A shudder coursed through Olivia. The girl had never been a fan of Seth, and I remembered what Aiden had said last night. Everyone had seen what Seth was really like, but not me. Well, and not Caleb, because Caleb had been a major fanboy when it came to Seth.
Oddly, there was no slicing pain when I thought about Caleb.
“We aren’t going to do anything right now,” I said finally. Everyone at the table stared at me. My gaze lowered to the half-eaten plate of bacon. “Seth isn’t working with Ares anymore. I’m not saying we should welcome him with open arms or invite him in for breakfast, but he’s not our big enemy right now.”
“What?” Olivia’s voice was an octave higher. “How can anyone be sure of that?”
“That’s a good question.” Deacon slid me his unopened bottle of OJ. “Thirsty?”
I murmured my thanks again and took a drink. “Well, for starters, that cell is only holding him because he’s not trying to escape. If he wants out, he’ll get out faster than any of us could, including me. Secondly, he doesn’t want to become the God Killer anymore.”
Luke rocked back on his chair, eyes widening. “Come again?”
Olivia stopped with another sausage link halfway to her mouth and gaped at me. Shifting in my seat, I felt heat spread across my cheeks, but I wasn’t sure why. “He doesn’t want to be the God Killer. He wants me to transfer the power from him.”
“How did he find out that was our plan?” Deacon asked. He was suddenly serious, which was a rarity for him.
“He didn’t. He suggested it without me saying anything. Seth’s got…well, like I said, he no longer wants anything to do with Ares and Lucian…” My brows pinched. “Lucian is no longer an issue.”
“I’d say,” Luke said under his breath and then louder, “Not to beat the dead-and-buried horse, but how can anyone, including you, trust anything that Seth says? I mean, if he changes his mind…”
We were all screwed.
I got that, but I couldn’t really vocalize why I trusted Seth. His issues with his twisted addiction were his own business. No longer hungry or in the mood to convince them when I had Aiden and a whole slew of other people to talk to, I pushed up from the table. “I’ll see you guys later.”
I made it to the door before I realized Deacon was following me. He fell in step beside me as we walked out of the dorm. “You know they were just vocalizing their concerns, right?” he said, shoving his hands into his jeans. “They didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I know.” I squinted against the bright glare of the sun. “And they didn’t upset me.”
“You sure about that?”
I was. Like always, I really wasn’t feeling much of anything. We continued down the pathway in silence, passing a few pure-blood students. They stared.
“Aiden is in a mood. Like a ‘if you breathe in my direction, I will nunchuck you into next week’ mood,” Deacon announced as we passed one of the training centers.
My stomach sank a little. “Nunchuck? I don’t think he knows how to use them.”
“My brother knows how to use every weapon known to man. Nunchucks are no exception.”
A small grin tugged at my lips. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“So, are you gonna tell me what crawled up his ass, besides the fact a fleet of potentially crazy Sentinels is poised outside our gates and his arch-nemesis is chilling in a cell right under his nose?”
“Have you seen Aiden?” I asked instead.
He nodded. “He’s in the dean’s office with Marcus.”
Veering toward the main Covenant building, I didn’t look forward to going to the room where I’d last seen Ares
“So, you’re not going to talk to me about Aiden?”
“Are you going to follow me all the way to the dean’s office?”
“Yep.” Deacon shot me a quick grin.
“There’s a lot of steps.”
“I need my exercise.”
I sighed. “Aiden’s mad at me.”
“I doubt that.”
“Oh no, he’s definitely mad at me.” I tucked my hair back behind my ear and glanced at Deacon. He elbowed me gently in the arm, and the corner of my lips pulled up a little, but it quickly slipped away. “He’s mad because I went to see Seth.”
Deacon raised a brow. “He’s mad over that?”
“Well, I left in the middle of the night, didn’t tell him what I was doing, and there’s other stuff, but…” I shook my head, not wanting to really get into it. “So he’s a little perturbed at the moment.”
He didn’t respond as we stepped into the main building and passed the Guards, waiting until we reached the stairwell. The cord inside of me strained since we were near Seth.
“Well, considering all the crap with Seth, I can get why Aiden isn’t happy.”
“I know.” I rounded the second floor. “I’m not mad at him. He has every right to be upset.”
Deacon hopped up the stairs, chock-full of energy. I hated him. “He’ll get over it. My bro loves you, like really loves you. Like, he’s in love with you, Alex.”
I cast him a smile. “I know. I just hate that he’s mad.”
He looked at me, his eyes a brilliant silver. “I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you really smile in a while.” He spun around, opening the door to the top floor. “You doing okay?”