Deadly Game: An Academy Bully Romance (Academy of the Gods Book 3)

by River Ramsey

  A flash of common sense broke through the bliss, immediately followed by a surge of panic when I realized I hadn’t even thought about protection. The concern quickly subsided when I reminded myself that as lucid as this dream world was, we were still technically dreaming. And while I’d never admit it, this was far from the first dream I’d had where I was in bed with both Hades and Loki.

  They were more coordinated than I’d imagined. Guess they could work together when they put their minds to it.

  Hades’ fingers bit into my waist as he pushed deeper into me, colliding with my spot with such force I saw stars. My teeth grazed Loki’s crown accidentally, but the moan and shudder that ran down his spine made it clear he didn’t mind.

  “Fuck,” he breathed, his palm pressed against the back of my head as his hips started to buck. I didn’t even care that this probably felt like a conquest to him. Knowing I could make him moan this way was more of a high than any herb I’d mixed up in the lab, and I realized only when I was being ravished by them in unison that it was the first time I’d felt truly alive in a long damn time. So long it scared me to think about it, so I pushed it to the back of my mind, determined to enjoy this moment as long as it lasted.

  And it turned out, they both lasted longer than I could. The tight convulsions of pleasure spreading out from my core seemed amplified by all the spite that existed between us, but in those blissful moments, all was forgiven. On my end, at least. I was sure I’d go back to hating them once the orgasmic dreaminess wore off, but right now, I just wanted more.

  More of them. More of the addictive elation. More of the illusion that life could actually be this simple and enjoyable for more than a few fleeting moments.

  The vibrations of my moans as I came seemed to push Loki over the edge. I felt him ease back, as much restraint as it had to take, giving me the option to stop before he reached the brink. I put a hand on his hip and took him in deeper, letting him fill my throat as he came. He gave a startled gasp as Hades pumped into me relentlessly, driving deeper into my core. I tightened around him naturally with another orgasmic convulsion as he filled me. His come felt hot and sinful inside of me and dribbled down my thigh as he finally pulled out.

  I drew Loki’s softening shaft from my mouth, licking off what I hadn’t already swallowed. When I finally met his gaze, his eyes were bluer than they’d ever been and if I didn’t know better, I’d think there was something soft about the way he was looking at me.

  Hades was as unceremonious about pulling out of me as he was with everything else, but as I collapsed against the bed, I couldn’t even be annoyed with him. How could I when my whole body was still pulsing with satisfaction?

  “That was…” I trailed off when I realized I didn’t have the word for it. Not one that wouldn’t inflate their already overburdened egos, at least.

  “Mmh,” Loki purred in agreement, collapsing against the headboard. He reached to stroke my hair, a strangely sweet gesture in the aftermath of the hot and dirty moment we’d just shared.

  Hades collapsed on my other side, an arm draped over his eyes to block out the sun that was just beginning to rise.

  “That answers that question,” I muttered.

  “What?” Loki asked, his eyes still glazed as he looked down at me.

  “There is morning in the Ether.”

  He snorted a laugh, or something close to one, his fingers still absently playing with my tangled hair.

  To my surprise, Hades’ arm dropped over my side and I felt the warmth of him stretched alongside my back. We weren’t quite cuddling, but it was a hell of a lot closer than I thought him capable of, and I wasn’t sure I minded.

  In fact, as I started to drift off, overcome by sleepy satisfaction, the only regret I had was that it hadn’t been a foursome.

  Chapter 6

  Hades

  The moment I opened my eyes, I knew I’d fucked up. Last night had made it easy to live in the delusion that our moment of fun would have no lasting consequences, but dream or not, something had changed. I could feel it in the subtle shift that had always linked me with Loki and Fenrir, and now with Kore.

  Granted, fucking my own fiancee was far from the most controversial thing I’d ever done, but the fact that I’d done it with Loki…

  We’d shared women before, but never when the stakes were this high. Just meaningless flings, which Kore wasn’t.

