Deadly Game: An Academy Bully Romance (Academy of the Gods Book 3)

by River Ramsey

  “If we succeed, you can have whatever you want,” I assured him. “If we don’t, this realm isn’t going to last long anyway.”

  “Fair enough,” Hermes said, holding out his staff. “Gather together and try to hold still.”

  Loki, Dionysus and I exchanged a nervous glance before pressing together in a vague triangle. I grabbed onto both of their hands, knowing how easy it was to get separated on the journey between worlds, and not a moment too soon. With another stream of light, the hotel room disappeared and we were left standing at the edge of a barren desert that stretched on as far as the eye could see. There wasn’t a hint of life or color anywhere, and the air not only felt dead, but capable of siphoning away the life force of any living thing who had the misfortune to venture here.

  “Welcome to the Underworld,” Loki said, releasing my hand to lead the way down what seemed as if it was supposed to be a path, long since worn away from many weary travelers and countless centuries of neglect.

  I followed him with Dionysus close behind. Even with the three of us, it felt like we were vulnerable out in the open, not knowing what lurked behind the jagged stone cliffs lining the path.

  “What an ambiance,” Dionysus muttered, rubbing his arms. I wasn’t sure if it was from the chill or the general creep factor that only intensified the further we went into the dark realm.

  “Cronus isn’t one for beautification,” Loki said, uncharacteristically somber once more. “Still, it’s degraded significantly since the last time I was here.”

  I reached out to brush my fingers over a withered root sticking out of the cliff in front of me, but there wasn’t even a spark of hope or life within it.

  “Everything here is so...empty,” I murmured, realizing that was exactly how Hades had felt the first time I’d touched him. Granted, it wasn’t extended contact and I was too pissed to think much of it at the time, but I could only imagine what it had been like for him to spend so much of his life here. To know that as soon as he graduated from the Academy, he was going to be trapped here for the rest of his immortal life. “It’s like the entire realm is on the verge of collapse.”

  “It is, according to Ares,” said Loki.

  I stopped walking, tuning in to the faint vibrations I felt in the earth. The others stopped to look at me.

  “What is it?” Dionysus asked, frowning in concern.

  “I feel something. Someone,” I clarified. At least, I hoped it was a someone. It was impossible to know which of the monstrous tales about the creatures of the Underworld were true. Given the fact that Fenrir came from here, I was betting on more than I would like.

  “Stay close,” Loki said, leading the way through the narrowing passage between the cliffs up ahead.

  “You’re my consort, not my bodyguard,” I informed him.

  He rolled his eyes, and I shushed him before he could say anything. “Listen. Do you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” Loki asked, looking around.

  “It sounds like someone’s crying,” I answered. The sound was closer now. Faint, but clearly the mournful tones of a woman’s sobs. “I think someone’s in trouble.”

  “Kore, wait!” Dionysus cried, running after me as I rushed up ahead.

  The moment the cliffs broke into an open valley, I found the source of the strangely melancholic sounds. Hunched over on the side of the road was a small figure in a tattered green cloak, her back turned toward us. She was rocking herself slightly and even though we were out in the open, her cries didn’t seem much louder.

  “Wait,” Loki hissed, reaching out to grab my arm before I could approach her.

  “He’s right. We can’t trust anything here,” Dionysus said, coming to my other side.

  I hesitated, watching the pathetic figure in the distance. “Hey,” I called, deciding we were still far enough away. “Are you alright?”

  The crying ceased and the cloaked woman went unnaturally still. For a moment, I wondered if her movement had been an illusion, but when she turned around, her pale face set in the mask of grief I’d seen on stone angels outside of cemetery gates, I realized she was no trick of the light. Black tears streamed down her face, and she seemed to be holding herself from an injury.

