Page 8 of Wild Hunt
I gave him a look.
“What? There’s a betting pool for who’s most likely to destroy the school and until you came along, he was in first place.”
“Are you serious?” I groaned. “Never mind. I’d rather not know.”
Dionysus just grinned at me. “Listen, I’ve gotta run and drop off a paper that’s already late, but I’ll see you back at the room?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, watching as he stood to gather his things. I hesitated, but called his name at the last moment.
“Yeah?” he asked, turning back.
“Thanks.”
He frowned. “For what?”
“For this,” I said, shrugging. “It’s been a long time since I felt like a normal person.”
He smiled again and something about the way it touched the usually cold, stony rock where my heart should’ve been unsettled me more than Hades’ bullying ever could. “You? Normal? Please,” he scoffed, walking off.
I couldn’t help but smile back. As much as I missed Jazzy and Baylor, I couldn’t regret coming to the Academy when I never would have met Dionysus otherwise.
Chapter 4
Hades
Mondays were always the same. Get up, respond to messages from all the junkies and flunkies on my payroll, go for a jog, shower, coffee with a dash of vodka, go to class, run the business, collapse, rinse, repeat.
It was a rhythm, and not an entirely unpleasant one, but it had long since lost its appeal. I needed something different, so I decided to take a slightly more hands-on role in the Hunt than I was accustomed to.
Before I even had the chance, Kore drew attention to herself. I’d been taking a phone call when it happened, but according to my sources, she and Atlas had gotten into it in the dorm in front of everyone and Dionysus was at the epicenter of it all this time.
Atlas was a douchebag with the brain function of a plant, and not a complex one at that, but he owed me a shit ton of money, so getting the details out of him was easy enough.
Seemed that Kore and Dionysus were close. Guess she hadn’t learned that anyone who got close to her was a target, too.
I found myself watching her in class, not loving the way it made me feel like a stalker. She was beautiful, I’d give her that. Beautiful and brash, which wasn’t necessarily a mark against her.
If I didn’t hate her so damn much, I’d probably have come onto her by now, and the fact that I knew she’d hate me all the more for it was infuriating and amusing at once.
When I’d first learned I was going to be engaged to Demeter’s daughter, I’d expected someone a hell of a lot different. Someone boring and regal, just like her mother. The ultimate domestic goddess, content to preside over home and hearth. Instead, I’d wound up with a panacea-dealing, potty-mouthed goddess of chaos and even though I’d sooner have died than admit it, for the first time, being trapped in the Underworld with her didn’t seem like a prison sentence.
It would be entertaining, if nothing else.
I hung back after class, waiting around the corner until she left the room. She seemed to be waiting for me this time, given the death glare she was giving me.
“What do you want, Hades?”
“Can’t I say hello to my fiancee?”
“You can say goodbye and make my day,” she shot back without missing a beat.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re extra spicy today, aren’t you? Didn’t expend all that energy on Atlas?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What about it?”
“I’ve heard Dionysus is staying in your dorm,” he mused. “That’s dangerous, you know.”
“He saw a spider and screamed. I think I’m safe.”
