Now I needed to fight my way back to Nero, to Hades. And I had debts to collect.
I fought with everything I had, but the water was one of my oldest enemies. Vicious waves surged, determined to make this cavern my grave—all at the command of the God of the Sea himself.
I was sinking, still kicking desperately. My red hair fanned around me in the dark water like spilled blood, like the memory of every death before.
No. Not like this. Not again. I’ve come too far.
I was caught between transforming from mortal back to goddess—neither one thing nor the other. Vulnerable, just when I needed to be strongest.
I needed Hades more than ever, even knowing how futile it was. He couldn’t sense me here. He likely didn’t even know I was gone.
I refused to perish. It would break him.
Then a hand yanked me against a hard chest.
An arm wrapped around my waist, steel-strong and unyielding. Lips crashed into mine, and precious air flooded into my burning lungs.
I whimpered, drawing the breath in greedily. The searing in my chest eased as oxygen spread through my body.
Against all odds, Hades had come. He’d found me.
He wasn’t late this time.
My heart hammered with joy and relief. Tears sprang from my eyes, instantly washed away by the icy water. A sob caught in my throat, burning raw.
I pulled back once I had enough air to think. My gaze fixed on my rescuer, my pulse leaping wildly.
Tiger-gold eyes stared back at me—not sapphire.
Golden hair billowed around him in the water, catching what little light filtered from above.
The whisper of his name caught between my lips before it could escape.
It wasn’t Hades who had come for me.
It was Sebastian.
No—Apollo. The God of Sun and Brightness.
The god who had coveted me, who had resented my choice, who had pursued me across lifetimes.
He still held me, his beautiful face inches from mine—perfect like carved marble, his eyes flashing with possessive hunger.
He had saved me.
But that didn’t mean I was out of the woods.
Chapter
Eighteen
Bloom
One Bed and One Horse
“I’ve got you,”Sebastian mouthed.
Around us, the waves hardened and rose, taking shape and form—serpentine creatures with gaping mouths and teeth like razors. A school of sharks surrounded us, their cold eyes fixed on me.
