Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore Book 1)

Kharon: Five months earlier

The initiates’ first lap of the Crucible (Kharon’s omitted realization)

An insane realization hit me, and my breath left my lungs like I’d been punched as Alexis and the drowning boy splashed in the water.

No.

It can’t be.

It’s not possible.

Alexis’s eyes were bloody and glowing.

They were Chthonic red.

I quickly did the math in my head—there was only one Chthonic child who’d died as a child.

Hercules.

My jaw dropped.

She was the famous daughter of Persephone and Hades. Everyone in Sparta knew how they’d tragically lost her after Titans attacked.

Plot twist—she was very much alive.

The boy screamed louder in the water like he was being torn to pieces as they tussled.

My breath left my lungs like I’d been punched.

Oh my Kronos—she’s killing him.

The boy splashed harder, and Alexis yelled something, but I couldn’t hear it over the rushing in my ears.

The federation doesn’t know.

They don’t know she’s Chthonic.

No one can know.

I smiled so widely that it hurt my face—she was the solution to the marriage law; she was the loophole we’d been searching for.

I call dibs.

Pure euphoria filled me.

She’s going to be ours. Augustus is going to be thrilled.

I had to make it look like I killed the boy before someone realized what she was. I had to keep her identity hidden.

She would be our dirty little secret.

Kneeling, I touched the boy’s forehead. Pain stabbed through my chest as I unleashed my Chthonic powers. His screams intensified as I let him see my protectors, and he flailed while Hell and Hound jumped in to feast, but all my attention was still on her.

A plan unfolded before me.

A scheme.

Alexis had been raised in the human world.

She didn’t know our customs.

She wouldn’t know that merely opening a betrothal box was an acceptance of a union.

In contrast, everyone in Sparta knew the first step was to discover the sender.

Her ignorance was perfect.

We could exploit it.

Ruthlessly.

Then at her graduation ceremony, we’d reveal to all of Sparta that she’d accepted our gifts.

She’d be ours.

Eternally.

The federation couldn’t do anything to stop the ceremony if all of Sparta knew she was already ours. It would be the highest dishonor to intervene.

We could trap her in marriage.

It would work.

It had to.

Who ruled Sparta was on the line.

I was the hunter of my generation because I knew how to play the long game—I always caught my prey.

Alexis Hert is going to be ours. She’s going to be between us. Underneath us. On her knees. On a marriage altar with her thighs spread wide while we feast on her. We’re going to devour her.

Our power is going to be unprecedented.

The three of us will be the villains of this new age.

The federation will fall.

I stood up, the boy forgotten, as I slowly turned my boat toward her.

Alexis’s stunning blood-filled eyes flashed, then she swam away frantically.

Tipping my head back, I roared with laughter.

I followed her closely.

When she finished the swim and crawled onto the banks, I sat down in the boat, and I used the other dark gift from my creature heritage.

I pushed my consciousness into my protectors.

“Follow Alexis, watch her. Don’t leave her side,” I commanded them.

Hell and Hound stalked forward into the mountain entrance, invisible to everyone but me.

I sat down in the boat and focused on the connection with my protectors that pounded through my sternum.

Whatever they saw, I saw.

We were one.

Being in two places at once could be disconcerting, but it was easiest when I had nothing to do. Lucky for me—my schedule was free for months.

Hell and Hound slunk into the back of the dark classroom—making creature noises that only I could hear—as they zeroed in on Alexis, who was hunched over, shivering.

She whipped her head around and squinted directly at where they were.

My breath caught.

Can she see them?

She slumped lower and looked away, shaking her head like she was imagining something.

She doesn’t know I’m watching her.

Chuckling, I lounged back in the boat and spread my arms wide as I enjoyed the view.

Alexis Hert didn’t know it yet, but she’d enthralled a monster.

Things were about to get very messy.

I laughed harder.

The stalking had begun.