wouldn&039;t give in on this that she crossed her arms over her chest and spat, "Fine I swear your whore will never be hurt by me or any of my minions"

He wrapped his hand around her neck "And I swear if you ever call her whore or slut or any other insult again, I will kill you Do you understandelse"

Fear replaced the anger in her eyes She knew he had no choice except to fulfill whatever oath he took And right now the thought of killing her ranked right up there on his list of things he&039;d most like to do

"I understand," Artemis said coldly "Now prepare yourself for me, whore"

Ash winced at words she knew hit him on a level no one should ever be hit on, and he hated her for that In one heartbeat, they destroyed all the centuries of dignity he&039;d tried so desperately to build and reduced hied his father not to hurt him

Damn her for it He didn&039;t want to do this, but he knew he had no choice His stoust, he was aht orth it

NoSoteria is worth it When she held him, he wasn&039;t a whore He wasn&039;t pathetic or unwanted For that mo

He only hoped that once Artemis finished with him, he was still able to feel that way

Sick with dread, he stepped back fro coat to the floor then pulled his shirt off over his head Gods, it felt just like selling hiain All he needed was to have those gold bands back in place on his wrists and ankles and his tongue pierced To have her grab his hair and tell him how to please her best

He ran his hand over his chest where Simi slept "Simi? I need you to take huan beating hioddess Since he&039;d proirl to do that

Simi appeared with a precious smile on her face until she realized where she was Then her lips curled in repugnance "Why we here with that old heifer-goddess, akri? The Siain"

"I know, Sim I need you to leave rily as her eyes turned dark red She knehat happened to him whenever he made her leave here "Akri-"

"Just do it, Si at theo to Sanctuary and protect Soteria for me Make sure no one hurts her"

Sio protect Akra-Tory, akri But the Simi don&039;t want to leave you I wish you&039;d let the Simi eat the heifer instead"

Ash cupped her face and placed a quick kiss on her cheek "Go, Simi, and don&039;t eat the humans or Weres"

Simi nodded before she vanished

Ash sed as he lower An instant later his wrists were encircled by chains They were pulled up and spread wide as a whip appeared in Arte breath as centuries of this went through hier that swelled inside his heart

How could she do this and still clais for him?

"You have betrayed hed bitterly "I&039;ve betrayed you? When have you ever kept faith withbackhand across his face that split his lip Only now that he was secure could she strike hi it instantly blond, and jerked his head back as hard as she could "I wish I&039;d never &039;sof all She manifested a mirror before him and dressed hi the hair back fro how much he hated it

"This is what you&039;re afraid of, isn&039;t it? The entire world knohat a whore you really are Eleven thousand years later, you&039;re still crawling into the bed of whoever can pay your fee Tell ive you to sleep with her?"

He glared at her in the ht e, Artemis Kindness Warmth"

She wrenched his hair so hard he was sure she pulled a full handful of it out "You bastard whore! I would have given you the world had you asked it of me, but instead you&039;d rather be in the bed of a common human"

He licked the blood froivenme pay dearly for it Not even your heart"

"That&039;s not true I bore your daughter for you!"

"No You bore your daughter You didn&039;t keep Katra because of me You kept her out of total selfishness and you know it You never really intended for me to know I had her because you didn&039;t want to share her with me or anyone else You could have told me the truth at any time, yet you hid her from me for more than eleven thousand years" He shook his head at a truth that scalded his soul "You&039;re selfish and you&039;re cold, and I&039;ht the whip down across his back Ash hissed as pain tore through hirip on the chains that held him in place "I won&039;t be owned by you, Artemis Not anymore I shouldn&039;t have to barter h with it"

She hit hiain "You would rather sell yourself to a hu of our powers Nothing of what it od The responsibility The sacrifice"

His breathing ragged, he stared at her in the mirror "And neither do you Soteria doesn&039;t ask enda She takes my hand in public and she holds it She&039;s not embarrassed to be seen with me"

She jerked his head back and snarled in his ear "Because it costs her nothing to be seen with you! You ask too much of me You always have"

"Did it never occur to you that you ask the saiven to you for eleven thousand years and I&039; ridiculed by you and your brother I&039; with your moods while you refuse to allowhis hair, she hit him three more times before she raked her nails painfully down his back "There is no freedo up to the bar She still reh at the tiirl who&039;d reat babysitter for her It was hard to believe after all the phone and e-mail conversations they&039;d shared that Simi had failed to ain

But as Si with her "What&039;s wrong, Siain and akri won&039;t let the Si to help hi about what the bitch-goddess does so forget the Si" She huffed as she sat down on a bar stool and propped her chin in her hand "Hook the Simi up with some ice cream, Akra-Tory I need double scoops"

Aimee went to accommodate Simi while Tory walked around to sit beside the de Ash? You oddess y

"Not that one The redheaded mean one that the Simi wants to eat, but akri say &039;No Simi You can&039;t eat Artemis&039; The Simi hates that heifer"

Tory went cold as she remembered what Ash had told her about Artemis and their relationship "Where&039;s Ash?"

"On Olympus He told the Simi to come stay with you and ood and Tory felt ill that she couldn&039;t help him "What does Artemis do to Ash?"

"The Simi isn&039;t supposed to say" She looked around the bar like an impish child before she lowered her voice "But akri didn&039;t say the Simi couldn&039;t show you" She reached out and touched Tory&039;s ar beaten

Unable to stand it, she shot to her feet and tried to focus But she couldn&039;t Her heart pounding, she was hyperventilating at the thought of causing hi!"

"We can&039;t Artemis hurt akri worse if we try Believe me, I know He promised her she could hurt him if she didn&039;t hurt you and she say okay, so nowthe Sioddess"

So did Tory If she could turn back time, she&039;d beat the snot out of her in Nashville

Aiht Si, anything, she could do She looked at Aimee, then Katherine and Justina, but decided not to ask their opinions Ash would die of sha done to him

You now have the secrets that I would kill to protect

No doubt this was one of the secrets he held dearest No wonder he&039;d been so harsh to Arteet my hands on her"

She&039;d do what? Bleed on her expensive shoes? Arteoddess and Tory was hu in the journal about Arte with hope, Tory headed toward the kitchen behind the bar where it was light enough for her to read

But before she could make it to the room, she saw a tall, black-haired woman at a table off to the side

You want to hurt Artemis? Come talk to aze returned to the unknoo to you, Soteria The wo course froht back" Before Aiht to the woman as unbelievably attractive and probably as tall as she was

"Hi," the woman said, her voice thick with its Greek accent "I&039;ht Tory would wait andwhere you talked to me in my mind?"

She sain I&039;hter of Apollo and if you want to helpto help you kill Artemis