Half-Blood Academy 3: Magic Fury: an academy reverse harem fantasy romance Read online

“Why shouldn’t I be here, Axel?” Ares asked, his golden eyes, like the purest flames in the universe, never straying from me.

  Héctor growled. “What the fuck, Ares? Why did you intercept me?”

  “Take care how you talk to your better, Héctor,” Ares hissed. “I’ve been giving all four of you brats free rein for too long.”

  Héctor didn’t back down. His massive, black wings whooshed out from behind his shoulders, moving to form a second shield around me.

  Ares didn’t seem to be bothered by the death demigod’s antagonism. He just sneered. “I’m taking back control,” the god declared. “This new situation requires my undivided attention.”

  Despite the viciousness rolling off him, he was the most gorgeous male I’d ever seen. He was more than perfection, clad in black and white armor that made him even more magnificent. It seemed even the universe itself would bend its knee before him.

  But not me. Just as Loki had said, my knees weren’t weak.

  Ares didn’t look surprised that I didn’t kneel or bow before him like the others, even though I wasn’t in the ranks of the demigods.

  How much did he know about me? I bet that he’d read my files.

  And what did those files say about me?

  I made a mental note to get them from the headmistress’s office. She’d reviewed my case and seen how the demigods were around me.

  But how much had she told the God of War? Was her true loyalty to him or us? Like the demigods, she’d tried to keep me from the eyes of the god. Why would she want to protect me?

  Hundreds of questions wheeled through my mind, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on any of them.

  My eyes darted to the god. Axel took after his father in every way. When I’d first spotted Axel, I thought he’d descended from the glorious Heavens. I had stared at his feet to see if he rode on an actual chariot of fire.

  Now that I’d met Ares, I believed that the God of War had often ridden on a chariot of fire to go to war. This god, the son of the king and queen of the gods, had power as mighty as Lucifer’s.

  “What’s the new situation you mentioned, Ares?” Zak asked, his expression neutral and controlled.

  Paxton was the only one who hadn’t shouted his opinions. He’d barely pulled himself together, though he tried to hide his pain. Why didn’t he just leave for the healing chamber? We didn’t need him to be here and suffer like a stubborn fool.

  I sent a glaring glance his way while I assessed the situation, but I wouldn’t say anything to him.

  None of the demigods cowered before the god. They weren’t afraid of him, yet I sensed that they were anxious. Then it dawned on me that they were worried about me.

  “Whatever you want, Ares,” Héctor said with a shrug. “Discuss it with my cousins. I have to go.”

  The other demigods nodded eagerly, and Héctor was about to take off with me again.

  “Marigold is going nowhere,” Ares said. “She’s the new situation.”

  “Like hell, I’ll let you retain my mate while she’s exhausted,” Héctor hissed, propelling his wings forward aggressively.

  The Demigod of Death was going to fight the god, but I doubted he would win. I doubted all four of them would win contending with the God of War. They were formidable warriors, but Ares was a power-ten god.

  The god narrowed his fiery eyes. “Really, Héctor? You will go against me for a woman?”

  “Anytime, for my woman,” Héctor said softly, yet dangerously.

  “Marigold is a first-year Academy student.” Ares raised his voice. “You don’t have my blessing or permission to take her as a mate.”

  “Like it or not, I’ve claimed her as my mate,” Héctor said, death light twirling on the tips of his feathers. “And she’s mine to protect. I won’t allow any harm to come to her.”

  “I don’t think Ares intends to harm our Marigold,” Zak said. “He wouldn’t be that petty.”

  Héctor glared at him, but the sky demigod looked unfazed as he continued. “Ares just got here. He barely knows who Marigold is. She’s a nobody who was unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the archdemon followed Paxton, hoping to take out one of us. Marigold’s friend, the first-year on the ground over there, was caught in the crossfire and didn’t survive.”

  I hadn’t expected the Demigod of Sky—also the Demigod of Justice—to lie so smoothly.

  “You all know Marigold’s name,” Ares said. “What’s her friend’s name?”

  I doubted that any of the demigods had learned Demetra’s wing woman’s name.

