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The body with the now shattered head thuds to the ground in the same moment Gideon lets out a girlishly high scream that would have been funny, if it all weren’t so grotesque.

Ares tips his head back once more, swirling mist of red and black concealing the features of his face as he frees a high whistle that pierces the sky.

And then he refocuses on the battle, dropping one hundred men in less than five minutes with Gideon fighting at his back. From the arena doors in the amphitheatre, more men spill. Overhead, I see four spots of burning color with wings of blazing gold. Lightning strikes at them, but it’s met with a flame that devours the bolts one after the other as they charge toward the battle. Men scream as Ares’ four Pegasus land in the sand, breathing hot flames into the amphitheatre. The flames chase the gladiators, melting flesh from bone as screams tear into the darkening sky.

Ares says something I can’t begin to understand as the white horse—Phobos, I remember from my last introduction pauses in front of Gideon. I’m not sure the man has ever ridden a horse in his life, but he still climbs atop the winged beast. His fingers dig deep into the golden mane as the Pegasus shoots up into the sky.

The three other Pegasus soar high to where Hydra growls and roars inside her lightning cage. Together, the three release flames of gold that devour the lightning prison as Hydra looses her own flames, rich with the screams of the darkest Pits of Tartarus.

Hell is well and truly unleased then as the Gods and Goddesses, and souls of the dead trapped within the hijacked realm that is the Golden City of Gods descends into chaos.Screams tear through the stands and gladiators turn on one another. Inky shadows come to life in the black smoke that survives the dying of Hydra’s flame.

“I am coming, my Persephone!”Hydra roars in my mind, but even I can hear the surprise that taints her voice when she speaks.

“What is this?” Athena hisses in my ear, and I think I feel the sharp slide of her canine against the lobe. When I don’t answer, she screams again, “What is this, you witch!”

She’s too busy looking at the inky spill of shadows that wreak havoc on the crowd now fighting to escape to notice Ares stop fighting. His head tips back, blood red eyes lusting for battle as they lock on me and Athena. He roars a savage roar of pain as a spray of blood bursts from his back where the black obsidian of his bone shines with the blood he’d allowed the gladiators to spill.

A black bone skeleton of sharply pointed wings unfolds from his spine, spilling acidic blood that rains on the ground as he throws his head back once again and screams a scream of male rage and agony as the space between the bones begins to fill with a leathery flesh. Between the two wings, a leathery pouch forms—and black spears ofGods’ bone, I realise—pokes out the top. The whole thing takes only seconds, and then Ares bursts from the arena where flames lick at him—keeping him from the violence of the gladiators that continue to spill from the now open arena doors.

He soars straight for me and Athena, one massive arm swinging back to connect with the pointed spears that sit in the pouch between his wings. Teeth gnash in pain as he yanks a spear free, releasing another vicious spray of blood as he arcs his hand and, reaching for me with one, he shoves the Gods’ bone spear down through Athena’s open mouth. She’d let me go, her gun metal wings fluttering fast as she tried to surge herself upand away from Ares’ attack. She only served to thrust herself into his attack.

I can’t say I’m sorry when I see the tip of Ares’ spear appear from the base of her belly. Her dark eyes snap wide and her wings give a quick flutter before she is falling to the arena, unmoving.

Zeus roars, but I pay it no mind as Ares grunts, locking his arms around me. I realize they tremble with exhaustion, not fear when he shoves us higher into the sky. Still, I can’t take my eyes off the scene below as the gladiators descend on Athena. It’s then I realize as she screams that she wasn’t dead.

They tear into her, ripping flesh in ribbons and scattering her bones. Her screams have ended, but they seem to echo in the amphitheatre alongside Zeus’ cries until Ares flies me too far for the sound of any of the chaos to reach.

I say nothing, too shocked and afraid to speak as Ares clings to me with a strength that quickly weakens. I don’t have the faintest idea where he is taking me until we land outside the massive wood door adorned with metal in the side of the mountain. The landing is so rough, that I spill painfully against the gravel, shards digging deep into my palms and knees.

Ares simply collapses, his open wounds collecting debris in his fall.

Pain bites my hands and knees as I crawl toward him, screaming his name. “Ares!” I reach him, afraid to touch him as I cry. “Wake up.Wake up!”

When he doesn’t open his stone covered eyes, I scramble to my feet. My knees quake, threatening to give out with every step I take. Adrenaline is in overdrive, but I manage to get myself to the door.

I throw my entire body into the wood, uncertain that I can summon the energy to beat it with my fists. Blackness hovers at the edge of my vision. It doesn’t seem to matter how manybreaths I gasp into the deep of my lungs, I can’t seem to fill them. Can’t satisfy their craving for more.

“Help,” I think I scream.

The blackness creeps over my vision until there is little more than a pinprick. My body lurches forward. Something hard connects with the side of my face. Maybe my face connects with something hard.

In the pinhole that remains of my vision, I see a girl.

Everything turns black.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

Persephone

“Oh, you’re awake.”

I wasn’t, not really, but I certainly am now. I’m not sure I’ve ever slept so deeply in all my life. My body is heavy with the weight that clings to it. Shallow breaths stretch my lungs, and I cough a raspy sound. I feel as though I haven’t used my lungs in days.

What happened?

I try to sit and the heavy ache spreads from my torso into my limbs. I groan.