My distracting shorts and everything else were forgotten for the time being. “No way. You’re being serious?”

He tried to look serious, but his grin looked a bit mischievous. “I think it wouldn’t hurt, but only for a little bit. I think it wil help… you get a feel on how to handle them.”

I glanced back at the wal of weapons. I wasn’t even al owed to touch them, and now he was going to let me actual y practice with them. It was like graduating kindergarten. Hel , it was like Christmas Eve.

Without thinking, I closed the distance between us and hugged him. Aiden immediately stiffened, obviously caught off guard. It was just a simple hug, but the tension racked up several degrees. I suddenly wondered what it would feel like if I rested my head against his chest like I had when he’d come back from Lake Lure. Or if his arms came around me and he held me, but not out of comfort. Or if I kissed him again like I had that night… would he kiss me back?

“You’re far too pretty to be dressed like that.” His breath stirred my hair. “And you’re entirely too excited to be working with knives.”

I flushed, stepping back. What? Aiden thought I was pretty? It took me several moments to work past that. “I’m bloodthirsty. What can I say?”

Aiden’s eyes dropped, and I decided I needed to go to the store and find as many pairs of miniscule shorts as I could get my hands on.

CHAPTER 15

JUST BEFORE DAWN, THE FUNERAL FOR THOSE

murdered at Lake Lure began and… wel , it sucked in the way al funerals did. Fol owing ancient Greek tradition, the funeral consisted of three parts. Al of the bodies—the ones recovered—were laid out before the funeral began. I stayed in the back of the funeral home, refusing to go anywhere near the dead. I paid my respects from a healthy distance.

The three bodies of the Dikti family, Lea’s father and stepmother, and the Guards were wrapped in linen and draped in gold. From there, the funeral procession began, and it was long. The bodies were lifted onto pyres and carried through the main street. Al tourist activity had been cut off to Deity Island, and the streets were fil ed with pure-blood and half-blood mourners.

The students who remained at the Covenant stood out from the crowd. We were the ones dressed in black sundresses or party dresses. None of us real y had anything appropriate to wear to a funeral. I had on a black tube dress and flip flops. They were the best I had.

I stayed close to Caleb and Olivia, and I only caught a quick glimpse of Lea and Dawn at the cemetery. The sisters shared the same coppery red hair and impossibly thin bodies, and even with puffy eyes, Dawn was absolutely stunning.

Hematoi didn’t bury the dead. After burning the remains they erected massive marble effigy statues. The artist’s rendering of the one that would honor the Samos family depicted their images set on a pedestal carved with a Greek verse about immortality among the gods. The round pedestal already occupied the site.

The jewels and gold were removed from the bodies and placed on the pedestal. I real y wanted to leave at that point, but it would’ve been the height of disrespect. I turned away as they lit the pyres, but I stil heard the crackling as the fire ate away at their shrouded corpses. I shuddered, hating the finality of it, hating that these were quite possibly my mother’s victims.

Slowly, the mourners broke apart. Some headed back home; others went to smal receptions held in the homes of the families. I trailed behind Caleb and Olivia, going back to the Covenant, away from al the death and despair.

As we passed the pyres, my eyes found Aiden. He stood with Leon, a few feet away from Dawn and Lea. He looked up—almost as if he’d sensed me—and our eyes met. He made no other acknowledgement, but I could tel he approved of my presence. Yesterday, before the talk about hunting loved ones and the shorts incident when he’d said I was pretty, I’d mentioned I was unsure if I should come or not, considering Mom had been one of the daimons.

Aiden had looked at me with that serious frown. “You’d feel more guilty for not going and paying your respects. You deserve to do that. Just as much as anyone else, Alex.”

He was right, of course. I hated funerals, but I would’ve felt bad if I hadn’t come.

Now, he nodded slightly before turning to Dawn. He reached out and touched her arm. A lock of dark hair fel over his forehead as he bent his head, offering his condolences. I turned my attention to the large iron gates separating the town from the plot of meaningless statues.

Seth stood there, dressed in his black uniform. There was no doubt he was watching us. I ignored him as we left the cemetery.

For the rest of the day, I tried to forget that we’d lost so many innocent people.

And that Mom had been responsible.

***

I didn’t get to do anything with the daggers in the next practice. When I pitched a fit about this, Aiden watched on with amused patience.

“Come on.” I pushed the mats off the floor. “How am I supposed to get caught up when I can’t even touch a dagger?”

Aiden nudged me out of the way and took over mat duty.

“I need to make sure you know how to defend yourself—”

“She hasn’t practiced with Covenant blades at al ?”

Seth leaned against the door frame, arms folded across his chest. He watched us with a lazy expression, but his eyes were extraordinarily bright.

Aiden straightened, barely bothering to look at him. “I would swear I shut and locked that door.”

Seth smirked. “I unlocked and opened the door.”

“How’d you do that?” I asked. “The door locks from the inside.”

