"A GODDESS SHOULD never have to beg. It was the one thought, clear and simple, that ran through Maximus's mind. Everything else--his rank, the party,their conflict, seemed to fall away from that one truth. She should never have to beg. He still tasted her mouth on his tongue, still wanted to crush her breasts against his chest and bend her until she bared her throat to him, but he made himself let her go. "Very well." Artemis blinked, her sweet lips parting as if she didn't believe what she'd heard. "What?" "I'll do it." He turned to go, his mind already making plans, when he felt her fingers clutch at his sleeve. "You'll take him from Bedlam?" "Yes." Perhaps his decision had already been made from the moment he'd seen tears in her eyes. He had a weakness, it seemed, a fault more terrible than any Achilles's heel: he couldn't stand the sight of her tears. But her eyes shone as if he'd placed the moon itself into her hands. "Thank you."