Magic Trials (Half-Blood Academy #1)(12)

He didn’t care that the trial would be the death of me, he was so insistent on proving a point and sticking to the rule he’d just made up.

It was obvious that no matter what I could say, plead, or beg, the demigod wouldn’t let me off the hook, even if he had to drag me to Half-Death Academy with his bare hands.

“Fuck you!” I said. “My life means nothing to you, but it means something to me.”

While he was distracted, seething that I had the temerity to curse a demigod, I kicked his knee hard.

I wanted to throw him off balance to give myself a small opening to flee. All I did was hurt my ankle at the brutal force I’d used. Booting his knee was like kicking iron pilings.

No matter, I broke into a dead run. My whole life, no one had ever run faster than me, so I should be able to get away. Without Jasper and Circe as a responsibility anymore, I didn’t slow down for them or anyone.

I zoomed between the buildings like a flash, turned a corner, and shot toward the forest. I couldn’t go home to the library since I wasn’t confident that the ward could keep a demigod out.

The forest would be my best bet.

There were a host of monsters inside. If he followed me into territory that was unfamiliar to him, the monsters could attack him and help shake him off my trail.

I didn’t see anyone behind me when I reached the edge of the forest, so I spared a moment to grin, ready to charge into the forest and hide in the high, thick canopy.

A force dragged me back, then a strong arm snaked around my waist in an iron grip.

“What the fu—?” I cried.

I kicked, trying to struggle free, but to no avail. Then a whirlwind sucked me in, spinning me until I couldn’t see straight.

When my dizziness faded, I was standing before a black van with the sliding side door open. Axel still clutched me firmly, his arm around my midsection.

The demigod had just teleported me.

No wonder he hadn’t bothered to chase me when I burst into a run. The fucker had been content to let me suffer from tight air burning in my lungs before he whizzed in to snatch me.

My eyes lit with rage at the humiliation of being captured so easily, yet I noticed a woman soldier, the only female in the Dominion asshole team, looking at me in envy.

What? She envied that the demigod had kidnapped me?

“Strip off her weapons,” Axel ordered.

“Don’t you dare have your men touch me!” I hissed.

“No men will be allowed to touch you, minx,” Axel said, his voice harsh and possessive. “Marie will remove your weapons. You’ve proven to be a menace, and we can’t afford for you to cause more trouble on the road whenever I’m not around to stop you.”

“I’m not a troublemaker,” I said.

Axel shrugged, not convinced.

While he held me, pinning me down, the female soldier came forward to extract the spear from my hand, the bow and quiver of arrows from my back and shoulders, a pocket knife from my sleeve, a few hidden daggers from my boots, my pants, and several other weapons from inside my leather jacket.

The soldiers around us gasped at the number of weapons I carried.

“You missed one, Marie,” Axel informed the soldier as he pulled a silver needle from my hair.

Cameron whistled. “She’ll fit right in with us.”

He’d hated my guts a few minutes ago.

I hissed, “I don’t share your confidence much.”

A couple of soldiers chuckled, either at my humiliation or my daring, I wasn’t sure.

Axel frowned at me. “Why did you need that many weapons, Marigold?”

“A girl shouldn’t be faulted for trying to take care of herself,” I said, surveying our surroundings. We were on the side of the road with five soldiers around a van, which meant the other two must be with Circe and Jasper.

“Where’s my team?” I asked.

“They’re no longer your team,” Axel said. “They’re in the other van, heading to the Other Academy now.”

He scooped me up, and involuntarily, I clasped my hands behind his neck. My body purred. He grinned, and I realized my mistake. Releasing my arms from around him, I pondered if I should elbow him in the throat.

He should have a weakness, right? And the throat might just be it.

He put me down on the back seat of the van and buckled me in with the safety belt.

I wiggled on the leather seat as I suddenly got a bright idea. “I think you made a mistake by separating my team and me.”

He squinted, yet his hands still held my waist. “I don’t make mistakes.”

“Listen,” I said, giving him a smile for the first time since we’d fought and he’d captured me. “I don’t have a trace of gods’ blood in me. I’m actually a witch. I’m sorry for hiding that part of my heritage from you. Being a witch, I should go to the Other Academy.”

I could survive the Other Academy. I’d just borrow some of the spells Circe created and toss them here and there. I’d pretend to be a witch as long as I could so I would see Jasper and Circe settle down and watch over them for a little while before I got kicked out.

Or when the Dominions weren’t looking or lost interest in me, I’d slip away, alone, if my team chose this new life for themselves.

My heart broke a little at the thought of moving on, but that was how things were now.