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He chuckled, the sound low and deep and utterly humorless. “So, would you like to know what they saw this time?”
“Us kicking your ass?”
This time, I was pretty sure Trace huffed a soft laugh behind me, but before I could peek over my shoulder to be sure, Omari waved a hand. An image appeared on the white wall behind the throne, almost as if it was a video being projected onto a screen.
It was a scene of several of my classmates forging their way through the godly realm. They looked like they had ended up in the scraggly forest, so they must’ve headed in the opposite direction from us after we broke through the gods who had surrounded us when we arrived. They all looked a little beat up, but no one seemed to have major injuries.
Then I gasped suddenly, jerking my head back as a new figure came into view in the image.
Me.
The strange version of me hurled magic at the group of students. A tendril of purple energy wrapped around one girl’s waist, picking her up before slamming her down to the ground. Behind the me-who-wasn’t-me, figures who looked like my men burst from the underbrush, attacking just as viciously as I had.
“What the fuck?” Lachlan blurted behind me, stealing the words right out of my mouth.
“Oh.” Omari grinned, baring his teeth as he gazed at me. “Do you not remember doing that? I’m not surprised.”
“What the fuck is this?” I rounded on him. “What the hell are you playing at?”
He looked so pleased with himself that I wanted to storm up onto the dais and kick his ass right off that fucking throne.
“Did you think the only reason we had the entire school compete in the challenge was because we wanted to fight you?”
“It had occurred to me,” I shot back through gritted teeth.
“Well, that’s because you’re human. Short-sighted and weak,” Omari drawled. “While you were busy searching for the gem and running from my compatriots, we sent magical doppelgänger’s throughout the playing area to attack your own people. This was broadcast out to magic users everywhere, and what they saw is rogue agents turning on their own kind. They saw powerful magic users betray the ideals they have all been taught since birth. And now, when we tell them what wild magic users are and why they need to be stopped…” He spread his hands, gesturing again to the moving images behind him. “Well, I think they’ll believe us.”
I blinked, trying to piece together what his words meant. They’d used decoy versions of us, almost like we had when we’d snuck off the course last semester. But they had made those decoy versions attack and fight against our classmates. We looked fucking psycho.
Omari smiled as he saw understanding dawn in my expression. “You know, Aria Banks,” he said smoothly. “I really should be thanking you. You will become the figurehead for this, the representation and personification of why the gods must wipe out all wild magic users. If any of our followers doubt the wisdom of our decision or question whether it’s too brutal, we’ll need only to speak your name, and they will relent. They’ll realize what must be done.”
My blood chilled. “You made it look like me and my men went insane, mad with power or whatever… so that you could justify killing all wild magic users?”
Omari clapped indolently, smirking at me. “Ah, well.” He shifted his gaze to a god standing nearby him, inclining his head as if the two of them were sharing a private joke. She’s not so stupid after all, is she?”
Fuck. Maybe she is.
Because for all the planning and strategizing my men and I had done, we had never seen this coming.
Chapter Fifteen
Anger exploded like a bomb inside me, shattering my grip on my self-control.
I lunged forward, about to physically hurl myself at Omari. If I could just get my fucking hands on him, maybe I could wrest him from his throne and bash his head against the marble. I could get him down on the ground, straddle him, and beat the ever-loving—
Arms wrapped around my waist from behind just before I reached the dais where Omari sat. Two other sets of hands grabbed my arms, holding me back as I kicked and jerked, desperate to unleash my wrath on this cruel, mocking god.
“It’s not worth it, Ari,” Merrick murmured in my ear, his voice strained. “It’s not fucking worth it. We need you.”
He didn’t outright say the words we need you alive, but I heard the meaning in his voice anyway. Even if I was a god, or had some kind of god-like power, I couldn’t take on a whole room full of the most powerful magical beings in existence. It would be suicide.
Not just for me, but for my men too.
That thought stopped me in my tracks, and I let the men pull me back, breathing hard as a stared angrily up at Omari.
For a split second, something like fear passed over his face. Had he truly been afraid of me attacking him?
But before I could interpret the expression, it was gone, replaced by that same cocky smile I hated so much. Ryker’s eyes narrowed, and I noticed that he’d taken a step forward