  “Brittney,” I offered.

  Ares laughed.

  “What’s so funny about the name?” I challenged him.

  The Dominions around us gasped. Well, I’d just challenged a god. But many of them had seen me stand up to the demigods, so what was the big deal? No matter what I did, Ares had fixed his eyes on me. I might just get mouthy, especially when I had this pent-up angst inside.

  Héctor squeezed me to him, and Esme subtly shook her head at me, a worried look on her face. The rest of the demigods had a blank mask in place.

  “They don’t know your friend’s name, Marigold,” Ares said. “She’s nothing to them. You, however, are a different case.”

  I swallowed a retort.

  His full attention snagged on me as if I was the newest squeeze toy he’d just found. “You’ve caused quite a stir in the Academy since the day you arrived,” he said. “In a short time, you’ve had all my demigods wrapped around your little finger. None of them have reacted to any woman as they do to you. And all four of them are infatuated with you.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “They aren’t the teenagers that you depict.”

  And my demigods were mine, not his!

  The God of War caught the predatory, possessive light flashing by my eyes.

  “How interesting,” he said, smiling like a knife. “No one can stand in a god’s presence without kneeling, except for the demigods. But you don’t even blink an eye in front of me.”

  “Pardon me if I don’t want to dirty my pretty gown,” I said.

  I knew I shouldn’t mouth off to a god, but I just couldn’t help it when facing an arrogant asshole.

  Ares chuckled darkly. “You amuse me, Marigold.”

  “My mate isn’t here for your amusement, Ares,” Héctor growled. “And she’s my equal. She bows to no one.” He’d utterly ignored Ares’s former denial of his claim on me.

  “I’m not done talking, Héctor,” Ares said coldly. “I’d hate to remind you how to respect your better.”

  Cool it, Héctor, Paxton said, his voice hoarse yet weaker than usual. We have to play a different game. If we hit him straight right now, we’ll lose, and he’ll take Marigold from us. That’s his fucking intention.

  Héctor’s jaw clenched; his fists formed.

  Paxton’s right, Zak said. We have to stall Ares, and then we’ll get Rosebud away. We need to distract him and take his attention off her.

  But the fucker’s attention is fully fixed on her, Héctor said. If he touches my lamb, I’ll go to war with him. I don’t give a fuck what kind of destruction I’ll leave behind. No one harms my lamb.

  My gaze flicked between them before staring ahead as if I hadn’t heard anything. How could I hear their mental conversation all of a sudden? It was like I’d turned on a radio and stumbled right into their private channel.

  Could it be that Zak and I had shared a mating bond, so he’d granted me the same access to his mind as the other demigods? I was linked to all the demigods in one way or another at this point.

  Cool your jets, old boy, Axel chimed in. My father won’t hesitate to kill even me if I get in his way. We need to beat him at his own game.

  His game is to take my lamb from us! Héctor shouted in the channel, and I winced a little. Let’s all rush him at once.

  We tried that and failed, Paxton snorted. He didn’t kill us only because he needed us, but this time, he will kill us all and take her.

  How did he learn about us having Marigold? Who betrayed us?

  My brain hurt as the demigods all shouted their opinions. And I seemed to be the only one keeping watch on Ares, our biggest threat.

  “Don’t play me for a fool, demigods,” Ares said frostily. “Loki didn’t breach the wards of the Academy to come after any of you. He and his mages were here for Marigold.”

  My blood ran cold.

  Did he know what I was? If he revealed that I was a half-demoness, even the demigods would turn on me.

  I darted a glance at Paxton, and he looked back, cold certainty in his violet eyes, which, strangely, calmed my nerves.

  He was telling me to stay put.

  He wouldn’t sell me out. I’d become his bargaining chip and was his to blackmail, and from what I knew about him, he wouldn’t want to give that up. I was the wild card he held.

  Héctor wrapped me tighter in his arms, lending me his warmth, ready to fight or fly.

  “You have no proof of that, father,” Axel said. “We were throwing a party, and things went wrong. Our conflict with Lucifer’s archdemons has escalated, and you know that.”

