in big black letters spanning from one tiny brown nipple to theother, was her name, spelled out for all the world to see. N.I.K.E.She’d branded him, reduced him to her property. Had he deservedit? Maybe. Once, he’d been a prisoner in this bleak realm. InTartarus, a divine dungeon. He’d been a god overthrown andlocked away, forgotten, no better than rubbish. He’d wantedout, and he had been willing to do anything to see it done. Anything.So he had seduced Nike, one of his guards, using her feelings for himagainst her. Though she would deny it now, she truly had fallen alittle in love with him. The proof: she’d arranged his escape,a crime punishable by death. Yet she’d been willing to risk it.For him.

Only,just before she could remove his collar, allowing him to flashhimself away-moving from one place to another with only a thought-shediscovered that he had also seduced several other female guards. Whyrely on one to get the job done when four could serve him better?He’d counted on the fact that none of the Greek females wouldwant their affair with an enslaved Titan known. He’d counted ontheir silence. What he should have done was count on their jealousy.Nike had realized she’d been used, that his emotions had neverreally been engaged. Rather than throw him back into his cell andpretend he did not exist, rather than have him beaten, she’dhad him held down and marked permanently.

Foryears he’d dreamed of returning the favor. Sometimes he thoughtthe desire was the only thing that kept him sane as he wiled awaycentury after century in this hellhole. Alone, darkness his onlycompanion. Imagine his delight when the prison walls began to crack.When the defenses began to crumble. When their collars fell away. Ithad taken a while, but he and his brethren had finally managed towork their way free. They’d attacked the Greeks, brutally andwithout mercy. In a matter of days, they had won. The Greeks were