“Apol yon secrets. Can’t give them away.” He winked at me before turning those amber eyes on Aiden. “How can she be prepared to fight if she doesn’t know how to wield the only weapon she wil have against a daimon?”

Seth gained cool points in my book with that question. I looked at Aiden expectedly. The cold, distasteful expression he wore earned way more cool points.

“I was unaware that you had any say in her training.”

Aiden arched a coal black eyebrow.

“I don’t.” Seth pushed off the wal and sauntered across the training room. He plucked one of the daggers off the wal and faced us. “I’m sure I could convince Marcus or Lucian to let Alex have a few rounds with me. Would you like that, Alex?”

I felt Aiden stiffen beside me and I shook my head. “No.

Not real y.”

A slow smile crept across Seth’s face as he flipped the dagger in his hand. “Real y, I’d let you play… with the grown-up toys.” He stopped in front of me, offering the blade handle first. “Here. Take it.”

My gaze fel to the shiny metal in his hand. The end had been sharpened to a brutal point. Like I was under a powerful compulsion, I reached for it.

Aiden’s hand clamped down on Seth’s, pul ing the dagger and Seth’s hand out of my reach. Startled, I looked up at Aiden. His furious silver eyes met and held Seth’s.

“She wil train with the daggers when I decide so. Not you.

Your presence here is not welcome.”

Seth’s eyes flicked to Aiden’s hand. His smile didn’t falter once. “Awful y control ing, aren’t you? Since when do pures care so much about what a half-blood touches or doesn’t touch?”

“Since when would an Apol yon concern himself with a half-blood girl? One would think he had better things to do.”

“One would think a pure-blood would know better than to fal for—”

“Okay.” I stepped between the two, cutting off only the gods knew what Seth was about to say. “Time to play nice, boys.” Neither of them seemed to hear or see me. Sighing, I grabbed Aiden’s arm. He looked at me then. “Practice is over, right?”

Reluctantly, he let go of Seth’s wrist and backed off. Even he looked surprised by his response, but he watched Seth intently. “For now—yes.”

Seth shrugged and flipped the blade over again, his gaze centered on me once more. “I actual y don’t have anything better to do then concern myself with a half-blood girl. ”

There was something about the way he spoke that gave me the chil s. Or it could have been the skil in which he handled the blade with. “I think I’l pass.”

After that, Aiden and I left the training room, neither of us speaking. I wasn’t sure why Aiden had reacted as strongly as he did or why Seth felt the need to push Aiden like that.

But by the time I met up with Caleb, I pushed it to the furthest corners of my brain to dwel on later.

Caleb decided we needed fun, and fun existed on the main island at Zarak’s weekly movie night. He always got his hands on movies just released in the theater, and since none of us got to go to places like that very often, it was a big deal to watch whatever the mortal world currently obsessed over. I was surprised he was stil holding it after the funerals yesterday, but I assumed everyone needed to let loose a bit, remind themselves they were stil alive.

But as soon as we arrived at his house, I knew things weren’t going to be fun. Everyone stopped talking when we walked down into the basement that’d been converted into a mini-theater. Pures and halfs alike stared at me, and the moment Caleb fol owed Olivia upstairs, people started whispering.

Pretending like I wasn’t at al bothered, I sat down on one of the unoccupied love seats and focused on a spot on the wal . Pride kept me from fleeing the room. After a few minutes, Deacon broke free of the cluster of kids and joined me.

“How’re you doing?”

I slid him a glance. “Great.”

He offered me a drink out of his flask. I took it and swal owed a mouthful, watching him out of the corner of my eye. “Careful,” he chuckled as he pried the flask out of my fingers.

The liquid scorched my throat and made my eyes burn.

“Jeez, what is that stuff?”

Deacon shrugged. “It’s my own special mix.”

“Wel … it’s certainly special.”

Someone from the other side of the room whispered something I couldn’t make out, but Cody busted into laughter. Feeling paranoid, I tried to ignore him.

“They’re talking about you.”

Slowly, I looked at Deacon. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Everyone is.” He shrugged as he flipped the flask over in his hands. “Frankly, I don’t care. Your mom’s a daimon. So what? It’s not like you can help it.”

“It real y doesn’t bother you?” Of al people, I thought it should bother him.

“No. You’re not responsible for what your mother did.”

“Or didn’t do.” I bit my lip, staring at the floor. “No one knows if she did anything.”

Deacon raised his eyebrows as he took a long drink.

“You’re right.”

The group across from us erupted in snickers and sly looks. Zarak shook his head, turning his attention to the remote in his hand.

“I think I hate them,” I muttered, wishing I hadn’t decided to come here.

“They’re just scared.” He gave a pointed look at the knot of people across the room. “They al fear being turned. The daimons have never been this close, Alex. Four hours isn’t that far away, and it could’ve been any of them. It could’ve been their deaths.”