Wrath of the Gods (Magic Blessed Academy Book 3)

by Eva Ashwood

  That thought was like a shot of bravery injected right into my heart, and I straightened, drawing my shoulders back and lifting my chin.

  We were in a place I recognized. The main court of the palace, where so many of the gods had been gathered last time we came here. As he had been then, Omari was settled on a throne that sat atop a large dais. Several gods surrounded him, and I noticed Ryker standing off to one side, his dark hair gleaming in the light.

  Clutching the gem tightly in my hand, I stormed toward the dais. The gods all watched me with narrow-eyed interest as I threw the carved gemstone down in front of Omari.

  “There,” I spat out. “There’s your fucking prize.”

  The stone skittered across the slick floor and under his throne. The entire room went so quiet you could’ve heard a pin drop, and Omari’s gaze slowly lifted to mine.

  “You did it.”

  He seemed a bit taken aback by that, as if he couldn’t quite believe the words that were leaving his mouth. Of course he couldn’t. Whatever magic they had worked on the gem had obviously been designed to ensure that no one could grasp it, no matter how hard they tried.

  I wasn’t about to tell him exactly how I had managed it. He already hated wild magic users enough to want to demolish our entire race—I was sure he would fry me on the spot if he had any inkling I might possess more, stranger magic than that. If he suspected I had magic that should only be wielded by the gods themselves.

  “So that’s it then?” I asked instead, still holding his gaze with a challenging one of my own. “It’s done. The Gods’ Challenge is over until next semester? Everyone else went back to earth?”

  A slow smile spread across the white-haired god’s face. He was handsome for his age, with strong features and a commanding presence, but his smile made him look almost reptilian. “Yes. It is done.”

  There was something about the way he said the words that made the bottom of my stomach drop out.

  “What do you mean? You did send everyone back to earth, didn’t you?”

  Fucking hell. Why had I ever taken these gods at their word on anything? Had they refused to send the others back?

  “Yes. They are all back at Magic Blessed Academy.” Omari’s smile widened.

  “What the fuck are you so happy about?” I snapped. I swore I could hear Merrick groan behind me, but I couldn’t take this god’s smug attitude. He was obviously hiding something from me, and he was either gonna tell me or not. I wasn’t into this whole “let’s drag out the suspense” thing.

  Omari scowled, clearly annoyed that I was deflating his big moment. But he seemed to collect himself quickly, fixing that smug grin on his face again as he said, “You are aware the magic using population watches the Gods’ Challenges, are you not? We allow them to see bits and pieces of the games, as a way of honoring us and those who fight in our name.”

  Ugh. Gag me. I was sure Omari got off on the fact that people built shrines to him.

  “Yeah? So?”

  He chuckled, the sound low and deep and utterly humorless. “So, would you like to know what they saw this time?”

  “Us kicking your ass?”

  This time, I was pretty sure Trace huffed a soft laugh behind me, but before I could peek over my shoulder to be sure, Omari waved a hand. An image appeared on the white wall behind the throne, almost as if it was a video being projected onto a screen.

  It was a scene of several of my classmates forging their way through the godly realm. They looked like they had ended up in the scraggly forest, so they must’ve headed in the opposite direction from us after we broke through the gods who had surrounded us when we arrived. They all looked a little beat up, but no one seemed to have major injuries.

  Then I gasped suddenly, jerking my head back as a new figure came into view in the image.

  Me.

  The strange version of me hurled magic at the group of students. A tendril of purple energy wrapped around one girl’s waist, picking her up before slamming her down to the ground. Behind the me-who-wasn’t-me, figures who looked like my men burst from the underbrush, attacking just as viciously as I had.

  “What the fuck?” Lachlan blurted behind me, stealing the words right out of my mouth.

  “Oh.” Omari grinned, baring his teeth as he gazed at me. “Do you not remember doing that? I’m not surprised.”

  “What the fuck is this?” I rounded on him. “What the hell are you playing at?”

