Hera growled, then launched toward me once more. I darted back and danced around to the other side of the statue, where the shadows were thinner. It also blocked me from her sight, temporarily. I knelt and ripped the bottom of my gown, tying the edges together to form makeshift trousers.
It looked entirely ridiculous, but I’d rather look dumb than dead.
She whirled around the statue, fists raised. When she caught sight of me, she stopped short and smirked. “Really? You think that will actually give you an edge against me? Just give up, Selene.Yield.You’re too young to have any hope of winning this fight.”
I lifted my gaze to the sky. The clouds were thinning.
In that brief moment, Hera erased the distance between us. She threw herself against me, and this time, I wasn’t fast enough to retreat. Her sharp nails scraped against my cheek, and the weight of her knocked me off my feet. My hip smacked against the ground, and a sharp stab of pain lanced through me.
I gritted my teeth and rolled to the side, taking her with me. With a grunt, I grabbed her shoulders and pinned her in the mud, an uncontrollable snarl curling back my lips. The urge to rip into her neck made my jaw ache. Everything about this vampire was everything I hated, and I wanted to make her pay for what she’d done—for what Zeus had done.
The murmur of voices sounded from the other side of the statue, and hurried footsteps soon followed. The Olympians clearly didn’t want to miss this.
I shoved her harder against the ground, straddling her. A dribble of blood went down my cheek from where she’d scraped me. It splatted onto her chin, and a few droplets hit her mouth. With a laugh, she licked it from her lips.
“Delicious,” she hissed up at me. “I can’t wait to feast upon you when all this is over.”
I arched a brow. “Your mask has dropped, Hera. Don’t want to be allies, after all?”
Her smile faltered. “We’re all enemies and always have been. Any semblance of alliance is a lie. Any spoken words of affection are nothing more than a way to lull you into a false sense of security. Even those we believe are our closest friends hate us. You will see, Selene. Or you would, if you could win this battle. But I can’t let you do that. ATitanwill not be the end of me.”
Shrieking, Hera shoved against me with a speed and strength that caught me off guard. I went flying, my hands slipping from her shoulders. Landing on my back, I scrambled to my feet, but she kicked the back of my knee before I could make purchase. My body collapsed forward, and I threw out my hands to stop my face from slamming into the ground. A jolt rattled my skull, my teeth knocking together.
Bright lights filled my vision.
Hera grabbed my hair and tugged me backward. Pain exploded in my neck, my boots slipping across the mud. Eyes blurring, I reached back to dig my nails into her hands, but she was too fast, too strong, toobrutalfor me to grab her.
I clawed at the ground, digging my fingers into the mud. With a grunt, Hera slowed. I launched my legs off the ground and kicked at her face. My boot made contact with a sickeningcrunch, and for the smallest of moments, Hera’s grip on me loosened.
I yanked my hair away from her, flung myself onto my stomach, and leapt to my feet. My entire body heaved, splatters of mud and blood covering every inch of me. I narrowed my gaze as Hera lifted her eyes to my face. Tangled strands of her honey blonde hair dripped mud onto her cheeks. She rubbed her jaw, wincing.
“You broke a bone.” She narrowed her gaze. “How?”
Because I’ve spent my entire life training to fight you. Because your ex-lover murdered my mother. Because you trap humans in farms. And because there’s far, far more to me than meets the eye.
“It’ll heal,” I merely replied.
“Oh, stop blabbering and get on with it,” Poseidon barked. We both turned toward the gathered monarchs. They’d moved to this side of the statue now, so they could better see the fight. Ares stood beside Zeus, flanking him alongside Poseidon, like the sycophants they both were.
Ares knew I wasn’t guilty. Would he say something if Hera won? Or would he let Zeus vanquish me? He’d always wanted me dead. I supposed not much had really changed, regardless of the brief alliance he’d offered.
My top lip curled back. I should have expected nothing less.
Hera stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Ares. She smirked as she glanced between the two of us, then chuckled to herself.
“You will get burned, my love,” she whispered, keeping her back facing the others.
Overhead, the clouds began to part, and the blood moon’s light flooded the arena, dousing everything in a vicious red.
And so I levelled my gaze on Hera’s mud-splattered face and smiled. “No, I don’t think so,love. You’re the one who’s going to burn.”
23
SELENE
The blood moon dripped its red light onto Hera’s skin. I shuffled back a few steps, bracing myself. Hera’s cheeks bloomed a mottled shade of red. Her eyes went wild, and she threw her shaking hands to her face, feeling the burn.
And then she screamed. It was a horrible, gut-twisting sound that cut through the night like a monstrous knife. The other monarchs began to shout, fleeing from the center of the arena to the safety of the shadows. But Hera remained, her face turning more crimson with every second that passed.
