"Right now?" I whisper as Thane and Thelios step away from me. I reach out, trying to grasp one of them, either of them. I don't want them to walk away to their doom against Urto. How is this happening?

Belen grabs my hand. "Yes, Mara. Come over here." He pulls me to the side, to a throne I am only seeing now. It's smooth, white marble with those pretty pink veins running through it. Unlike my father and mother's thrones, this looks like garden statuary from the mourning gardens at my father's temple, but so much finer and delicately wrought.

I sit because my knees can't support me.

"How will the winner be declared?" Urto asks my father.

A winner needs to be declared? Oh, I suppose because here in the Underworld you can't die...

Oh gods, I think I am going to be sick. The room is hazy, dark around the edges. My breathing is short and choppy. I am struck dumb by the sudden pendulum swing this day has taken.

"I will call the contest," Inanji interjects. She is smiling smugly. "And the Murderess must be quiet. After the contest, she can answer for her crimes without her spelled and blinded males at her side."

"What?" I look around, confused by the contest rules.

"Pray do not make up ridiculous rules, Inanji," Enlal says wearily. "I will determine the winner. It will end when the Champions or Urto no longer can move."

Inanji pouts, "she will cheat, she will help them," she points at me. "That's why she must be silenced!"

"Then both of you will be silent for the entire match," my father says coldly.

"What does that mean? What happens if we speak?" I ask.

My father doesn't answer, but amends Inanji's demands, "if you speak first, Inanji, then my daughter has a week to keep her silence. If she speaks first, then she will answer your accusations today."

"I don't understand," I say softly.

"You mustn't speak, Mara," my father kneels next to me. "She is trying to ruin you. When it is over, return to your rooms and take your week, understand?"

These rules make no sense, but I nod for my father. He offers me a soft smile. "Not a sound, understand? Urto will support your claims, but you need time."

I open my mouth to protest, but my father stands and moves away from me. Urto? Why will he need to support me? My father knows something, knows that Urto will win. My heart drops. I feel weak as adrenaline fades only to be replaced with dread. This can't be happening.

It is happening though. All three males are stripped to nothing but loincloths and one long dagger. Space in the very center of the room is made for the contest.

They crash together before I'm ready. I wince, sitting back and letting my throne keep my body upright. Three male bodies twist and turn, grappling with each other. They are allowed to have claws and that one blade, but not much else.

I'm filled with pride when Thelios gets the first good hit in. Blood spurts from the war god's upper left arm. Thane follows his brother's lead and injures Urto with a slash of his sword along the male's back shoulder.

I smile for my males, but it fades along with the wounds on Urto.

And that is his game. No matter how long or hard my males fight, Urto is simply healing himself, nearly instantly.

My heart picks up speed. Thane and Thelios pick up their own attacks. Urto is dangerously good, as good as one of my males, but maybe, just maybe, not as good as both of them.

But he is healed as soon as he is wounded, and my males are bleeding. I can do nothing to help them as their reactions become slower. Their faces become more and more angry.

They are losing.

The sounds of the city fade. All of the eyes in the room are on the males. It is a clash of titans, of warriors of a caliber many will not ever see again. Most of the movements are too fast to be seen, or blocked by their bodies, but I feel it vibrate along the bonds with my males.

Thelios stabs Urto just under the male's heart. Urto stumbles back, but avoids another strike. Grasping the handle of the blade, Urto yanks it free. Once again, there is no wound. He tosses the dagger away. And just like that Thelios is left with nothing but his own body to fight with. Urto surges forward, and Thelios is forced to retreat from the length of Urto's blade. Thane is there a moment later, attacking the War god's blindside. He sinks his claws into Urto's ribcage and with the other hand slices along his throat with his blade.

Another deathblow that means nothing to Urto. Now I understand. My males can't win this.

The blow is unexpected. I feel it.

Thelios.

My male spins, his thigh spurting blood. I see a flash of white, the cut has gone deep to the bone.

Bile crawls up my throat, along with the desire to scream, to sob, to say something, anything. All that makes me keep my tongue in my head is my father's warning and my own knowledge that if I scream I may distract my males.

Urto kicks Thelios' thigh wound and it gushes more blood. My male takes another swipe along his abdomen and falls to one knee. Thane moves in to attack, but Urto kicks Thelios into his path and Thane stumbles over his brother. He falls, too, to his knees. Before he can stand, Urto is on him.

