Closing my eyes, I pressed the tips of my fingers under my chin. “Apollo?” I said into the quiet room. Maybe he wouldn’t respond to Hercules, but when I’d called his name the night Hyperion had me, he’d come.

Nothing but a soft tick of a nearby clock sounded. I tried again. “Dad?”

And still nothing.

No matter how many times I called his name, Apollo didn’t answer. Pressure increased in my chest and more tears snuck free. They kept falling silently, and I squeezed my eyes shut. By the time exhaustion dragged me under, I wasn’t sure who I was crying for the most.

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Seth

Josie’s horrified face was the last thing I saw and the first thing I recalled the moment my eyes peeled wide open and my chest rose sharply.

Holy shit.

I dragged in mouthfuls of air.

What had I done?

The buzz of pure aether still sang in my veins, lighting up every nerve ending and filling every cell with light and power. My skin buzzed and my senses were hyper aware.

What in the fuck had I done?

Something had happened to me.

It wasn’t just the stolen aether charging me up. Every single cell in my body had been reshaped. Raw energy zinged through my veins. A slow smile pulled at my lips as I stretched my neck from left to right. I knew what I was feeling.

I was the beginning and the end.

The God Killer.

My smile spread, but it froze as that knowledge sunk in. How? How was this possible? Immediately, I reached out to see if the bond between Alex and me was strong again, but it was still the same, there, but muted, in the background. That couldn’t bode well.

The bright haze of power threatened to drag me in, but the high was tainted—oh gods, it was a bitter joy coursing through my veins. The events before Josie had used that damn poison and knocked me into next week replayed over and over in my head. I didn’t need to close my eyes to see Josie’s back bow the very second I connected with her and fed. I didn’t need to use my fucking imagination to recall how her legs crumpled under her. Or how everyone else’s legs gave way as well.

There was no debating this anymore. No pretending that I could stay with Josie and not be with her, because fuck, that obviously hadn’t lasted longer than a hot second.

I was not safe.

I was never going to be safe.

Especially when it came to Josie.

Worse yet—gods—the worst thing was the look on Josie’s face. She was horrified, but she hadn’t been scared. She hadn’t looked betrayed, not even when I’d fed on her, not even when I had hurt her.