Jennifer Armentrout: Half-Blood

With al the dirt and overal grossness gone, I looked just like my mom. Long dark hair fel down my back; I had those high cheekbones and ful lips most pures did. I was a bit curvier than Mom’s wil owy frame and I didn’t have her amazing eyes. Mine were brown, homely old brown.

I tipped my head back, looking him straight in the eyes for the first time. “What?”

He recovered in record time. “Nothing. You ready?”

“I guess so.” I snuck another peek at him as he headed out of my room.

Aiden’s dark brown waves continual y fel over his forehead, brushing against equal y dark brows. The lines of his face were nearly perfect, the curve of his jaw strong, and he had the most expressive lips I’d ever seen. But it was those thundercloud eyes I found beautiful. No one had those eyes.

From the brief time he’d held me down in the field, I felt positive the rest of him was just as stunning. Too bad he was a pure-blood. Pures equaled hands-off to me and every half out there. Supposedly, the gods had forbidden interactions of the fun kind between halfs and pures eons ago. Something to do with the purity of a pure’s blood not being tarnished—a fear a child of such a coupling would be… I frowned at Aiden’s back.

Would be what—a Cyclops?

I didn’t know what might happen, but I did know it was considered very, very bad. Gods got offended, which wasn’t a good thing. So since we’d been old enough to understand how babies were made, we half-bloods had been taught to never look at a pure-blood with anything other than respect and admiration. Pures were taught to never taint their bloodline by mixing with a half, but there were times when halfs and pures did hook up. It didn’t end pretty, and halfs usual y caught the brunt of the punishment.

It wasn’t fair, but it was the way this world had existed.

The pures were on top of the food chain. They made the rules, control ed the Council, and even ran the Covenant.

Aiden glanced over his shoulder at me. “How many daimons have you kil ed?”

“Just two.” I picked up my pace so I could keep up with his long legged one.

“Just two?” Awe fil ed his voice. “Do you realize how amazing it is for a half-blood not ful y trained to kil one daimon, let alone two?”

“I guess so.” I paused, feeling the bubble of anger threatening to boil over. When the daimon had seen me standing in the doorway of Mom’s bedroom, he’d launched himself at me… and right onto the spade I’d held. Idiot . The other daimon hadn’t been that dumb. “I would’ve kil ed the other one in Miami… but I was just—I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking. I know I should’ve gone after him, but I panicked.”

Aiden stopped and faced me. “Alex, the fact you took down one daimon without training is remarkable. It was brave, but also foolish.”

“Wel , thanks.”

“You’re not trained. The daimon could’ve easily kil ed you. And the one you brought down in the factory? Another fearless, but foolish act.”

I frowned. “I thought you said it was amazing and remarkable.”

“It was, but you could’ve been kil ed.” He walked off ahead.

I struggled to keep up with him. “Why would you even care if I was kil ed? Why does Marcus care? I don’t even know the man, and if he doesn’t al ow me to resume training, I’m as good as dead, anyways.”

“That would be a shame.” He looked at me blandly. “You have al the potential in the world.”

My eyes narrowed on his back. The sudden urge to push him was almost too great to pass up. We didn’t talk after that. Once outside, the breeze played with my hair, and I sucked in the taste of sea salt as the sun warmed my chil ed skin.

Aiden led me back to the main school building and up the ridiculous number of stairs that led to the Dean’s office.

The formidable double doors loomed ahead, and I swal owed hard. I’d spent a lot of time in this office when Dean Nasso had overseen the Covenant.

As the Guards opened the door for us, I remembered the last time I’d been in this office for a lecture. I’d been fourteen, and out of boredom, I’d convinced one of the pures to flood the science wing using the water element. Of course the pure had total y ratted me out.

Nasso had not been pleased.

My first glimpse of the office was exactly how I remembered: perfect and wel designed. Several leather chairs sat before a large cherry oak desk. Wildly colored fish zoomed back and forth in the aquarium lining the wal behind the desk.

My uncle stepped into my line of sight and I faltered. It’d been so long since I’d seen him—years real y. I’d forgotten how much he looked like Mom. They shared the same eyes

—emerald-colored ones that shifted depending on mood.

They were eyes only my mother and uncle shared.

Except the last time I’d seen her eyes, they hadn’t been vibrant. The icky feeling swel ed inside me, pressing on my chest. I stepped forward, pushing it al the way down.

“Alexandria.” Marcus’s deep and cultured voice snapped me back into the room. “After al these years. To see you again? I am at a loss for words.”

Uncle—and I used the term loosely—sounded nothing like a close family member. His tone was cold and plastic.

When I met his eyes, I knew right off I was doomed. There was nothing in his stare linking me to him—no happiness or relief at seeing his only niece alive and in one piece. If anything, he looked rather bored.

Someone cleared his throat, drawing my attention to the corner of the office. We weren’t alone. Mister Steroids stood in the corner, along with a female pure. She was tal and slender, with cascades of raven-colored hair. I pegged her as an Instructor.

Only pures who had no aspirations for the political games of their world taught for the Covenant or became Sentinels—or pures like Aiden who lived with super-personal reasons for doing so: say, like having his parents murdered by daimons right in front of him when he was a child. That was what’d happened to him. Supposedly, it was why Aiden had chosen to become a Sentinel. He probably wanted some sort of revenge.

Something we had in common.

“Sit down.” Marcus motioned to a chair. “We have a lot to discuss.”

I pul ed my eyes from the pures and treaded forward.

Hope flared with their presence. Why else would there be pures here if not to talk about my lack of training and ways to overcome it?

Marcus moved behind his desk and sat. From there, he folded his hands and leveled a look at me. Unease made me sit straighter and my feet dangled above the floor.

“I real y don’t know where to begin with… this mess Rachel e created.”

I didn’t respond since I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly.

“First off, she nearly ruined Lucian. Twice.” He spoke as if I’d had something to do with it. “The scandal she created when she met your father was bad enough. When she emptied Lucian’s bank account and ran off with you? Wel , I’m sure even you can understand the lasting implications of such an unwise decision.”

Ah, Lucian. Mom’s perfect, pure-blooded husband—my stepfather. I could imagine his response. It probably had involved a lot of throwing stuff and bemoaning his poor character judgment. I don’t even know if Mom had ever loved him, or if she’d loved my mortal father she’d had an affair with, but I did know Lucian was a total priss.

Marcus continued listing the ways her decisions had hurt Lucian. I pretty much tuned him out. The last I remembered, Lucian was working to secure a spot on the pure-blood Council. Reminiscent of the old Greek Olympian court, the Council had twelve ruling figures, and, out of those twelve, two were Ministers.

Ministers were the most powerful. They ruled the lives of both pures and halfs just as Hera and Zeus ruled Olympia.