01. Half-Blood

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  When I returned to the training room, Aiden eyed me rubbing my arm, but I didn’t explain. From there, he moved on to another favorite of mine: getting knocked down and jumping to my feet.

  I sucked at that, too.

  By the end of practice, every muscle in my back ached and my thighs felt like someone had sucker-punched them.

  I was a little slow in rol ing the mats. So much so that Aiden eventual y took over.

  “It’l get easier.” He looked up as I limped over to where he was piling the mats. “Your body wil get used to it again.”

  “I hope so.”

  “You should hold off on the gym for a few days.”

  I could’ve hugged him.

  “But you should definitely do the warm-up stretches at night. It wil help loosen up your muscles. You won’t be so sore then.”

  I fol owed him to the door. It sounded like good advice.

  Outside the training room, I waited while Aiden shut the double doors.

  “Tomorrow we’l work on the jump some more. Then we’l move on to blocking techniques.”

  I started to point out I’d learned several blocking techniques, but I remembered how quickly the daimon had tagged me in Georgia. My hand went to my shoulder and over the slightly irregular scar.

  “You okay?”

  Dropping my hand, I nodded. “Yeah.”

  As if he could somehow read minds, he stepped forward and brushed my thick ponytail back over my shoulder. The slight touch elicited a shiver. “It’s not bad. It’l be gone soon enough.”

  “It’s going to scar—it has already scarred.”

  “Some would say such scars are badges of honor.”

  “Real y?”

  Aiden shook his head. “Yes. It shows how strong and how brave you were. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “Sure.” I forced a quick, bright smile.

  I could tel by the look on his face he didn’t believe me, but he didn’t push it. I limped off, heading back to my room.

  Caleb waited outside my door with a handful of shopping bags and a nervous look on his face.

  “Caleb, you didn’t have to do al that. And you’re going to get busted over here.”

  “Then let me in your room before I get caught. And don’t worry about the shopping. I got some hot chicks to try clothes on for me. Trust me, mutual y beneficial day for me.”

  I snorted as I limped over to the couch and eased myself down. “Thanks. I owe you.”

  Caleb launched into al the things I’d missed during my absence—that was how I was referring to it now—while I pul ed out various jeans, dresses, and shorts I doubted met the Covenant dress code. I shook my head. Where in the hel I was supposed to wear some of this stuff? On a street corner?

  Apparently not much had changed. Everyone stil snuck off and hooked up with everyone. Lea had successful y pitted two or three boys against one another in hopes of getting between her legs. Jackson looked like the winner if yesterday had been any indication. Two halfs a year older than us, Rosalie and Nathaniel, had graduated and were now Sentinels, and I was beside myself with envy. After today’s practice, I doubted Aiden stil thought I had any raw potential.

  Luke, a half I used to hang out with, had come out of the closet last year—not that being gay or bisexual was even remotely a big deal around here. Being the children of a bunch of horny gods who sure didn’t discriminate when choosing their sexual partners left little to be shocked about when it came to sex-related activities.

  It appeared I was the only virgin around here. I sighed.

  “Was your training that bad?”

  “I think I broke my back today,” I deadpanned.

  He looked like he wanted to laugh. “You didn’t break your back. You’re just… out of practice. In a couple of days, you’l be kicking Aiden’s butt.”

  “Doubtful.”

  “So what did he want yesterday? Man, I’l be honest. I’m waiting for him to pop in here and beat the crap out of me for being in your room.”

  “Then you shouldn’t be in here if you’re scared.”

  Caleb ignored that. “What did Aiden want yesterday?”

  “I think Lea ratted my ass out. Aiden knew about the thing in the rec room. He real y didn’t bitch me out, but I could’ve done without the lecture.”

  “Damn, she is such a bitch sometimes.” He sat back in the chair, running a hand through his hair. “Maybe we could burn off her eyebrows or something. I’m sure Zarak would be down with that.”

  I laughed. “I’m sure that won’t help my cause.”

