Magic Trials (Half-Blood Academy #1)(28)

Of course, they would demand to examine my body to search for a symbol, any symbol, and I couldn’t fend off all of them if they were really determined. Besides, I wanted to know if there was any foreign mark on my body, too.

I pulled the scraps of the robe down to my waist, and all three demigods stared at my breasts point blank instead of looking for the symbol they were supposed to find.

They hadn’t even glanced at other female initiates’ breasts when they showed theirs—okay, except Demetra’s perfect ones.

I glared at them. “Not like I have three tits, guys.”

A hand moved toward my breast, and to my surprise, it belonged to Saint Theodore.

“Fuck off, Theodore,” Axel snarled, shoving the saint away. “Who gave you permission to touch Marigold?”

Both Zak and Paxton growled at the priest threateningly as well.

Theodore stumbled back and raised his hands in a gesture of yielding.

“I don’t share the same interest that you have in Marigold,” he protested. “There isn’t a burn mark on her skin. Not even a blister, despite how hard the flame ravaged her. I just want to touch her skin to make sure what I see is real.”

“You’re lucky we even let you look,” Axel grated.

I quickly glanced down at my skin. It was golden, tanned, and as smooth as silk.

“Like the view, gentlemen?” I snickered as I noticed that their eyes still glued to my breasts. “Are you going to keep staring at my breasts or start helping me look for any hidden symbols?”

Axel chuckled. “My Cookie.”

The demigods tore their eyes from my breasts and started examining the rest of my body with grumpy attitudes.

“This kitten doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut,” Paxton said as he moved behind me to check my back. “We’ll have to tame her first if we want to make her ours.”

What? Tame me? Theirs?

Had he meant that they would share me and make me their plaything? That would happen when Hell froze.

“I’m not yours,” I said.

“Not yet,” Zak said positively.

“You’re certainly welcome to try,” I said. “Your fantasy will come true when the sun truly shines out of your asses.”

Axel laughed like he didn’t believe I was serious.

Would I want to be funny after I’d just been burned? The demigods could be really apathetic and self-centered, even the young Demigod of War. I bet those qualities were their gods’ family traits.

If I were ever up to the job, I might just be the woman who could teach all of them a lesson.

Zak shook his head, but didn’t say anything more.

Paxton, however, wasn’t even slightly amused at my rude analogy. “Is that a challenge?” he asked in a flat tone that contained more than a little menace.

Zak and Axel shot him a warning look.

“I won’t just bend you, Princesa,” Paxton continued, ignoring Zak and Axel. “I’ll break you. You might have my two cousins wrapped around your little fingers with your exotic looks, but neither of them will be able to stop me if you get on my bad side—I’ll take you out, mortal. And you haven’t met the heartless Demigod of Death. No man or woman can bewitch him. No one touches him and lives.”

Princesa meant princess in Spanish. The Demigod of Sea was mocking me. I was as far from a princess as anyone could get. I was raised in the streets, in the hood. Paxton was simply reminding me that I was a street rat by calling me princess. I bet Axel had briefed his demigod cousins about where he’d rounded me up.

“Will you stop terrorizing Marigold?” Axel challenged back. “You know I’m on her side.”

Paxton graced Axel with a glance. “Even Zak takes your side since the two of you share the same house, but Héctor will always be in my corner. And I want you two to remember we agreed not to fight over a woman.”

“I might have lavender hair,” I said in a snide tone as I shoved a fist into the air, “but my look is far from exotic. It’s an everyday, regular girl’s look. And secondly—”

Axel pulled my fist down. “Don’t aggravate him while you’re still in a delicate state, Cookie,”

“Don’t put her and Paxton alone in a room,” Zak declared. “And we’ll avert a disaster.”

Theodore frowned deeply as he wheeled around me, still trying to locate a symbol of a god’s power on my skin or maybe wait for it to appear.

“She might not even be a mortal,” the priest said. “No mortal could live through channeling divine fire. Even a demigod can’t take it alone. The runes with the combined powers of the twelve major gods would leave an imprint on a god as well.”

“Are you saying she’s above us?” Paxton snarled. “Be careful with your words.”

Theodore startled. “Of course not. That’s blasphemy. As your priest, I’d never commit such a sin. However, Marigold is the first unknown to us. An utter mystery. What I’m saying is she could be an immortal, but to find out what she really is, we may have to wait for time to tell. Her powers will eventually manifest, and then we’ll decide what to do with her.”

I felt a chill down my spine. What were they going to do with me if they decided I wasn’t what they were looking for?

“I don’t think we’re ever going to find a rune mark or any symbol of any god’s house on me,” I said, pulling Axel’s trench coat tightly around me. “Which only means one thing.”