I need to make it clear to the professor that I'm just using him to piss the other girls off...but then I feel his fingers brush over the corner of my lips, and it's all over for me. My body trembles as my breath becomes uneven, and I can feel my cheeks heating up as I watch the professor's lips slowly curve in a smirk.
Shit.
The professor uses his thumb for one last final sweep on my cheek. "There," he says ever so softly. "All clean now." He sounds unbelievably gentle, but in his eyes I only see the same cold amusement.
It terrifies me a little, but because everyone's still looking at us, I just bat my lashes at him and say throatily, "Thank you, professor."
I think I hear girls actually snarling like rabid dogs this time, and it's enough to make me forget what a jerk the professor is. For now, I'm just going to enjoy my little victory, and enjoy it I do as I find myself actually relishing the hostile scowls and glowers that the other girls shoot my way.
Why has no one ever told me being bad can be so much fun?
Come lunchtime - or as it's called here in Rosethorne, ora gia gévma - it's pretty clear that just about everyone knows of my tête à tête with the professor. While news always travels fast, and bad news travel even faster, it's the scandalous ones that travel the fastest, and what can be more scandalous than Rosethorne's most eligible professor falling for a student...who was once accused of mass murder?
Nia is actually grinning as she waves at me, and I can't help but laugh as I join my roommate at her table.
"I hear you just made the majority of Rosethorne's female population hate you this morning," she says excitedly. "Congratulations. I'm so proud of you."
"Uh...thanks." Since this is Nia, I'm pretty sure she means it, and she truly thinks an increasing enemy count is a person's source of pride.
"However..."
I'm in the middle of puncturing a hole into my juice pack when I hear Nia speak in a warning tone, and I look at her with a frown. "What?"
"Aren't you worried about your anonymous benefactor?"
"My what?"
"The divine being who made you come here," she elaborates under her breath.
Oh.
"Why should I be worried?"
"Uh...duh?"
I'm still confused. "I really don't get it."
Nia rolls her eyes at me. "Divine beings are the most jealous and possessive creatures ever, and you
just publicly flirted with a good-looking human," she points out. "It's not exactly something that will make your god or demigod say 'good job', is it?"
Chapter Nine
I didn't think things through.
Okay?
So there.
I've admitted it.
My pettiness got the better of me this morning, and now that Nia's reminded me of how gods can be just as petty, I find myself secretly fretting over it for the rest of the day. I feel like I've voluntarily placed my head on the chopping block, and dread fills me every time I think of falling asleep.
Mr. Beast-Turned-God has the power to strike me down any moment, and the fact that he hasn't makes me think he's deliberately torturing me with the long wait.
Time crawls past me, and my anxiety worsens as the divine axe refuses to fall. A part of me wants to believe this only means I'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill, but there's the other side of me that keeps thinking back to my biological parents' fated death. I refuse to believe that genetics has doomed me to follow in their footsteps, and even if it were...
I sit up in bed and grab my phone to check the time.
A quarter to midnight, mm...
That should mean fewer students would be out of their residence buildings, and that's exactly what I need. If Halyna is to continue looking after Halyna, why should I just wait here in my room like a good little girl? It's time I take matters in my own hands. I'll...I'll look for Mr. Beast-Turned-God and argue my case like my life depends on it. Well, actually, it really does depend on it, so...
I've just finished throwing a knitted sweater over my turtleneck, and I'm about to tiptoe out of the room when Nia stirs in her bed, asking sleepily, "Where are you going?"
"I'm just taking a walk," I hear myself lie.
My roommate mumbles something incoherent, and I only start moving again when I see her pulling the covers back up.
The air outside Dark Rose House is chilly, and it has me walking far more briskly than usual as I head towards the labyrinth. Since it's where I first bumped into the god, I figure it's as good a place as any to look for him again. I know it's a long shot, but since I can't think of any other way to contact the divine, it's not like I have any other choice.