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“There’s no need. The cuts are shallow. Besides, I’ve missed enough classes. I can’t afford to miss any more.”
“Take this.” Tycho offered me a handkerchief. I accepted it with thanks, if only to wipe the blood off my hands. Sudden and unwanted changes made me cut myself with my talons more than once. This was an injury I was getting used to.
You’ll have to do better than that to cow me. Maybe when the very sight of you makes me want to rip my eyes out and die, your little intimidation tactics will work.
Straightening my back, I brushed the incident off and returned to my notes. Until I found a way out of the academy, my focus was on breaking the chains around my soul before the goddess tightened them further.
Our group made for the classroom at the end of the hall, two doors away from the reflection room. Phantom pain ripped under my skin.
I didn’t have to ask why the room was located here in the lecture wing for us all to see and pass by. Headmaster Drakos wanted to make sure we never forgot what awaited us if we defied him.
I followed my friends inside a dim, gas-lantern-lit room and confirmed beyond all doubt—the goddesses of fate hated me more than any being in all five dominions.
Sirena sat front row before the instructor. By her side, was Alexander Damien. I avoided her delighted grin and slid past the back of Alexander’s head. Moving on, I landed on another familiar face. Sebastian Barba, son of Hades, was in this class too.
Wonder if he revealed these supposed magnificent powers in the last week?
Sebastian glanced up and locked eyes with me as the question floated out of my head. Icy-blue pools trapped me, holding me still in the middle of the aisle. No, it wasn’t him that held me still. It was me. I didn’t want to look away.
It wasn’t that he was beautiful—because, gods above, was he. It was the swirling mystery behind those eyes. Sebastian gazed at me like he knew more about me than I did, and wouldn’t I give anything to know how?
Fixed on me, Sebastian’s hand moved across the desk—slow and soft like he was caressing it. Gripping the chair, he guided it back, then tipped his head.
Wait. He wants me... to sit with him?
My feet moved on their own power.
“Over here, Aella.” Daciana hooked my arm. “Another of your customs. The two classes have to sit on opposite sides of the room.”
She drew me farther and farther away from Sebastian. He watched me the whole time.
“Everyone, in your seats.”
I claimed one between Theron and Daciana. Looking around, I noted all the things different from the little schoolhouse in Port Delphin, and came away with absolutely everything.
That classroom had rickety oak desks scribbled with profanity. Those bookshelves were empty from children forgetting to return. Ceilings were low and flat. Walls were wooden and shaken by even the slightest breeze. The wonders of the cooling system created by a daughter of Hephaestus and son of Boreas hadn’t made it that far across the sea and away from the cities.
This room was made to be its opposite. High, sloped ceilings depicted a famed battle scene between its rafters. The round tables were ornate, sturdy creations that easily seated four people. Gray stone walls would not be flattened by a raging storm sent in from the sea—like ours was destroyed twice. And as for the cooling system, I drew my coat a little tighter—amazed just to see one in person.
Boreas was the god of the winter wind. With his power and a daughter of Hephaestus’s ingenuity, they found a way to trap the winter wind in a contraption that would disperse and recycle it through the air. It was one hundred and fifty gold coins just to be in a room with one. Seriously, inns with cooling units in their rooms charged that much and more. Only the wealthy could afford them, and here I was in a school that had them in almost every room.
Outfit the place nicely so everyone forgets they’re in a prison that intends to keep them for four years, then turn them out to serve the army for life.
“Quiet. We have much to review this morning.” Captain Hondros moved out from behind his podium. It was the first proper look I got of him, and his missing arm.
He stood high, but not as high as Commander Vasili. A head shorter than him and stockier too. Muscles piled on top of his shoulders, arms, and stretched the calves of his pants. Hondros opted for the long ponytail like Sebastian, though his was a wave of curls like the ones hidden around Alexander’s pointed ears.
Thinking of Alexander made me look at him. Looking at him pissed me off, so I flicked back to Hondros. There wasn’t a scar or sign of violence on the parts of him not concealed by clothes. The sign that he may have seen hard times in battle was the limb cut off below the elbow. But I couldn’t say for certain. He could’ve also been born without it.
Loam-brown eyes swept us as I did him. “I won’t ask if you did the reading, because you wouldn’t dare set foot in my classroom unprepared. We will review. You will answer every question correctly. If you do not, the entire class will be assigned a two-scroll paper on the correct answer due tomorrow. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Captain,” everyone chorused.
“After review, you begin work on this week’s assignment: a battle strategy against a group of Stymphalian birds using your group’s unique powers. Shall we begin?”
“Yes, Captain.”
Hondros plucked a clipboard off his desk. His workspace was no less impressive than ours. A podium, a desk, a worktable, bookshelves lined along one wall, and the other a collection of tapestries featuring more famous battles.
