Finally, we emerged, stumbling out into what seemed like some sort of storage room inside the palace.
We used our magic to dry ourselves off and headed out into the hallway, hoods draped low over our heads.
Walking in formation, we all glanced back and forth nonchalantly, finding droves of mages within the palace walls. We snuck down the corridor and took a right into a room covered in shelves of books. It was a small, elegant library—only the books glowed slightly and appeared to be magically chained to the shelves.
Merrick quickly shut the door behind us. “Does anybody else think this is weird?”
I nodded. “So fucking weird. It’s almost like the gods just gave humans magic so they could have people to attend to them as servants and worshippers. Maybe that answers one of my questions about the school.”
Lachlan had his face close to the magical books, though he was careful not to touch them. “What question?”
I bit the inside of my lip. “Maybe, and this is just me thinking, but maybe the teachers are servants too. That would explain why they’re so afraid. I don’t know though, if the gods gave magic to people thousands of years ago, and they’ve been happy with the supply ever since, then what happened in the last hundred years to change that?”
Trace shook his head, his gaze shifting around the room. “That’s a good question. Why did the gods decide that now is the time to create more magic users? What exactly do they want with them, or with us?”
Thinking about it for a moment, I stared at the ground. It didn’t make any sense to me, but I knew it wasn’t supposed to. I was never supposed to ask questions. But I had, and I had no intention of stopping. So here we were, standing in a small library within the palace walls of the gods.
We were so close to finding answers.
As we left the small library, we joined the droves of mages walking down the hallways. We followed the largest group, figuring they would take us to where we needed to go. As we approached an enormous archway leading into another room, I looked over at the men. Their keen gazes darted around, seeming to track every movement around us. We were literally surrounded by possible enemies, and our luck could change on a dime. If we were discovered, I wasn’t sure any of us would make it out alive.
As we walked through the arched doorway, I almost stumbled as awe overwhelmed me. The room was massive, larger than any we’d been in so far. It looked like a court, the gathering place for all the gods, and there were dozens of the larger-than-life figures arrayed around the space. This must be their central meeting spot.
Shuffling to the side, the men and I gathered into a tight cluster. Merrick glanced up to the front of the room.
“For some reason, I thought that there would be fewer of them,” he murmured. “But there seems to be dozens of gods. I’m not even sure that I’ve read about any of them.”
I scanned the rows of chairs leading up to one larger chair, positioned on a small raised area of the room. A man—god—who was at least seven feet tall with huge muscles, long flowing white hair, and golden robes that were thinner than the others took a seat in the chair.
“Who is that?”
Trace shook his head. “I don’t know the names, but it’s clear that there’s a hierarchy amongst the gods. That one must be incredibly powerful. He seems almost like some sort of leader to everyone else.”
With my face hidden in the sea of mages, I watched as the god barked orders, made sweeping, languid gestures, and seemed to dominate the other gods. To his right was a small group, all looking at him with admiration and love. But not all the gathered gods seemed to feel that way. Others seemed to dislike him. They still obeyed his orders, but there was a sullenness to their expressions as they looked at him. It was obvious that they followed him out of fear, not out of admiration.
Huh. Interesting.
I hadn’t expected the gods to be plagued with the same sort of petty jockeying for power that humans dealt with on a daily basis. But apparently, some things were universal.
The entire room looked almost like an enormous beehive. The gold robes of the gods glistened while messengers dressed in blue robes circulated throughout the court, serving the gods whatever they needed. There was wine and food everywhere, and the laughter and voices of the gods echoed through the chamber.
This place is so huge. We need to poke around and get the fuck out quick, before we get caught.
I turned to the guys, keeping half of my attention on the room around us.
“I don’t want to do this,” I muttered in a low voice. “But I think that we need to split up. This place is way bigger than I expected, and we can’t waste time or risk drawing attention sneaking around as a group. If we spread out through the crowd, we may be able to learn something about Magic Blessed Academy, why the gods started creating new magic users, and why they’re trying to kill some of us off. We’ll meet back up here in an hour, and if anything goes wrong, just bail and wait for the rest of us on the hill outside the city.”
Merrick took in a deep breath, and for the first time, he looked nervous. “Are you sure about this, Ari?”
His amber eyes burned with emotions I was too terrified to name, but I felt them down to my very core. My heart gave a little squeeze in my chest, and I reached out to catch his hand before dropping it quickly.
“Yes. But be safe. No matter what else, be fucking safe. If anything goes wrong, or you’re worried someone is on to you, just get out. Don’t be a hero.” I glanced at the other two men. “That goes for you too.”
Very carefully, I clasped hands with Lachlan and Trace too, and then the four of us turned away from each other and split off. I kept my head down, wandering through the crowds to the side of the large court, trying to hear what the leader was talking about. Slowly, I drifted closer to his raised dais, trying to look like I had a purpose for being there. I was almost near enough to hear what he was saying when someone grabbed my arm.
My head whipped up, and my gaze caught on one of the gods, a rather unattractive man with wavy brown hair and broad shoulders. With a sigh, he rolled his eyes and shook his head, pulling me along behind him. “Woman, what are you doing in here? We’ve been waiting for you. The palace is not meant for concubines to wander freely.”
He tossed me into a smaller room, coming in behind me and closing the door as I stumbled and caught my balance. The space was smaller than the main court, but it was still large. Half a dozen other human women, all scantily dressed, moved about the space, carrying trays of cheese and other strange looking foods. They all glanced over at me curiously and then back to the gods in the room.
Motherfucker. The god had mistaken me for one of these concubines. Anger began to rise in my throat, the urge to kick someone’s ass building inside me. I hadn’t signed up to be some god’s plaything. I stepped forward, ready to fight my way out of the room if need be. I wasn’t going to betray the three men who had risked their lives to help me get here by fucking some god.
But before I could do or say anything, the gods behind me began to talk.
“Omari is in fine form today, I see,” one of them drawled.
His friend, a god with features so sharp they looked deadly, pulled his lips back in a sneer. “It’s ridiculous. We are all supposed to be leaders, yet he amasses more and more power, luring others to his side with empty promises.”