Magic Trials (Half-Blood Academy #1)(11)

“How old are you?” he asked, considering me curiously, as if age was a big, inconvenient factor he could be swayed by.

Hope sparked in me. I lifted my chin. “I might look young, but I’m going on thirty. My friends are only a year or two younger. We’re all heading to middle age soon. Very soon.”

The lieutenant chuckled. “Nice try.”

Axel nodded at me in approval. “That’s the perfect age.”

“What?” I cried, widening my eyes in dismay. “You’re a demigod. You’re an immortal. You don’t understand that for a human, thirty is considered old, at least too old for any academy!”

“No more excuses, Marigold,” Axel said firmly, his formerly amiable demeanor gone. “We’ve wasted enough time here. You’re going with us.”

Cameron snickered in unforgiving glee.

I’d booted him in the chest, and now he wanted to see my agonizing death in the trial.

~

The Dominions were going to get the deal of buy-one-get-two-free.

Jasper and Circe wouldn’t leave me, even though I’d bought them both a free ticket to stay in Crack.

Circe was actually eager to attend an academy. The delighted glint in her eyes dimmed a little when she learned that she couldn’t go to the Half-Blood Academy, but then they brightened again when Cameron told her that the two academies shared part of the campus with different classes, buildings, and training fields.

I understood that she desired to see the world and wanted to have more options in the future. A life in Crack wasn’t much, but at least here we were free. But a seventeen-year old might not think like me. She’d wanted to step out of my shadow—though I’d never intended to overshadow her—especially during these last few months when she had grown more powerful. I should have seen the signs more clearly. She’d rolled her eyes at my orders ever since she’d started to regard me less as a mentor and more as her competition.

Circe had always been more ambitious than Jasper and me. I totally got it, but it didn’t mean I didn’t feel hurt. For three years I’d built this life with them, thinking we would always be together, like a family.

For a second, I almost regretted that I’d developed such attachment to both Jasper and Circe. It was tearing me apart to separate from them.

I should have learned my lesson when Vi had abandoned me.

Now that both Jasper and Circe had signed up, going to the Other Academy willingly, I could actually stay back, but it wasn’t in me to just abandon them to the devices of the Dominions.

I’d have to see this through, to make sure that they would settle safely and well in the new school. The panic had left me when I’d learned that they weren’t required to go through the blood rune trials.

Jasper laid a hand on my shoulder, as if reading my thoughts of turmoil. He’d always understood me. He’d always been in my corner, guarding me.

“Stay, Marigold,” he said. “Don’t throw your life away for us. It’s time to think of yourself. Think what you really want. Please do this for me. If you go, you’ll die at the trial, and you should know what it will do to me. If you die, it’ll break me, and I won’t be whole again. Please, I promise to come back to you when I can.”

My eyes widened in surprise. Jasper had never been so open and emotional before. It didn’t matter to him where he went, and he was willing to go to the Academy for me.

Maybe he was right. Maybe I should think of myself for once.

It made no sense now that both Jasper and Circe were going to the Other Academy and I would head to my own death at the trial. I held his warm, brown gaze, and an understanding passed between us.

I needed to bail out to preserve myself. I wouldn’t be going to the Half-Death Academy anymore.

A sudden wild wind reeled between us, throwing Jasper away from me, and then the demigod was in my face.

“What’s that for?” I hissed. “I was just saying goodbye to my team. I don’t think I’ll be going to your Half-Blood Academy.” I added bitterly, “You’ve gotten what you came for. You don’t get to have all three of us.”

Anger swirled in Axel’s dark amber eyes.

“A Dominion soldier is made of tough material,” he growled. “You don’t just go back on your word.”

“My words were based on me going in the place of my team,” I retorted. “Since they’re both going anyway, the condition is nullified. I’m not stupid enough to throw myself at your trial for no reason and then die. Plus, I’m not a Dominion soldier. I’m merely a human who doesn’t have an ounce of gods’ blood in me.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “We’ll test if you’re powerful enough to survive the trial. Words are binding. I’m a Demigod of War.” At his declaration, he grew bigger and taller, his leather coat billowing in the wind he created, and everyone, except me, recoiled from his display of pure, terrifying power.

I wasn’t affected by his magic, probably because I was furious and busy glaring at him, so I resisted his power again, just like before.

“I won’t allow you to go back on your word, Marigold,” he confirmed, “and set a bad example for other soldiers. The contract is nullified only when I say so. And I say you’ll go through the trial and attend the Academy.”