  “You know, I hooked up—”

  “What?” I shrieked, nearly coming off the couch. Wrong move. It hurt. “Please tel me you didn’t hook up with Lea?”

  He shrugged. “I was bored. She was available. Not bad at al —”

  Disgusted, I tossed a pil ow at his head and cut him off. “I don’t want to know the details. I’m just going to pretend you never admitted to that.”

  A grin appeared on his lips. “Wel , it seems like Lea’s determined to get you in trouble if she ratted you out.”

  I lay back down, thinking about the others in the room. “I don’t know. What about the pure who was in the room?”

  “Who? Thea?” He shook his head. “There’s no way she would’ve told anyone.”

  “What’s Thea doing here, anyways?”

  It was odd to see any pure at the Covenant during the summer. They stayed during the school year, but when summer came, they went off with their parents—probably traveling the world and doing other ridiculously expensive things. Fun, total y cool things. Of course, they had Guards who accompanied them on their adventures, just in case a daimon got any ideas.

  “Her parents are on the Council and they don’t have any time for her. She’s real y nice, but super-quiet. I think she’s got the hots for Deacon.”

  “Deacon, as in Aiden’s brother?”

  “Yup.”

  I could tel there was something behind the fact Thea liked him. “What’s the big deal? They’re both pures.”

  Caleb arched a brow at me, but then seemed to remember I hadn’t been here for three years. “Deacon has a reputation.”

  “Okay.” I tried to work out a sudden kink in my back.

  “So does Thea. And let’s just say Thea wins the purity award.”

  Good to know I wasn’t the only virgin. “And?”

  “Deacon’s reputation is… more of the—hmm, how do I stay this nicely?” He paused, looking thoughtful. “Deacon takes after Zeus—that kind of reputation.”

  “Wel … opposites attract, I guess.”

  “Not that opposite.”

  I shrugged, and then winced.

  “I almost forgot. You won’t believe what I heard today in town. One of the shop owners was busy running her mouth while I was checking out, total y uncaring about who could hear her, but—oh yeah, by the way, that shop owner probably thinks I’m a cross-dresser now.”

  I giggled.

  His eyes narrowed at my apathy. “Anyways, do you remember Kelia Lothos?”

  My lips pursed. Kelia Lothos—the name did sound familiar. “Wasn’t she a Guard here?”

  “Yeah, she’s about ten years older than us. She got herself a boyfriend.”

  “Good for her.”

  “Wait for it, Alex. You must wait for it. His name is Hector

  —not sure what his last name is. Anyways, he’s a pure from one of the other communities.” He stopped for dramatic effect.

  I ran a hand over my ponytail, not sure where he was going with any of this.

  “He’s a freaking pure-blood.” He raised his hands.

  “Remember? Not al owed.”

  My eyes popped wide. “Oh no, not good.”

  He shook his head and strands of blond hair fel over his eyes. “I can’t believe they were stupid enough to even consider something like that.”

  The fact that we weren’t al owed to have any type of romantic relationship with a pure was a
rule ingrained in us since birth. Most half-bloods didn’t even question it, but then again, most halfs didn’t question much. We were trained into obedience from the get-go.

  I tried to find a comfortable position. “What do you think wil happen to Kelia?”

  Caleb snorted. “She’l probably be stripped of her Guard duties and sent to work in one of the houses.”

  That fil ed me with annoyance and resentment. “And Hector wil get a smack on the hand. How fair is that?”

  He looked at me strangely. “It’s not, but that’s what happens.”

  “It’s stupid.” I felt something tighten in my jaw. “Who cares if a half and a pure get together? Is it real y a big enough deal that Kelia has to lose everything?”

  Caleb eyes widened. “It’s the way it is, Alex. You know that.”

  I folded my arms, wondering why I felt so strongly about it myself. It was the way things had been for eons, but it seemed so unfair. “It’s wrong, Caleb. Kelia’s basical y going to end up a slave al because she hooked up with a pure.”

  He was quiet for a moment and then his eyes zeroed in on me. “Does your reaction have anything to do with the fact your new personal trainer happens to be the pure al the chicks drool over?”

