Free Spartan Frost by Jennifer Estep Page B

again, the one who was such a threat to me.
    Then, Gwen reached out, her bloody hand brushing mine, even though her fingers were already going cold and still with death. Her touch was as soft as a snowflake falling onto my skin, but the emotions that went with it were anything but. Her sadness, agony, and heartbreak slammed into me, cutting me to the core, just like my sword had rammed into her heart.
    Too late, I realized what I had done—that I’d just killed the girl I loved.
    Gwen finally screamed, and I screamed right along with her—
    I rolled over and over, thrashing in the soft, flannel sheets that covered the king-sized bed. For a moment, I flailed against the empty air, my fists lashing out in hard, fierce arcs, fighting enemies that weren’t really there. A second later, I hit the floor.
    The sharp snap-snap of my left shoulder and hip banging against the cool wood jolted me out of my dream.
    I lay there on the floor for a few seconds, my face mashed against the wood, waiting for my heart to slow down, for my breathing to go back to normal, and for the tremors to leave my body. When I felt able, I pushed myself up and leaned back against the side of the bed. I let out a long, tired sigh and ran my hands through my black hair, making the sweaty locks stand straight up.
    No, not a dream—a nightmare .
    One that was all too real. Because I hadn’t just attacked Gwen in my dreams—I’d done it in real life too.
    It had all happened a few weeks ago during the winter band concert at the Aoide Auditorium, when my stepmom, Agrona Quinn, had finally revealed herself to be the head of the Reapers of Chaos, the evil warriors who served Loki. Before I realized what was happening, Agrona had snapped a gold collar around my neck, one that was studded with Apate jewels, named after the Greek goddess of deception. With the help of the jewels, a book, and some other horrible magic, Agrona and the Reapers had tried to put Loki’s soul into me, so the god would have a young, strong, healthy body, instead of his own gnarled, twisted, broken one.
    But Gwen had used her psychometry to break through the Reapers’ magic and the terrible hold that Loki had on me, and remind me who I really was to her—Logan freaking Quinn, fierce Spartan warrior, the guy she loved enough to sacrifice herself in order to try to save me.
    Oh yes, my Gypsy girl had been there when I’d needed her the most. And in return, I’d stabbed her in the chest with my sword, just like Agrona had ordered me to.
    Gwen had saved me, and I’d almost killed her. I would have killed her, if Professor Metis and Daphne hadn’t been there. I could still see the horrible scene like it had just happened a moment ago. Gwen crumpled on the stage, blood all over her chest and even more pooling underneath her body, her eyes closed, her chest still, Vic sheathed in the scabbard hanging off the belt around her waist. Me, Oliver, and everyone else gathered around her. Me screaming at Metis and Daphne to do something, to help her, to save her. The golden and rosy glows from Metis’s and Daphne’s healing magic focused on Gwen’s heart and the deep, ugly wound that I’d left there. The minutes ticking by, each one longer and more unbearable than the last. And then, finally, thankfully, the small, choking sound Gwen had made as she rasped in a breath, and I realized that she wasn’t going to die, that I hadn’t killed her after all.
    But the awful memories didn’t stop there. Because I remembered something else from that day—the way that the other students had hurried to back away from me, staring at me with frightened eyes, like I was going to go all Reaper and attack them again at any second....
    I scrubbed my hands over my face, trying to block out the horrible memories, trying to forget the horrible thing I’d done to the girl I loved—
    A sharp knock sounded on the bedroom