Wrath of the Gods (Magic Blessed Academy Book 3) Page 12

  What the hell does he want with me?

  The question rattled around in my head as I led the imposing god through the halls, ending up in the large industrial kitchen on the first floor. He cocked an eyebrow at me as he followed me inside, and I shrugged.

  “What? It’s not like I have a private office or anything.”

  Not to mention, the kitchen had several potential exits, knives galore, and a walk-in freezer I could try to trap him in if things didn’t go well. But I refrained from mentioning any of those points to Ryker.

  Instead, I leaned against the large metal work table in the middle of the room. “Okay. You got what you wanted. This is about as private as it gets. What do you want to say to me?”

  “You did well today.”

  The words shocked me so much that I almost lost my balance. Ryker had spoken calmly and plainly, no mocking tone or undercurrent to his voice. He actually sounded… proud.

  “I… uh…”

  For the first time in a long time, I was completely speechless. I didn’t know how to react to a compliment from a god, especially one that I’d been counting as an enemy. After all, he hadn’t done shit to stop Omari when the leader of gods had knocked me and my men out and locked us in a fucking dungeon.

  As if reading my thoughts, Ryker chuckled. “I knew you were strong. That much was obvious when you managed to transport to the godly realm. And when you undid the spell preventing anyone from grasping the gem. But I was truly impressed that you managed to free not just yourself, but your men as well. When I arrived in the dungeon to free you, I was pleased to see you had already managed to do it yourself.”

  ...excuse me, what?

  “Wait. Hold on. Time out.” I made a T shape with my hands, holding them up in front of me. “You what?”

  “I came to free you.” Ryker scowled. “You don’t honestly think I would allow that toad Omari to imprison my only daughter, do you?”

  I froze.

  My lungs seemed to fill with cement as I stared at him in shock.

  What in the ever-loving fuck?

  “What?”

  The word was barely more than a choked noise, but Ryker either understood it or just made an educated guess based on my reaction.

  “You are my daughter, Aria. My only daughter. The product of a love I shared with a human woman.”

  “That… that can’t be true,” I stammered. “I have a father. I mean, had. I knew my father. He was a fighter, he lived in Boston, he…”

  My voice trailed off. Ryker hadn’t said a single thing to contradict me, but even as I had spoken, I could feel how wrong my words were. Somehow, I knew Ryker was telling the truth. And it would explain everything. Why I had powers only a god should have, but also why my powers hadn’t manifested until later in life. Why I’d struggled with them so much.

  Because I wasn’t a god.

  I was a demi-god.

  “How?” I asked softly, my heart thudding heavily against my ribs.

  Ryker dipped his chin, his expression softening a little. It was a strange look on him, and it made him seem much more human.

  “Your mother was a wild magic user. Just like you, she was picked up by the school’s recruiters when her magic manifested and brought to Magic Blessed Academy. She competed in the Gods’ Challenge, just like you.” He ran his fingers over his jaw, his gaze going out of focus as he got lost in memories I couldn’t see. “It is not uncommon for the gods to watch the challenges from time to time, and that was how I first encountered your mother. I saw her fighting off a venomous snake whose body was six feet across. She was beautiful, strong, and capable.”

  True affection seeped into his words as he spoke, and it pulled at my heart. Whatever else had happened, wherever this story was going, he had truly cared about my mom once.

  “During the challenge, I snuck into the playing area. I had to meet this wild, enchanting creature. And the moment I met her, the moment she saw me, it was as if something snapped into place.” He exhaled a long breath. “Our affair was intense and all-consuming. She forgot her search for the gem, and I forgot everything. Several weeks passed, and then one day, she was pulled from my arms and transported back to earth when another student finally won the challenge.”

  “And that was it?” I asked, leaning forward in spite of myself.

  “No.” He shook his head, pain flashing across his face. “I was completely taken with her, but when she entered the challenge again the following semester, Omari marked her for death. She had become one of the most promising students at Magic Blessed, and he felt she was growing too powerful. She was supposed to die in the Gods’ Challenge, but I could not stand by and watch that happen.”

  “What did you do?”

  Ryker shook his head. “I did what any man in love would do. I tried to protect what I loved. I entered the playing area again, and this time, I used my powers to ensure that Abigail was safe.”

  My stomach twisted as I thought of the hatred Omari seemed to have for all wild magic users, and the massive power the leader of gods wielded. “But you weren’t able to protect her in the end, were you?”

  “Yes. And no.” Ryker grimaced. “She survived the challenge, although she did not win it. But Omari discovered what I had done, and was furious at my interference. He had marked her for death, and he was determined to see her meet that fate. She graduated from Magic Blessed that spring, and although I did everything I could to protect her, he killed her a year later.” His dark gaze met mine. “She died shortly after you were born, and you were taken in by the man you knew as a father then.”

  My jaw clenched as my hands curled into fists. This was so much. Too much. It felt like my brain might explode from an overload of information. I wanted to ask Ryker why he hadn’t been the one to raise me after my mom died, why he hadn’t been in my life at all until now. But I had a feeling I knew the answer.

