Chapter Twenty-Two
Khaos
“Yeah?” He asks, a slight dip between his eyebrows showing he’s not pleased that they were interrupted.
“We need to get going, we’re starting to mess with the wards,” I explain to him, although I really shouldn’t have to.
Farren frowns and twirls her axes again, “Already?”
“I’m sorry, Ren,” I say, as I stride toward her. “You know we would stay if we could. We haven’t even been apart for that long really, but I can quite honestly say that I’m not a fan.”
“I hate it,” she replies firmly. She sighs, her shoulders dipping slightly, “I get it though. Come and see us soon, we’ll keep you updated on any developments here, and you do the same.”
I nod and then pull her into my arms, kissing her deeply. It’s amazing to me how natural everything feels with her, like it was always meant to be.
She’s gently pulled from my arms and into Hades as he kisses her too, and I say goodbye to the guys.
The buzz increases, and this time, now he’s not distracted by his fight with Farren, Hades notices.
“We’ve got to go,” Hades announces. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye,” Farren replies, not seeming too happy about it at all.
None of us are.
I feel Hades' magic surround me, and within moments, we’re back at the castle in his dining room.
“Every time we have to leave, it's harder,” he mutters.
“Agreed. It’s like we shouldn’t be apart, more than us just not wanting to be away from Farren and the guys.
It feels like there’s another reason why we shouldn’t be apart at the moment.
But I don’t know what we can do about that.
The obvious solution would be that we stayed at the academy with them, but we can’t do that.
It would cause too many problems,” I reply, my frustration showing.
“Unfortunately, the best we can hope for is that they get called to another trial. We will be able to be with them then,” he replies, not sounding very happy about it.
“Are you sure that we will be able to be with them? We aren’t a part of their team. The Fae Realm could decide not to allow us to be with them and help when they do their task,” I reply.
He shakes his head, “We are family. The Fae Realm recognises that, and there would be no way that it would stop us from being involved. I am fairly certain that our bond to them is strong enough that the Fae Realm can’t do anything to stop us from helping them, even if it did try.”
I let out a relieved breath, “Well, at least there’s that then.”
He watches me closely, “You know I’m surprised that none of them have realised that you are a god as well.”
I shrug, “It’s not obvious. My magic is closely linked to that of a demon, so it makes sense that they assume that’s what I am. I don’t think we’ve ever really discussed what kind of supernatural I am.”
“They’ll figure it out at some point. I don’t think it’s anything that is going to cause any problems.”
“No, I’ll mention it next time there’s an opportunity if none of them have figured it out by then,” I reply with a shrug.
“It’s probably thrown them off that you keep talking about your disdain for the gods and goddesses,” Hades grins.
I shrug, “Probably.” Changing the subject, I continue, “Okay. I can’t just sit around here, let’s go and see if we can find a Dragon that’s willing to talk to us.”
“You know it’s not going to be that simple.
I need to talk to the commanders and see what damage has been done.
You need to talk to them as well and organise things again, so that the heavens can stop being locked down.
That was never supposed to happen,” Hades reminds me, his expression dark as he switches into business mode.
“You’re right. There’s a lot to do. I would rather stay busy anyway,” I reply.
He nods, “Me too.”
Once again, I feel his magic surround me, and then I’m standing in a familiar meeting room, surrounded by shocked Helliers.
“Hades?” Grimm asks. “Khaos? Am I seeing shit again? Which one of you fuckers spiked my drink again?”
I raise my eyebrow, “Again, Grimm? How often have you been spiked now?”
“Is it technically spiking if you do it yourself?” He retorts with a smirk and then strides over, his smile widening as he pulls me into a hug first and then does the same to Hades.
“We’re so happy to see you,” Lucielle adds. “There were rumours that you were back, but there are always rumours.”
“We’ve got a lot to do and a lot to fix,” Hades starts. “Grimm, go with Khaos and fill him in on the military side of it, and what’s going on in the Punishment Soul Side. Everyone else, stay here and fill me in.”
I grin. I love this, and I’ve missed it a lot.
Farren
After Hades and Khaos left, we carried on training for a long time.
I think all of us are feeling restless for many reasons by this point.
We ended up training right through lunch, and it was only when my stomach made a rather loud and quite embarrassing protest at the lack of food that I had given it, that it was decided that we should probably stop.
Since it was dinner time anyway, we decided to shower in the changing rooms down here, and Loki lent me some clothes to wear from his locker. Apparently, the guys take longer than I do, or aren’t as hungry as I am, because I find myself waiting in the hallway for them to come out.
To be fair, I did rush through my shower so I could get to food quicker.
Which, of course, has made absolutely no difference because the guys are all still showering, so I could have enjoyed the shower for longer anyway.
“Oh look, it’s the spoilt bitch,” an unfamiliar voice calls out.
I sigh and look up to find a group of six men heading my way. Pushing off the wall, I drop my pile of clothes to the floor. Something tells me that I’m going to need my hands for this.
“Can I help you?” I ask simply.
“Yeah, I want to know what kind of magical pussy you have that’s managed to convince the strongest warriors at the academy to accept you,” one of them growls, clearly pissed, although I have no real idea why. Surely it can’t just be because the guys have accepted me onto their team properly now.
I mean, that would be some really petty shit.
I shrug, allowing my expression to show just how bored I am with this conversation. I reply, “Who knows?”
“Let’s find out for ourselves,” another one suggests, a threatening gleam in his eye.
