“Apollymi, goddess of destruction and creation, I humbly summon you. Please do your most earnest and humble servant the honor of appearing,” Aricles whispered the words as he poured scented oil over the hot coals at the base of Apollymi’s statue on Didimosia. He hadn’t been to this temple since his grandfather had brought him here on a sacred pilgrimage when he was a boy.

Looking up at the statue, he was as struck by the goddess’s beauty today as he’d been then. But it was the cruelty in her stone eyes that was still terrifying.

That cruelty that he was now imploring.

Unaware of his intentions, her priests were all in their corner, and he was alone in the main temple hall to make his blood offering to the most dangerous god in their pantheon.

At first, he thought she’d ignore him. But just as he was ready to leave, he felt the same stirring in the air that came anytime Bathymaas materialized before a mortal.

There in front of him stood a vision of feminine beauty. Almost as tall as he was, she had long wavy blond hair and swirling silver eyes. “You have some nerve, mortal. You swear allegiance to an Egyptian goddess I loathe, take up sword for her, and now you dare summon me? Really?”

He went down on one knee before her. “For that, I beg your indulgence, goddess. But I’m here because I’ve been told that you and I have something in common.”

“And that is?”

“Hatred for the Greek god Apollo.”

Her eyes flashed red. “I despise all things Greek.”

“And that is why I offer up my soul and my sword to you.”

She scowled at him. “I don’t understand.”

Swallowing hard, he forced himself to make a bargain he hoped he didn’t live to regret. “The god threatens what I love, and I plan to challenge him, and while I know what a capable warrior I am, I also know that I lack the abilities to destroy a god on my own.”

A slow smile curved her lips. “You are a ballsy bastard … and that I respect.” She paused to consider his words. “What will you give me for this favor should I grant it?”

“Name it, my goddess, and I’ll pay it.”

Apollymi approached him slowly. She jerked his chlamys away from his left shoulder blade to show where Bathymaas had placed her mark on him after he swore himself to her alone. “What have you done, mortal? Rezar will kill you for daring to touch his beloved daughter.”

“Have you never been in love, goddess?”

She growled low in her throat. “Love makes fools of us all, eventually. Even the great Bathymaas.” She pulled his chlamys back over the mark. “I still should kill you.”

Aricles didn’t flinch or react to her words at all.

“Have you nothing to say to that?” she asked him.