Alexander Palladino doesn’t hesitate—being a son of Ares means staying sharp, controlled, and consistent no matter the situation, and he’s built a reputation on that alone—but somewhere along the way, there’s one person at camp he can’t treat like everyone else, an Aphrodite camper who throws off his timing, his focus, his instincts, and what starts as a small slip during something as simple as a game doesn’t stay there, because it keeps happening, and the more it does, the harder it gets to ignore that this isn’t just a mistake—it’s a pattern, and one he doesn’t know how to fix.