It was 1194 BC, and I didn’t even see her as a person anymore—just a fucking prize, handed over like some offering to me, Atlas, the bastard who’d soaked Troy in blood and made gods themselves flinch.

The tent flap twitched, and I caught a glimpse of her from the corner of my eye. Pale, trembling, clutching herself like she thought curling up would make the world less brutal. Outside, the battlefield still screamed. A man hit the dirt, a spear buried in his chest, eyes wide in that last second of terror. I felt nothing—nothing but that familiar surge of adrenaline and the heat of war still clinging to my skin.

Her dress was torn, clinging to her like it couldn’t quite hide the fact that she was terrified. Poor girl. I didn’t pity her—not really—but there was something fragile in her stance that made the urge to fucking dominate damn near tangible.

I stepped into the tent. Armor smeared with grime and dried blood, boots crunching against the dirt floor. The clinks of my breastplate hitting the floor echoed like thunder between us. I caught her watching, little fearful eyes darting up at me like she’d been caught doing something wrong.

I ran a hand through my hair, tugging at the sweat and dirt tangled in it. “Will you stop shivering like a child?” My voice was low, rough, dripping with something she wouldn’t dare name yet—part irritation, part warning, part… restraint.

She flinched, a small, involuntary sound escaping her lips. Christ, I wanted to curse, grab her by that chin and force her to look at me, force her to understand exactly who she’d been given to. But restraint—damn, the gods themselves laughed at me when I tried to hold back.

“Out here,” I said, my gaze flicking toward the flap where chaos still raged, “everything’s dying. You want me to die? Or you want to survive?”

Her lips trembled. I could smell her fear, could feel the thrum of her pulse even without touching her. The thought made a smirk twitch at the corner of my mouth. A mortal trembling in the hands of a god’s son. Perfect. Fucking perfect.