  He looked so pleased with himself that I wanted to storm up onto the dais and kick his ass right off that fucking throne.

  “Did you think the only reason we had the entire school compete in the challenge was because we wanted to fight you?”

  “It had occurred to me,” I shot back through gritted teeth.

  “Well, that’s because you’re human. Short-sighted and weak,” Omari drawled. “While you were busy searching for the gem and running from my compatriots, we sent magical doppelgänger’s throughout the playing area to attack your own people. This was broadcast out to magic users everywhere, and what they saw is rogue agents turning on their own kind. They saw powerful magic users betray the ideals they have all been taught since birth. And now, when we tell them what wild magic users are and why they need to be stopped…” He spread his hands, gesturing again to the moving images behind him. “Well, I think they’ll believe us.”

  I blinked, trying to piece together what his words meant. They’d used decoy versions of us, almost like we had when we’d snuck off the course last semester. But they had made those decoy versions attack and fight against our classmates. We looked fucking psycho.

  Omari smiled as he saw understanding dawn in my expression. “You know, Aria Banks,” he said smoothly. “I really should be thanking you. You will become the figurehead for this, the representation and personification of why the gods must wipe out all wild magic users. If any of our followers doubt the wisdom of our decision or question whether it’s too brutal, we’ll need only to speak your name, and they will relent. They’ll realize what must be done.”

  My blood chilled. “You made it look like me and my men went insane, mad with power or whatever… so that you could justify killing all wild magic users?”

  Omari clapped indolently, smirking at me. “Ah, well.” He shifted his gaze to a god standing nearby him, inclining his head as if the two of them were sharing a private joke. She’s not so stupid after all, is she?”

  Fuck. Maybe she is.

  Because for all the planning and strategizing my men and I had done, we had never seen this coming.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Anger exploded like a bomb inside me, shattering my grip on my self-control.

  I lunged forward, about to physically hurl myself at Omari. If I could just get my fucking hands on him, maybe I could wrest him from his throne and bash his head against the marble. I could get him down on the ground, straddle him, and beat the ever-loving—

  Arms wrapped around my waist from behind just before I reached the dais where Omari sat. Two other sets of hands grabbed my arms, holding me back as I kicked and jerked, desperate to unleash my wrath on this cruel, mocking god.

  “It’s not worth it, Ari,” Merrick murmured in my ear, his voice strained. “It’s not fucking worth it. We need you.”

  He didn’t outright say the words we need you alive, but I heard the meaning in his voice anyway. Even if I was a god, or had some kind of god-like power, I couldn’t take on a whole room full of the most powerful magical beings in existence. It would be suicide.

  Not just for me, but for my men too.

  That thought stopped me in my tracks, and I let the men pull me back, breathing hard as a stared angrily up at Omari.

  For a split second, something like fear passed over his face. Had he truly been afraid of me attacking him?

  But before I could interpret the expression, it was gone, replaced by that same cocky smile I hated so much. Ryker’s eyes narrowed, and I noticed that he’d taken a step forward
when I had rushed toward the king of the gods.

  Huh. Guess he’s willing to defend that guy even if he doesn’t agree with him on how to deal with wild magic users.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d overheard the two gods arguing at the end of spring semester when I had snuck back into the palace—but just because Ryker didn’t like Omari, that didn’t make the tall, striking god my friend.

  Did he tell Omari he saw me that day? Does he recognize me now?

  I couldn’t guess the answer to either question. Ryker’s face was like stone, betraying nothing of his feelings as Omari waved a hand. Before my men and I could react, magic poured out of Omari’s fingers, wrapping around my entire upper body and binding it tight. The men’s hands were wrenched away from me as they were bound too, and I almost overbalanced and went down at the sudden loss of their grip holding me back.

  Fuck. Of course Omari wasn’t going to just let us go back to Magic Blessed. Thanks to the false images they had of me and my men turning on other magic users as if we’d gone feral, he had the perfect excuse to kill not just us, but all wild magic users.