  I went forward, pushing aside my fear but not my caution. Underworld or not, I wasn’t going to leave someone suffering on the side of the road. “It’s alright,” I said, approaching her carefully. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

  The woman stared blankly at me for a moment, as if she didn’t understand what I was saying. When I took another step and reached out to help her up, her normal features turned into a ghastly snarl and fangs like knives grew from her pasty lips as she let out an ear-piercing shriek.

  Someone grabbed me from behind and yanked me back just in time to pull me from the path of her gnarled claws. I barely had time to notice it was Dionysus before she grabbed him and flung him across the desert sand until he hit another cliff.

  “Dionysus!” I cried, lunging for his unconscious form only to be thrown back by a sudden gust of wind. I looked up from the ground and realized the monstrous creature had sprouted tattered black wings from her back. Her wingspan was so great that each time she struck her wings, the resulting gust made it almost impossible to stand.

  “What the fuck,” Loki growled, pulling a blade from his pocket. It grew within his grasp, the surface glimmering with blue light. “What is that thing?”

  “I have no idea,” I muttered, struggling to form a vine with no environmental energy to draw from. That meant I was tapping into my own resources, but for the moment, I didn’t have a choice.

  The monster shrieked as Loki charged her, piercing her side with his blade. She caught hold of it and let out another bellow right at him. The sound made my eardrums pop and Loki went flying.

  I managed to stay on my feet, but the next blast knocked me onto my back. My head struck a stone behind me and my vision went black for a second. By the time I could see properly, the creature was hovering over me. Instead of feet, she had talons as sharp as her claws, and they were all poised to pierce me like knives. I threw up my arm to shield myself, but the tip of a blade pierced the center of her chest before she had the chance to finish her attack.

  The creature let out her most deafening scream yet, a sound that curdled blood and quaked bone. I shuddered at the sound of it and watched the life, if it could be called that, drain from her hollow eyes.

  Her body hit the ground, and I found myself staring up at Hades. My heart was still pounding, not the least of all because he was here. He was alive and by all appearances, Cronus hadn’t harmed him. On the other hand, Fenrir wasn’t with him…

  “They send me a Queen who can’t even get past the outer ring without getting herself killed,” he scoffed, his gruff tone belying the relief in his gaze.

  “Shut up,” I said, taking his hand to get back on my feet. I wrapped my arms around him before he could pull away and squeezed tight. “Don’t make me regret coming to rescue your smug ass.”

  “Who needs rescuing?” he taunted, nonetheless returning my embrace. To my relief, Dionysus was already back on his feet, a little dazed but no worse for the wear. Loki was limping toward us.

  “Could’ve showed up a little sooner,” he quipped.

  “Why the fuck would you bring her here?” Hades demanded, turning on him. He glanced down at me. “How did you get here, anyway?”

  “Hermes,” I answered. “By the way, we owe him a favor when you take over.”

  “Of course we do.” Hades shook his head. “You shouldn’t have come. I didn’t have a choice in the matter, but thinking we’re ready to take him on was a mistake.”

  “What happened?” Dionysus asked, brushing the sand off his clothes. “And what was that thing that attacked us?”

  “That was an Empusa. They masquerade as women in distress to trap their prey, and they feed on human flesh,” Hades answered, glancing around. “The outlands are full of them.”

  D
ionysus grimaced. “Guess we haven’t gotten to that part of the textbook on cryptids.”

  “Where is Fenrir?” I asked, needing to know the answer to that before anything else. Something in the way Hades hesitated filled me with dread, but I wouldn’t let myself believe anything had happened to him. The connection between us was too strong. I would have felt it.

  “My father put an enchantment on him,” Hades answered, his words heavy with shame. “He tried to protect me, and he got turned to stone.”

  “Stone?” I echoed in disbelief, my mind racing as I struggled to make sense of the news. “But if it’s an enchantment, it’s reversible, right?”

  “As long as my father is alive and wielding the Grim Scepter, the enchantment is irrevocable,” Hades said, his expression as sullen as his voice.

  “Then we kill him, like we planned,” I said firmly.

