Alexander
“One day.”
“Out of the question.”
“One fucking day!”
I punched the desk. A candle wobbled then tipped over, instantly catching the carpet alight. Drakos dumped a goblet of reddish liquid on the flames and extinguished them without a change in expression.
“Now that you’ve raised your voice and thrown a tantrum like a child, you’ve convinced me,” he droned. “I’ll saddle your pegasus myself.”
“You piece of—” My hand snapped up—aimed and willing at his head. Now there was a reaction.
A deep, raspy laugh echoed through the too-dark room. “By all means, kill me, Mr. Damien. My replacement will only tell you the same thing. Novices may be granted leave from the academy in the event of an immediate family member’s death. ‘Like a brother to me’ is not the same as a brother. You will not attend Mr. Teresi’s funeral,” he dropped. “If you attempt to flout this order by using your father’s position or try to leave the academy without permission, you will be deemed a deserter. Do you understand?”
“Fuck you!” Rage swelled in my chest. Boiling, burning, biting worse than anything I’d ever done to man or monster. “I’m not deserting. It’s one day. One day to lay my brother to rest.”
Drakos lightly lifted his shoulders. “Do not think me unsympathetic. I lost many a brother-in-arms. Men and women I’d have given my life for, torn into pieces before my eyes. And do you want to know what I did? I stepped over their parts and kept fighting,” he hissed. “The war doesn’t stop while you weep by a gravesite. On the battlefield, you will not be given ‘one day.’ You should expect no such thing within these walls.”
Control snapped. My power spilled through my body—sizzling and humming beneath my skin as living electricity rushed out to meet its own. To invite it to play. To invite it to burn.
To entice it to kill.
What kind of officious, heartless bastard denied someone the right to say a last goodbye to a man they’ve known since our time in the nursery wing? A man who saved my life.
These rules are stupid. They’re idiotic and much too rigid! We’re more than soldiers. We’re people and we have the right to—
“Shouldn’t such a strong supporter of the army understand the chain of command? Or do you believe every now and then, there’s room for rebellion?”
The words pierced my mind—so sudden and unwanted, I jerked and dropped my hand. My power fled back to the depths where it lived—fading like the feel of the sun when you step inside.
What the hades was wrong with me? Drakos was worthless slime and his death wouldn’t steal a minute of my sleep, but in that moment, it wasn’t him that enraged me. It was the rules he vowed to uphold. The rulesIvowed to uphold.
Since when do I rationalize like a traitor?I dropped hard in a chair.What had a week in that woman’s presence done to me?
“It seems my execution has been scheduled for another day.”
I ground my teeth. Killing him would not make me a traitor. It’d make me a hero. “Seems so,” I returned. “My training is too important. Everyone must stay and carry out their duty.” The words burned my lips.
“So, this is what we’ll do. We’ll hold a memorial here at the academy. A day of remembrance for Galen.” I nodded to myself, easing as the plan to honor my brother came together. “A statue and a plaque will be erected in his honor. I’ll send for the commission tonight. A decent child of Hephaestus will have it done in a week. That’s when we’ll hold it,” I said. “Next week.”
I pinned him with a look. “If you think of denying me this simple and reasonable request, I will hunt down everyone you love, know, pass by on the street, and boil their blood till Olympia is stained red. You can spend the rest of your days stepping over their parts.”
His eyes glinted through the shadows. The only part of him I could clearly see... besides his smirk. “Do you think it wise to threaten me?” Hand moving slowly across the desk, he tapped a soft beat that sounded eerily similar.
It occurred to me that I didn’t know this man’s power. At least it occurred to me for half a second. There was nothing he could do to me in the minuscule time he had before I exploded him all over the desk.
“I think it the wisest thing I’ve ever done.”
If anything, Drakos’s smirk widened. “I like you, boy. Like your spirit. Most walk through these doors and I know with a single look, they won’t survive their novice year, let alone live to walk on a battlefield. But you...” He pointed through the dark. “There’s a warrior’s heart in your chest. And a killer’s glint in your eye.”
Said eyes hardened. I trusted he was seeing that glint then.
“You’ll go far one day. Possibly further than your fatherif,” he stressed ever so slightly, “you learn when it’s time for strength, and when it’s time for diplomacy. There’s a reason the council allots me more money, leeway, and deference than suits them. Even they know not to push a man who’s left no trace of the numerous assassins they’ve sent to kill me.”
Our eyes locked across the divide. Neither speaking nor moving as the silence stretched. The guy didn’t get this far by being pushed around by men twenty years his junior. I’d be impressed, if their heads didn’t all pop the same way.
Drakos waved a hand, making me tense. “You may go.”