Urto grabs Thane's hair in one hand and yanks his head back. My male struggles, spitting out blood and flem as he fights his bloodloss and injuries to try and stand. His right eye is swollen shut completely and the left is just a slit. The wounds on his arms and chest are losing blood in copious amounts. Some of his wounds are still pouring blood onto the now-slick floor.

"You are the silver-tongued male," Urto sneers. "I will slice it from your mouth." He grabs Thane's jaw with one hand. I hear the crack and the garbled moan of pain Thane emits as Urto breaks his jaw. He reaches his other hand, claws at the ready, into my Fated male's mouth.

Thelios starts to crawl, his left leg dangling uselessly behind him. He is too far away, too injured himself, to reach his brother before Urto exacts his new torture.

I tighten my hand over my mouth to hold in the agonized moan of pain as Urto tightens his grip. Thane chokes, blood spilling from his mouth.

Urto releases him and strides to my father, throwing the mangled flesh onto the floor. I can't draw my eyes from it.

"Are you happy, Inanji?" Urto sneers at the goddess. "The male will never tell lies to shield his goddess again!"

I swallow, feeling my own tongue move in my mouth. It tastes foul.

Thelios manages to reach Thane, the two males helping each other stand.

"Shall I remove the other parts of them that offend you, Inanji?" he spits at her, fire in his eyes damning her. She looks ill, this challenge taking a turn that she could have never imagines.

Urto walks back over to my males. They are leaning on each other, brothers to the end. Urto attacks Thane first. He grabs my male's hand and brings his blade down on Thane's wrist, severing his hand.

The he walks to Thelios. With a cruel smirk towards Inanji, he tears the blood-soaked loincloth away and then grabs Thelios' cock in one hand, with the other he cuts it off.

Inanji screams, "no!"

I fall to my knees and vomit my male's red, red blood onto the glossy marble floor. I try to keep my eyes on them, my males, my beautiful males. I feel the Basru move, surrounding me. My brother grasps me to his chest, raspy, deep breaths of shock echoing in my ears. I wind my fingers around every part of my brother I can touch; his clothing, his hair.

Lier is torn away from me suddenly, my hands clutching nothing. Through my tears, I watch my male's fall, their bodies hitting the floor with a thud. Inanji is still screaming, no longer caring that she broke the silence first.

"Please," I whisper brokenly. Urto is there, surrounding me in warmth that is too hot. His touch feels like I've been thrown into hellfire. "Please," I beg him.

"Shh, my love," his whiskered lips skim over my cheek. "You must breathe, love. Don't look."

I push feebly at his chest. He is drenched in the blood of my males.

My efforts are futile. Even as I fight him off, I see the bond forming, tying us together. It's black. No, it's nothing, the absence of any other color. It looks like the blade on my father's sytche, as if it has swallowed everything else. Everything good and normal has been sucked into it.

Urto picks me up against his chest. "She is mine, now," he declares to my father.

A muscle in my father's jaw ticks. "Give my daughter to her mother. Mara is upset."

"That isn't the deal, Nateos," Urto says in a warning tone. "Mara is my bride. You agreed to have us bond."

"My males," I whisper.

"Shh, love. They aren't yours anymore," Urto quiets me.

"They will heal, daughter," my father says hoarsely.

"This should have never happened," I say, my voice rough. "It is my choice, not yours! This should have never happened!"

"You are mine, now, Mara," Urto warns me.

I look at him, into his burning red eyes that are slowly fading back into green. "I am still bonded to them," I sob, protesting. My males are still mine. They are mine.

Urto snarls. He then glares at Inanji. "Remove those bonds! You lost, Inanji!"

"She's lying," Inanji says, looking furiously upset. "There are no bonds between them anymore."

Urto grasps my chin in one hand, carrying me in the other. "I will not tolerate you lying to me, love." He looks at Inanji. "Bind us together, now. I wish to know what my bride is thinking."

"This doesn't not need to happen today, Urto. Mara has a week," my father snaps.

"She is my bride! We are to be bound together! Do it now, Inanji!"

"Fine, then!" Inanji shrieks.

I scream at the fire licking my insides. Pressing my hand to my chest, I look down. I am shocked to see that flames are not flickering on me. It feels as if I was tossed into hellfire.

"Easy, love," Urto tries to quiet me. "Take my blood, love."

I fight. Struggling, I try to twist and turn my head away, but Urto forces my mouth open with his fingers. Drops of his blood hit my tongue. I try to spit, try to shake the blood free, but two drops roll down my throat, scorching me all the way down to my stomach.

