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Thunder ripped and crackledinside.
I smothered a shriek as my hair rose up, reaching for the sky as if I stuck my finger in a socket. “But I didn’t! I didn’t seduce anyone. I don’t even know your son.”
“Out of the way.” Damien shoved Drakos aside, and snatched me up by the collar. “This pointless questioning ends now. Her sentence is named—execution.”
My vision went white. What did he say?
“That is not a sentence, it’s murder!” Skeletal hands grabbed me, igniting the tug-of-war. “She has the right to plead her case before the entire council. You cannot hand down death sentences based on prejudice.”
“Prejudice?” Damien’s eyes darkened. “Possession of a cursed object—mandatory life sentence. Sabotaging a lawfully erected barrier—death sentence. Aiding and abetting a monster attack—death sentence. Turning traitor against your comrades—death sentence. Treason against the imperial heir by way of seducing and destroying his marriage, resulting in a schism between the House of Damien and the House of Cirillo—death sentence.
“Don’t speak to me of prejudice, Hades son,” he growled. “Prejudice did not stop me from allowing the likes of you to become headmaster of this academy, while we both know it’s your bias that makes you speak out in defense of your former lover’s bastard.”
Former lover? My dad and Drakos?
“This thing will receive the justice she is due.” He shook me, rattling my head on my neck. “And she’ll thank me for making it quick.”
“Unhand her!”
Dead men in various states of decay burst from their caskets, running to us. To me.
Daimen’s hand sliced the air and blinding light ripped through the shadowed room.
Crack!
Headmaster Drakos flew across the room, crashing into and toppling two caskets. I didn’t have to wonder if he was dead. The gaping hole through his chest answered that.
I screamed. “Help! Someone, help me!”
“Silence!”
Terror trapped my pleas in my throat.
“Take heed, bastard, after enough reflection in the Asphodel Meadows, you will thank me for the merciful end. As it was, you would’ve gone down in demigod history as the abomination who betrayed her father’s legacy and attempted to slaughter our nation’s hope, all to save some worthless mundane woman.
“As it is, I must protect my son’s reputation and the reputation of my position and my family. The world will be told that you were nothing but a clever tenebrae demon, working from the inside to orchestrate this monster attack. When Drakos revealed the truth, you killed him.”
Tears soaked my face. I kicked and punched him, internally screaming at the Fates to help me. “No one is going to believethat! You think people don’t know a lightning strike when they see one? You’re a murderer. You’re a monster!”
He snapped me to his chest, his hate-filled eyes filling my vision. “I am no monster. Everything I do is for the good and the advancement of Olympia. I will protect her from all threats. I lay down my soul to her service.”
“But my mom—”
“You needn’t worry about your mother. As soon as I’m finished with you, the combined might of the gods’ chosen council will flood that chamber with power—eradicating everything inside, living or dead.”
My jaw cracked, frozen in a horrified cry.
“And then I believe I’ll help myself to those statues,” he remarked, mostly to himself. “They belong stationed at the imperial palace, protecting the worthy and the new location of the training academy. This place can be left to the useless, and good riddance to it. With any luck, the monsters will attack the slop left over and make damn sure.”
“What’s wrong with you?” I whispered. “How could anyone be so evil?”
His gaze hardened. “I am the son of Zeus. His chosen. His favored. What’s evil to a peasant is mercy from a god.
“Goodbye, bastard child of filth.” He raised his hand. “And may Hades have mercy on you for dirtying the pure essence of my gods.”
Damien dropped his hand. Lightning crackled and split the ceiling, exploding the rafters in its rushing greed. Untouchable force slammed into my chest, throwing me clean from his grip.
Darkness swallowed me before I hit the ground.
