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How he’d wanted to stop fighting me How hard he’d tried and tried to drop his sword or even turn it on hi inside hian’s memories, I sahat the Spartan had-this pair of eyes, one a beautiful blue and the other an ugly, Reaper red Those eyes had peered into every corner of hi his body, his h their connection, the evil god had hurt Logan, tortured hian could bear-more than anyone could bear Just the memory of it an hadn’t been able to keep hih he’d been silently screaod to stop the whole tian’s deepest, darkest fear-that he ht reach out and take control of hiain

"Oh Spartan," I whispered in the dark "Don’t you know that I already forgave you-for everything?"

But an back toever would

I curled into a ball on the bed right next to the still-sleeping Nyx, tears streaan’s letter, slowly s the words I clutched the paper to my chest like a shield, as if it would so into smaller and smaller pieces all the while

Chapter 31

A broken heart wasn’t a mortal wound, at least not in the eyes of the Powers That Were, and the next afternoon, I was back at Mythos Acade in the amphitheater in front of all the other students, professors, and staffthe truth aboutelse

"and so the Protectorate has dropped all charges against Miss Frost," Linus said "We want to offer our deepest apologies to her and co the incident at Aoide Auditoriuall, saved not only their fellow students, but staff members and professors, as well as myself and several other ht at Morgan and Alexei, ere also standing on the aan winked at me, while Alexei just nodded

"and so we all owe theratitude," Linus finally finished

For a moment, everyone was silent A few of the students started clapping politely, but Daphne decided to take ot to her feet, put her fingers in her mouth, and let out a sharp whistle

"Yeah, Gwen!" the Valkyrie whooped "Whoo!"

After that, the applause got a little louder and lared at all the kids around her Still, more than a few folks didn’t bother to clap, like Helena Paxton She was about halfway up the a her eyes and whispering to her irl friends No doubt the Aet another chance to kickhall

Linus stepped away fro you’d like to say, Miss Frost?"

I hesitated I didn’t knohat to say I barely knehat to think right now Forty-eight hours ago, I had been fighting for e Now, here I was, back at the acadeain, like it was just another Monday

Butto coone, that he’d left the academy, that he’d left me I knew the Spartan had his reasons-I’d seen and felt theood-bye in person Then, I could have told him that it was okay, that I didn’t blame him for what happened, that I’d seen how hard and bravely he’d battled Loki That no one could have resisted the evil god-not even a Spartan

"Miss Frost?" Linus asked again

Just the thought of Logan , but I drew in a breath and pushed those feelings aside The Spartan wasn’t here, but everyone else was

"Yeah," I replied "There is so I want to say"

I stepped up to the microphone By this point, the applause had died down, despite Daphne’s enthusiasaze went from one face to another, but this tier at me At least, not as much Instead, they looked curious, wary, and afraid, but deters because they mirrored my own

"I know you’ve all lost someone to the Reapers," I said "And so have I They murdered my mom They’ve murdered your moms and dads and brothers and sisters They’ve killed your aunts and uncles and cousins and friends They’ve taken so many people away froan, and I had to clear my throat before I could continue "Now that Loki is free, we all know there’s another Chaos War co to keep going after the Reapers It’s e’re all here at Mythos training for So we can learn how to protect the people we love As long as we do that, as long as we train and fight and believe in each other, then you knohat? We can win We’re going to win Because there simply is no other option"

I stepped back Daphne whooped and got to her feet again, along with Carson, Oliver, Kenzie, and Talia Even Savannah Warren, Logan’s ex-girlfriend, joined in with my friends But to my surprise, they weren’t the only people who did so One by one, the other kids stood up and started clapping-for real this ti off all of them, all the kids, all the professors, all the staff et better Hope that we could defeat the Reapers Hope that we could finally triu emotion wash over me I reached out and wrapped it aroundit pour into all the dark places inside hter, just a little bit brighter-at least for this , but it helped-it helped a lot

The e, and ound up at the checkout counter in the Library of Antiquities It was ti that had happened-death, destruction, heartache Yep, just another Monday at Mythos Acadeood-byes to me and wished me well, and I did the same to them Yeah, they’d arrestedtheir jobs I was glad that they kneas on their side now-that ere all on the saei said as he and Inari left the library

Linus nodded The leader of the Protectorate turned and stared at me, but for once, his face was neutral

"Thank you for saving ed you, Miss Frost And a great le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>