Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #1)

Blood of Hercules (2024) is the first installment in the Villains of Lore series written by Jasmine Mas and draws upon elements of Greek mythology to tell the story of Alexis Hert, the lost daughter of Hades and Persephone. Placed in foster care since her infancy, Alexis endures an abusive upbringing that prepares her to take on the trials of the Spartan crucible and navigate dangerous relationships with Chthonic Spartans. The novel examines the pitfalls of believing too ardently in myths and explores the differences between agency and circumstances, as well as the constraining concept of honor, Mas details a story that is fraught with schemes, lies, and the tenuous grasp of love and familial bonds in the pits of an immortal arena.

This guide refers to the WC Publishing LLC e-book edition published on August 1, 2024.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide include descriptions of child abuse and neglect, violence, torture, starvation, death, bullying, trauma, panic attacks, sexual harassment, stalking, and forced marriage and briefly mention suicide.

Plot Summary

At the turn of the second millennium, Spartans—immortal beings once revered as gods—return to the human world. After the Great War between their two factions, the Olympians and the Chthonics, Titans appear and devastate the human world. The remaining Spartans unite to form the Spartan Federation. As punishment for starting the Great War, the Chthonics are forced to participate in the Assembly of Death, an institution dedicated to fighting the Titans.

Years later, in 2099, the entity named Fate receives a prophecy predicting that if the “lost one” is not chained to “death’s soldiers,” the Titans will inherit the Earth, and war will rage forever. To avoid this outcome, Fate tells the members of the Spartan Federation to enact a new marriage law that requires every Spartan citizen to marry by the age of 26. The law also demands that Kharon Artemis and Augustus, two of the most formidable Chthonic Spartans, become professors of the crucible this year. (The crucible, along with a bloody event called the “initiation massacre,” is part of a grueling rite of passage that Spartan youths must survive before they can gain their immortality and their official status as part of the Spartan Federation. Most initiates are boys; it is very rare for a female Spartan to be an initiate in this process.)

The narrative shifts back in time nine years. In Montana, 10-year-old Alexis (who is much later revealed to be a Chthonic and the long-lost daughter of Hades and Persephone) is forced to live with her abusive human foster parents. She befriends an invisible echidna named Nyx and works to protect her foster brother, Charlie, from their guardians’ abuse. However, when food grows scarce, their foster parents contemplate killing Charlie. Alexis confronts them and unknowingly activates her Chthonic powers, killing her foster mother. When emergency services arrive, she blames their foster father, who is arrested. Alexis and Charlie are left to fend for themselves in the cold.

Eight years later, Alexis is in high school, studying to earn a place in one of the illustrious Spartan universities. When she submits her exam for the Spartan merit placement, a blood test reveals that Alexis is a Spartan herself. A Spartan Federation agent immediately “leaps” (teleports) her across the world to the Dolomite Coliseum in Italy, where she is forced to undergo the initiation massacre and is the only girl among 50 other boys. In the massacre’s final moments, Alexis unknowingly uses her Chthonic powers to save herself from three attacking boys. Zeus, leader of the Federation, appoints mentors to guide her and the other nine surviving initiates through the next phase of the trials: the crucible. To Alexis, he appoints the Crimson Duo, Patroclus (“Patro”) and Achilles, who are both revered for their deadly strength and feared for their Chthonic powers.

However, Patro and Achilles are hostile to Alexis, believing her to be an abandoned Olympian “mutt”—someone who is half Spartan, half human. Because their standing depends on her performance, they belief that she will jeopardize their chances of attaining the title of “general,” the highest decoration a Spartan can receive. Because they believe that Alexis has no powers, they deem her useless. With no one by her side but Nyx, Alexis enters the crucible, a physically grueling, six-month training period. One of her teachers is Augustus, who is Patro and Achilles’ half-brother and the heir to the House of Ares. Augustus assumes that Alexis is participating in the crucible for political purposes—that is, to allow women to run the crucible. If this change is allowed, it will place his sister, Helen, in imminent danger. Outwardly, Augustus hates Alexis for what he believes she represents, but inwardly, he holds a secret desire for her.

