“Oh my gosh,” I laughed, slipping my fingers through his hair. “You have a one-track mind.”

“At least it’s on a fun track, right?”

“Yeah.” I slid my fingers out of his hair, down his cheek. Tipping his chin up, I studied his face. He was strikingly beautiful, unreal in a way, but there were so many layers to him. So much more than a sculpted face and body.

He turned his head, kissing my palm. “You doing okay?”

I thought of the nightmare from last night. “Yes. Of course.”

Those startling eyes met mine. “You’ve been rubbing at your brow and temple a lot. What’s up with that?”

Damn. He was observant. “Just have a minor headache. Not a big deal. I think it’s just lack of consistent sleep.”

“Then maybe you should rest,” he offered, kissing my palm again. “I can grab some slices and bring them up to you.” He started to rise.

I stopped him. “I’m not sleepy. I swear I’m fine.”

He appeared to consider that. “What were you thinking about earlier?”

“When?”

“At the motel. You were completely in a different world,” he explained.

Bending forward, I kissed his forehead. “I started to think about something really random.”

“You? Thinking something random?” He laughed when I leaned back and smacked his arm. “Never would’ve guessed that.”

“Ha. Ha.”

“So what were you thinking about?”

“About the fact that I’m immortal and you’re not,” I explained, grinning when his brows inched up. “But I’m going to fix that.”

His mouth moved wordlessly for a moment. “How . . . how are you going to fix that?”

I grinned at him. “I know Apollo can do that—make you immortal. He made Alex and Aiden immortal, so it’s totally possible.”

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “It’s possible, but that was different for them. Apollo isn’t going to make me immortal.”

Undaunted, I continued. “Oh, he will. And he’ll also make sure that deal you made with Hades is null and void if he wants me to help take down the Titans.”

Shock splashed across Seth’s face. “What?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while. They want me to help them. They need me, actually.” Feeling pretty smug, I moved to kiss him again, but Seth pulled back. He rose. I frowned. “What?”

He stared down at me like I’d sprouted a boob out of the middle of my forehead. “You’re going to try to negotiate with the gods?”

“Well, with my father—”

“Who is a god, Josie. You cannot negotiate with them, not even Apollo. They will turn every deal and flip it back on you,” he said. “I’ve seen them do it, and your father is no different.”

That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but I wasn’t surprised. “If they want me to stop the Titans, they will do this for me.”

“You’re insane,” he whispered, backing up.

“Geez. You’re welcome.” I pushed a loose strand of my hair back. “Look, I’m going to do something. There is no way I’m going to allow them to continue using you and then take over your afterlife. Nope. Not going to happen. So just accept it and move on, because I’m hungry.”

Seth gaped at me. “I am not worth that kind of risk, Josie.”

Anger flashed through me. “Would you please stop saying that? I hate it when you say that.”

“Why?” Frustration filled the air. “Because it’s true. Is that why?”

“It is not true, Seth.”

He laughed harshly. “You have no idea, Joe. That’s the problem. It isn’t your fault, but you have no idea.”

“Well, that’s not insulting or anything.”

“I don’t mean it to be, but it’s the truth. You’re willing to put yourself in a very precarious position when you don’t know what I’m capable of, but I do, Josie. I know exactly what I’m capable of.”

I forced myself to take a nice slow and even breath. “Seth—”

“No. This conversation is over and done with. You’re not going to make any crazy deals that backfire in your face.” He waved his hand as if he was signaling the end of this conversation, and that was a big oh-hell-no. “I made my bed and I’m going to roll around in it.”

I waited a second. “Are you done yet?”

His eyes flared a bright ocher.

“Just wanted to make sure, since you think you can tell me what I can and cannot do. Guess what? You can’t. And you know what else? I understand that because of what you did in your past, you think you’re not worth me—”

“In the past?” Seth laughed again, the sound cold and hard. “You think I’m talking about that shit with Ares? How about a couple of weeks ago?”

“What . . . what do you mean?”

Seth stared at me a moment and then he spoke a shattering four words. “I fed off you.”

“What?” I whispered after what was probably an entire minute of trying to process what he’d said. There was no way he said what I thought he said, because it didn’t make sense.

He turned sharply, stalking away from the bed, giving me his back. “Fuck. I should’ve told you before . . . before you gave yourself to me, but I’m a fucking selfish bastard. You heard me right, Josie. I fed off you—off your aether.”




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