Blood trickled onto my lips. Ares had cracked my ribs and punctured a lung with his last kick. Grasping my injured side, I sat up, dimly aware of the clanging of blades mixed with cries of rage and pain. Agony caused a haze over my vision, and I was caught in a nightmare.

Ares and Roth came into my field of vision, both bleeding, but Roth more so. His eyes were lit with the unholy fire of the incubus, but he was fading against the god of war’s onslaught. I had seen Ares on the battlefields of Olympus, knew how brutal he could be. Roth was doomed…unless I did something.

I rose to my knees, groaning with the effort and coughing up blood, but I couldn’t stop. Roth’s bag lay on the floor near me, and I dragged myself along the smooth stone to get to it. A sharp cry of fury erupted from behind me as Ares doubled over in pain. Roth aimed a vicious kick at the god’s face. Ares’s head flew back, and a perfect white tooth skittered past me. For a moment, I was mesmerized by Roth’s face—fierce and beautiful—he was a warrior worthy of the gods.

Shaking myself, I began digging through the bag, grabbing magic bombs and stacking them in a heap before landing on the most precious item, a tiny vial of aqua vigoratus. Without hesitation, I downed half the dose, saving the rest for Roth. The warmth coursed through me, and my insides were set to rights.

Throwing off the blanket, I summoned my bow and searched for Ares in the gloom. The whisper of a blade cut through the air, and Roth cried out in pain. Then I saw them, not twenty paces away.

Something was different. I gripped hard on the bow, trying to discern what it was. It glowed brightly in my palm. And then I felt it, like a jolt straight from the heavens. Artemis’s power once again flowed through my veins, and just like that, I was Lilah de Artemis as I was always meant to be. The goddess heard my plea!

Ares stood over Roth, who was kneeling and grasping a deep gash in his neck. The god readied his blade for the death stroke, but I wouldn’t give him the chance. Raising the bow, I released an arrow—one imbued with the power of the goddess—flying for Ares’s heart. It struck true, and he faltered, dropping to one knee and clutching the arrow’s shaft.

I raced to Roth’s side and poured the last of the aqua vigoratus on his gaping wound. The bleeding stopped, but it would take a while longer for the slash to close. We had no time to waste.

I looped Roth’s arm over my shoulder and dragged him away from Ares, who was still trying to free the arrow from his breast. Once far enough away, I lobbed a magic bomb at the god, who yelled with unbridled fury when he saw it land near him. The ensuing explosion rocked me off my feet and sent both Roth and me flying to the other end of the cavern. Apparently, Roth could afford some ordnance with a bit more potency than mine.

The air was filled with dust and debris, and my ears rang from the sound. Roth’s eyes were glazed, and a jagged piece of rock had struck him in the thigh. Stalactites fell all around, creating an obstacle course of death between us and the gruesome stairway out of Ares’s lair.

I wrenched the projectile free from his leg, flinching at his cry of pain. But I didn’t have time to finesse it. The place was coming down around us. And though there was no sign of Ares, he was still out there, likely watching and waiting.

“Leave me.” Roth ripped a piece of fabric from his shirt to wrap around his wounded leg. “You’ll go faster alone. I’ll catch up.”

The fire was gone from his eyes, replaced with concern for me.

“You came for me.” I stroked a lock of dark hair from his eyes.

He searched my face with a possessive gaze.

“I’ll always come for you.” The conviction in his voice made my knees suddenly weak.

I couldn’t wait another second and kissed him as if it were the last time. And it likely was. A hunk of stone crashed next to us, embedding itself in the cavern floor, but I didn’t stop. Roth’s hands snaked around my back, pressing me against his chest. His tongue caressed mine, and his mouth owned mine completely. When I ran a hand through his tousled hair, he groaned against my lips. Another crash, this one even nearer, had Roth pulling me away, though I never wanted to stop kissing him.

“Go. Now.” Fire swirled in his nighttime eyes.

“Not without you.” I dragged him to his feet.

“You’ll never make it with me slowing you down.” Frustration welled in his tone.

“Well, I guess we’ll just die here together, because I’m not leaving without you.”

He began limping along as best he could. We picked our way through the rubble and to the door.

After what seemed like an hour but was only minutes, we finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Though it was free of falling stone, the entire structure was shaking, as if it would collapse in on itself at any moment.

“I’ll never make it.” He took his shirt off before pulling it down over my head. “You must leave me, carissima.” He gestured at his wounded leg. The injury was large and wasn’t healing fast enough. At this pace, we’d never make it to the surface before the walls fell in on us.

I spared a glance behind us and cursed at what I saw—the bloodied Ares, still wielding Roth’s venom-laced blade, rampaging down the corridor right toward us. His face and torso were shredded with deep cuts, and his fury ate up the air around me. “Son of a bitch!”

Before I had a chance to ready my bow, Roth shoved me aside and darted out in front of the royally pissed-off god. I fell hard against the stairs and heard the sounds of renewed battle. When I regained my balance, the two of them were already locked in combat once again. Ares was weaker, weaving slightly as he slashed out with the silver dagger. But Roth was still no match for the god, especially not when Roth’s leg was leaking like a sieve.

The smooth stone ceiling in the corridor began crumbling as the tremors rose from deep in the earth to shake the foundations of Ares’s lair. I tried to aim a shot at the god, but Roth was between us, and the falling stones made a shot impossible. But they did give me an idea. Looking up into the jagged fissures that rent the stone, I saw an opening. Wrapping the final magic bomb around my broadhead, I nocked the arrow and lined up so I faced Ares directly. Aiming for the stones over his head, I let out a long, slow breath and waited for my shot. It was as if time stopped moving, and even the falling stones were a blur. I concerned myself solely with the motions of the two warriors, nothing more. My senses were attuned to every movement as I waited like a spider.

Within seconds, my chance came—Roth parried to the side and backed away. The god focused his vicious gaze on me as I let the arrow fly to its home. Ares made one swift movement before the bomb exploded. In an instant, he was buried under the tons of stone that came crashing down from above.

Roth retreated to my side as the ruined lair imploded on its master.

“That’s going to leave a mark.” I fell to my knees. Roth rushed to me, but it was too late. The dagger Ares had thrown was embedded deeply in my chest, and the fury venom was already wicking away my life, one tortured heartbeat at a time.