My eyes narrow, “Try it, and you’ll lose a hand,” I smirk and hold up my little finger, adding, “and other appendages.”
The group of guys look at each other and they all burst out laughing.
“There’s one of you and six of us.”
I shrug again, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. What’s the big deal anyway?”
Their expressions darken, “The big deal is that you took a spot on the team that belonged to one of us. You took away our in with the king. Instead of severing the connection like they should have, they’ve kept you. You make them weak.”
“I can’t make them that weak. We came back from the trial after all,” I point out, deciding to ignore the shit about the king, because anyone worth anything knows that the king is corrupt and a problem.
Hell, even his own sons, Storm and Kill, know that and want nothing to do with him.
“Women should not be on a male team. Especially not weak, spoiled women who only got into the academy because of who their daddy is and because their uncle works here,” a different one growls.
“Ah, so that’s it, you’re all butt hurt because a woman is stronger than you,” I summarise, correctly but perhaps not smartly if I were looking to avoid a fight.
Fortunately, I’m not looking to avoid a fight.
Aldrastos
I have no idea why I’m here. For some reason, I decided that I needed to walk the hallways again, even though I had just finished my rounds.
Raised voices from up ahead have me quickening my pace, but as I turn the corner, I freeze.
Farren.
Of course, it’s her. It would appear that I can’t escape her even if I want to.
My eyes narrow as I realise that she’s surrounded by six very angry men. Fuck knows what she’s done to piss them off, but her men are nowhere in sight, and she is significantly outnumbered.
I can’t intervene.
There have been many altercations while I have been the Headmaster of this academy, and I have not once intervened. If I were to step in now, it would be suspicious, and besides that, why do I even want to step in? I haven’t cared to with anyone else, and some of those got deadly.
Usually, I would just leave the students to it.
That’s what I should do now, but I can’t bring myself to walk away. So instead, I watch and admit to myself that I hope that her men appear soon because compared to those surrounding her, she looks extremely small, and I don’t fucking like it.
I tense as they all move toward her, and I plant my feet on the floor so I don’t fucking move.
My eyebrows raise as she ducks and dodges as if she’s been fending off attackers for years, and the thought makes me uneasy. I lean forward slightly as one of them throws a blast of magic at her back while another one attacks her from the front.
She punches the one attacking her hard enough that he goes flying backwards into two of his friends and then spins, catching the spell that she definitely shouldn’t be able to catch and throwing it back at the guy who threw it first, knocking him out cold.
The ones left conscious all converge on her again, and she fights, a huge smile on her face, that says she is very much enjoying the danger she’s in and making me want to kiss her.
For fuck sake.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I force myself to pay attention. She shouldn’t have been able to catch that spell, not with her skillset. It should be impossible. In fact, not many people would be able to catch that spell.
So how the fuck did she catch it?
Something isn’t quite adding up.
My eyebrows hit my hairline as she disappears and then reappears directly behind the guy who was just coming at her with a dagger. Her smile widens as he spins on his heel and thrusts the dagger forward, aiming for her heart.
I take a step forward.
She grabs the hand holding the dagger and forces it around, making it plunge into his own stomach and then kicks him out of the way as he howls in pain.
I roll my eyes. It was only a little dagger. It’s hardly going to kill him. The fucker is behaving like it’s the end for fuck sake.
I can’t help but smirk as I see Farren roll her eyes too, and then blast him with a stream of magic that knocks him out cold and stops the incessant wailing.
The fact that she’s gravely wounded one of their friends clearly pisses off those who are left more because instead of surrendering, which would have been the wise choice given that she’s already successfully put several of them on the floor, the remaining two decide to double down on their attack.
She manages to dodge the magical attacks coming her way, but the fist flying directly toward her face is too quick.
Her head snaps to the side as it makes contact.
Rage floods my veins as I feel my beast come forward, ready to tear apart her attacker. A growl escapes me as I desperately try to regain my control.
Her gaze meets mine.
Everything stops, the beast calms and I’m able to get a grip on my shift as she smiles, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, making that rage bubble again.
Before I can shift, ready to risk it all, I watch in utter fascination as her expression changes, and within a split second, the remaining men are unconscious, around her feet.
She was playing with them.
She would have continued to play with them as well, but somehow she knew I was here. I don’t know if she knew that if they’d laid one more fucking finger on her, then I would have ripped out their throats, but she stopped it.
She’s fucking stunning.
She tilts her head ever so slightly as she continues to watch me unwaveringly.
I want to go to her, I want to make sure that she’s okay, and I want to end the fuckers that dare to threaten her.
Walk the fuck away, Rast.
Forcing myself to turn around and walk back to my office is the hardest fucking thing that I have done in a long time.
Farren
What the fuck was that about?
I was happy to carry on playing with the fuckers, especially since they were finally starting to be fun, but then I caught sight of him.
Aldrastos.
He looked like he was about to go on a bloody and violent murdering spree and was barely stopping himself. He was clearly on the edge of shifting, and for some reason, I knew that if he were to shift, it would be a really bad thing.
So I didn’t carry on playing like I wanted to, I ended it.
He walked away.
That pisses me off, but I don’t know why, and in fact, everything to do with him pisses me off.
Stupid, sexy, supernatural, making me question shit.
I definitely didn’t mean sexy.
For fuck sake. Get a fucking hold of yourself.
“What the fuck happened, Farren?” Storm asks as he and the guys come out from the locker rooms and look over me with concern.