  “You don’t understand,” Hades snapped. “He’s looking for you. That’s why he brought us here in the first place.”

  “Because of Thor?” I asked.

  “No. He said he knows who you are.”

  I frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “I don’t know, but he knows you’re a threat to him and the longer you’re here, the more danger you’re in,” Hades said, glancing warily at the path up ahead. He knew the unseen dangers lurking in this realm better than anyone, so when he was afraid, I knew I had reason to be.

  “I’m not leaving,” I said firmly. “Not without Fenrir.”

  Hades frowned, and I knew the look that came across his features. The same look he always wore when he thought I was being stubborn, as if he didn’t possess that quality in abundance. Or maybe he just thought it was different somehow when he did it.

  “She’s right,” said Loki. “We can’t just abandon him, and if your father is onto us, there’s nowhere in the seven realms we can hide her forever.”

  “What about the Ether?” asked Dionysus, ignoring the glare I shot him. Guess even he was capable of being overprotective.

  Hades considered it for a moment before shaking his head. “That’s the first place he’ll look. He must know Ares is Kore’s father. There’s no other explanation for how he’d know about her destiny.”

  “They were besties at one point, the way he tells it,” Loki agreed, his arms folded. “If Cronus is threatened, maybe we’ve got something. It’s not like we have any other choice.”

  “What about Fenrir?” asked Dionysus. “I don’t know how this all works, but don’t we all need to be together to pull this off?”

  It was a fair point. The truth was, we didn’t even know if it was possible to kill Cronus, let alone have a game plan. We were all just making this up as we went.

  “This is all pointless to argue,” I said, knowing I had to choose my words carefully if I was going to get them all on board. “If Cronus wanted us all here, he got his wish, and there’s no way he’s going to let us out.”

  “She’s right,” Dionysus agreed. “Right now, I think our only option is to storm the castle, so to speak.”

  Hades scowled, clearly displeased with the direction the conversation had taken. Not that he had a choice, either. “That plan might be a bit more literal than you know. My father left after he cast the enchantment on Fenrir, but I’m sure he’s using him as bait. He knows we’ll come back, and I’m not going to deliver her right into his hands.”

  “No, I’m going to deliver myself,” I countered. He turned to argue, but I folded my arms and squared my shoulders to make it clear I wasn’t backing down. “You know this world better than anyone, Hades. There’s nowhere we can run and nowhere to hide. One way or another, this has to end, and I’d rather face him directly than get ambushed.”

  “She has a point,” said Loki.

  “Would you stop saying that?” Hades barked.

  “I’m just saying,” Loki grumbled.

  “It sounds like we’ve made the only choice we have,” Dionysus said, ever the diplomatic one. Thank the gods someone in this five-way clusterfuck was. “We shouldn’t waste anymore time.”

  Hades grudgingly nodded, but he retreated back into his usual moody silence as he led the way. I decided to give him a little bit of space, for as long as I could. As infuriating as it was, it was kind of touching that he was so upset. Maybe I meant more to him than he let on.

  It only raised more questions as to what was going to happen between us once all was said and done, but I just hoped that was a luxury I had to worry about later.

  “What’s that?” Dionysus asked, breaking the silence after we’d walked for what felt like an eternity. Then again, it was kind of hard to tell in the realm of the dead.

  I followed his gaze to the long, winding valley cut into the solid gray landscape up ahead. To my horror, I soon realized it was a riverbed that had been almost entirely depleted.

  “That would be the River Styx,” Hades said solemnly, coming to a stop at the top of the hill to survey his macabre kingdom. “What’s left of it, anyway.”

  I brought a hand to my mouth to stifle the gasp welling in my throat. Now that we were close, I could feel the faintest echoes of life traveling through the riverbed, but even those were growing dim. Their distress permeated my lungs, and a grief heavier than any I’d ever known settled on my shoulders like a mantle.

