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The nearness of her was overwhelming my senses. Her smell, her very aura speaking to my long-dormant heart. I needed to keep my eyes on the road as we tore through the night, but I kept glancing at her, even though she glared at me. I noted only two changes in her; the runes on one side of her neck and a pink welt on the other, something akin to a birthmark. But I remembered her body as if it were my own, and no such mark had ever lain upon her skin before. Curious.

“Take me back to Roth’s chateau.” Her voice was cold, insistent on her command.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“It is possible, and you are going to do it right now, or I will call Artemis and all her warriors down on your head.”

“Do you want your sisters dead?” My words were harsh, but she didn’t understand the danger that had landed at her doorstep.

“You would dare threaten my sisters?” she hissed.

“I’m not the threat.” I shifted into higher gear as I whipped along the curving road back to the city. The engine roared, mimicking the tumult in my mind.

“Listen, Helen—”

“Elena.”

I curbed my comeback. “Fine, listen, Elena. That demon back there will stop at nothing to possess you. He will burn your sisters, this city, and the world to the ground before he will willingly let you go. Do you understand?”

“No, I don’t understand! Take me to my sisters, now, or so help me, I will call down the wrath of Artemis.”

She eyed the door handle, and I quickly flicked the locks into place. Neither of us had time for any escape except for the one we would make together, gods willing.

“You can’t call on Artemis.”

“Do you want to wager on that?” The fire in her voice made the air sizzle around her. Her power was bound, not broken.

“If you do, she will strike both of us dead.”

“Nonsense—well, only half is nonsense.” She smirked. “You will most certainly be dead. Artemis will see to it.”

I couldn’t allow her to even attempt summoning the goddess, so I dropped the bomb in the calmest voice I could. “She thinks we are in love and have run away together.”

Helen stilled her desperate search for an escape before turning to me, her jaw set in lines of fury. “What?”

“When you left Olympus, I was desperate to follow, so I told her about us.” I shrugged.

Her eyes flashed, and she fisted her hands. “I see now. I see why Artemis has abandoned me. This is all your fault. She did this because of your lies. Making up some nonsense about us being together. And there is no us,” she said between clenched teeth.

“It’s not a lie. We have been lovers for thousands of years. I simply reminded Artemis of that fact. She will offer you no aid, I promise you. You have been cast out, and I have a price on my head, courtesy of your mistress, among others.” Had I fucked the situation? Yes. But I didn’t have many options, not with Menelaus so close.

She ran her fingers down the mark of Artemis along the side of her neck. “No.” Her voice quavered the slightest bit.

“She may not have done it formally, but you are no longer in her good graces. Besides, you are powerful enough in your own right that any boost you get from Artemis is likely minimal at best. She won’t help you. Trust me on this.” I remembered the goddess’s vicious forehand along my jaw when I’d told her I was only there for Helen. The sting from her sharp slap had resonated for a full day afterward.

Helen pounded her fists on the dashboard, the heat I knew so well lighting her gaze and making me desperate to touch her, claim her again as mine. Gods, I had thought her dead for so long that just being near her, hearing her voice, catching her scent on the air—it was as if I had been reborn.

“Why do you think you know me? Why does that demon think I’m his wife? Why is there a mark on my back?” Her voice shook, anger in every note. She leaned forward for emphasis, showing me her bare flesh and the now-fading mark of Menelaus, the symbol of demon royalty.

I bristled at the sight of what the demon had done—in the past and now. I’d sworn long ago to end the vile creature but had no success. Menelaus was too well protected, always surrounded by a legion of warriors at his beck and call. He was a demon king, bred for battle and conquest, and he was obsessed with Helen. All the more reason I needed to get her to safety. “He won’t stop, Elena. Not until he has you again. Now that you’ve left Olympus, he can hunt you wherever you go. Our only chance is in the Underworld. We can hide there.”