21. Titan Attacks

In Corfu, Alexis broods over returning to Sparta and the “Falcon Chronicles,” which praises Kharon’s rumored betrothal and exposes her as Zeus’s daughter with cruel classmate quotes. She meets Helen—Aphrodite’s heiress and Augustus’s half sister—who encourages her. The next morning, Alexis travels back with Patro and Achilles, dreading the academy and Augustus’s hostility.

In class, Maximum moves beside Alexis and chatters until Augustus explodes, orders everyone up, and—via General Cleandro—has Ryax lead a crucible run in brutal winter conditions. During the ascent, a Titan’s scream triggers panic. Ryax leaps away to alert the Assembly; Cassius speeds off to reach Kharon, leaving the six remaining initiates to flee.

As they descend, Leo falls and breaks his leg. Alexis stops to help, but a Titan arrives and kills Leo instantly. Nyx harasses the Titan, buying moments while Alexis refuses to abandon her. When the Titan targets Alexis, she counters with a rock, is wounded, and prepares to fight bare-handed.

Kharon arrives in a blur, empties twin guns into the Titan, then finishes it with a knife. Shaken, he confronts Alexis for risking herself, his fury triggering her trauma response; he quickly softens, asks consent to move her, and leaps her to the library, where mentors and initiates have regrouped. Protective voices block an overzealous doctor and tend her discreetly.

Hours later, bandaged, Alexis rejoins study tables as Maximum whispers that Augustus nearly lost control when she was missing. When class resumes, Augustus is a storm of anger and publicly berates Alexis for not running, even as the academy returns to a brittle normalcy shadowed by Leo’s death.