"Now for me," he mutters. He slices my inner elbow and licks off the small amount of blood there.

It snaps like a whip between us. That black bond is covered in a gilt of Inanji's silver, but I know. I saw it. It's true nature, dark as night.

"Fire and Flame, this is... truly Nateos your daughter is a gift," Urto says in awe.

I shudder so hard my teeth clack together. He loves the bond, but I hate it. It isn't right. I touch it. It feels sharp, like a thousand razor-sharp blades. I pull my hand away and show Urto. The first three fingers are bleeding.

Urto grabs my hand, examining my fingers. "I am taking her home-"

"No, she stays here. She may be in your suite, but she stays in Irkalla," my father sounds wretched.

Urto scowls. I reach out with a shaking hand and cup his cheek to bring his attention back to me. "Please let me stay." I can't be dragged off into his enchanted forest. I know instinctively that escaping a second time from Urto's home would prove almost impossible.

He looks at me, his eyes entirely green, now. "Fine," he agrees abruptly. "You will stay in my suite, in my bed. Dine with me, bathe with me, sleep with me. If you do these things, then I will let you stay."

I nod.

As Urto turns to carry me away, I catch Lier's eye. "Help them," I mouth. My two males are just twisted heaps of flesh and bone on the floor.

My brother nods reassuringly. Dark eyes like my own show nothing but concern for me. As Urto and I leave the throne room, I see my Basru pick my males up gently.

Neither Thane or Thelios moves.

The door swings shut and my chest-deep sobs start. Urto says nothing, just continues through twists and turns until he reaches an open-air gallery that overlooks the Crone River.

"I will bathe with you in the river, maybe tomorrow?" he says quietly.

I don't reply. I'm not sure what sort of female Urto is used to, but I am not about to begin something sexual with this male.

He pushes open a large wooden door painted a bright red. Even if I wasn't being carried by him, then I would know that this was his set of rooms. The door looms in front of me as just another bloody victim of Urto. Blood... blood is everywhere.

He shuts the door behind us and turns the lock. I start to panic. Now he has me alone. He can hurt me here, in my father's own palace. Even Death himself couldn't keep me safe from the War god. Urto can choose to throw me across the room, drown me in his tub. Beat and strangle and rape me and what will I do? What can anyone do against a god who can heal himself so quickly?

He walks over to a sunken tub next to a round window. Light from outside streams in through the window. The tub is already filled, warm, fragrant water wafting out.

I hate it.

Urto gently sets me down on a cushion next to the tub. Standing, he drops his loincloth, chuckling as I quickly avert my eyes. I hear a splash telling me is in in the tub and look up. He is watching me with a smile on his face.

"I heard that you don't like to bathe in water like this, love?"

I shake my head, 'no.'

"I will provide your water for you, love. I will be a good husband."

I swallow around the thickness in my throat. This is not the conversation I want to have right now. The bathwater is turning pink from the blood of my males that Urto is washing from his skin. Even when he is clean, I will still look at him and see the red painting his body.

"You must get used to this violence, sweet female. I am War."

I just shake my head. I can't get the images of my males being butchered in that unfair match out of my head. They were so brave, they fought so well, but how could they have ever won? It was so unfair!

"What are you thinking of?" Urto asks me.

"Why didn't my father warn them about your healing?" I ask raspily.

"When did he have a chance?" Urto shrugs before dipping underwater. "Nateos is well known as the wily god. Maybe he wants us together," he smiles at me.

His teeth are still red.

Ironic how I can have red teeth from Thane and Thelios, yet seeing Urto with their blood staining his teeth makes my tears start to flow again.

"Oh, my sweet Mara," Urto says quietly as I crumple to the floor. I hear him get up and rub himself dry. "Now I think you need a bit of a rest, yes?" He carries me to the bed made of thick walnut and covered in furs and blankets of silk.

I start to struggle away when he sets me down on top of a thick, brown fur.

"Shh, Mara. I will not touch you that way tonight. I know you need some time," Urto says.

"There will never be enough time, Urto. They are still my males."

"There is no bond, love," he says firmly. "Now, hush and sleep. You need it."

I see a figure move against the far wall. Gired. Rasted must be close by.

I touch my fingers to my left wrist. Wake me when he falls asleep, I tell him.

A slow, deliberate nod is my only answer. I am not without my own tricks, not yet.