Magic Trials (Half-Blood Academy #1)(40)

“I have ears everywhere, you know.”

“So you say. You’re the assistant instructor?”

“We rotate,” she said, picking up a longsword from the wall and testing its weight.

“Better the devil you know,” I said.

“Which devil?” she asked, then indicated her chin toward the entrance, and my smile sank.

Paxton strode into the room in a black T-shirt that displayed his huge biceps and cut chest. Loose trousers hung low on his hipbones.

Everyone bowed at the sight of the demigod, except me.

Involuntarily, I put a hand on my hip. Did he come to fight or seduce?

I got my answer quickly. All the girls’ faces brightened up, even Yelena’s. She only dimmed her smile when she spotted my sour look.

A demigod had that kind of power over everyone. It reminded me of how Axel had made everyone in the street kneel before him in Crack.

“What the fuck is the swimming boy doing here,” I whispered to Marie while she was still bowing. “He shouldn’t be here, right? Shouldn’t he go fight demons and protect humanity instead of idling around the training hall and harassing poor initiates?”

I had a bad feeling that he’d come for me.

I didn’t want him to be here. I didn’t want him to be anywhere near me.

Marie held back a laugh and whispered back. “Do not talk to me during the training. You’re a bad influence, and I don’t want to go down with you. You might have caught the eye of the Demigod of War, but I’ve got no one to watch my six.”

Paxton had made me a pariah in the Academy.

The assistant instructor sent me a pitiful, pained look. “The demigods have never trained students anywhere, let alone the initiates. They typically don’t stay at any Academy for more than three days, and the four of them usually don’t stay in the same place. Everyone knows how territorial they are.”

She blew out a breath. “I think they’re all going to stay at this Academy for a while because of you. No one has any freaking idea why the divine flame chose you and why you have no icon from any of the gods’ houses. The demigods don’t like dark secrets and mysteries. Congratulations, Marigold, you’ve become their new obsession.”

I raised my eyes toward the ceiling as if praying to a god like a pilgrim. “Oh, spare me, great ones. I’m not a freak. I was just misfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Very mature, Marigold,” she said. “But I’m still offering you my last piece of advice: let them get bored with you so they’ll shift their attention somewhere else. Tread carefully. Half of the world is theirs, and you can’t win—no one can—if you go up against them.”

I hadn’t gone up against them, against any of them, but one of them had come to my world and ripped me from the life I’d chosen for myself. But Marie wouldn’t understand my point.

She snuck away, not wanting Paxton to think that she and I might be tight.

Cameron clasped his hands and called sternly. “Class, all in.”

All seven initiates, now the first-years, snapped into two lines before the Dominion lieutenant. I strolled toward them, ignoring Paxton’s gaze on me. It might be best for me not to acknowledge his presence. At all.

Cameron started his clichéd opening speech with, “This is the class of basic combat training, your introduction into a great career as a Dominion soldier.”

I almost raised a hand and asked him what if I didn’t plan to be a career Dominion soldier. I knew it wasn’t up to me, though. Half-Blood Academy had said clearly that I couldn’t turn down its summons, but I still couldn’t help rebelling against how they’d robbed me—all of us—of our freewill. Then again, maybe the whole idea of freewill was a delusion.

“Here, you’ll learn the traditions, strategies, and techniques to become a Dominion soldier,” Cameron continued. “You’ll learn discipline as we instill in you the codes and creeds of the Academy. You’ll accomplish tasks. After you graduate from this class, you’ll move to advanced combat training, where you—”

“We’re going to make a few adjustments,” Paxton cut in impolitely, his voice booming. And every student, except me, wheeled toward him as if he were a god.

I almost shouted at them that Pigston was only a demigod. And I wondered why Cameron didn’t even protest as he was basically shoved away. The lieutenant was the rightful instructor, but he just stepped aside silently.

“We’ll skip the out-of-date procedures,” Paxton said. “Basic training is no longer practical in today’s world. We’ve lost a lot of strong, disciplined soldiers fighting the good war against the demons. We need many more capable soldiers. We need you to step up and be battle-ready. As a result of my discussions with my demigod peers and the generals yesterday, we have decided that from now on, Half-Blood Academy will be a two-and-a-half year program instead of dragging on for four years. All of you will follow a new curriculum.”

The fucker changed the rules just like that.

Cameron and Marie traded a subtle look. They weren’t in the loop either.

“Let’s start with learning your strengths and weaknesses,” Paxton continued, his hard gaze falling on me.

What had I done now? He just couldn’t take his gaze off me, could he? But I restrained myself from pulling my lips back to a half-sneer. So I half-turned to him and half-listened. Marie had warned me not to be a fool hitting a rock with an egg, but I could be a hard-boiled egg.