Page 83 of A Sword of Shadow and Deceit

“You wouldn’t know fuck all about me and Theos,” I snap back. “But for your information, it was a one-time deal. It’s never going to happen again.”

He clicks his tongue at me. “Oh, sweet little mortal, never say never.”

The blade beneath my pillow sits just within reach. I contemplate using it but then think better of it. No. I need to get Kalix out of my room and I need to do it the peaceful way—even if my preferred method would be to gut him and drag him out by his intestines.

“My answer is no,” I seethe. “No. No. Fucking. No. Get off me!” I bow my body under his and all that seems to do is press the hardness of his erection against me.

“Now, now, no need to pitch a fit, little mortal.” Kalix chuckles as if he’s amused by my resistance. I’ll be honest, I’m not using the full breadth of my strength on him and it’s partially because I’m not entirely sure it would work. I’ve never had a God’s, much less a Mortal God’s, persuasion work so well on me. To say that I’m unsettled would be an understatement.

“Why did you have me followed?” I demand, biting down on my fury.

Kalix cracks his neck to the side, shadows dancing along the olive tone of his skin, revealing hollows along his throat. “Curiosity?”

His answer sounds more like a question than a certainty. I narrow my gaze on him. “I was given permission to visit my brother,” I snap. “You had no right to follow me.”

He laughs, the sound deep and throaty. “I have every right, Terra, darling,” he replies. “You’re a mortal—you don’t have rights, at least not the ones you think you do. If I find your actions suspicious, then of course I’ll follow you.”

“You find my actions suspicious?” My heart pounds against my chest. What does he know? It can’t be the truth if I’m still here, lying beneath him. Certainly, he wouldn’t know. But then again, as I look up at him and the glittering hue of his moss green gaze, I have to wonder. Kalix’s eyes are deeper than the average man, threaded with an empty void that lacks conscience. If it amuses him, I have no doubt he’d protect that dark barrier he keeps around him to his very last breath.

As if he senses my internal thoughts, Kalix leans down again, bringing his face back to mine. “Oh, I find you incredibly suspicious, little mortal,” he murmurs. Whatever I plan to say, however, is swallowed by the sound of three hard, repetitive knocks on the door across the room. As one, our heads turn towards it. “Expecting company?” Kalix asks, lowering his voice.

I shake my head. “No.”

He hums in the back of his throat and then, as if he’s made some silent decision, he disappears from my body. I jolt up in bed as I look around, but he’s just gone. Something wet and scaly touches the side of my leg and I practically catapult myself out of the thin cot of my bed and onto the floor. A slithery little creature slides from beneath my sheets and plops onto the floor. It pays me no mind at all as it slides around my still-booted feet—as I’d fallen asleep completely clothed from my day out in Riviere—and into the shadows.

The person on the other side of the door knocks again, this time louder and harder. “Kiera Nezerac?” The voice is low and masculine, booming with strength and command.

I hurry across the room and fling open the door, only to come face to face with a tall well-built Mortal God. He takes up practically the entire doorway, but from the slight lines around his eyes and mouth, I realize he’s not a student. A guard, perhaps? Why would a guard be banging on my door?

“Yes?” A cold sweat has broken out across my shoulder blades.

His deep burgundy eyes scan me from top to bottom. “You’ve been called to the dean’s office for reprimanding.”

“Reprimanding?” I repeat as confusion clouds my mind. “I’m sorry, what’s this about?”

“You’ve been called to the dean’s office,” he repeats. “You will be told the reason for your punishment within. I am to take you there now.”

There is so much wrong here and no time to consider it. Reprimanding? That can’t mean what I think it means, but what else would it be? “I’m not in uniform,” I say lamely as I try to think of any excuse to not go or at the very least, delay it.

The man tilts his head to the side, those dead eyes of his spanning down to the torn shirt I’m still wearing. “You will be given two minutes to adjust yourself,” he says. “No more.”

I assume the clock starts now so I slam the door shut and practically race to rip off the torn shirt and replace it with a new one—the only other one I have. I grab my cloak and put it back on and just as the knob of my door turns, I return to it.

“You will come with me now,” the man states as I swing the door wide open again and stand before him, panting and sweating from the rush. Then he turns and starts walking.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I rack my brain for any reason to be called to the dean’s office, but all I come back with is a blaring warning. This is not fucking good. I consider my options as I lean back on my heels. How fast could I take this guard out? How fast could I scale the walls of the Academy? Or go under the sewer system? Do I have a chance or do I follow him anyway?

If they’ve found out that I’m a Mortal God masquerading as a mortal Terra, the Gods wouldn’t send a lone Mortal God guard to bring me in and I certainly doubt it’d be to the dean’s office. The more I think of the reason for his being here, the more baffled I am.

“This way,” the man states, turning and striding down the hall. It’s clear he expects me to follow and I doubt I have any other choice if I wish to remain in the Academy.

So, with my heart in my throat, I step out of my room and trail after the guard. All the while, I can feel a now familiar pair of eyes watching me. Kalix. I’m sure he’ll alert the other Darkhavens, but if they’re even capable of doing anything … would they?

Chapter 36

Kiera

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