As they begin their intensive studies, Alexis struggles. Whenever an initiate makes a mistake or answers a question wrong, the whole group is forced to run the demanding mountain circuit and swim across the River Styx. (If they swim too slowly, a Chthonic named Kharon, the ferryman, will kill them.) During her first swim, Alexis tries her best to avoid Kharon, but she unintentionally attacks a fellow initiate named Christos with her Chthonic powers. Kharon deals Christos a killing blow but realizes that Alexis is really Hercules, the lost daughter of Hades and Persephone. He plots with Augustus to use her to circumvent the new marriage law, which is designed to dilute Chthonic blood. He sets his invisible hellhounds to watch her and surveils her every move. As she demonstrates her physical resiliency and academic excellence, Patro and Achilles grow to accept and like her, while Kharon, their close friend, always visits their villa while Alexis is there and even visits her in her dreams.

When the initiates are invited to a Spartan symposium, Alexis encounters sirens for the first time and realizes that she has the ability to communicate with all creatures. As Alexis and the sirens play a game, Alexis becomes inebriated. She is about to strip naked (the consequences of losing a bet) when Augustus and Kharon declare her off limits to anyone else and carry her out of the symposium. Alexis is bleeding and angry, and when the familiar pain in her chest blooms, a siren dies. Later, she finds a note in her textbook threatening her safety. She also discovers a gift box containing the eyes of one of the sirens and a piece of jewelry. She does not know who sent her these items or why.

Weeks go by, and Alexis makes an alliance with fellow initiates Drex Chen and Maximum. As more failed initiates disappear, Alexis struggles to remain in the running. She and several other initiates weather an unexpected Titan attack while running the mountain circuit. Kharon and Augustus discuss their scheme (which they do not specify is a plan to force Alexis into a joint marriage with them both). They decide that this plan is the only way to circumvent the new marriage laws and keep Alexis safe at the same time.

By December, Alexis learns how to teleport and bonds with an animal protector: a dog-like creature that she names Fluffy Jr. Later, Patro and Achilles indicate to Alexis that despite their romantic relationship with each other, they may be open to a third partner; Alexis does not pick up on this amorous hint. Later that day, Maximum confesses his love for her and kisses her, but she doesn’t reciprocate. She then finds another threatening note in her textbook, along with a second gift box containing Maximum’s eyes and a piece of jewelry.

In January, with the help of Helen, Augustus and Patro’s sister, Alexis takes part in the Spartans’ masquerade ball. She soon finds herself caught by Kharon and Augustus in disguise, who lead her in an erotic dance in front of the Spartan crowd. When she manages to escape them, someone screams that the Titans are attacking. In the ensuing chaos, Alexis and Helen are captured by a man with a jaguar mask.

The man teleports them to a warehouse. He reveals himself to be Theros, Zeus’s heir and the person behind the threatening notes; however, he did not send Alexis the gruesome gift boxes. As he has done to any other person who might threaten his position as heir, he ties Alexis and Helen up and leaves them to be eaten by a Titan. Alexis breaks free and stabs the Titan in the eye. She then teleports back to the Dolomite Coliseum with Helen. Despite her injuries, she lunges for Theros and fights with him. As they grapple, Alexis unleashes her Chthonic powers, but Patro calms them and prevents her from killing Theros. Her red Chthonic eyes reveal her heritage, and the whole of Sparta witnesses Hades and Persephone recognize Alexis as their lost daughter.

However, their reunion is cut short when Zeus demands that Alexis marry one of the Spartan offspring in order to reinstate her honor after the events of the crucible. (Within the patriarchal Spartan society, men are honored for surviving the crucible, but women are considered to taint their honor by participating at all.) As Hades and Zeus argue, Kharon and Augustus declare that they are already betrothed to her. They have taken advantage of Alexis’s ignorance of Spartan practices to trick her into accepting their betrothal gift—the two gift boxes—without her consent or knowledge. When she teleports back to Charlie, the Spartans bring her and her foster brother back to the Dolomites. Furious that Alexis is forced to wed Kharon and Augustus, Patro and Achilles swear to find a way to have her for themselves. With no other choice, Alexis weds Kharon and Augustus under the unbreakable promise of a Spartan vow. After a night of passion, however, she vows revenge against them for entrapping her in their scheme.