Blood of Hercules - by Jasmine Mas

Here is a summary with spoilers of Blood of Hercules

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• Alexis: the protagonist, a scrappy, sarcastic math genius with a traumatic past. She’s an outsider thrown into a world she doesn’t understand,

• Charlie: Alexis’s foster brother, who she cares deeply about. He does not speak, so they communicate with sign language. 

• Achilles: A masked mentor who exudes power and danger. 

• Patro: Achilles’ counterpart, another mentor to Alexis. Together, they’re known as the Crimson Duo, feared for their ruthlessness in battle.

• Kharon: He’s a professor at the Spartan Academy. He’s manipulative, dangerous, and has his own sinister plans for Alexis.

• Augustus: A son of war, who is very mysterious and dangerous. 

The book opens with a young Alexis, living in a trailer park with her abusive and drug-addicted adoptive parents. These parents show her no love, often neglecting or hurting her. Throughout her childhood, Alexis is an outcast, but she finds a friend in the form of a snake named Nyx, who only she can see and talk to. Nyx becomes her protector and constant companion.

One day, the government drops off another child, Charlie, who is a year younger than Alexis. Her parents are furious about having to care for another child when they already struggle with money. Alexis immediately becomes protective of Charlie. One night, Alexis overhears her parents discussing plans to get rid of Charlie, so she hides him in the bathroom. A massive fight erupts, leading to chaos—and, unexpectedly, a monster joins the fray. In the end, Alexis’s mother is dead, her father is taken to prison (becauuse Alexis put all the blame on him), and Alexis loses her hearing and sight on one side of her face. She and Charlie are left to fend for themselves.

The story then jumps forward to Alexis’s final year in school, where she is taking a test that will hopefully land her a spot at an academy offering financial support for both her and Charlie. She passes the test, but not in the way she expected. As part of the exam, she is required to seal it with blood—her magical blood (which she had no idea about). This act leads to her being transported halfway across the world, where she lands in a field and is told that if she wants to join Spartan school, she must fight other initiates. What follows is a brutal trial, and despite the odds, Alexis somehow emerges victorious. Along with a handful of other initiates, she is chosen to attend the Spartan school, where she is paired with two mentors: the infamous Achilles, who wears a mask and never speaks, and Patro. They are less than thrilled to mentor her, as they believe she is a "mutt"—half Spartan, half human—and not strong enough to make it.

As the initiates begin their intense training, Alexis struggles. Each time someone makes a mistake, the whole group is forced to run a grueling mountain circuit and then swim across the River Styx. The consequences of swimming too slowly are brutal: the ferryman, Kharon, will kill them. During her first swim, Alexis fights to avoid Kharon but accidently injures a fellow initiate with her powers. Kharon kills the other student but soon realizes that Alexis is no ordinary mortal. She is Hercules, the lost daughter of Hades and Persephone. Kharon, in league with Augustus, plots to use Alexis to find a way around the new marriage law designed to dilute Chthonic blood. He sends invisible hellhounds to watch her every move (which Alexis feels throughout the book).

As Alexis continues to demonstrate physical and intellectual resilience, Patro and Achilles begin to warm up to her. Meanwhile, Kharon, their close friend, frequently visits their villa and even appears in Alexis’s dreams.

At a Spartan party for, Alexis meets sirens for the first time and discovers her ability to communicate with all creatures (which is why she can communicate with her snake Nyx). During a game with the sirens, she gets drunk and, in the midst of a bet, is about to strip naked when Augustus and Kharon intervene, declaring her off-limits to anyone else. They carry her out of the party. Later, she finds a note in her textbook threatening her safety, along with a gruesome gift box containing the eyes of the siren who flirted with her the night before, and a piece of jewelry. The identity of the sender remains a mystery.

Weeks later, Alexis forms an alliance with two other initiates, Drex Chen and Maximum. As more initiates fail and disappear, Alexis fights to stay in the running. During a Titan attack while running the mountain circuit, Kharon and Augustus reveal their plan to force Alexis into a marriage with both of them to preserve her safety and ensure the continuation of their bloodline. Later, Maximum confesses his love for Alexis and kisses her, but she does not return his feelings. Soon after, Alexis discovers a threatening note in her textbook and another gift box containing Maximum's eyes and a piece of jewelry.

In January, with the help of Helen—Augustus and Patro’s sister—Alexis attends the Spartans’ masquerade ball. There, she finds herself caught in an erotic dance with Kharon and Augustus, who are in disguise. When she escapes, the Titans attack, and Alexis and Helen are captured by a masked man who teleports them to a warehouse. This man, Theros, reveals himself as Zeus’s heir and the one behind the threatening notes. However, he claims he did not send the gruesome gift boxes. He ties the girls up and leaves them to be devoured by a Titan. Alexis manages to break free (by brutally tearing apart her hands) and kills the Titan, then teleports back to the Dolomite Coliseum with Helen. Despite her injuries, she confronts Theros, unleashing her Chthonic powers. Patro intervenes, preventing her from killing Theros, and Alexis’s red Chthonic eyes reveal her true heritage. Hades and Persephone acknowledge Alexis as their long-lost daughter, with all of Sparta watching.

The reunion is short-lived, however, as Zeus demands that Alexis marry a Spartan heir to restore her honor after the crucible’s events. In Spartan society, men are praised for surviving the crucible, but women are considered to have dishonored their families by participating. As Hades and Zeus argue, Kharon and Augustus announce that they are already betrothed to Alexis. They have used Alexis’s ignorance of Spartan customs to trick her into accepting their betrothal gift—the two gift boxes—without her consent. Alexis, who has had enough of her situation teleports to her home with Charlie. She gets to spend a night with him in their box house. The next morning all four men find Alexis, they worry about her hands that need to be healed, and want her back in safety. She agrees if they promise to also take Charlie. The wedding happens, and Alexis vows revenge as she is forced to marry Kharon and Augustus under the binding Spartan vow. After a passionate night, she swears to free herself from their manipulations. Patro and Achilles also have a moment where they regret not saving Alexis, and vow that they will now try and save her; they believe that she should belong with them.

Thanks Super Summary for helping me remember what else happened. https://www.supersummary.com/blood-of-hercules/summary/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17311150304&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADhUVAoa0HsiaflJw0BPoaPQ6QPUm&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsaS7BhDPARIsAAX5cSAveiKAxqRyaVrVTiVLFonRcXONmyosCstWKhLLyc4LPgk1SrWH8k4aAqEpEALw_wcB