Page 20 of Ares' Shield
Jayden is standing with his arms out to his sides as his shadows swirl around his entire body. His eyes are black when I step in front of him, and I curse.
Any little bit of control he had is gone. His entire body is vibrating with his power. “Jayden, calm down. It’s not worth it.”
His black eyes flick down to mine, and he reaches out, grasping my arms and lifting me out of the way. I land on my feet behind him again.
Even with no control, he’s trying to protect me. Chains shoot from his hands and wrap around Draven just as he lobs another ball of magic at him.
The ball of magic flies wide and I dive out of the way too late. Searing heat tears through me and I scream in agony as I hit the hard-packed dirt.
Students scream and scatter through the forest to get away from the fight.
“Beth,” Draven yells and takes a step forward, but Jayden’s chains trip him and he falls to the ground with a thud.
I whimper in pain, the heat searing the skin on my side as Jayden spins. His eyes are still black as he drops to his knees next to me and places a shadow-covered hand over mine.
“Shit, you need a healer.” Some of the black fades from his eyes as he scoops me up.
“I’ll be okay,” I mumble through gritted teeth.
“I’m going to fucking kill the drunk idiot.” Jayden glances over his shoulder at Draven who is still struggling in the shadow chains.
“Just leave it. He’s not worth it,” I say and wince when I shift in his arms.
The pain tears through me and I cry out again as the magic eats away at my skin. Whatever magic Draven used was meant to kill and that’s not good at all.
“I’m taking you to the healer. It looks like that magic took a chunk out of you.”
“Yes, a healer would be good.” I rest my head on his shoulder, breathing heavy through the pain.
“Hold on,” he says and kisses my forehead.
Why did we go to that stupid party again? I knew something would happen. Demigods and alcohol do not make a great combination.
The door to the healer’s office flies open in front of us and my favorite healer stares at me with a frown.
“Fighting monsters again?” he asks.
“Not unless you count a demigod as a monster,” I say.
“Another student did this to you?” he asks, aghast.
“It was an accident. He was aiming for me.” Jayden walks past the healer and gently sets me down on the gurney.
I hiss in pain as the healer pulls my shirt away from the wound.
Fuck, that hurts, but it’s not as bad as some of the other times I’ve been injured.
“We are going to need to tell the headmistress about this; that magic was meant to kill.” The healer examines my side.
“No, he was impaired.” I shake my head.
I don’t want Draven to get kicked out of school because he made a stupid mistake when he was drunk. We’re in college. College students make dumb mistakes all the time.
“Beth, he could have killed you.” Jayden squeezes my hand.
“It doesn’t matter. I have to report it, or I could lose my position in the academy,” the healer says.
Well, shit. I don’t want that to happen either.
