I looked over my shoulder, my lip curling at what I saw. Boy, did I have a T-Rex-sized bone to pick with that pure-blood. Aiden St. Delphi stood on the other side of the bars. There, he was an immovable force. But without the protections from Hephaestus or Apollo between us, he would become an inconsequential nothing.

No. No. No.

My hand flew to the crystal rose on its own accord, feeling the smooth and delicate edges. Hewas everything.

Sharp pain sliced between my temples, and I snarled. Sending him a hateful look, I faced the bare cement wall. “You should have kept me on the Elixir.”

“I should have never put you on the Elixir,” he countered. “That wasn’t the way to get to you.”

I laughed coldly. “Oh, you got to me all right.”

There was a pause. “I know you’re still in there, Alex. Underneath that connection, you are still you. The woman I love.”

I opened my mouth, but there were no words—only memories of standing by the stream and telling Aiden I loved him, and then an endless stream of thoughts and actions centering on him. Months, if not years, of them cycling over and over again until I couldn’t distinguish between the past, present, and what was to become of my future.

As if sensing where my thoughts had gone, he said, “A few days ago you said you loved me.”

“And a few days ago I was high as a kite and hiding in closets, thanks to you.” I whirled around, just in time to see him flinch. Good. “You put me on the Elixir.”

Aiden sucked in a sharp breath, but didn’t look away in shame or guilt. He met and held my gaze, locked onto eyes I knew he loathed with every fiber of his being. “I did.”

I took a deep, heavy breath. “I will get out of here eventually, Aiden. And I will kill you. Slowly.”

“And you’ll murder everyone I care for. I know. We’ve been here before.” He leaned against the bars. There wasn’t a hint of stubble on his smooth face this time around. He was in his Sentinel uniform—all black. But there were dark shadows under those striking eyes of his.

“I know you won’t hurt me if you get out,” he continued. “I believe in that.”

“Sad.”

“What is?”

“That someone as good-looking as you is so incredibly stupid.” I smiled as his eyes narrowed. The moment they flashed silver, I knew I’d hit a nerve. That made me all warm and fuzzy for about three seconds, and then I realized I was still in a freaking cage. Pissing Aiden off helped pass the time, but it didn’t change anything.

There were better things I could be doing.

I just needed to wait and bide my time. The low-level static was in my head. Constant. All I needed to do was tap into it, but the moment Aiden even thought I was doing that, he started talking.

Going to the mattress on the floor, I sat down and tucked my knees under my chin. I watched Aiden watch me. And I tried to keep the voice that popped up whenever he was around quiet. I didn’t like or understand that voice.

Aiden ran a hand through his hair, and then pushed back from the bars. “Do you know what’s happening out there, right now?”

I shrugged. Was I supposed to care? All I cared about was getting out of here and connecting with my Seth. Then, if my father was still enslaved in the Catskills, we would free him. My Seth had promised me.

“Do you remember what Poseidon did to Deity Island?”

How in the hell was I supposed to forget that? Poseidon had wiped out the Covenant there.

“Well, it’s going to get worse, Alex. Half of the Olympian Twelve want to make war on Seth and Lucian,” he continued. “And I’m sure he knows that. Maybe that’s what hewants, but is that what youwant? Do you know how many innocent lives will be lost— havebeen lost? Both mortal and half? Is that something you can live with?”

I really wasn’t living right now, considering I was in a cage.

“Because I know deep down you couldn’t live with yourself, knowing you helped cause the death of thousands, if not millions—especially those halfs. You were questioning becoming a Sentinel because of how they were being treated. If Seth goes through with this, they will die.” The conviction in his voice was annoying. So was the passion that fueled the words. “Caleb—do you remember how you felt after Caleb—”

“Don’t talk about him!”

His dark brows shot up. Shock splashed across his face and then he darted toward those damn bars, grasping them. “Yes, Caleb, Alex! Do you remember how you felt when he died? How you blamed yourself?”

“Shut up, Aiden.”

“Do you remember being so torn up that you stayed in bed for five days? Your heart was broken when you lost him. Do you think he’d want to see you do this to yourself? His death was a wrong place at the wrong time thing, but this? There will be thousands of Calebs, but they willbe your fault.”

I pressed my head against my knees and clamped my hands over my ears. But that did nothing to stop the rising tide of emotion beating at me or the ache in my temples that was quickly turning into a sharp, stabbing pain.

And it didn’t stop him. “What about your mother, Alex?”

“Shut up!” I screamed.

“This wasn’t what she wanted!” The bars shook as he hit them with what I guessed were his fists. Thathad to hurt. “This is what she died to protect you from. How dare you just roll over and let him do this to—”

My entire body snapped like a rubber band pulled too tight. “Shut—”

The buzzing in my ears roared, drowning out Aiden and everything else. In an instant, hewas there, slipping through my veins like warm, rich honey.

Listen to me. The words were in my thoughts, soothing like balmy summer air. Listen to me, Alex. Remember what we will do together once we connect. Free the halfs—and your father.

“Alex,” Aiden snapped.

Good gods, doesn’t he have anything better to do?Seth’s exasperated sigh shuddered through my body. Close him out. He doesn’t matter. We do.

My fingers tightened in my hair.

“He’s in there now, isn’t he?” Anger deepened Aiden’s voice. The bars shook again. At the rate he was going, his knuckles were going to be mush. Just like my brain. “Don’t listen to him, Alex.”

Seth’s laugh was like chips of ice. Is he coming in there? Lay him out, Angel. Then make a run/or it. No one will be able to stop you.

I pulled my hair until tiny needles stabbed at my scalp.

“Alex, look at me.” The desperate edge in Aiden’s voice reached a part of me I wasn’t entirely familiar with. My eyes opened and latched onto his. They were silvery, like moonlight. Beautiful eyes. “Together we can break the bond between you and Seth.”

Tell him you don’t want to break the bond.

Amazing … and creepy how much my Seth could see and hear when we were connected. It was like having another person living inside me.

“Alex,” Aiden said. “Even if you make it to him, he’ll drain you just like a daimon would. Maybe he won’t mean to, but he will.”

My heart tripped up. I’d been warned before—by my mother, months ago. It was one of the reasons she’d wanted to change me into a daimon. A messed-up reason full of fail logic, but still…

I’d never do that to you, Alex. All I want is to keep you safe, to make you happy. Freeing your father is what you want, isn’t it? Together we can do that, but only together.

“I’m not going to give up,” Aiden said. Blessed silence stretched out for a few heartbeats. “Do you hear that, Seth? It’s not going to ever happen.”

He’s annoying.

You’re both annoying. Then I said out loud, “There’s nothing to give up on, Aiden.”

His eyes narrowed. “There is everything.”

Those words struck me as odd. “Everything” was a ghost of what was and never could be. Everything had changed the moment I’d connected with my Seth. It was hard to explain. Months ago, when I’d had trouble sleeping, and the connection between us had eased my body and mind? Well, this was like that, times a hundred.