  I made a face. “Absolutely not—are you insane? He’s going to end up kil ing me.” I paused, sinking down in the cushion. “I think he plans on it.”

  “Whatever.”

  Stretching out my legs, I pinned him with a glare. “You forget I spent three years out there in the normal world—a world where pures and halfs don’t even exist. No one checks someone’s godly pedigree before going out with them.”

  He stared off in the distance a few moments. “What was it like?”

  “What was what like?”

  Caleb fidgeted on the edge of the chair. “Being out there, away from al of… this?”

  “Oh.” I propped myself onto my elbow. Most halfs had no idea what it was like. Sure, they mingled in the outside world—mingled being the key word—but they were never a part of it, not for any amount of time. Neither were the pures. To our kind, the mortal life seemed like a violent one, where daimons weren’t the only evil things people had to worry about.

  Yeah, we had our crazies, too. The guys who didn’t have the word “no” in their vocabulary, the back-stabbing girls, and people who’d do anything to get what they wanted. But it was nothing like the mortal world, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

  “Wel , it’s different. There are so many people who are different. I kinda blended in to a point.”

  Caleb listened with far too much excitement for his own good as I tried explaining what it was like out there.

  Whenever we moved around, Mom had used compulsions to get me into the local school system without transcripts.

  Caleb showed way too much interest in the mortal school system, but it was different than the Covenant. Here, we spent most of our days fighting in class. Out in the mortal world, I’d spent most of my classes staring at the chalkboard.

  Being curious about the outside world wasn’t necessarily a good thing. It usual y led someone to make a run for it.

  Mom and I had been more successful than most of those who’d ventured out. The Covenant always found the people who tried to live in the outside world.

  They’d just found us a little too late.

  Caleb tilted his head sideways as he studied me. “How you doing being back here?”

  I lay back down, staring up at the ceiling. “Good.”

  “Seriously?” He stood up. “Because you’ve been through a lot.”

  “Yeah, I’m okay.”

  Caleb made his way over and sat down, practical y shoving me on my side.

  “Ouch.”

  “Alex, the crap that’s happened has to have, you know, bothered you. It would’ve messed with me.”

  I closed my eyes. “Caleb, I appreciate your concern, but you’re practical y sitting on me.”

  He shifted, but remained beside me. “Are you gonna talk to me about it?”

  “Look. I’m doing okay. It’s not like it hasn’t bothered me.”

  I pried my eyes open and found him watching me expectedly. “Okay. It’s messed with me. Happy?”

  “Of course I’m not happy.”

  One thing I wasn’t good at was talking about how I felt.

  Hel , I wasn’t even good at thinking about how I felt. But it didn’t look like Caleb was moving any time soon. “I… try not to think about it. It’s better that way.”

  He frowned. “Real y? Do I need to use basic psychology on you and go with, ‘it’s probably not a good thing you don’t think about it?’”

  I groaned. “I hate psychobabble, so please don’t start.”

  “Alex?”

  I sat up, ignoring the way my back screamed, and pushed him off the couch. He caught himself easily. “What do you want me to say? That I miss my mom? Yes. I miss her. That it total y sucked seeing her get drained by a daimon? Yes, it sucked. Fighting daimons and thinking I was going to die was fun? No. It wasn’t fun. That also sucked ass.”

  He nodded, accepting my little rant. “Did you get to have a funeral for her or anything?”

  “That’s a stupid question, Caleb.” I pushed back the hair that had escaped my ponytail. “I didn’t get to have a funeral.

  After I kil ed the daimon, there was another one. I ran.”

  His face paled. “Did anyone go back for her body?”

  I cringed. “I don’t know. I haven’t asked.”

  He seemed to mul it over. “Maybe if you had a ceremony for her, it would help. You know, a little gathering just to remember her.”

  I leveled a hard look at him. “We’re not having a funeral. I mean it. If you even think about something like that, I wil risk getting expel ed just to kick your ass.” Having a funeral meant facing that my mother was dead. The wal —the toughness I’d built around me—would break and I... I couldn’t deal with that.

