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Something tugged deep
    inside her at those growled words. "Xypher—"
    "I don't want your pity." He flung the cloth on
    the floor. "Or your kindness. Just stay out of my
    way and don't get killed until I find some way
    into Kalosis."
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    Wow. That just made her all warm and toasty
    inside. He was like an agitated porcupine in a
    balloon factory. "Why is it so important to you
    that you kill this person?"
    Out of nowhere an image burned through her
    mind. It was Xypher. He was in a dark, dismal
    cave, hanging painfully by his arms. His black
    hair was matted with blood and dirt, and fell
    forward, over his face. Completely naked, his body
    was covered with bleeding wounds.
    The agony in his eyes was searing. He tried to
    escape or fight, but there was nothing he could
    do. Blow after blow from a steel-barbed whip
    rained over his flesh, tearing open new wounds and
    spinning him about. The two skeletons who beat him
    didn't care what they hit so long as they caused
    him pain.
    The more he bled, the more they laughed.
    "Stop!" she cried, unable to bear it.
    The images vanished as quickly as they'd begun.
    Xypher gave her a look so cold it reached down
    inside her and made a part of her very soul
    freeze. "That is a ten-second glimpse of centuries
    of torture I have endured because of one person's
    cruelty. Any more questions?"
    She couldn't breathe for the pain inside her.
    All she could do was shake her head. No wonder he
    was angry. It was hard to breathe past the lump in
    her throat.
    "Yeah," she said after a brief pause. "I have
    only one. Having given this person who betrayed
    you so much already, why would you give them your
    life, too?"
    He laughed bitterly. "Let me explain how I got
    here, human. I did a favor for a goddess who
    talked Hades into making me human for one month.
    One. Single. Month. Now, having lived in Tartarus
    all these centuries, I've learned that Hades
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    doesn't willingly let anyone go, especially not
    someone with my past. I'm headed back to hell,
    baby. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The only
    undetermined factor left is whether or not I go
    alone, and I have no intention of doing that." His
    eyes burned into her an instant before he pushed
    himself up from the bed. "Where's my shirt?"
    She couldn't believe the sight of him upright
    given the severity of that wound. How could he
    even move, especially since he hadn't had a drop
    of painkiller?
    Then again, having seen what had been done to
    him in Tartarus, she figured he was probably so
    used to pain that it didn't faze him now. Even as
    badly as they'd torn into him, he'd still been
    trying to fight them. "You can't be moving around
    like that. You need to rest."
    "Fuck rest," he snarled between his clenched
    teeth. "I have too much to do to lie in bed like
    some spoiled prince."
    She put herself in front of him to keep him
    from leaving. "You're going to rip open your
    side."
    "So what?"
    "So what? Are you insane?" He had to be. "Have

you any idea how much that will hurt?"
    He gave her a dry, cold stare before he turned
    around to show her his back. "Yeah, I have a
    pretty damned good idea."
    Simone covered her mouth as she stared at the
    horror of scars that marred the beauty of his
    skin. To say he'd been savaged was an
    understatement. She reached her hand out
    instinctively to touch him, but caught herself
    before she made contact.
    Her hand hovered there, just above the marks.
    So close she could feel the heat rising from his
    feverish skin. The thought of his being beaten
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    like that tore through her. What kind of monster
    could do such a thing?
    The fact he'd suffered it alone with no one to
    tend him made her even more sick. He turned back
    to face her.
    "Now where's my shirt?"
    She had to clear her throat before she could
    answer him in a semihuman tone. "We cut it off
    you."
    He looked away as if her answer had sent a wave
    of fury through him. "Thanks a lot."
    Why was he so upset over a simple T-shirt? "We
    can go to your place