I pulled back, drawing in a sharp breath. Our eyes locked. A wealth of emotion shone in his brilliant green eyes. He cupped my cheek with one hand tenderly, and he spoke in his lovely language. It sounded like three lyrical words—a short, beautiful verse. “What did you say?” I asked, my fingers loosening around the cover. His smile was secretive and then his lips were on mine again and my eyes drifted shut. I let go of the blanket, felt it slip away, pool around my hips, and I felt Daemon stop breathing for a moment.

“One down,” I said, turning around. “Who’s ne—?”
Thanatos tossed Marcus to the ground, deflected Solos’ attack, and turned on me in a nanosecond. It was pretty epic.
A bolt of white light flew from Thanatos’ hand and there wasn’t a single thing in this world that could move fast enough. Not even Seth, I was betting.
It hit me just below the chest and my legs collapsed from underneath me. Red-hot, searing pain sliced through my skin and my face smacked off the ground. I didn’t even feel it. There was nothing but the razing pain locking up my muscles.
God bolts sucked.
Aiden yelled my name, and then I thought I heard my name called again, but it was inside my head, loud, and so very angry… and it sounded like Seth.
Without any warning, the ground trembled under my twitching body. A flash of golden light cascaded through the clearing. Warmth stole over my body. Weakly, I lifted my head.
Two leather-clad legs stood before me.
“That is enough, Thanatos.” Apollo’s voice was calm, but it was that creepy, deadly calm I never wanted to be on the receiving end of.
“N-n-nice of y-you to s-show up,” I gasped.
“Shut up, Alex.” Apollo strode forward. A ray of light followed his steps.

“They do.” Apollo’s eyes narrowed on me. “But I was hoping there was something knocking around in her brain that held the answer to that little problem. But—” Apollo smacked a hand down on my leg. “Must you always be moving some part of your body?”
I glared at him as I not-so-gently removed his hand. The contact of his flesh on mine brought the marks of Apollyon out like nothing else. And I knew he saw them by the way his eyes darted over my face. “It’s not hurting you,” I said.
“It’s annoying.”
“You’re annoying,” I shot back.