I flew across the room and would have crashed into the wall except I managed to use magic to stop myself. My arm ached where he hit me though, and when I got back to my feet, Asher was across the room and in my face.
“You’re distracted,” he snarled. “That’s going to get you killed. Pull it together, Maddison.”
This time when he swung, I met that hit with force, and I didn’t wait, striking at him again and again. Over and over we fought, our weapons loud in the cavernous room. “You’re not going to get the drop on me again,” I huffed out, feeling a slight sting of fatigue. One thing I didn’t have to worry about was hurting Asher, demigod asshole that he was, so I was not holding back.
Jesse remained to the side, letting us fight it out across the place, and when I finally managed to slip under Asher’s guard and sweep his feet out from under him, slamming the point of the trident down to his throat, stopping only an inch from impaling him, the lion shifter let out a whoop.
I didn’t bother to send a withering glance his way.
“I win,” I said softly, my eyes locked on sea green and gold. I was glad to see Asher’s eyes weren’t as shimmery gold as when he was around his mother. Almost like some ofmyAsher was back.
“Did you win, or did I let you?” he shot back, and I let the trident slip a little lower until it was pressed against his throat, marking the golden skin.
A choked sound escaped from my mouth. “I should just kill you,” I murmured, wishing that I was anywhere but with him. “Not just for what you’ve done to me, but for whatever it is you have planned. You and your mother.”
There was no fear in his eyes, and he didn’t fight me, both hands held out on either side of him with palms open. “Take what you want,” he said, voice rumbly. “Don’t wait for permission, Maddison. You need to be strong if you want to win this war.”
My hand trembled, and I knew that I couldn’t hurt him, no matter how angry he made me, so I pulled the trident back with a huff and stormed across to drop it into the stand.
“Hey it’s okay—”
Jesse started to speak but I cut him off with a “Fuck you” before I left the room and didn’t bother to look back.
32
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ilia asked, her lithe form clad in red.
It had been weeks since I’d dressed up. Weeks since I did anything but school, train, and put one foot in front of the other.
“You did a good job covering the bruises,” I said, ignoring the concern in her voice. Part of me knew I was spiraling, but another part of me didn’t really care.
“Yeah, Tyson Compass is a fucking brutal bastard,” Ilia acknowledged, “but he’s turned you into some sort of warrior ninja samurai. And I, for one, am glad that we’re best friends and I don’t have to run into you during battle.”
I snorted, and the smile on my face was almost genuine. “You exaggerate, but I would be a liar if I said I didn’t enjoy kicking his ass a few times.”
I’d beat Tyson, Striker, and Louis now. It was rare, only twice for Tyson, once for Louis, and five times for Striker, but considering those three were some of the strongest, scariest people in their supe races, it meant a lot to me that I’d managed to best them at all.
There was a brief knock on the door before it slammed open and Larissa hurried inside. “I forgot to tell you the mid-year dance is masquerade,” she said quickly, her long, dark purple dress swishing around her feet, black shiny heels just visible in the folds.
In her hand were three masks—red for Ilia, purple for her, and mine was black and silver. To match my dress.
“Wow,” I said, reaching out and lifting the delicate piece. “This is absolutely stunning.”
Larissa’s smile was broad, her white teeth flashing against the red lipstick. “I got Mab to whip them up. She said once they’re placed on our faces, they’ll remain on there for the entire night, lifting only with the sunrise.”
I screwed up my face. “Now I feel claustrophobic thinking about something stuck on my face that I can’t get off.”
Ilia, on the other hand, didn’t seem worried. In fact, she looked downright excited as she moved to the mirror and placed the red piece with delicate filigree that draped down her cheeks. There was a shimmer, a puff of sparkly dust, and then when she turned, I gasped.
The mask had all but merged with her face, hiding her identity. I had no idea how it did that, but if I didn’t know it was Ilia right in the room with me, I wouldn’t have recognized her.
“It’s the magic,” Larissa whispered, her face lit up. “It’s designed tohideour true identities while we have it on.”
Suddenly I was excited. For once I could be Maddison James, part-time human, part-time supe, not Maddison James, daughter of the gods and the one who might have both sunk and raised Atlantis.
I lifted my mask and held it against my skin until all I could see was my heavily made-up dark eyes through the holes. At first it was cool. Then, as it sank deeper into my skin, the cool turned hot before the mask settled into place.
I stared at myself for a long minute. The mask twinkled, as did my dress, which was long and fitted, a slit all the way up one leg. It had a sparkly silver rose detail over the black underlay, and with three-quarter sleeves and a deep v-neck, I felt sexy and sophisticated.