  “Your fellow students have been returned to Magic Blessed Academy,” Omari said smoothly, as if he’d heard my thoughts. “That is where we will wipe them all out. Once we know that public opinion is on our side, the school and everyone in it will be leveled to the ground. From this moment forward, those who spontaneously develop magic shall be treated as they always should’ve been. As aberrations, as threats to the natural order.”

  “You’re a fucking threat to the natural order!” I yelled, yanking hard at my bonds. I heard Trace hiss out a breath behind me, and I honestly wasn’t sure if it was because he was afraid my big mouth was gonna get us all killed or because he was disappointed in my smack talk.

  Admittedly, it was far from my best comeback, but I was under a lot of godsdamn pressure, okay?

  Omari’s smile grew wider. “Keep screaming. Keep struggling. Shout obscenities when we drag you out for your public execution. It will only sway more and more magic users to our side.” He cocked his head slightly, considering me. “I don’t know who you are, Aria Banks, but you have given me everything I needed to finally take care of the wild magic problem. Thank you.”

  My blood turned to ice, a cold feeling taking root in my stomach. Shit. Everything I had done to try to protect the other students, my plans to take on the gods, all of it…

  It had only given this manipulative, cunning leader of the gods the opportunity he needed to turn people against us. I had become a figurehead for the wrong cause.

  My jaw clenched, furious tears burning my eyes. I opened my mouth to scream impotently at Omari, but before I could, he waved his hand again, sending a new wave of magic hurtling toward us.

  It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I was out before my body even hit the floor

  “Aria…”

  “Aria, are you…?”

  “…that fucking asshole hit her with…”

  “Aria!”

  The voice snapped me out of the haze I was drifting in, and I sat up so quickly I saw stars. I groaned, collapsing back onto the hard stone floor. My pulse pounded in my temples, and it felt like someone had made my blood thicker somehow—as if every beat of my heart took extra effort, as if my veins were clogged and full.

  “Fuuuck,” I moaned.

  “There’s the Ari we know and love.” Merrick’s words were teasing, but his tone held concern, and when he lifted my head into his lap, his touch was gentle. “Give it a minute. We all felt like shit when we woke up too, and I think you got hit the hardest with whatever magic Omari sent at us.”

  He stroked my hair as shudders wracked my body, making my skin feel hot and cold and clammy all at the same time. I rolled onto my side, and Trace’s hand rubbed soothing circles over my back as Lachlan rested his large palm on my hip. They were surrounding me, and in the comforting bubble of their presence, I let myself relax for a moment.

  Then everything that’d happened came rushing back, and I sat up again so fast that I actually retched. Fortunately, it’d been so long since I’d eaten that nothing came up, but that didn’t make my body feel any better.

  Merrick sighed. “I’m guessing this means you’re done resting?”

  “I can’t rest,” I croaked. “You heard him. He’s gonna kill everyone at Magic Blessed. We have to go back there and warn them or something. Help them—”

  “Dunno if ye noticed, lass, but we’re in a fuckin’ dungeon,” Lachlan cut in, running a hand through his coppery brown hair. He shook his head, a look of fury passing over his face. “The walls are set with some kinda spell that makes them impenetrable. None of our magic can do shite.”

  I glanced around, gritting my teeth against the wave of dizziness that assaulted me. He was right. The room was made of dark stone, a total contrast to the polished white marble of the throne room and the rest of the palace. The room wasn’t large, and at first, I couldn’t even see a door. When I finally spotted one, my heart sank. It blended perfectly with the wall, and there was no obvious lock or handle, no window to see out. It was a perfectly smooth panel, and I could feel the energy radiating from it, the protective charm what would shield it from any of our magic.

  Fuck.

  “How long was I out?” I asked, turning back to the men. Judging from the worried expressions on their faces, I looked just as shitty as I felt, but as adrenaline pumped through my system, my mind was slowly beginning to clear.

  “About an hour after the rest of us woke up,” Trace said, chewing on his lip. “We don’t know how long the three of us were unconscious for, but I’m guessing it was at least a few hours.”

