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CHAPTER 1

FEELING CAME BACK IN MY FEET FIRST, AND THEN MY legs A pins-and-needles tingling rushed over ers to spasm The sweetness of the nectar still coated the inside of my throat My body ached as if I’d just completed a triathlon and come in dead last

Or like I’d had od

Either/or…

Moveht the whole side of ht I heard my name called, but it sounded like it was on the other side of the world froed turtle, so it took a while to blink my eyes open, and even then it was just a thin crack When nized the buttercup-colored walls and all the titanium trim of the dorm rooms at the University in South Dakota, the sa in right before Dos…things were different then; it already felt like years ago

A terrible heaviness settled like a stone inall the way down to my spine Dominic was now dead So were the Dean of the University and his Guards It had been a trick played out by Ares, who’d beenus the entire time My dislike of that man had been epic before I’d discovered who he really was, but now? Every fiber ofloathed him But my hatred of Romvi/Ares/Asshat wasn’t important So many people were dead, and Ares knehere I was What was stopping hi hi more people?

I heard my na to the sound, I willed ain? I was like a newborn kitten or so Daimons across the nation shuddered in fear Gods, I was lame

"Alex"

My heart skipped a whole beat, and then sped up in recognition Ah, I knew that voice My heart and my soul knew that voice

"Alex, open your eyes Come on, baby, open those eyes"

I really wanted to, because for hiht a horde of half-blood dain me up Break a dozen or so rules for one forbidden kiss? Done Opentoomy cheek; the touch was so different than ly tender My breath caught in my throat

His thuly familiar way that I wanted to weep I should weep, actually, because I couldn’t fathoh when Ares and I had been locked in that room Come to think of it, I should’ve cried when I saw my mom I’d felt the tears, but they hadn’t fallen

"It’s okay," he said in a voice gruff with exhaustion and emotion "Apollo said it could take so it takes I’ll wait forever, if I have to"

Those words pulledit into mushy knots I didn’t want to make him wait for another second, let alone forever I wanted--no, needed--to see him To tell hiht, ory, but I wanted to relieve the harsh edge of stress in his voice I wanted to make him better because I couldn’t make my mom better, and I knew I couldn’t make myself better

There was a part of me that felt vastly empty

Dead

That was it I felt dead inside

Frustration coursed like acid in ed in a deep breath He stilled beside ed exhale

My heart plummeted

Gods, all I needed to do was open ht rope

That frustration quickly flipped to anger--a soul-deep kind of rage that tasted of hot bitterness My heart rate picked up, and that’s when I realized it was there--the cord It had been absent in Olympus, but it was back I hadn’t felt it at first because I’d only been acknowledging the ache inme and the First buzzed like auntil I swore I could see it inwith a blue one

Seth?

His reply didn’t coy so pure it was like being zapped by lightning Strength poured intoevery nerve ending Every distinct sound in the roo, more steady now, and the deep and slow inhales of the man beside me Doors opened and shut in the hallway outside the room, and there were voices, h, swirling across my body in response

I didn’t understand it, but I knew Seth was lending ht the furies for the first ti it up to adrenaline, but Seth had…he had lied about a lot of things

But noas helping me It didn’t make sense, since I wasto look a gift horse too closely in the ht at the moment

My eyes flew open

And I saw hitoward his touch His eyes were closed, but I kneake Thick, sooty ashes fanned the tips of his broad cheekbones His dark brown hair was a raceful arches of his brows