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CHAPTER TEN

IT TOOK HER TWO DAYS, but Nike finally located Atlas’s ho estate in Olympus Or Titania, as Cronus had renamed the city The amount of wealth Atlas had needed to acquire such a place astonished her--and she knew exactly how much he’d paid because she had once owned it But then, she supposed he’d considered every cent worth it After living in a tiny cell for thousands of years, he’d et And every a pool, , marble staircases and four fireplaces, and all the walls were coold None of that interested her, however Only his bedroom did

There, she discovered more about the man who had sent her on her way A man ould not have risked this just to avoid her face, as he’d clai other than love

Nearly everything was as she’d left it A huge bed covered with black silk sheets The walls were painted with murals of the sun and sky, and the furniture sany There were multiple bookcases, each filled with leather-bound books Her books Beaded pilloere strategically placed along the floor Places for hie and read, as she had done

What held her attention, however, was the only difference A portrait hung above the hearth A portrait of her

He must have commissioned it after their time inside that tent, for she was reclined in a porcelain tub, bubbles sliding over her shoulders and chest, her hair soaked She would have looked as plain and masculine as always, except he’d had the artist add a sensual light to her dark eyes and a coet-me curve to her lips

Finally she kne he saw her As someone beautiful He’d once told her so, but she’d had trouble believing hi Only ain such a prominent place Only a ht before he fell asleep, then wake up looking at it

Oh, yes He loved her As she loved hiht, hoped, that he did so, but she had let his words scrape against her already low self-esteem How could so beautiful and sensual a man want her? she’d wondered But he did He loved her Proof: he’d risked everything for her

She could do no less for hi her lover would have a weapons case stashed so exactly what to do with it

ATLAS WAS NOT GIVEN A CELL of his own--not at first Still bleeding and frantic, fighting, he had been thrust into a cell with Erebos Of course, that’s who had been chosen as his cellhiht to claim his Nike A male who had then stolen food from her, pushed her around and called her terrible names

Atlas had seen it happen on nu about it then, telling hiot, but he’d wanted to And there was no better tith corralled by the collar and half his blood dried to his chest, even with his still-seeping wounds splitting open with every ed to defeat Erebos in record tiod in the balls while he was down In the end, a broken, bloody Erebos lay crying on the dirty floor, right alongside everyone who had tried to save him

That’s when Atlas was moved to the empty cell Nike had occupied He stretched out on the cot, si essence His sweet, sweet Nike He would have to spend eternity without her Without even her brand Once again, he roared

What was she doing now? If she sought solace in the arms of another man, even in the years to come, he would tear this prison apart stone by stone and kill the bastard As if You sent her on her way to do just that You want her happy

"What’s all the racket? Seriously"

Gods, he was hearing her voice now Locked up two days, and he was already headed into insanity

His bars rattled, slid open He rolled to his side, deterht of his beloved Nike, he blinked Oh, yes, he was indeed going insane She stood before him, clad in a black leather bra top and black leather pants Her hair was slicked back in a smooth ponytail Blood splattered her cheeks Never had she looked th there for all to see

She was holding someone’s arm Without their body For the sensor in the wrist?

His hallucinations were certainly detailed

"Well?" she said, clearly i to say anything?"

Slowly he sat up He didn’t want this ht of her "I y Stupid"I aze fell to his chest, and she gaped in astonish cut my name off you?"