“I am?” I said.
“I wouldn’t have been able to get her out a third time,” he added.
“Why?” Aiden demanded. “Why would you help her?”
I didn’t care why he’d done it.
“You freed me from my imprisonment,” Perses answered. “I figured I owed you. My brethren will not know how she escaped. It doesn’t matter. They’ll find the other demigods.”
My gaze roamed over Josie’s face, committing to memory the bruises, the torn red skin just under her bottom lip, the deep blue hues under both eyes. I saw the bite mark on her wrist. The torn skin on her upper arm. The fucking fingerprints on her jaw and throat, the contusions along her arms, the ragged and frayed soles of her feet. I felt her in my arms, knowing she’d lost too much weight in a short time to not have been starved.
This was my fault.
“And I figured that in the upcoming battle, because there will inevitably be one, you’ll remember this,” Perses added, speaking directly to me. “You’ll remember what I’ve done for you.”
“Of course,” Aiden murmured. He touched my arm. “We should go.”
I didn’t move. “Who did this to her?”
“Mostly Hyperion. He had her for a while.” Perses folded his arms across his chest. “Then she was brought to Cronus.”
“And?” I queried quietly.
Aiden shifted beside me as Perses said, “He fed on her. She screamed your name the entire time.”
“Hell,” Aiden muttered.
A black gulf opened up inside me, and there was nothing, nothing but icy, endless rage. And it was different this time. Akasha threaded itself within my fury. Slowly, I lifted my gaze. “You were there?”
“I held her down.” Perses shrugged one shoulder. “I had no choice. I brought her out as soon as I could so you could find her.”
Turning to Aiden, I said, “Take her.”
Jaw clenched into a hard line, Aiden took her without question, holding her close to his chest. Then I turned back to the Titan I’d once helped free, the Titan who brought Josie out so I could find her.
“Thank you,” I said, and then I summoned the purest power in me. The world tinted in bright whitish-amber light.
Perses opened his mouth, but it was too late. Throwing up my right arm, I let it go. The bolt caught him in the chest. His mouth opened, but there was no sound as shimmery blue liquid poured out. A network of veins appeared under his skin, lit white and gold. There was a loud pop and a flash of light. Then Perses was no more.
Only a scorched patch of earth remained.
Chapter 15
Every so often, Josie’s fingers would twitch or her brow would crease as if she were haunted by bad dreams. Her breaths were still shallow but more even. Other than that, Josie hadn’t moved.
She hadn’t woken up.
Sitting in the chair by the bed I’d placed her in, I hated to even blink, because an irrational part of me believed she’d disappear. She looked so incredibly pale against the dark blue sheets.
Only a few hours had passed since I’d brought her here and placed her in my bed. She was now safe. No one would get through me. No one. I would strike down anyone or anything that sought to do her harm without feeling a second of remorse, but she was in this condition because of my decisions—my choices.
Truthfully, it wasn’t like I thought Josie couldn’t defend herself. Josie was no damsel in distress. I’d seen her in battle. She held her own when we fought Atlas, but in the end, Josie was a demigod and they were Titans.
And I was a god.
When Alex had said that they’d fought Hyperion, I knew beyond a doubt that Josie had done everything in her power to fend him off. Her capture was not a representation of her weakness, just as my ability to keep her safe now wasn’t a slam against her.
I just needed her to open her eyes.
Since she was a demigod, I figured she’d heal quickly. Even halfs healed faster than mortals, but I knew she’d been fed on. Gods only knew how many times. I could barely sense the aether in her, and that terrified me. Daimons were created when the aether had been drained from them. Could that happen with demigods? All the knowledge that resided deep inside me and I still had no useful answers.
My gaze roamed over her still body. She was absolutely filthy, but she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I’d wanted to bathe her, strip her out of the soiled clothing and wash her hair, erase the grimy dirt and the musty scent clinging to her, but I didn’t want to disturb her. Other than trying to remove the bracelets, which I hadn’t been able to do, and checking for more serious injuries, I’d left her alone, wary of even holding her hand, because it too was bruised.