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“What the hell would Romulus want with a demigod?” Victor scoffs, sneering at Osias. My lips pull back, and a growl rumbles through my chest in warning. He’s lucky he can’t see past Osias right now because if he gave my mate that look, I’d pry his eyes from their sockets.
“She’s not,” Agathon corrects him, glancing from Octavia to Olivia. “She’s a god, and I’m willing to bet her powers aren’t anything to scoff at if Romulus wanted her.”
“No—but this isn’t about her. This is about you three and your role in the treachery that happened here at the academy,” Osias says, redirecting their focus.
“The academy?” Anastasia’s brows knit together as she looks around the room.
Orrin sighs, leaning against the wall. “What’s the last thing you can remember?” He cocks a shrewd brow at them before continuing. “And remember, Nyssa will be able to tell if you’re lying, and then I’ll get the green light to go poking around in those tiny brains of yours.”
“There was an attack at the school.” Agathon scrunches up his face like the memories are difficult to dredge up. “You came to argue that there should be guards stationed at the school, but Headmaster Mavros said he had everything under control and that the two of you were blowing the situation out of proportion to get out of your time at the school.”
Agathon glances at Adrian and Mateo, his lips pressing into a thin line. I focus in on the golden binds though, but they don’t shine any brighter. Truth.
“Anyway, now we know the real reason you two were so invested,” Victor sneers, attempting to glare at Adrian and Mateo, but Osias still stands firmly planted in his way.
“Yes, and you took his word over ours,” Mateo grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest as he steps towards the former council members. “We met with you multiple times, but somehow‘Mavros’always knew when we were there to sway you. I guess we know why now, because you were working with Titus all along.”
“No, we weren’t,” Anastasia says, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “We, too, thought it was strange that Mavros kept showing up, that he didn’t want the help we were ready to offer. It was only Helene who argued for him.”
Again the binds stay the same, not glowing to reveal a lie.
“You’re right,” Agathon says, chewing his bottom lip in thought. “We all thought it was strange, and we met to discuss Helene the night you left Ethereal.”
“Yes. We went to the human world to not be seen by Helene,” Anastasia admits, her cheeks reddening as she glances at Osias. “But she found us, her and ... Romulus.”
Silence sweeps over the room, and I narrow my eyes at them, almost unwilling to believe what they’re saying.
“Nyssa?” Osias asks, his gaze locked on the ropes like his thoughts have leaned the same way as mine.
“They’re telling the truth so far,” Nyssa says, her lips quirking to the side like she almost can’t believe them either.
“Of course, we’re telling the truth,” Victor says, groaning in annoyance. “What reason would we have to lie?”
“You might not remember the trials, but I do,” Olivia says. She steps forward, letting my arm fall from her shoulder as she joins her father. My fist clenches at my side, but I fight back the impulse to shield her from them.
I haven’t forgotten what they did to her, but neither has she. She deserves to face them down, to be their judge, jury, and executioner if need be.
The same indecision wars on my brothers’ faces as they too battle the urge to protect our mate, but none of us moves. I fought side by side with Liv and saw first-hand what she can do—the power and fury that dances in those sea-green eyes in battle. She can more than handle herself against the likes of them.
“I remember you refusing to help us. I remember you showing up here and declaring the decision to lock away my powers would be up to you.” Olivia meets each of their gazes unflinchingly. “You forced me to take the trials with zero regard for my safety or how much training I’d had.”
Power and vitriol leak from Olivia’s words, eliciting a spark of pride at just how incredible she is. My princess is a force to be reckoned with.
A grin tugs at Mateo’s lips as we watch her, all four of us enamored at our mate’s ability to cut her opponents down to their knees with merely her words.
“I remember that smug, delighted grin on your face as you watched the demigod I was pitted against, knowing that he was about to try to plunge a dagger into my back—a dagger meant to kill dark gods,” she hurls the words at Agathon, and he reels back, face blanching as his eyes widen.
Silence sweeps over the room as the three council members attempt to reconcile the revelations Olivia is hurtling their way.
“I remember after my second trial, after I’d been separated from my mates and my father, you all watched as Titus tried to take me. You were stripped from your positions and were being held for trial under the watch of the guardians. I watched you and Helene breaking into this very office after you’d been arrested, admitting you’d given the guards a tincture to knock them out, enabling Helene to retrieve an item she needed to contact Titus, and allowing him to break the wards and get to me after my last trial.”
Anastasia sputters, her lips popping open as she stares in disbelief.
“And you,” Olivia says, narrowing a look at Victor and propping her hands on her hips. “You’ve always been a dick, and it seems like the spell had nothing to do with it, Vicky.”
Victor grits his teeth, seething back at Olivia, his eyes flickering with amber flames, but he stays silent as the other former council members still reel from the snippets of their treachery.
“You might not remember what you did, and you might not understand why all of this—” Olivia gestures around the room at all the powerful gods waiting to hear their full story, and deem their innocence or guilt “—is necessary. But we do. I lived it. They witnessed it, and countless nearly died because of it.”