  I wasn’t even sure what Kore was, since meaningless flings were the only thing I’d ever bothered with, but what Ares thought she was had me more concerned.

  Or rather, what Ares thought I was to her.

  Consort. The word still echoed in my mind, chaffing at my ego. It was one thing to have her bound to me and another to have the damn god of war saying I was practically her manservant. And one of four, no less.

  I wasn’t sure if he was just fucking with us, or if a practical eternity in the Ether had merely driven him insane, but either way, I wasn’t going to let my guard down around him.

  It looked like I was the first one up, and Loki had draped his arm over Kore’s side at some point in the night. We’d been a hell of a lot more intimate than that, but the sight still stirred an irrational flame of jealousy within me.

  Yeah. Sleeping with her was definitely a mistake. My head was foggy enough where she was concerned.

  “Wake up,” I muttered, getting out of bed to pull on the clothes that were mingled with theirs in a pile on the floor.

  Kore’s eyes flew open and I could tell the moment all the memories of last night sank in. It was more amusing to watch it replay on her face than it had been to relive it myself.

  “Sleep well?” I taunted.

  She flipped me off and pulled away from Loki, sifting through the clothes. I held out her panties, dangling them from my finger. “Looking for these?”

  She snatched them back with a death glare and I couldn’t help but grin. The only way I was going to live this down was by making sure she didn’t.

  Loki groaned in his sleep, but he took way too long to wake up on his own, so I threw his clothes on top of him. “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty. Fenrir’s still not back, so we’ve gotta go look for him.”

  “Does he do this often?” Kore asked, still looking drowsy even though she was dressed. My eyes couldn’t help but linger over her curves, now that I was so well-acquainted with what was underneath those clothes.

  She had a killer body, I’d give her that. And a way with her tongue, if the sounds Loki had made last night were any indication. I still remembered how it had felt to be inside of her. To feel her soft body pressed up against mine, so deceptively fragile. As I’d imagined, she was just as fiery in bed as she was in everything else, but I wasn’t expecting the new vulnerable side she’d shown last night.

  Oddly enough, that was the thing that made her more dangerous than anything else.

  I just hoped it wasn’t obvious.

  “From time to time,” Loki answered, pouring out of bed like molasses. He struggled into his jeans, looking decidedly less than godly.

  “Hopefully he hasn’t gotten into too much trouble,” I sighed, leading the way out of the room. To my relief, the hallway was empty. I’d dealt with my share of disapproving fathers in my life, but I still wasn’t eager to find out how Ares would react. Then again, he was the one who’d let us share a room.

  “This place is ridiculously huge,” Loki said, looking around the halls. He had a point. It seemed easy to get lost, and you could never guess what was going to be behind any given door. “It’s bigger than the Academy.”

  “Ares probably got a good deal, considering the neighborhood it’s in,” Kore said in a wry tone, hugging herself. She was only wearing a tank top, and it was cold in the spacious halls of stone.

  Loki shrugged out of his jacket before I could do anything and draped it over her shoulders. That son of a bitch. One blowjob and he started acting like a white knight.

  “Thanks,” Kore said, sounding as surprised as I was
irritated. I told myself it was nothing more than the fact that she was supposed to be the enemy and he was treating her like a girl he was going steady with. Not jealousy or anything.

  “Don’t mention it,” he said in a pleasant tone.

  I rolled my eyes and walked faster, ready to get the inevitable reunion with Ares over with. I still hadn’t forgotten what Kore had said earlier that night. I didn’t trust him and I never would, but if there was a chance I could use him for my own ends, I was going to take it.

  Maybe my fiancee was going to come in handy, after all.

  “I feel something,” I said as I got the sense we were drawing closer to Fenrir. “I think he’s out this door.”

  Kore followed my gaze to the giant archway at the end of the hall we’d just turned down and glanced back at me. “You guys can really sense each other?”