  His association with a human had ended up getting that human killed.

  What would’ve happened if Ryker had taken me back to the godly realm as a baby? If he had shown me to the other gods, his half-human offspring?

  I would never have survived.

  Ryker dipped his head a little, his voice growing softer, more serious. “The gods fear people like you, Aria. They don’t know how wild magic users developed their power, and that terrifies them. Because long, long ago, before time was time, that is how the gods came into existence too. That is what our legends claim, anyway. That godly power was granted to a small, select few.”

  My pulse pounded in my ears, and I shook my head to clear it. “So, what? They think we’ve been given power by the same force that gave it to all of them?”

  He nodded. “Yes. And because you’ve been granted power like this, because it is wild and unpredictable, many of my brethren fear that you and your kind could become gods yourselves.”

  I laughed and gasped at the same time, and the end result was a choked snort. “What? Become gods? How the fuck would that even be possible?”

  “Well, you’re already halfway there, Aria,” he reminded me gently. “You are something none of them have ever encountered before, even though none of them—not even Omari—know what you truly are.” He straightened to his full height, gazing down at me. “You should never have existed, Aria. It shouldn’t have been possible. I am not the first god to lay with a human woman. But you are the first child ever to be created from such a union.”

  His answer knocked me flat, and I shook my head as a torrent of new thoughts flooded my mind. “How? Why me?”

  “Your mother was a wild magic user,” he said simply. “The rules as we know them don’t apply to your kind.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Okay, Aria. Deep breaths. Whatever you do, don’t pass out in front of the god.

  Your dad.

  Ugh.

  My mind spun, making the world seem to tilt around me.

  Godsdammit. I said don’t pass out!

  Gripping the edge of the metal
table, I drew in several long breaths through my nose. Everything I had just learned felt like it was crashing around inside my brain, new insights clashing with old beliefs until the whole thing was one giant mess.

  My dad… the man who had raised me until I was twelve, until the day he died? He wasn’t my father at all, at least not in any blood sense. But he still felt more like a dad to me than this imposing, inscrutable god who had ignored my existence for most of my life. The fact that he’d probably done it as a means of trying to protect me didn’t entirely ease the sting of learning that he’d been alive this whole time, and I had never known anything about him.

  Had he watched me grow up? Had he seen me fighting in the ring? Seen me getting involved with the criminal underground of Boston during my rougher years as a teenager in foster care?

  And through all of that, he had never stepped in or interfered in my life.

  “So, you thought I had everything under control, huh? Growing up? You figured once my da—the guy who raised me died, I was just fine bouncing around the system?”

  My words were caustic, but if I was hoping they would land like daggers in Ryker’s heart, I should’ve known better. I didn’t doubt that he had loved my mother, but the man was still a god. There was something removed and otherworldly about him, as if he wasn’t quite familiar with human emotions.

  “I know my solution wasn’t a perfect one,” he said slowly. Although his expression had remained as stoic and calm as ever, I saw something almost like guilt flash in his eyes for a heartbeat. “But it was the best I could do. I had failed your mother, and I was determined to do better by you. It seemed for many years that you had not inherited her powers, so I thought it best to let you live your life in the human realm unimpeded.”

  Fucking gods. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his obtuseness. Having a father figure in my life wouldn’t have been an impediment.

  “So why help me now?” I demanded instead, crossing my arms.

  “Because things have come to a head,” he said simply. “Omari is determined to see his foolish plans through, and he intends to wipe out all wild magic users. I would be against this on principle, even if one of those wild magic users wasn’t my daughter.”

  “Now what?” I gestured around the kitchen, but my motion was meant to encompass the whole school. “We’ve got this shield around us, and now what?”

  “Omari won’t stop coming for you.” Ryker’s lips pressed together. “Against anyone with wild magic. Against your classmates. Your lovers. But against you, most especially. You have humiliated him, undermined him, and proved yourself to be a powerful foe. He won’t stand for that.”

  “So we just hide out in the castle forever? We don’t let him get us?”

  He chuckled humorlessly. “If I thought that course of action would keep you alive, I would heartily recommend it. However, my shield won’t hold indefinitely. I am strong, but so is Omari, and he has many gods behind him. Some follow me instead, but too many still fall in line with Omari’s demands.”

  He stepped closer, the force of the power radiating from him nearly bowling me over.

  “My shield will not hold indefinitely,” he said. “I will keep doing what I can to turn other gods against Omari, to reveal him for the short-sighted tyrant that he is. In the meantime, you must prepare. I have bought you time, but you won’t be safe within the school’s walls forever.”

  A chill trickled down my spine at the warning in his words.

  Fuck. We need to get ready. We need to be prepared to fight.

  Dean Frost, Miss Avery, and the other teachers who’d supported her were being held in a training room on the second floor. A few professors had taken our side, and although I had a feeling that everyone who worked at this school had at least an inkling of what was going on, we weren’t in a position to deny potential allies. If the teachers were willing to work with us, I wasn’t about to lock them up with the dean. We’d need them for the fight.

