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A colossal blast nearly takes us from our feet.

36

ERO

Blinding flame and billowing smoke blossom to either side of the amphitheater, rocking the ground. Ananke and Dom shout orders, Dom eyeing the crowd like he just saw a ghost.

Surprise!

From every angle, phantom attacks corral Ananke’s soldiers, hemming them in. The guests panic, rushing toward the path of least resistance, toward the back.

Clusters form in the mob, lashing out against perceived attacks from within the audience. Fighting breaks out between gangsters and politicians, celebrity bodyguards threatening anyone trying to approach.

Circe and I spot Ananke and Dom running for the sideline of the arena, our former mistress gesticulating wildly and spouting orders.

“No one leaves! Kill every single one of them!”

Dom leans in, reaching for her arm. “Hey?—!”

“This is your fault!”

“What?! I gave you Ero and that little bitch?—”

One of her guards backhands Dom. They scuffle, Dom deftly snapping the man’s wrist and taking his gun. By the time he breaks free, his partner vanishes, leaving him cussing and looking for a way out.

“Stop him!” Circe screams.

Two steps forward and we’re surrounded by a swarm of Pantheon goons. Neither of us waste a moment, shoving off of one another and propelling ourselves into the fray. Disarming two at once with lightning stabs of stiffened fingers and a clever twist of one of their guns. I toss the pistol behind me to Circe, flicking a pendulum kick into a chin to my right and flip another assailant’s hands back viciously, forcing his finger against the trigger, right into his face.

Three pops on my flank, two cries of wounded and dying men, and I’m dropping into a spin, taking out another guard’s legs.

He lands with a thud, Circe slamming her heel down across his throat.

“She’s getting away, they both are!”

“Dom’s not going anywhere,” I snarl, spotting two of my brothers as they break free of the press and converge on the gap in the wall Dom slipped through moments before.

Circe dithers, struggling with which way to go.

“Circe!”

She tilts her head away from me, toward the ear not leaking blood. Some hearing must be returning.

“Let’s go!”

“Go get him. Be there when they fucking off that prick! I have to go after Ananke.”

“If you’re only deaf in one ear, she might?—”

“I can’t risk her disappearing, Ero. I’ll never rest or find peace unless?—”

“Hey bitchface!” A cocky, female voice rings over the tumult. “You coming? She went that way!”

Circe and I look up past rows of bodies and ex-party guests battling against Ananke’s army. It’s a fucking madhouse. But there at the top of the steps, an incredibly tall woman kicks a groaning guard in the gut, resting a katana on her shoulder as she points the way.

“Artemis!” Circe cries.

“And …”