  “Kind of like radar,” Loki mused. “That’s how we know he’s not far. Too much distance and the connection goes haywire.”

  “That’s what I felt that night, isn’t it?” Kore asked. “When you went to the Underworld.”

  I nodded grudgingly.

  Loki was looking at me, his eyes lit up with suspicion. “You went back to the Underworld? When was this?”

  “The night of Phrixus’ murder,” Kore answered before I had the chance to say anything. “That was his alibi.”

  Loki chuckled. “So it was.”

  The look he gave me made it clear this wasn’t the end of the discussion, but I wasn’t about to come clean. Not when it would mean admitting that he was right, and I’d been researching the whole necromancy thing for longer than he thought. The damage was already done, and if my father found out the three of us were plotting against him, magical crimes would be the least of our worries.

  I opened the door leading outside and realized the sky had already turned a darker shade of gray. Surprisingly enough, there were plants around the castle grounds, even though most of them resembled cacti. A few were in full bloom and I couldn’t help but notice how closely the color of the petals matched Kore’s eyes.

  I brushed the thought aside quickly and scanned the distance, trying to look for any sign of Fenrir.

  “Over here,” Loki said suddenly. I followed him around the castle to the larger garden out back. It was a shock to see Fenrir standing in his human form, having changed into a set of robes similar to the ones Ares was wearing. He was talking with the elder god about something, but they both went silent when they saw us coming.

  “Good morning,” Ares said in a surprisingly pleasant tone for a man who had to know we’d just boned his daughter. Maybe he wasn’t making up all this consort bullshit, which raised more concerns than anything else. “I was just discussing the nature of your visit with your friend here.”

  “Fenrir,” Kore cried, running up to him. She looked him up and down, taking in the change in form. They’d certainly gotten cozy when he was stuck as a wolf, and while I had no idea how he’d gotten out of it, I wondered if that was going to change. “How did you shift back?”

  “Your father,” he answered, his tone guarded as he looked over at Ares.

  “The wards around the Ether prevent certain forms of magic being used without my allowance, and shifting is one of them,” he explained.

  Loki frowned, looking down at his hand. He snapped his fingers as if he was trying to conjure some illusion, and when nothing happened, he went a few shades paler. “Holy shit. I’m impotent!”

  Kore raised an eyebrow. “Definitely not.”

  Ares cleared his throat and seemed eager to change the subject. At least he was uncomfortable about something. “All forms of divine magic are limited by default, but your powers will be restored when you return to the waking world.”

  “Yeah, about that,” I said, folding my arms. “You mind telling us why we’re here, exactly? I know you have it out for my father, but what makes you think we can do anything about it?”

  “You’re planning a coup of your own, are you not?” Ares challenged.

  I must not have hidden the look of shock on my face well, because he responded with one of amusement. “The dead do talk, you know. The line between this realm and the furthest reaches of the Underworld is not as solid as your father would like to believe.”

  Well, I was definitely making a note of that for when I took over. “No offense, but why would I want to work with you?”

  “You’re a smart boy,” Ares answered knowingly. “Smart enough to know you’ll only get once chance at killing your father, but perhaps not smart enough to realize you don’t stand a chance alone.”

  “I’m not alone,” I snapped, irritated that he’d seen through my interest in working with him. That took one bargaining chip off the table. I eyed Kore, trying to figure out if she’d spoken to him somehow without my realizing it, but she looked just as bewildered.

  “You think your little trio is going to be enough to take Cronus down?” Ares asked with a chuckle that made my blood boil.

  “Ares has made an interesting offer,” Fenrir said, clearly still deep in thought about whatever the other god had mentioned.

  “Fenrir isn’t the one in charge,” I snapped. “We make decisions as a group.”

  “So he told me,” Ares said, quelling at least some of my anger. Things between me and Fenrir had been tense lately, and I was sure last night was only going to make it worse. He had to have noticed our mingled scents, but for the moment, he was keeping a lid on his irritation, so I’d try to find a way to do the same. We needed to be a united front with Ares.