  “Don’t play coy with me, cub,” Ares said. “You have millennia ahead of you to learn if you even survive that long. Most of my children haven’t. Not even Deimos, who was killed by that bitch Cass Saélihn.”

  Had the asshole just threatened his own son?

  “The infringement on the Paris Academy was a decoy to get me away from this location,” the asshole continued, his eyes raking over my person, despite Héctor’s growl and the other demigods’ enraged expressions, “so that Loki could penetrate the North American Academy and snatch Marigold. So you can see how important she is to unveiling his deep scheme.”

  “You’re as paranoid as usual, Ares,” Paxton snorted. “I had an unpleasant conversation with Loki. It had nothing to do with Marigold, but everything to do with Brittney and me. There’s no deep scheme here, other than that Brittney might have been carrying my child, or so she told me. Loki wanted her for that reason alone to get back to me. I killed one of his dukes two years ago. Now the girl is dead.”

  Everyone was shocked into silence until Ares’s snicker broke it.

  “That’s the most laughable lie I’ve ever heard from you, Paxton,” Ares said. “You can do better. Every one of you has tried to divert my attention from Marigold, which has only confirmed my suspicion that she’s become a player or at least an important pawn in this war. I wonder what it is about her that even Lucifer’s heir went through such trouble to have her. I’m going to take it from here. Marigold isn’t going with any of you because she’s coming with me.”

  “Like hell she is!” Héctor placed me behind him, spread his wings to their full length in a battle stance, and hauled his death light toward Ares.

  He’d just attacked the God of War.

  The Dominion soldiers froze in their kneeling positions, looking utterly stunned. Esme remained where she was, but she looked at me as if expecting me to stop the fight.

  A golden shield appeared in Ares’s hand. He raised it to fend off the dark light surging toward him, and the death light fizzled out around the edges of his shield. A golden spear materialized in his other hand the next second.

  “I’ll kill you to set an example,” Ares declared, thrusting his spear toward Héctor.

  “Take her away from here!” Héctor yelled at Axel. “Guard my lamb!”

  The Demigod of Death had lost his head over me.

  “No!” I said, ducking out of Axel’s grab.

  I would never go to safety and leave them at Ares’s mercy.

  I called for my fire, but only a residual hint of my power surfaced.

  It wouldn’t be enough, but I didn’t have any more juice left in my magical well. I was spent. I needed to feed, but it seemed I wasn’t going to get fed anytime soon.

  No matter, I would give all I had and burn the god should he touch my Héctor. I didn’t even care anymore if Ares, or anyone, recognized my hellfire in the mix.

  Héctor and Ares lunged at each other, and I followed right behind Héctor’s left wing, charging as well with a battle cry.

  I planned to toast Ares from his blindside while Héctor battled him.

  “Stop!” Zak shouted.

  His lightning cut a space between Ares and Héctor, and Paxton’s ice storm followed its path to separate the war god and death demigod before they crashed.

  It was a wonder Paxton still had any power left. The sea demigod was tougher than I thought.

  I threw a dagger I’d taken from a dead mage at Ares. I’d never missed a target, but Ares slapped it away with his armguard and glared at me while he staggered back from the barrier forged by Zak and Paxton.

  Héctor reeled back too, and Axel dragged me back before I crashed into Héctor’s wing.

  “Easy, my little warrior,” Axel said fondly.

  “Don’t pull me out of here,” I shouted. “Or I’ll never forgive you, Axel! I stay with all of you.”

  This isn’t the time to lose your shit, Héctor, Zak shouted in their mental forum. Even with our combined forces, we can’t bring down Ares today. And one of us is wounded. Rosebud is hurting, too!

  Bide our time, Paxton added. We’ll train Marigold. When she’s ready, the five of us can take anyone down.

  I hadn’t thought Paxton had such a high opinion of me, but my chest warmed a little at his warrior’s faith in me.

  So we’ll let him take my lamb? Héctor snarled. I won’t allow it. Not now, not ever.

  I needed to get into their channel, too, since I also had opinions. I didn’t know if I could do it, but I had to try. I focused on their minds, mentally hooking mine to their private channel, and I blasted my thoughts at them.

