Another trial?
My heart jammed against my ribcage painfully as panic flooded my stomach. I’d barely survived the first trial. Being cooked alive like that still brought me nightmares. I wouldn’t be able to get through another trial and come out unscathed, especially a trial designed by the God of War.
My fingers found Héctor’s, and his large ones immediately wrapped around mine.
“Absolutely not!” the demigods shouted.
“You won’t experiment on my mate,” Héctor said in cold rage.
“You need to back off, father.” Axel gritted his teeth.
“We talked about this already, Ares,” Zak said, his voice tense and angry. “She’s ours—our treasure, our mate—and she’s ours to protect. You’ll leave her alone.”
“You really want to destroy all we’ve built on this half of Earth just to own a woman who doesn’t belong to you, Ares?” Paxton asked.
“Aren’t the four of you doing the same?” Ares said, his voice dripping with icy sarcasm.
“It’s different,” Axel said, equally cold. “Marigold belongs to us.”
“I’m not sure about that,” Ares said. “However, I won’t take her for myself, although I wouldn’t need to ask your permission if I wanted to. Let me train the girl instead. She has great potential, but clearly none of you know how to bring out the greatness in her since she hasn’t made any progress in any of her classes.”
Only because I wasn’t supposed to show my real power in front of anyone except the demigods.
“No deal,” Héctor said. “Lay off my lamb and go back to doing whatever you usually do, Ares, and then you can still command us in the war against Lucifer.”
“All of you have overstepped your boundaries,” Ares sneered, dangerous light brimming in his eyes, making him look like a high-powered demon instead of a god. “You’ve all forgotten that this half of Earth is mine and you’re the help. Remember your place. It’s me who lifted all of you to positions of power. Without me, you’re nothing. I can make you, and I can also break you, demigods. You aren’t pureblood gods but were born of mortal women. For your insolence, let’s see if your woman can survive my Glory.”
Heavenly light, more intense than any other, flashed out. It wasn’t meant to illuminate or penetrate the darkness. It was meant to maim, blind, and destroy all that was in its destructive, divine path.
CHAPTER 9
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The demigods shoutedin alarm. Héctor and Axel both grabbed me with Zak and Paxton laying their hands on Héctor to teleport me away.
“No!” I shouted. “My friends and students are here. We can’t leave them.”
None of the students would stand a chance if Ares’s heavenly light hit them. They’d be reduced to nothing. There wouldn’t even be ash left. Every part of them, including their souls, would be erased.
That’s how a god’s Glory worked.
Instinctively, I knew that. Ever since my Flame of the Rainbows had been activated, more brutal truth and knowledge about the gods had leaked into my genetic consciousness.