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He appeared at ease and totally fit in. He might turn out even stronger than Cameron.
Speaking of, Cameron emerged in a new, clean uniform with the three-bar ranking on his badge. He strode beside me.
Jack dimmed his death-threat look and kept walking.
Demetra immediately noticed the Dominion lieutenant and flashed him a saccharine smile, the voltage so high it could melt most guys’ belts off their trousers.
I hated to admit it, but she had looks going for her with her perfectly toned body. And lucky for her, blonde was still in fashion. Maybe it always would be. She could’ve been a successful runway model if she hadn’t come to the Academy.
She evidently knew it, too. I bet she’d use her stunning looks as her most lethal weapon in any setting. That vain confidence was why she openly boasted that once she’d caught the demigods’ eyes, they’d never wander again. If she could sink her claws into one of them, or all of them for all I cared, she could have offspring with a demigod. Then she could brag to no end that her children were a step closer to being demigods themselves.
What a wonderful plan!
Only if she didn’t open her mouth again and spew more haughty nonsense.
But then most guys didn’t care, as long as they got to sleep with a bimbo like her.
“You couldn’t even dye your hair properly, harpy,” Demetra scoffed. “Can’t afford a salon?”
“For your information, queen bee,” I said. “My hair color is natural. No offense, but you might need to get your eyes checked, or I doubt the Dominions will accept you into theireliteranks.”
“Really, Marigold?” Cameron said, grinning at me. “Your hair is natural? No kidding. I agree with the other girl. I don’t think you dyed it properly.”
He still held a grudge against me, probably because I’d booted him in the chest during our encounter, or more likely I’d hurt his feelings by turning down his offer of recruiting me for his team should I pass the ritual.
Demetra giggled, flicking her long blonde hair like a supermodel in appreciation of Cameron’s support and her own irresistible charm.
Who was I kidding? She held quite an ambition to take on the demigods and get at least one of them to have babies with her.
“You’re one to talk, lieutenant,” I snorted. “I expected better from you.”
“Stop pouting, Marigold,” Cameron continued. “It isn’t befitting an initiate to have that sour expression sitting on your face. Man up and be the soldier you were born to be.”
“I’m not a man,” I said. “So I don’t need to man up. And I wasn’t born to be a soldier under your thumb.”
“I can’t tell which gender you belong to,” he said.
The clique snickered, and Demetra giggled in an annoyingly high pitch.
Nat and Yelena threw me a sympathetic look. Everyone knew it was a bad business to get on the bad side of a Dominion, let alone an officer.
“Thanks, man,” I said to Cameron. “Look what you brought me into—a puberty drama, as if I need that shit on top of my other shit piles.”
“You brought yourself into that shit pile,” he said. “I’m only surprised that you refuse to appreciate us for saving you from an unproductive, wasted life.”
Now that irked me, and I became prickly as a hedgehog. “You Dominions forced me to leave my home and my team behind to come here. You took the good life away from me.”
“What kind of good life are we talking about, Marigold?” Marie from the van chimed in curiously, popping up near me.
Some of the clique appeared surprised and unhappy. The Dominion officers probably didn’t associate much with the initiates, even though these two were merely taunting and ridiculing me.
I hadn’t seen Marie since I was sent to the public bath chamber to have my one-minute shower. To my frustration, after I exited the stall I found that someone had taken away all my outfits and left me with only a robe.
I gave the Dominion soldier a glare, “A life of freedom.” I flapped the hem of the robe. “Not this life of wearing a robe without panties. They didn’t even leave a G-String, for gods’ sakes.”
If Marie had been there, I think she’d have the courtesy to find me underwear. I sensed she might actually like me.
Marie howled with laughter, and several escorting soldiers joined in, sending me glances as if they hadn’t seen me before.