  I’d been horrified by Cronus’ actions before, but until this moment, the gravity of it all hadn’t fully set in. Once it did, there was no paralleling the disgust and hatred that settled deep in my core.

  This was no longer a mere matter of destiny or even protecting my realm. It was vengeance, and Cronus deserved the same empty fate he’d condemned so many souls to.

  I intended to ensure he met that fate.

  “The palace is up there,” Hades said, pointing to a hilltop structure I could barely make out the outline of in the distance. We followed the riverbed to the base of the hill leading up to the palace gates, and the closer we drew, the thicker with dread the air became.

  There was something else coexisting with the hatred deep inside of me. Pain. Guilt. Anguish for the half-life Hades had known all these years, and the future he had been so determined to face alone.

  As bleak and unforgiving as this realm was, I no longer saw it as the prison or punishment I once had. This place was part of him, and its wounds were carved deep in his soul. Whatever there was left to save, I had to try. For him.

  When we came to a stop outside the great gates, I reached for Hades’ hand and he looked down at me in surprise. His irritation softened and the disapproving lines smoothed on his face. He gave my hand a tight squeeze in return, which filled me with the strength I needed to go through with this.

  There was just one thing left unsettled.

  “There’s something I need to tell you,” I said, turning to face the three of them. “All of you.”

  And Fenrir, too. I found myself hoping he could hear me somehow, even in his current state.

  “What is it?” Loki asked, seeming as confused as the others.

  I cleared my throat and steeled myself for what I was about to say. Fighting was easy. Being vulnerable, especially with the men who each held a separate piece of my heart, was fucking petrifying. “I know destiny is what brought us together, and I know everything is going to change, even if we somehow pull this off,” I began. “I just want you to know that if I could go back and choose, I’d do it again. I’d choose all of you.”

  For a few moments, none of them responded. As usual, Loki was the first to break the silence. “I’d say your taste in men leaves something to be desired, but between the four of us, we probably make a half-decent person.”

  Dionysus gave him a playful shove, his gaze softening as he looked back at me. “Nothing is going to change. I’d choose you, too, even if it means dealing with these idiots.”

  Hades snorted. “Come on. Let’s not wait for the welcome committee.”

  The gates slid open, and judging from the fact that he remained
calm, I believed he had some control over it. We followed him up the hill and when I saw the great stone wolf standing guard outside the palace walls, my heart sank.

  “Fenrir,” I breathed, walking up to brush my fingers across the statue’s muzzle. My heart ached to see him like this, but as slow and stagnant as they were, I could steel fill the vibrations of his life energy within. I leaned in, pressing my forehead against the wolf’s. “We’ll get you back. I promise.”

  Dionysus put a gentle hand on my shoulder and led me over to join the others. The palace doors slid open and Hades grew sullen once more. My guard went up as soon as his did, and I followed him into the darkened hallway.

  As we walked the final corridor of the destiny that had brought us all together, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of how far we’d come since the night we’d met. Back then, I wanted nothing more than to bring Hades to ruin. Now, I was willing to follow him into Hell and never look back.

  Chapter 22

  Dionysus

  As we walked into the palace, it felt like the walls were watching us. The ancient structure seemed made of bone more than brick and mortar, and every step echoed endlessly down a pitch black corridor.

  “I guess you don’t believe in lights in the Underworld?” I asked, sticking close to the others.

  “The whole realm is dark. Always has been,” Hades murmured. Something about him had changed the moment he walked through those doors, like the old place had been drawing him back all along. If I felt trapped, I could only imagine how much more so he did.

  “The throne room is down this hall,” he announced. How he could see more than a foot in front of him was beyond me. Maybe he just knew the winding paths of the palace from memory.

  I glanced over at Kore, trying to gauge her reaction. She had to be scared. We all were, but she kept her head high and there was still fire in her eyes, as always. That was one of the things I loved most about her. No matter how dire the circumstances, or how much the odds were stacked against her, she never gave up and never hung her head for anyone. Not even the ruler of the gods himself.