This was a god of destruction and she knew it. She could feel powers that made a mockery of even the ones Zeus possessed. Acheron could kill her . . .
"You tricked me!" she accused him.
"I've done nothing." His skin flashed back to normal. "I offered my heart to you once, Artemis. You told me I wasn't good enough for you. Am I now?"
No, this was even worse. To bring a more powerful god to Olympus . . .
They would kill her.
"What do you want?" she asked, terrified of his answer. Had he come to destroy all of them?
He reached a marbled blue hand up to cup her cheek. His eyes burned her with their tormented need. "I want you to love me."
"I do love you."
"You say that only because you're afraid of me now. I can feel it."
"No, Acheron. It's the truth. I've loved you since the moment you first kissed me."
His eyes turned vibrant, flaming red. "Then prove it."
"How?"
"Walk with me through the palace at Didymos. By my side. As my equal."
The very thought horrified her. "I can't do that."
"I'm a god. Why can't you walk with a god?"
Artemis shook her head. It wasn't that simple. "You were a whore."
Acheron flinched as those words tore through him with the ferocity of stinging blades.
"I am a virgin goddess," she said forcefully. "No one can ever know that I was seduced by a common prostitute. God or not, you cannot be claimed by me. Ever."
He still wasn't good enough. God or not, he was still nothing except unwanted garbage. An embarrassment. Not even his mother could claim him.
His heart shattered, he took a deep breath as he watched her cowering. In that moment, he hated himself for what he'd been and for what he was.
A bully.
He was no better than the ones who'd made him beg and crawl for kindness. The thought sickened him.
Coming off the bed, he pulled Artemis to her feet. She shivered as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Don't ever cower before me, Artie. I gave you my word that I would never hurt you and I will always stand by it." He cupped her cheek with his blue hand and laid a gentle kiss on the side of her head.
Artemis didn't breathe until Acheron was gone. Naked and trembling, she stood in the darkness of her room, confused by everything that had happened.
Acheron was a god.
But of what pantheon? She could still taste the power of his blood. That power mixed with hers and gave her just a glimpse of his capabilities.
He was a destroyer. A god-killer. All of her pantheon lived in fear of the dark gods. The ones who could command the primal source of the universe. There weren't many who possessed that ability and none of the Greek gods had it.
None.
But Acheron did . . .
"What have I done?"
Her foolish carelessness could very well cause the death of them all.
June 25, 9527 BC
Midnight
Xiamara stood before an old, gnarled oak tree that grew out of a mountainside, toward the heavens. From the beginning of time, trees had always been associated with the gods. Their roots plunged deep into the heart of the earth, spreading toward its center while their branches soared toward the sky.
It was the life of the earth that they carried in their core and each tree held a piece of the universal spirit that bound all worlds and creatures together.
They were composed of three of the four basic elements. Air, water and earth. When they burned, it united all.
But the most important part of the tree was that, with it and human blood mixed with hers, she could summon one of the most powerful creatures in the universe.
Al Baraka.
Jaden.
No one knew where he came from or when he'd been created, spawned or birthed. If he were human, demon or other. But if a demon needed something, he was the one they bargained with.
Her heart racing, she poured the human blood that one of Apollymi's human priestesses had donated into the roots of the tree. Then she sliced open her own hand and whispered the words to call the demon broker.
"I summon you forth with voice and blood. With weight of the moon and the strength of the sacred wood. Darkness come to me. So say the gods, so let it be . . ."
Lightning flashed as a heavy wind picked up. Xiamara tucked her wings down so that they weren't damaged in the storm.
A swirling black mist rose up from the earth, thick and heavy as it rolled over the tree.
Jaden was ever one for theatrics.
Stepping back, she watched as the mist formed the body of a man. Slowly, it solidified into a pair of inhuman eyes. One was deep, dark brown and the other a vibrant green. From those eyes formed a face as handsome as any man could hope to be. Shoulder-length black hair settled around broad, muscular shoulders. Merciless power and intolerance bled from every fiber of his being.
He stood on a tall branch, looking down at her. His dark brown leather pants and long brown cloak blended in perfectly with the tree.
"Beautiful Charonte," he said in her native tongue, his voice so deep it resonated through her bones. "Tell me why you've come on behalf of your mistress when you know I don't barter for the gods?"
Xiamara let her wings flutter back and open in a sign of trust-even if she kept them clenched to her body, Jaden would still be able to rip them off if he so chose. "Because I love Apollymi and I'm here not as her representative, but to make a bargain with you for me."
He arched a brow at her words. "How so?"
"I know you can't take her life or bargain with her. So I come to you as an unbound demon . . . on my own and of my own free will to bargain with you for what she wants."
He leaned against the tree with one knee cocked forward and folded his arms over his chest. "What do you offer me, demon?"
"My soul. My life. Whatever it takes for you to unite Apollymi with her son . . . at least so long as it's not the life or freedom of one of my own children."
His eyes narrowed as he considered her offer. "You're bonded to Apollymi."
Yes and no. "I'm bonded in friendship and in love, not by slavery. We have been together since childhood and it was before my kind were enslaved to hers."
Jaden let out a long breath. "And what of your Simi? Do you not fear for her without her mother here to protect her?"
Xiamara blinked away her tears at the thought of her youngest growing up without her. "I know Apollymi will see that she has all the best in this world. I have raised two simis to adulthood. Apollymi only has one child. No mother should be without her simi-not even a goddess. I would give her the one thing she wants most."
Jaden jumped down from the tree to land gracefully before her. He was so tall that she had to crane her neck slightly to look up at him. "Do you know how rare it is to be asked for so altruistic a bargain, especially in the name of friendship and not kinship?"