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“Since you mentioned it, headmistress,” Héctor said. “From now on, I’ll tend to the administrative responsibilities in this Academy. I’ll give my former burden to Paxton. The Demigod of Sea can lead the army and stay away from my lamb. I’ve fought this war for centuries. It’s my turn to sit back and relax.” He gave me a doting look, which implied he’d decided to relax and enjoy life with me while the war raged.
My face burned red as my thoughts wandered to how he’d washed and caressed me in the steamy Jacuzzi in his suite in Manhattan. I’d like very much to revisit the scene if possible. We could set a date for the weekend.
An irritated and jealous look rippled across Paxton’s stony face as he darted his menacing gaze between Héctor and me. A derisive noise emitted from his nostrils.
Esme groaned and shot Paxton, the coldest demigod, a pleading look as if to say, “Someone save me please.”
Axel sighed. “It’s always like this. Nothing can get done when the four of us are in one place. That’s why we almost never get together. If it weren’t for Marigold this time—”
“We aren’t a lost cause,” Zak said. “Now that Marigold has come into our lives—”
Damn, he’d better not broadcast his idea of sharing a mate—and me being that mate. They might not give a rat’s ass about propriety assovereignbeings, but little folk like me didn’t have the luxury to do whatever I wanted.
I might’ve shrugged off what people had said about me so far, but I wasn’t entirely notorious yet either.
“Dudes,” I chimed in urgently. “You don’t need to be here. You should all leave and do whatever you usually do, since this is a private meeting between Headmistress Von Rouche and me. Seriously.”
I restrained myself from shooing them away like a school of ducks.
“Cookie wants to get rid of us,” Axel said, rubbing his chin with his thumb. “I wonder why.”
“You’ll learn to get used to it, Rosebud,” Zak said. “Anything about you concerns us.”
“She doesn’t want you all to be here,” Héctor said. “You’re crowding my lamb. I can tell that you’re making her uncomfortable. She needs her space. You three should make your exit now. I bet all of you have somewhere else to be. I’ll supervise this matter alone.”
“Marigold made a valid point,” Esme said. “She’s my responsibility and under my protection as well. While my student and I further discuss her educational plan, thefourof you are welcome to leave to take care of more important business, like our defenses, war strategies, pushing Lucifer’s army further back, and protecting Earth.”
“No business is more important than Marigold,” Zak said softly, yet the lethal undercurrent could cut into a blade.
All the women in the room—Esme, Marie, and I—dropped our jaws at the same time, which would’ve been comical, if the situation wasn’t so ridiculous.
I raised my hand in the air in a gesture of surrender. “Don’t look at me,” I told the headmistress sincerely. “I didn’t bewitch them. They denied my request to join the Other Academy. They’re responsible for their own words and actions.”
“Don’t worry about our business, Esme.” Axel flashed his teeth, and not in a kindly way. “We have many generals and minions running the show in our absence. And they take their jobs seriously. Peace on this land won’t be achieved in one day, and we’ve been at war for centuries. Now that Marigold has come to the Academy, we’ll stay where she stays. If you have an issue with her being enrolled in the Half-Blood Academy of North America, we can take her to the Academy in France.”
My eyes brightened. “Paris, you say? Do they include crème brulee on their Academy’s lunch menu? If we can also have it for breakfast...” I snapped my fingers, forgetting I was still in the headmistress’s office. “I’ll go to Paris! Nat and Yelena would love to go with me as well.”
“You crave crème brulee, lamb?” Héctor asked.
“Yes, crave!” I said. “I’ve never tried it, but—”
“It’s been half an hour, and all we’ve talked about is air conditioning, a catfight, and a dessert,” Paxton said in disgust. “Are we going to keep at this and waste more time? Are you all pussy-whipped and letting a girl take the lead now?”
“We specifically voted you out and asked you not to be included in anything that has to do with Marigold,” Axel said coldly.
“You can’t vote me out, cub,” Paxton sneered. “I’m part of the pact, which is magically binding. You stay, and I stay. I won’t let you—not with your power, your fists, or your blades—cut me out of my share.”
He still had faint bruises under his eyes and all over his chin from the beating my three demigods had given him, yet he was recovering fast.
What the fuck was his share?
Then the argument between him and Axel and Zak in the Hall of Olympia rushed back to me. I hadn’t understood the meaning of their conversation since I hadn’t been in the best shape, but I vaguely remembered that Paxton had insisted he had a pact with the other demigods so he could have a piece of me, too, or something like that.
At that thought, I lost my shit.
“What share, asshole?” I glared a death threat at him, my fingers balling into fists and biting into my palms.
Unable to contain the next wave of rage rolling through me, I called for my power to attack him. No fair warnings for him. With a sneak attack this time, my fire might just get him. Even if it couldn’t kill him, I intended to melt his scalp and turn him bald.
