Sophie’s eyes shot wide. She tilted her head back, looking at him. “Really? That’s amazing! That’s perfect!” Her gaze darted to the shard. She could get rid of that glowing bit of Olympian ice and get back to her safe, sane life just in time for Christmas!

So why did Piers’s expression say it was anything but amazing? He looked as though he’d swallowed a razor blade, and it was cutting him in half.

“Piers?” A terrible feeling sank through her.

“Call a god, lose a soul. You see, I figured out just enough to know that summoning an Olympian could be a means to exile. I didn’t understand that the summoner doesn’t get to choose who goes. Someone’s permanent exile is the result of calling on a god for a favor. It’s not supposed to be the favor itself.” His eyes darkened and locked with hers. “Athena will come when I call, but she’ll rip us apart. That’s the price we’ll pay for using magic that’s supposed to be long lost. That’s the price to pay for summoning a god.”

CHAPTER 9

Sophie stumbled back, and Piers’s lungs tightened. His punishment was just beginning, wasn’t it? He knew he’d been an asshole to Cat and deserved to suffer, but if the gods’ goal was to finish him off, they were on the right track. He’d already lost his home and family. He didn’t think he’d survive losing Sophie.

“Rip us apart?” She scraped her hair back with shaking fingers. “You mean…take one of us away? Exile?”

“Those are the rules.” Piers barely recognized his voice. His words hitched on the lump in his throat. “And we don’t get to choose who goes, although I’ll offer myself and hope she takes me.”

“No!” Then Sophie winced, her face washing of color.

Piers shook his head. “Not you, Sophronia mou. You have everything here. I have nothing.”

“You have me.” The tremor in her voice nearly undid him. Piers’s heart folded in on itself.

Having Sophie was precisely the problem. She was all he had. And the summoning chant meant losing a soul close to him. Piers hadn’t understood that part of the old texts until it was too late, and Kaia, especially, ended up in grave danger. He’d offered himself instead, and the gods had accepted. They might not accept again.

“You should be far away from me when I summon her. Distance might help, although I’m not certain. I’ll give the shard back.”

“Why wouldn’t distance help?” Sophie’s blue eyes ate up half her face. So scared. So beautiful. So his.

A chasm cracked down his chest. Why? Punishing him shouldn’t mean punishing Sophie. Later, he would rail against the Fates, but right now, he could sacrifice without question as long as she was safe.