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My father takes a step backward.

“Impossible.”

I feel it then.

The bond between us.

Not the curse.

Something deeper.

Something that began the moment she touched my face and gave me my first taste of life.

“Calla,” I whisper.

She looks at me.

And suddenly I understand.

My father’s curse was built upon obedience.

Submission.

The belief that gods were above mortals and mortals existed only to serve them.

But I’ve willingly surrendered everything for a woman I love.

Not because she belongs to me.

Because I belong with her.

The marble covering my chest fractures.

Hypnos whirls toward me.

“No!”

A heartbeat thunders through my body.

Then another.

The stone explodes.

Silver light tears through the temple.

The chains shatter.

And for the first time in three thousand years, my full divine power surges through my veins.

I rise from the broken marble.

Hypnos stumbles backward.

I smile.

“Hello, Father.”

The temple trembles.