He pointed down at the red-stained blanket.
Charlie blanched.
Oh my god, I could have hurt him.I’d been so upset, so concerned with getting back to him, that I’d forgotten I was putting him at risk.Thank God he’s okay. Thank God I didn’t accidentally use my powers.
Charlie turned to me with concern and shuffled back.
Augustus seized the opening. He moved with impossible swiftness and threw me over his shoulder. Nyx moaned in her sleep as I was flung through the air.
Charlie lunged for me, but Patro and Achilles stopped him.
For a second, I was stunned.
I exploded into action.
“NO!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs, fighting with everything I had. “CHARLIE HAS TO COME WITH ME. IF YOU LEAVE HIM HERE, I’LL KILL US ALL!”
Augustus wrapped his arm around the back of my legs in a steel vise. His hand gripped my thigh through the thin material of my dress.
He squeezed, hard enough to bruise.
“I promise,” I gasped for air as I struggled. “Ipromise, if you leavehim right now—I’ll never forgive any of you. I’ll chop myself into little pieces. I’ll poison your food with my blood. I’ll bring us all d-down and then?—”
“For Kronos’s sake,” Patro shouted, interrupting my tirade. “While Kharon was tracking you here, Augustus told us you had a brother. We were always planning on bringing him back—we’re not monsters.”
I stopped struggling.
Tilted my head to look at Kharon’s face. “You promise,” I said, needing to know it wasn’t a sick joke and that they’d separate us. “Please.”
I didn’t trust any of them, especially not him.
Glacial eyes narrowed. “So you’re notblood related?” Kharon asked skeptically.
I snarled, “He’s my fucking brother. Howdareyou?”
Kharon clicked on the safety of his gun and put it in his thigh holster. “Calm down—carissima. We’ll bring him with us.”
“No,” I spat. “I don’t think I will calm down. Why are you even here?”
Augustus’s fingernails dug into my thigh.
Kharon’s smile was all teeth. “The real question is, why is our betrothed living in a fuckingbox? But we’ll get to that later. For now—run away from us again, and we’ll chain you to our bed. Forever.”
I held up two broken fingers and flipped him off.
“We’ll get to that part later,” Kharon said with a depraved smirk.
I scoffed at his hubris.
Patro’s lips thinned, and Achilles’s eyes flashed with vitriol. My mentors were suddenly glaring at Kharon like they wanted to murder him.
Why are they so angry?
“Domus,” Augustus whispered, nails stabbing deeper like he was trying to burrow himself under my skin.
The world twisted with darkness.
All six of us leaped away.
