Valkyrie's Harem (Academy of Immortals 1)
“This is Sister Ma’at, the goddess of balance and truth.” He looks at me and frowns. “Sometimes I wonder…”
“Wonder what?” I ask, uneasily.
“What if you were sent here by Ma’at to correct the imbalance of having the Immortals take the Guardians place in the Crusade?”
“For what purpose?”
He grimaces. “To keep them balanced—focused, all the things you said before. They need an anchor to the Upperworld.”
“You think they need a babysitter?” It isn’t the first time it’s been suggested.
He shakes his head. “I think they need a rock. Something steady to keep them on the right path. They need you, Ms. Axel, to hold them in place—to restore balance in their lost, damaged souls.”
“I still don’t understand.” Or I don’t want to. I feel a weight laying over my shoulders.
“To be their strongest, and their most unified to fight this mission, they need to shed the baggage of their past and embrace their future.” He looks at me knowingly. Heat creeps up my neck.
“You think they need to embrace me?”
He nods. “Yes, maybe metaphorically. Possibly physically. To make sure the Immortals are truly on the side of good—fighting for the Upperworld, they need to know more than pain and destruction. They need to know goodness and light. They need redemption.”
I swallow, trying to wrap my head around this. It isn’t what I signed up for. I’m not here to be some kind of spiritual guide. I’m here to make sure they don’t turn into cannibals. That’s not the same thing.
“You think this is my role here; helping the Immortals find redemption? That seems counterintuitive for the apocalypse.”
“The gods play games, Ms. Axel, they love nothing more than a good love story.”
A love story, I think, staring at the book on his desk. With five men.
How many of the gods' love stories have ultimately turned to tragedy?
“It’s a nice idea,” I say, standing, “but the gods must have overestimated me. I don’t have room for one man in my heart, much less five, and if you think falling for me will give them redemption, then you sorely misjudge my value.” I sling my bag over my shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on them and make sure they stick to the plan. They won’t stray.”
“If you say so, Ms. Axel.” He holds up the book. “Take this with you. Maybe you’ll find some insight.”
I take it from him and slip it into my bag before walking out the door. The weight of the book clings to my back. I’ve heard a lot of crazy things in the last year of my life, but the idea that getting five men to fall in love with me and redeeming themselves from thousands of years of sins will be the thing to stop the apocalypse? That’s the craziest yet.
32
Marshal
“You did what?” I ask, certain I’m misunderstanding what he’d just said.
“I ran.”
“From a woman grinding on your cock asking, no begging, you to fuck her?”
Rupert exhales and pretends to focus on his book. “It was complicated.”
“I don’t think it was.”
He looks up at me. “You know I’m not like you.”
I run my fingers through my hair. Breakfast is in thirty minutes. I woke from the dead to find Rupert fretting over something. He finally told me everything that’d happened the night before. I’m still trying to process it.
“Look, Rupe, I know you’re not the most experienced of us, but this is a fresh start.” I straighten my collar. “We’re in a different time and place. It’s a school, for god’s sake. Find a young virgin and start practicing there.”
His cheeks turn pink. “The church says—”