  “I told him about the plan,” said Fenrir.

  On second thought, fuck that. The lid was off and the pot was boiling over. “You fucking what?”

  Loki cringed in anticipation of the next blowup, and he had reason to be concerned. I was about to lose my damn mind, but Kore got between us before I could deck him.

  “Calm down,” she muttered.

  I ignored her, glowering at Fenrir. “You trying to get us killed?”

  “No,” Fenrir answered, infuriatingly calm. “But that’s exactly what would have happened if we’d gone ahead with the original plan.”

  I frowned, still barely able to hear anything over the sound of my pulse racing. “What are you even saying?”

  “We were counting on using the portal through the river Styx to access his Throne without him knowing we were in the Underworld,” Fenrir answered. “According to Ares, that’s no longer possible.”

  “What? Bullshit,” I spat.

  “You don’t have to take my word for it,” Ares answered in a bored tone. He raised his hand palm up and an orb began to form within it. I watched in confusion as a vision came through just like a crystal ball, panning over a dry, cracked basin I didn’t recognize at first. When I saw the familiar stone ridges in the east, my heart sank.

  It was Styx, or at least the empty river bed it had once occupied. “It’s gone,” I said, feeling my throat tighten in disbelief. “What the fuck?”

  Chapter 7

  Kore

  The image Ares showed us was shocking enough for me, and I could only imagine what it was like for Hades. The look on his face was nothing short of horror, and that took a hell of a lot.

  “Your father has been making some renovations, it seems,” Ares answered.

  Even Loki seemed to be taking what he was saying seriously. “Which means what, precisely?”

  “All things must wither away and die eventually,” said Ares. “Even a Titan. Your father’s attempt at fighting the inevitable in order to cling to power has surpassed any bounds even I imagined possible.”

  “You were one of his officers,” Fenrir remarked.

  I turned to stare at him, but he wouldn’t look at me. Hades seemed just as confused by his remark, so I knew it wasn’t just something they’d been keeping from me.

  “I was,” Ares admitted. “And one of the few he once considered friend, but I’m afraid those days are long gone.”

  “You
betrayed him,” Hades accused. It was a bold proclamation, considering where we were and with whom, but I could tell he was grasping at straws. Even if he hated his father, learning the truth about him from a stranger couldn’t be easy.

  Hell, I was having enough trouble learning the truth about mine from the man himself.

  “That is what he told the Council,” Ares said in a dismissive tone. “The truth is more complicated, as it always is with the gods.”

  “What happened?” Hades demanded. “I deserve to know.”

  “So you do,” Ares said, to my surprise. “What you choose to do with that knowledge is up to you.” Once he’d paused to make sure we were listening, he continued, “I was the first, and I imagine the only one to discover that your father was drawing energy from the River Styx to preserve his power and extend his life force.”

  “Energy?” I blurted out, unable to keep the burning question inside. “You mean the souls in the Underworld?”

  Ares didn’t say a word, but his solemn nod was answer enough.

  I watched Hades, but his expression didn’t change. He was listening, even though it was hard to tell what he was thinking about all of this.

  “Using souls as fuel,” Loki said, his tone laced with disgust. “That’s blacker magic than necromancy. It’s an abomination.”

  “One that would have brought an end to even his reign, were it made known,” said Fenrir. “Of all the crimes you committed on his behalf, I always wondered what sin could have possibly been grave enough for him to banish you. I guess now I know.”

  “Fenrir,” Loki exclaimed, looking fearfully at the ancient god.

  “It’s alright,” said Ares. “He’s correct. I was Cronus’ right hand, and though he gave the orders of ruin and treachery that led to the death of his siblings and his rise to power, I was also the blade in his grasp.”

  “But you tried to stop him,” said Hades. “When you found out.”