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I caught Aiden’s stare and kneas thinking the sa I was The corner of his lips tipped up, and I flushed

"Seriously? Could you guys go longer than five ly faces at one another?" Seth walked between us, scowling "It’s distracting"

Aiden sot into another battle of wits that ended withto crawl under Prometheus’ skin "How many of the Titans do you have down here?"

"All of the ones ant to cause problehed, hurrying to catch up to him "Very few are in Elysian Fields Cronus and his cronies are all here"

Cronus was the father of Zeus, Hades, and who kne ods A shudder snaked down my spine Hades kept his own father iht fit Luckily, eren’t in it for very long We entered another chamber, but this one was different

We were in the toht it was odd--the number Twelve Olympians Twelve entombed Titans They were in some kind of capsule-like containers, embedded deep into the stone wall A thick layer of reddish ice covered the only a humanoid shape beyond the barrier But froantuan-size

"Do you know that I’m actually older than Zeus?" Hades asked as he placed the torch into a sconce in the wall "As are Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and so on? But because Cronus was a dick--and he was a huge dick--and our momma only saved Zeus, the world thinks Baby Brother was the first to be born"

"Didn’t Cronus eat you guys?" Seth asked

Ius’ crap was sy us He held us in captivity until our baby brother set us free" He walked along the iced-over tombs, and his eyes narrowed as he stopped in front of the tomb in the center "Screw you, Dad"

I past a look at Aiden, who slowly shook his head, but then Hades stepped to the left and let out a heavy sigh "There was a tied hi my breath" He turned to aze crawled to the tomb in front of him, and my pulse picked up "Like I’ve said, we really don’t have any other choices"

Hades stared atmoment and then turned back to the tomb "You don’t" He placed his hand on the center of the tomb I wanted to step back, but I forced h the to lost, and then Seth would make fun of me for the rest of my life

The ice shuddered, and a spiderweb of cracks for across the front of the tomb Seth and Aiden flankedat each other

Ice slipped away, shedding fro tiny sounds like a distant wind chime Within seconds, the Titan was revealed

Perses was tall--almost seven and a half feet, maybe more And he was unnaturally still inside his tomb Thick lashes fanned cheeks the color of supple brown leather His skull was sular and exotic--full lips, sharp cheekbones, and a well-defined brow He was beautiful in the way all the godly creatures were: inhumanly perfect

As still as the Titan was, he looked dead Not even his chest er surrounded hiine what it would be like once he was released

Leather pants and a tunic stretched over broad, thick muscles There were cuffs on his wrists, adorned with odd syods and leather?" Ilook "We ue that, but the gods’ hotness didn’t coht processes

"Last chance," Hades said, looking over his shoulder at us

There was a pause, and then Aiden said, "Do it"

With a slight shake of his head, Hades turned back to the Titan and placed his hand on the center of its chest A red glow radiated frood’s palm and then washed over Perses No words were spoken or rituals completed It appeared that Hades alone had the special touch

Hades stepped back and folded his ar

The Titan shuddered once and then opened his eyes I tried to squelch the gasp but couldn’t Unlike the Olympians, his eyes were pitch black The whole eye--the exact opposite of the Olyods’ eyes werecoaze landed on Hades and his lip curled up "You’ve got to be kidding me"

My brows shot up at the sound of the deep voice So wasn’t expecting that to be the first thing for the Titan to say when he came out of the deep freeze

Hades tilted his head to the side as a slow, lazy smile spread across his lips "Hello, Perses, hoas your nap?"

"It was great, asshole"

Oh Dear

The spine of the god stiffened "I can see your attitude is the same as it e chained you into this tomb"

"Barely chained roup with a passing look and then swung his head back toward us The violent curl of his lips slipped away as his eyes narrowed "I’od, and two Apollyons before me? I must admit, I am curious"

I was surprised by hoell Hades was handling the insults being flung his way

"We need your help," I forced myself to say "That’s why you’ve been awakened"

One dark eyebrow rose into a perfect arch "You need hed so deeply I thought I felt the ground under h At least he wasn’t trying to kill us "My help? I cannot iotten yourself in if the Oly to a Titan for help"

"Well, you see…" I cleared ave him the quick and dirty version of events The whole time he stared at"We know you can prepare us and you can--"