At the sight of the god, every knee dropped to the floor, except for Axel’s and mine.
The instructor, who hadn’t had a chance to get up, flipped onto all fours and stayed down on his knees.
Every eye was glued to the ground.
Ares’s power, formidable and potent, whipped the air as if he were the sole force in the universe that decided who got to breathe and who didn’t. Even I could tell the air in my lungs had thinned and chilled in response to the divine power.
Though I shook his power off in the next heartbeat, I had a dreadful feeling that today would turn from bad to worse. I also had a foreboding hunch that he’d come to seek me out, yet I didn’t know what the fuck he wanted.
My heart rammed against my ribcage. From the amused look the god sent me, I knew Ares could detect my erratic heartbeat.
My hands twitched at my sides, ready to deploy my fires. The memory of how he’d taken me and caged me in a glass box was still raw and bruising.
Axel pulled me to him protectively, shielding me.
Why the fuck is Ares here?I shrieked in Axel’s head.Shouldn’t he go hang out with Lucifer?
I don’t like it any more than you do. But chill, Cookie. Let me handle this.
Marie, who knelt a few yards away, raised her head subtly and mouthed before she stared down at the ground again.Don’t mouth off at a god, Marigold. He isn’t like your demigods or any god. He’ll kill you. If you have to kneel, just kneel this one time. Don’t get on his bad side. He’s not known for forgiving.
My cold gaze darted back to the over seven-foot-tall war god, clad in black and white armor like last time I’d seen him. There were no words to describe his perfect face other than simply saying he had fiery, sparkling eyes, a straight, noble nose, and sinful lips.
But Shakespeare’s poetry that Vi, my former guardian, had once read to me floated to my mind:“Turn him into stars and form a constellation in his image. His face will make the heavens so beautiful that the world will fall in love with the night and forget about the garish sun.”
And the god carried such an air of a born conqueror that he might bend the knees of the universe.
But not mine.
Women often dreamed of sleeping with a demigod, but none dared to dream of lying with a god.
Does your father do laundry?I couldn’t help but ask Axel in his head. Despite Ares’s power, he couldn’t hear our private conversation because of the bond I shared with the demigods.He always wears the same outfit. I wonder if he even changes his underwear.
His underwear should be the least of our concerns, Cookie, Axel snorted, but the corner of his mouth tilted up. Then the ghost of a smile vanished from his face. He didn’t like that his father looked at me with a keen interest and predatory amusement.
“Father,” Axel growled. “What are you doing here? We’re training the first-years!”
“So I came to watch,” Ares said lazily as if he enjoyed toying with his son.
“You’ve never come to any of the classes before,” Axel said with irritation.
“I’m changing my management style in this new era,” Ares said, his eyes never straying from me. “I care about what kind of soldiers will be brought into my army. It’s time for me to pay more attention since our future world depends on the quality of our soldiers.”
Every student straightened their spines even though they were still kneeling. Some of them looked pissed that I didn’t get down on my knees like them, though they hid the emotion almost as quickly as it passed across their faces. None of them were bold or stupid enough to take a stand with me.
“Why isn’t your pet kneeling before me like the others, Axel,” Ares asked as if this was the first time he’d seen me. He’d asked the same question before, and Héctor had shut him up. But now he wanted to put on a show again. “Isn’t she a first-year?”
“I’m no one’s pet,” I said hotly. “I’ll run my blade through anyone’s fucking guts if they ever try to make me one.”
Everyone gasped but held their breath again, not daring to make another hushed sound.
Yelena and Nat raised their heads slightly, their eyes pleading for me not to go down the path of self-destruction. Marie shook her head at me slightly in a desperate warning.
But I was resolved. No matter how much I tried to lay low, some parties would always try to hunt me down. I was marked, practically a dead woman walking. So, I’d rather keep my backbone, mouth off all I want, and go down Marigold style when the time came.
Ares threw his head back and laughed, and yet menace rolled off him in spades.
It might have been a long time since anyone, except for the demigods and me, had taken a stand against him or cursed in front of him.