  Let him take me, I shouted. I won’t watch any of you get killed!

  The demigods were incredibly powerful, but Ares was a pureblood god, born of the mightiest original gods. And he had eons of experience on the battlefield.

  Hearing my voice join theirs in their exclusive boys’ club, the demigods snapped their heads at me in shock. I rolled my eyes, yet I was giddy inside.

  Yeah, I can hear you just fine, boys, I said coolly. You’re all very loud. Anyway, we have to stab Ares in the back. Let him take me for now, and you can bust me out later. He can’t have his guard up twenty-four seven. Even a god has a weakness. I bet you know how to exploit it.

  I’d always believed that Ares had a dirty deal with Lucifer. There was a reason he was so interested in me. They say to keep your friends close but your enemies closer. I wanted to hide from him, yet the wild side of me urged me to dig out his dirt.

  Paxton shot a gaze of adoration toward me.

  I’d once declared that I would never bend, but I’d bend for those I cared about. I now cared about the demigods more than I’d like.

  You need to feed soon, lamb, Héctor said. I won’t do it. I won’t allow him to lay a hand on you.

  I can hold on a night or two until you come, I said. If he lays a hand on me, I’ll bite it off. And don’t underestimate me. I’m not some helpless lamb, tiny rosebud, or half-baked cookie. If you consider me your equal, treat me as one. It’s time we work together. This overprotective shit has to stop.

  Axel held back a chuckle, his chest vibrating against my back. Even in a dire situation like this, he didn’t lose his sense of humor.

  “You don’t want this division between us either, Ares,” Zak said as he cast a sound shield around us so the conversation could only be heard between the god and us. “Let’s all cool off and think this through. You don’t want all four of us and our armies to go against you. You might be able to kill us, but we’ll wound you as well. And our half of Earth will fall apart. You can’t fight Lucifer, his heir, and his archdemons alone. Demons will overflow Earth and infest every corner, and you’ll be driven away from this planet without us. And then how will the other gods look at you?”

  “You’ll suffer great humiliation as the biggest failure, father,” Axel added. “You’ll be a laughing stock at Mount Olympus.”

  Ares glared at his son, but he rubbed a thumb on his chin, pondering.

  “I can’t just let you whisk the girl away,” Ares said. “I have to interrogate her in a secured place.”

  “You aren’t going to interrogate her,” Héctor hissed.

  “Calm down, Héctor,” Zak said. “Everyone will have to make a compromise. I trust that Ares is reasonable. He won’t hurt Marigold.”

  “Why would I want to hurt her?” Ares said. “She can be valuable in this war. I have questions. I need answers. And she’ll provide them for me.”

  “I have no answers to any of your questions,” I said. “I’ll hugely disappoint you.”

  Ares smirked. “The last thing you can do is disappoint me, Marigold. I don’t blame my demigods for being drawn to you. Power attracts powers, and you have plenty.”

  All the demigod tensed like an iron rod again.

  “We’re bringing Marigold to my apartment,” Zak said. “You can come with us and ask her questions there.”

  “Unacceptable,” Ares said. “The girl will come with me and stay at my palace so I can take the time to figure her out and get to the bottom of recent events. I promise I won’t hurt her.”

  “Over my dead body will I let you take my mate,” Héctor said icily.

  “That can be arranged,” Ares said.

  “And we’ve just returned to square one,” Esme chimed in with a sigh. “In this war, we need each other. If we divide ourselves now, all of our progress against Lucifer will be nullified. I have a proposal. Why don’t we place Marigold in the warded White Room in the Academy so we can all ask her about what happened tonight?”

  “No,” Ares and Héctor said at the same time.

  Ares attacked without warning. An intense solar flare blasted from his chest, sending everyone flying away from him.

  The shockwave of his energy beat into my bones.

  I threw up my hands to fend it off, but it was too late. Besides, I was already spent.

  I watched the demigods reach for me in fury and devastation as soon as they regained their footing.

  “How dare you hurt my lamb? I’ll kill you,” Héctor roared, his face a cold mask of rage.