  “Okay. Okay.” He held up his hands. “I just thought it would bring you some closure.”

  “I have closure. Remember? I saw her die.”

  This time he was the one to cringe. “Alex… I’m so sorry.

  Gods, I don’t even know how you must’ve felt. I cannot even imagine it.”

  He then took a step forward, as if he intended to hug me, but I waved him off. Caleb seemed to get I didn’t want to talk about it anymore and he switched back to safer topics

  —more gossip, more tales of Covenant shenanigans.

  I remained on the couch after he’d snuck back out of the dorm. I should’ve been hungry or ready to go socialize, but I wasn’t. Our conversation—the part about my mom—

  lingered like a festering wound. I tried focusing on the gossip I’d learned. I even tried thinking about how nice Jackson looked now—even Caleb, because he’d real y fil ed out in the last three years—but their images were quickly replaced by Aiden and his arms.

  And that was so wrong.

  I shifted back down and went back to staring at the ceiling. I was okay. I was great, actual y. Being back at the Covenant was far better than being out there in the normal world or cleaning toilets in some pure’s house. I rubbed under my eyes, frowning. I was okay.

  I had to be okay.

  CHAPTER 6

  I WANTED TO CURL UP IN A HOLE AND DIE.

  “There you go.” Aiden nodded as I deflected one of his blows. “Use your forearm. Move with purpose.”

  Move with purpose? How about moving to a spot where I could lie down? That was a purpose I could get behind.

  Aiden launched himself at me and I blocked his jab. Hel yeah, I was good at that. Next, he swung around, and for someone so freaking tal , he sure could move that body like a ninja.

  The heel of his foot slipped past my arms and slammed into my side. The impact barely registered on my pain scale. By now, I’d gotten used to the sharp spike of pain and the throbbing that fol owed. I inhaled slowly and trie
d to breathe through the agony. Half-bloods don’t show pain in the face of the enemy. At least I remembered that.

  Aiden straightened, concern flickering over his face. “You okay?”

  I clenched my teeth. “Yes.”

  He approached me, looking doubtful. “That was a pretty hard hit, Alex. It’s okay if it hurts. We’l take a few minutes.”

  “No.” I walked it off while he watched. “I’m fine. Let’s try this again.”

  And we did. Missing a few jabs and kicks was far better than having to run laps like yesterday or spend the entire afternoon in the gym.

  That’s what’d happened when I’d whined about my back and sides hurting last time. Aiden went through several more blocking techniques a ten-year-old could master while I obsessively watched his movements. Over the past couple of days, I’d realized how far behind I

  real y was, and even I was amazed by the fact I’d managed to kil two

  daimons.

  I couldn’t even block most of Aiden’s kicks.

  “Watch me.” He circled me, his body taut. “There is always some-thing that’l give away my next move. It could be a fine tremor of the muscle or a brief glance, but there is always something. When a daimon attacks, it’s no different.”

  I nodded and we squared off again. Aiden moved in with one swipe of the hand. I knocked his arm away, and then the other. It wasn’t his jabs or punches I had a problem with.

  It was his kicks—he spun around so fast. But this time, I saw his eyes drop to my waist.

  Twisting into the kick, I brought my arm down in a clean sweeping motion a second too late. His foot connected with my bruised back. I doubled over immediately, grasping my knees as I slowly breathed in and out.

  Right away, Aiden was at my side. “Alex?”

  “That… stung a bit.”

  “If it makes you feel better, you almost had it this time.”

  I looked up and gave a short laugh at the sight of his lopsided grin. “Good to hear.”

  He started to say something, but his grin faded as his voice gave a low warning. “Alex. Stand up.”

  My back protested such a sudden move, but the moment I saw Marcus at the door, I understood why. I didn’t need to look like I’d just gotten the crap knocked out of me in front of him.

  Marcus leaned against the door, arms folded. “I wondered how training was going. I see it’s moving along expectedly.”