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“Silence, Theodore,” Zak said. “Do not speak out of turn again.”
The priest bowed in apology.
Silence stretched on in the hall.
I noticed that the three demigods shot glares at each other in odd ways. A thought hit me: damn, they were communicating telepathically.
Then both the sea and sky demigods sniffed the air.
Were they sniffing at me, as Axel had done earlier?
Panic spread through me when they traded another sinister, intrigued look.
All three pairs of demigod eyes trained on me, and I nearly shivered under the focus of their intense stares.
“We’ve voted,” Zak announced. “All prospects will be initiated today. There’ll be no exception. The weak will be weeded out, and the strong descendants of the gods will have their dormant powers activated and accentuated through the sacred Ritual of the Blood Runes.”
There was nothing sacred about sacrificing an innocent life. But if I shouted my objections again, the demigod of lightning might just strike me down right now.
I had to take my chances with the ritual then.
A dark, yet hopeful thought wheeled through my head. I’d resisted two demigods’ compulsion. I might just survive this fucking ritual.
I dropped my defeated gaze to the ground and waited for my name to be called. Asshole Axel had likely decided to let me die first.
When Demetra was called, I pressed my cold, sweat-soaked palms against the robe. I was relieved for a brief second, then I felt sorry for her, even though she was a bitch.
What if she didn’t have a god’s blood in her veins as she’d claimed? She could die!
Axel shifted his mischievous gaze back to me and smirked, and it dawned on me that I was the last on the list.
The fucker brought me here to play a sick game with me. He wanted me to watch a few agonizing deaths before I walked to my own.
I sent him a hateful stare before I let my burning gaze follow Demetra.
The blonde shot me an angry glare, as if I’d stolen her thunder or something, before she glided toward the operating table with a graceful gait, enjoying every minute of having the attention of the entire hall.
As she faced the demigods, she didn’t show the slightest trait of a mean girl. She could appear to be the sweetest thing when she was dealing with someone above her rank.
Even the demigods’ eyes slipped toward her, except for Axel’s.
He still watched me closely, as if he wanted to record my every dreadful reaction.
Demetra flipped her hair like a siren queen before stepping onto the stool placed before the table. She perched on the edge of the table, facing the demigods with her ankles across each other perfectly, like a lady of great manners.
Theodore told her to open the top of her robe and lower it to just above her breasts, but Demetra pulled it all the way down to her waist, obviously wanting to give the demigods an eyeful.
The other demigods did give her exposed body a passing glance, but Axel kept his eyes glued on me.
Theodore frowned at the bountiful flesh in front of him—he was indeed a saint, even if he was a mean one—but in his eagerness to get to work, he didn’t correct his first test object.
The dagger of fire in his hand, he approached her swiftly. From my angle I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, but from how the dagger danced, I speculated Theodore was carving the runes onto the skin beneath her left shoulder.
Either Theodore was skillful (he had to be adept, right, since he’d done this probably thousands of times?), or the tip of the blade barely touched her skin because Demetra only yelped a few times.
Theodore moved the blade away from her.
All three demigods were staring at her chest, and Zak nodded.