  “Okay. I’ll gather everyone tomorrow, and we’ll do what we can.” I looked up, meeting Ryker’s dark gaze. It was overwhelming to look him in the eyes, and not just because of his status as a god. Because he’s my father. “Thank you.”

  He studied me for a moment, as if he was finally allowing himself to look his fill, and I suddenly wondered how much of my mother he saw in me. I had never known her, but I had a few pictures—I knew we looked alike, with similar dark hair and brown eyes.

  “You are welcome, Aria,” Ryker said at last. “I will do what I can to help you and your friends.”

  Then he stepped back, and before I could think of anything else to say, he disappeared from view, slipping from the earthly plane to the godly one so smoothly that it was as if he had just winked out of existence.

  I stared at the place where he had been standing, biting my bottom lip hard as I tried to absorb the shock of everything I’d just learned. When a soft noise came from one of the kitchen doorways, I straightened suddenly, my whole body tensing for a fight.

  “Hey, whoa. It’s okay.” Trace stepped out of the shadows, holding up his hands, and a flood of relief went through me at the sight of him.

  Whatever sleeping spell Ryker had put on him, it clearly wasn’t permanent.

  “How long have you been here?” I asked, my voice rough.

  “Long enough.”

  He strode across the kitchen and wrapped his arms around me, and for once, I didn’t fight against it or try to put on a facade of strength. I just let my body melt against his, wrapping my arms around him and inhaling his masculine scent, relishing the warmth of his skin.

  “So… that’s my dad,” I muttered with a dry chuckle. The words were muffled against Trace’s chest.

  “Yeah.” He let out a breath. “That’s fuckin’ nuts. Although honestly, I’m not surprised in a way. Aria, the shit you can do…” He pulled back from me a little, taking my head in his hands. His palms cupped my cheeks as his fingers delved into my hair, his eyes bouncing back and forth between mine. “It’s incredible. I don’t know if you ever realized how much of the summer the three of us spent in awe of you. Watching you blip over to the godly realm like it was nothing? I knew there was something in you, something bigger than what’s in any of us.”

  His words warmed me, but I found myself shaking my head anyway, panic and worry for the future making my stomach tie itself into knots. “What if I don’t want it? I don’t want to be one of the gods; I fucking hate them! And Ryker? He may be my dad, but that just makes him a shitty father. I spent my whole life essentially on my own, and now he marches back in and wants to help me?”

  Trace chuckled, taking my tirade in stride. He leaned against the large metal table, pulling me in to rest against it beside him, his arm settling around me.

  “My dad was a total hard ass. He hated every single one of my tattoos, he hated the music I listened to, and he really wanted me to become a doctor. But when I decided I was going to give music a real go, he was the one who bankrolled my first album. It took me a long time to realize why he gave me such a hard time when I was younger, but now I think he was just trying to make me into the best version of myself. And when he saw that my best self wasn’t quite what he’d envisioned, he supported me anyway.”

  I turned to look up at him, and he cocked an eyebrow as he tilted his head.

  “Sometimes you gotta give people time to show you who they really are,” he murmured. “Give Ryker a little time; don’t dismiss him yet. He saved our asses, and he’s risking starting open warfare with the leader of gods—and he can say whatever he wants, but I’m pretty sure he’s doing all of that just for you.”

  I made a soft noise in my throat, my thoughts drifting back over everything Ryker had said and done. “I dunno. Maybe.”

  “And besides,” Trace added, his lips tilting up into a grin, “even if Ryker lets you down, I promise you there are three people who won’t. Lachlan, Merrick, and I will be here for you no matter what. You know that, right?” />
  Something almost painfully sweet swelled in my chest, and I pressed away from the table, turning back to step between Trace’s legs. My arms wrapped around him, my hands splaying over the defined muscles of his back, as I looked up into his eyes.

  “I love you.”

  This time his smile was as slow and beautiful as a breaking sunrise. “I love you too, Snow. Always will.”

  When our lips met, there was nothing hurried or desperate about it. It was a physical expression of the words we had just spoken, a perfect encapsulation of love.

  It was desire and comfort.

  Need and support.

  It was everything I needed in that moment, despite the earth-shattering news I had just received, despite the horrors of the Gods’ Challenge and Omari’s proclamation.

  For just this moment, with Trace’s lips pressed against mine and his tongue tangling with my own, none of that existed. None of it could harm me or any of the people I loved.

  His breath was warm, and a faint taste of peppermint lingered on his tongue. Rising up on my tiptoes, I delved my fingers into his hair, running them through the short strands at the nape up his neck before fisting his dark hair close to the roots.

  He groaned appreciatively when I did that, so I did it again, pressing my body full-length against his.

  Lachlan was the burliest of the three men who had become mine, but Trace and Merrick were far from small. As he pressed away from the table, Trace reached down to wrap his hands around my upper legs, lifting me in his arms with ease. My legs wrapped around his waist as his large palms made their way to my ass, groping me shamelessly as he kept kissing me like it was what he’d been born to do.

  Like most things between Trace and me, it only stayed sweet for a little while. It wasn’t long before I was sliding my body against his, using the leverage of my arms and legs wrapped around him to grind against his cock.