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me
out for a penny more than I offered him in a heartbeat. Except I
knew his secret. He wasn’t operating out of an interest in money
and hadn’t been in quite a while. Tommy, Niko’s son with Theodocia,
was the reason he obeyed Cleon without question. I couldn’t offer
to protect Tommy, which was how the person who was supposed to be
the most powerful woman in the world became completely worthless to
Niko.
    He lashed out at me first. I blocked. His
second strike went through my defenses and sent me sprawling on my
back. I lay still, the breath knocked out of me. Several seconds
later, I sucked in air then coughed and sat.
    “ You should’ve caught that
one,” Niko said, unconcerned. “You’re distracted.”
    I was. Around anyone else, I didn’t have to
worry. But the farther away my mind was, the harder I could expect
Niko to hit. He’d broken ribs once and left me bruised and in tears
of pain on more than one occasion.
    He was grinning, which pissed me off
more.
    Rolling my shoulders back, I settled my gaze
on him. “I’m ready.”
    “ Fighting isn’t supposed to
be pretty or easy,” he reminded me. “You don’t have Herakles’ size
or Adonis’ speed.”
    “ They’re both more
disciplined than you are.”
    “ True, but I fight dirty,
and that’s what you need to learn if you’re going to take on men
like us.” This time, when he attacked, he pierced my defenses and
smacked me across the cheek hard enough to jar me out of my
senses.
    Catching myself against the ropes, I spun,
anger flaring to life inside me. My cheek burned from the
strike.
    “ There we go. That’s what
we need,” Niko said. “Now you’re ready.” He waved me forward,
inviting me to attack.
    I didn’t know why he pushed me the way he
did, but I didn’t care.
    I attacked him with everything I had.
    We sparred for over an
hour, until I was panting too hard to move, and Niko was satisfied
with what he called progress, which was the name he gave to undoing
the training I’d already been taught. Herakles had done everything
with honor, even fighting, whereas Niko did nothing with honor,
especially not fighting. His philosophy was to win at any cost.
    “ You’re probably not going
to survive Cleon, but at least you’ll be a little harder to take
down,” Niko said.
    Asshole. Doubled over, I struggled to catch my
breath.
    “ And the answer is no about
meeting Lantos,” he added. “I’m not even going to tell Cleon the
request came in.”
    Niko threw me a towel then draped one over
his neck.
    I straightened. On the surface, Cleon was in
control of my life. But Niko was the one managing me day-to-day and
reporting my activities to Cleon. I didn’t want to meet with
Lantos, but I didn’t want anyone else telling me what to do with
every minute of my life either.
    “ Lantos already knows I
don’t want to see him,” I said when I’d caught my
breath.
    “ He’ll be out of your hair
soon enough.”
    “ What do you
mean?”
    “ The Queen is gone. There’s
only one man capable of competing with Cleon for power left in
DC.”
    “ You think Cleon will expel
him?” I asked, genuinely curious at the insight.
    “ If he’s smart, he’ll take
a more permanent approach and not let Lantos escape like he did the
Queen,” Niko answered. “We’ve almost completed consolidating SISA
into my army, and the gods aren’t doing shit for us now. There
won’t be a need for a Supreme Priest, once Cleon is
satisfied.”
    Niko was not normally this talkative. If he
had a purpose in revealing this information to me, what was it?
    The army commander said nothing more and
left the gym floor for the locker rooms. I wiped sweat from my brow
and hopped down from the boxing ring, my legs wobbly. I snatched my
clothes off the floor as I crossed to the door. My escorts were
waiting.
    We all trekked back to the villa that was
mine, and I entered alone, passing the other guards stationed just
inside my doorway. As I reached my bedroom, I caught