Dark Hunter 00 - Dark Bites (Novellas) by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page B

she could wrap it around her naked body. She grabbed the god’s huge biceps. “Don’t hurt him!”
    “I don’t want to hurt him. I want to kill the rancid bastard dog!”
    She planted herself between them. “I love him, Papas . If you kill him, you will destroy my heart.”
    His eyes tormented, Set pulled her into his arms and held her tight. He pressed his lips to her head as he glared at Aricles. “You have a heartbeat?”
    She nodded.
    Set cursed. “When Apollo said he’d seen you with a man, I went to gut that Greek bastard, but Ma’at stopped me. Have you any idea what you’ve set into motion, daughter?”
    Tears fell down her cheeks. “I don’t care. He is all to me.”
    Brushing her tears aside, Set sighed heavily then released whatever invisible hold he had on Aricles. “I wish you’d told me first.”
    “I knew you wouldn’t approve and I didn’t want you to hurt Ari.”
    Completely embarrassed, Aricles quickly dressed.
    Set growled deep in his throat as he stepped away from Bathymaas. “Leto is calling for your removal and punishment. She says that the war you’ve been waging against the Greeks isn’t one of justice, but rather a favor for your Atlantean husband.”
    She was aghast at the ludicrous accusation. “Ari wants nothing to do with war.”
    Set scowled at him. “But he’s your best fighter.”
    “Who wants nothing to do with war,” Aricles repeated. “I was a farmer before all this, and I preferred that to fighting.”
    Set laughed angrily. “None of that matters. They’re still demanding blood from us.”
    “And I’ve demanded Apollo’s.”
    Bathymaas gasped as she stepped away from her father to face her husband. “What have you done, Ari?”
    “I issued a challenge to Apollo. We are settling this the only way the Greeks understand. With violence.”
    “No,” she breathed. “You can’t!”
    “He’s right.”
    She glared at her father. “No, he’s not.”
    “Yes, daughter, he is. If he beats Apollo, it would end the bloodlust and intimidate the others. They’ll back down.”
    “And if they don’t?”
    Set brushed his hand against her chin. “You are new to emotions, Bathy. And I doubt you understand the power of fear.” He looked past her to Aricles. “When are you to fight him?”
    “Two days from now.”
    “Make sure you don’t lose, boy.”
    Aricles glanced to his wife. “I promise, I won’t.”
    But even as he said that, Bathymaas had a terrible feeling in her gut. Something bad was going to happen. She had no doubt.

January 25, 12,248 BC
     
    Bathymaas trembled as she watched Aricles sparring with Galen. Terrified over the upcoming fight, she glanced to Caleb. “Do you think he can win against Apollo?”
    “Honestly?”
    She nodded.
    “I do.”
    “Are you saying that to comfort me?”
    Caleb laughed. “I keep forgetting that you have emotions. So, no. I don’t think about comforting you, even now.”
    How she wished she could forget she had them.
    Over and over, her mind conjured images of Aricles dying horribly. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t banish them. They kept returning to torture her.
    Unable to stand it, she left the others and went to Mount Olympus where Apollo lived with the majority of the Greek gods. As much as she hated it, she had to make a deal with her enemy. It was the only way to ensure Aricles’s safety and life. While she believed Malphas’s words that Ari could defeat the god, she couldn’t risk Apollo cheating.
    And Apollo was definitely not above that.
    Apollo dropped the lyre he was playing as she manifested before his chaise inside his private temple. “Has the equator frozen over?”
    She rolled her eyes at him. “I’m here to issue you a challenge.”
    He scoffed. “I’m tired of these challenges from you and your boy-toy. Not to mention, I already have a fight tomorrow.”
    Shrugging with a nonchalance she didn’t feel, Bathymaas arched a brow. “I’m impressed. I had no idea that you