“It’s okay,” Laadan reassured with a small smile.
With wide eyes, Deacon remained by Aiden’s side. “If your head starts spinning…”
“Shut up, Deacon,” Aiden growled.
He made a face but remained quiet, and I really felt like a freak.
I remembered what it felt like when the shields came down between Seth and me. So much fury had burned through the connection. Seth had been epically pissed, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of what Ares had been doing or if it was something more than that. The connection had fed him everything: all the pain and the hopelessness I’d felt when Ares had gotten the upper hand. And when I’d wanted to die instead of facing another second of soul-shattering pain, Seth had gotten a taste of that bitter, rotten emotion.
How could he have been okay with that? Did the means really justify the end for him? I’d experienced way too much at Ares’ hands to hope that Seth had changed. It seemed more believable that his anger was associated with me not submitting to Ares more than anything else.
Another random thought formed. The prophesy of Grandma Piperi, oracle extraordinaire, came back like a cold sore. You will kill the ones you love.
Part of me did love Seth—pre-jackass, of course. He was a part of me. We were yin and yin, and Seth had been there for me for a lot. I’d never forget that, but I was no longer so blinded by how he used to be that I couldn’t see what needed to be done. If I couldn’t get the power of the God Killer to transfer to me, I would kill him.
Or go down trying.
But that prophecy didn’t mean just my loved ones would die by my hand. Kain, a half-blood Guard who’d helped Aiden train me, had been turned by my mom in an attempt to reach me and died by Seth’s hand. Caleb had been murdered by a daimon because I’d been so emo over Aiden and we’d snuck out to get food and drinks, even knowing that there could be daimons on campus. And my mom had been turned into a daimon—her true death—because of me. Then I had killed her. Even though I couldn’t claim to love Lea, I’d respected her a great deal toward the end, and her death was also linked to me.
And more people I loved would die.
I crossed my arms, ignoring the way my bones cracked from the movement. “The University isn’t safe with me here.”
Aiden whirled toward me, his eyes narrowing into thin slits, but before he could speak, Marcus stepped in. “There is no other place safer, Alexandria. At least here, we have Sentinels and—”
“Sentinels and Guards are nothing if Ares finds a way in. And let’s say he doesn’t—we still have Seth to worry about.”
“We can’t leave here.” Luke leaned forward, dropping his arms onto his knees. “Not until we’ve rallied the troops and you’ve fully recovered—”
“I’m fine!” My voice cracked on the last word, a humiliating lie detector.
Luke raised a brow.
“Whatever,” I said. “I need to leave.”
“You. Are. Not. Leaving.”
Everyone in the room turned to Aiden, including me. His words hung in the air, and challenge seeped out every pore. “I have to,” I said.
“No.” Stalking forward, his powerful muscles rippled under the black shirt he wore. The black shirt of a Sentinel, and gods, he was a Sentinel through and through at that moment. “We already had this discussion. All of us know the risks, Alex.”
Challenge accepted. “But that was before Ares went all god badass on us.”
His eyes turned a furious shade of silver as he stared down at me. “Nothing has changed.”
“Everything has changed!”
“The technicalities have, maybe, but nothing else.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “It was one thing when we thought it was Hephaestus or Hermes, but it’s Ares. In case you don’t remember, he’s the mother-fu—”
“I know who he is,” Aiden gritted out.
“Children,” Marcus admonished.
We shot him mutual death glares.
Marcus ignored it. “Aiden is right, Alex.”
Of course he took Aiden’s side.
“We all know what we’re getting into.” He gestured at his battered face. “Trust me, we all know, and like we said before, we are in this together.”
“What about them?” I totally remembered when everyone had stood up and announced that they had my back. And one of them was dead now. I gestured at the back of the room. “What about every person at the University—the students, and all the people who came here for the safety it once offered? Are they willing to take that risk?”
A Sentinel next to the young one who’d been with Dominic they day we’d arrived here stepped forward and said, “If I may speak?”
Aiden sent him a look that a wiser person would’ve run from.
Apparently this Sentinel wasn’t used to running. Then again, none of them were.
“What is your name?” Diana asked.
“Valerian,” he answered, and I pegged him to be in his late twenties. A half-blood, of course.
“Like the root?” Deacon asked.
Luke rolled his eyes.
The man nodded. “Most people call me Val.”
“What do you have to say, Val?” Diana spoke again.
“Everyone here has been affected by what is happening. I can’t name one person who hasn’t lost a friend or a loved one. Not to mention we lost our Dean and our friends when Ares attacked. I can’t speak for everyone, but you will find that the vast majority of those who reside here are willing to do just about anything to see an end to this.”
Then they all were idiots.
I shook my head as I turned around. None of the Sentinels or Guards here could stand against Seth, let alone gods knew what else Ares could throw our way.
Aiden caught hold of my arm in a firm but gentle grasp, as if, even in his anger, he was aware that my body was still healing. “Stop being so stubborn, Alex.”
“You’re the one who’s being pigheaded,” I shot back, and I tried to pull free, but Aiden held on, a warning flaring in his eyes. “I’m trying to protect them.”
“I know.” His voice lost a fraction of its edge. “And that’s the only reason I’m not throwing you over my shoulder and locking you in a room somewhere.”
My eyes narrowed. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Is that a challenge?” he asked.
Someone in the back of the common area cleared his throat. “So I’m assuming these two have some sort of past?”
Deacon choked on his laugh as he plopped down on the sofa. “That would be an affirmative.”
Aiden’s gaze slid to his brother, and he took a long, nice, deep breath.
“Wow.” Deacon elbowed Luke. “This would be awkward if it weren’t so entertaining. It’s like watching our parents—”
“Shut up, Deacon,” both Aiden and I snapped at the same time.
“See!” Deacon grinned. “They’re like peas and carrots.”
Luke turned to him slowly. “Did you just quote Forrest Gump?”
He shrugged. “Maybe I did.”
And just like that, some of the tension seeped out of Aiden…and me, too. He let go of my arm but was like Velcro on my hip. “Sometimes I worry for you, Deacon,” he said, his lips curving up on one side.
“I ain’t who you should be worrying about.” Deacon jerked his chin at me. “Little Miss ‘I Gotta Be A Martyr’ over there is the one you should be concerned with.”
I made a face, but everyone in the room, even the bulk of Sentinels in the back, stared back at me with determined expressions. There would be no convincing them otherwise. I knew I wouldn’t be leaving here alone, and I really didn’t want to. Honestly, the thought of facing Ares or even Seth alone scared the bejebus out of me.
And I would need an army—a really big one. Hopefully, the Sentinel who’d spoken up was right that the vast majority of people here wanted to make a stand, because we were going to need them.