Turning, I pivoted on my heels, and in my peripheral vision, Achilles sprinted toward Patro.
I ran down the street in the opposite direction.
“FASTER!” Nyx screamed in my ear.
Gunshots echoed.
I glanced back—Achilles knelt over Patro, shooting at their retreating forms.
It was too little, too late.
The Titans were headed for me.
Achilles threw down his weapons, then lifted Patro’s limp body and met my gaze—his eyes were aflame.
Crack.
They leapt away.
There was a whooshing sound as the Titans shot straight into the air and took flight—a scream ripped from my throat.
I was alone with monsters.
Again.
11
THE DRAGON
ACHILLES: ONEMINUTEEARLIER
Fyodor Dostoevsky once said, “Above all, don’t lie to yourself.”
Did he know what this moment feels like?
He couldn’t have.
Only Kronos himself could understand the terror ripping through my chest.
In the middle of a decrepit city street, Titans with wings—when did that happen?—stalked past me as the man who owned my soul lay broken and bleeding, his neck bent at an unnatural angle.
For the smallest second, I glanced away from Patro.
Alexis, the girl we were supposed to protect, was staring at me with a resigned heaviness reserved for Sisyphus himself.
There was no hope in her two-colored eyes, just acceptance.
My psyche was disintegrating.
I turned back to Patro, unable to look anywhere but at his ruined body.
Leather chafed against my jaw as I tried to open my mouthand scream. My jaw cracked as the material refused to budge. The fucking muzzle had enough give so I could eat or smoke, but not enough that I could unleash my powers. If I could use my Kronos-given talent, the Titans would be handled.Easily.
But the federation had neutered me.
They’d damned me to this misery.
I’d never regretted anything more than taking the Spartan oath not to take it off. Oaths, like protector bonds, were forever.