  When public opinion was on their side. That was what Omari had said about when he and the other gods would kill all of our classmates, destroying them within the walls of Magic Blessed Academy like shooting fish in a barrel.

  How long did that give us? How much time would Omari truly take? He seemed eager to carry out his genocide of wild magic users, public opinion be damned. If he didn’t get the support he needed within a day or two, what were the odds that he would just go ahead with his plan anyway?

  High.

  Much too high for my liking.

  “We have to warn them somehow,” I insisted, shifting onto my hands and knees as I tried to find the strength to stand.

  And do what?

  Beat against the door?

  Curse and scream at Omari? Beg him to release us?

  None of that would do any good. But I had to do something. I couldn’t just let him get away with this.

  Shoving to my feet, I swayed a little and gratefully accepted the support as Merrick slipped an arm around my waist. He saw me eyeballing the door with a thoughtful expression and shook his head, his grip tightening on me.

  “It’s no good, Ari. We’ve all tried. Nothing gets past the defensive charms they put on it. It’s rigged to repel any attack from a magic user.”

  A magic user.

  But was that all I was? Or was I something else? Something the gods didn’t know and couldn’t anticipate?

  As soon as that thought flitted through my head, a new thought tumbled along after it, making me suck in a sharp breath.

  “What is it?” Merrick glanced down at me, his face shadowy in the dim light. “What’s wrong?”

  “Maybe nothing. Maybe…” My stomach fluttered with nerves and hope, and I held out my hand, gesturing Lach and Trace closer. They both came willingly, Trace grasping my hand and Lachlan supporting my other side.

  “What’re ye thinking, Snow?” The Irishman chuckled. “Ye’ve got a crazy look yer eyes.”

  “Omari knows we’re wild magic users,” I said slowly. “But that’s all he knows. He doesn’t know I can move back and forth between the earthly plane and the godly plane. Ryker saw me when I snuck back into the palace last spring, but even he might not know how I got there. So they’ve rigged the door with protections to keep us locked up. But have they
done anything to stop someone from transporting to another plane? Could they even use a charm to stop that?”

  Trace blinked at me, a surprised look crossing his face. Then he grinned. “Fuck, Ari. That’s brilliant! You can go back to earth. Get the hell out of here and warn the others!”

  My throat tightened at his use of the word “you.”

  No. I don’t want to leave here without my men.

  I couldn’t bear the thought of escaping and leaving them alone to face execution at Omari’s hands. Not to mention that if he found out I had slipped away, he would take his wrath out on anyone who was still here.

  “No.” I gritted my teeth. “Either you come with me, or I’m not going.”

  The men all exchanged a look, and I didn’t have to see the expression on each of their faces to know exactly what they were thinking.

  “It’s not that we don’t want to come with you,” Merrick said slowly, his voice careful. “But you’ve never been able to transport us to and from the godly realm. And it’s more important for you to get out of here, Ari. For you to live.”

  “Like fuck it is!” Panic and horror opened a hole in my chest, and my grip tightened on all three of them.

  I was feeling better, stronger, and the world was no longer spinning around me. Fear had narrowed my focus down to a single objective.

  Get out of here. With my men.

  “Merrick’s right, lass,” Lach added. “Ye’ve got to—”

  Before he could finish that sentence, I turned toward him, rose up on my tiptoes, and pressed a hard, bruising kiss to his lips. When I pulled back, I nipped at his bottom lip, fire burning through my veins.

  “Shut up,” I whispered hoarsely. “I need to concentrate. Because I am bringing all of you with me.”

  Lachlan’s green eyes seemed to shine in the darkness as I drew away. Trace opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then he snapped it shut, lifting my hand and pressing a kiss to my knuckles instead.

  I let the feel of his lips on my skin spread through me, igniting my nerve endings and warming my body. I thought of everything the four of us had been through together. About the time Trace had been so badly burned, and the abject fear that had run through me at the prospect of losing him. About the way the four of us had become a unit, and about how it felt when we all came together.