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Chapter 1
Elyse
I stood in front of Heracles, sinking low, bending my knees. I stayed close to the ground, as close as I could. In my right hand, I gripped a short blade. It wasn’t what I usually fought with. I’d gravitated toward a couple of different weapons over time, going with things that suited my mood. Lately, this one was my favorite.
“Okay, now, when you’re facing someone like this—” Heracles started, but I wouldn’t let him finish. I lunged forward and slashed, holding the blade so it protruded away from my body, my thumb curled around the hilt.
It was a dirty way to fight, attacking when he wasn’t expecting the assault. And it worked.
Heracles jumped back, his eyes widening. The attack hadn’t been a friendly one. When I fought and trained now, I attacked with the intent to maim or destroy.
Dark of me? Maybe. But I wasn’t here to play games. Not after X had kidnapped my best friend. Not after losing my spare lives. And that was just the tip of the freaking iceberg.
“Who pissed in your coffee?” Heracles asked. And he was right—I was furious. I wasn’t just pulling out my best moves to prove myself a good student.
We were way past that.
I was upset because Zeus had decided that Apollo wasn’t allowed to live on Earth anymore. He’d been banished to Mount Olympus, the place the gods lived. Why? Because Apollo and I were together. Apparently, the reason Apollo came to Earth at all and hid away from all the other gods was he’d wanted to get away from Mount Olympus and try out life down here.
Because the poor guy had been heartbroken a million times. That was what happened when a god fell in love with mortals.
Zeus told him the only way he could stay on Earth was if he didn’t fall for any mortals again.
Then along came me, little Elyse, screwing with Zeus’s plans. And Apollo did what he wanted…despite the rules.
I wasn’t sure what I was more upset about: Zeus banning Apollo from Earth so I’d never see him again, or Apollo never warning me that Zeus wasn’t messing around before it came to that. I would have stepped back and told Apollo we couldn’t be together. Better to be friends, to be able to see him at least, than this.
It was pathetic. And despite my best intentions, part of me wondered if I would have been able to truly push him away if the moment had come. He was the first of the gods I fell for, who made me fall for him, and then he went ahead and showed me what a charmer he was, spoiling me, gifting me with jewelry… but now he was gone.
“Look, it’s fine if you don’t want to talk,” Heracles snapped. “But I’m not going to go easy on you if you’re going to get feisty with me.”
I chuckled despite my disposition. “Since when do you go easy on me?”
“I had to at first. But you’re not that person anymore. You’re a hell of a fighter now.”
I didn’t let him continue with the compliments. I wasn’t in an amiable mood, not even if I was having my ego stroked. Besides, fighting always felt better than talking. So, I lunged at Heracles again, slashing my knife through the air.
This time, he was ready for me. He blocked the blow and struck at me with his left fist. I wasn’t completely ready for it, although I should have been. Always expect the unexpected. But I dodged the punch anyway. I had speed on my side now.
“I’m still not used to you moving like that,” Heracles admitted after I ducked a few more punches and landed a kick to his kidneys he couldn’t just shrug off.
I smirked. “It didn’t take me very long to get used to it.”
Heracles laughed and shook his head. “Be careful that your newfound power doesn’t make you cocky. Cocky gets you killed.”
Normally, I’d have laughed it off or offered him a smart-ass retort, just because I could. But this time, my spirits dipped again. Fighting and joking could only do so much to keep my shitty attitude at bay.
“Don’t remind me,” I murmured.
He nudged me. “Hey, it’s not so bad.”
“Says the immortal demigod.”
I was pouting. Like a child. But I had a reason, and Heracles wasn’t going to be able to talk me out of this one. Because if I died again, that was it. I was dead. I’d already died three times, and every time the Lowe bloodline saved my ass and brought me back. But there were only so many times that would work for me, and I was, quite literally, at the end of the line.
There’d been hope before, a reminder I had more lives to fall back on, but now… Now, I felt the flicking ember of my life, ready to snuff out if I made the wrong move.
For all intents and purposes, I was mortal now. If you didn’t count super strength, super speed, and healing abilities.
