Claimed by the Order (S-Gods, #1) (7 page)

“Shamash, please. I can’t even go to his class. I’ll do anything you ask of me, just don’t let him touch me.”

“You will attend Seth’s class, and you will service him when he demands it!”

Marduk’s stomach turned as he sank to the floor, pressing his burning face to the cool stone beneath him. The memory of falling to Seth in the forest still rattled him to his core. He couldn’t do it.

Shamash stared down at Marduk.

“All right, Marduk, I’ll keep Seth off you, but if you want this exception, you’re going to work for it.” Marduk slowly lifted his head, staring up at Shamash. “You must perform to my satisfaction, which means attending all your courses, reporting on time to the Order, and accepting your role as our toy.  Is that understood?”

“Yes, I’ll do anything you ask of me,” Marduk replied, his stomach rebelling against his words as he spoke them. Shamash regarded Marduk a moment longer, then turned and left the room.

Marduk immediately felt lighter and sank back down to the ground. All that Shamash had said raced through his mind. How could he accept his new status? Had he just agreed to be this god’s whore in exchange for his protection? Nothing made sense. All of a sudden, Aya’s treachery began to make his head ache. All that he suffered was due to Aya’s betrayal.

A
rriving at the Mountain View Cove, Marduk found the other students seated on the rocks, awaiting the beginning of class. His stomach felt hollow at the sight of them. Without a glance in their direction, he took a seat on a large flat stone and buried his head in his arms. Shamash began the day’s lecture, but his words drifted over Marduk’s head, floating into the misty mountains. Marduk’s divine body had healed over night, but his psyche had yet to recover. The Order had ripped him open, and humiliated him. Though none of his classmates knew what he suffered, he still could not bear to face them. One look in his eyes would be enough to reveal his downfall.

When the class finally ended, Nanya and Shala joined his side. Marduk did his best to pull himself together, but they had already noticed his mood.

“Darling god,” Shala said, hanging on his arm. “I never thought I’d see you like this. You are usually the one to break hearts, not the other way around.”

Marduk shot Shala a questioning look but made no reply.

“Look, Marduk, we heard about the thing with Seth. You can talk to us; you don’t have to suffer alone.”

His heart skipped. “What did you hear?”

“Well, yesterday after you left Seth’s class, we heard that Seth and Aya were seeing each other. Everyone was saying Seth heard about you kissing Aya, and this was why he went crazy on you. So when you didn’t visit us last night, we figured you were too broken up about Aya to come see us.”

A weak smile came to his lips, and a weight seemed to lift off his chest. “Yeah, that’s about how it went,” Marduk confirmed. Their assumption that his heart was broken was far preferable to the truth.

After crossing the gardens to their next class, they stripped off their clothing and entered the pool. Marduk continued to hang out with Shala and Nanya until Isis paired them up for the day’s exercise. Just as she had the day before, Isis paired Marduk with Aya. Marduk’s stomach soured at the sight of him, and he clenched his teeth. When Aya waded to his side, Marduk crossed his arms over his chest and looked away.

“Today’s lesson is all about sex,” Isis said, “but before we begin, I want you to kiss your lover, and while doing so, don’t be afraid to touch and become acquainted with your lover’s body.”

When the exercise began, Marduk finally turned and glared down at Aya. He could tell Aya wished to say something, but Aya lowered his eyes and endured the heat of Marduk’s scrutiny. Aya finally peeked up from the black hair shielding his eyes, and glanced at the other partners who were already passionately engaged.

“I’m sorry, Marduk,” he said softly, their eyes meeting. “I don’t blame you for being upset with me.”

He drew closer to Marduk, trying to placate him with touch, but Marduk kept his arms folded over his chest and continued to glare at him. When Isis announced the exercise was moving to sex, Marduk grabbed Aya’s hair, jabbed him in the stomach, and slammed Aya’s back against the bank. Then he hiked up Aya’s legs and pressed his cock against Aya’s hole.

“Marduk, please,” Aya cried, tears wetting his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Marduk stared down at him, his cock throbbing against Aya’s tight entrance. He wanted badly to punish Aya, to slam into him over and over, nail him to the bank, but the thought made his stomach turn. This is what the Order had done to him, but Marduk wasn’t like them. He couldn’t punish Aya this way.

Leaning in close, Marduk breached Aya’s opening, sliding in slowly, his face flushing as Aya’s tight passage stretched to accommodate his shaft. When his cock was completely encased in Aya’s tight heat, Marduk gasped, a hot flash washing over him. This was his first time being inside a god. He gripped Aya’s hips and began to glide in and out, driving him with increasing intensity until Aya’s soft lips were trembling against his neck. Aya pleaded for just one kiss, but Marduk denied him, pushing him back to the bank. Aya’s black hair lay tangled in the grass, and his bare chest heaved with each breath. His beauty was the thing of dreams, but Marduk saw nothing but a nightmare. Marduk increased his tempo, fucking him harder until Aya began to whimper and shake and they both slammed into climax.

Marduk fell forward onto Aya’s chest. When the fog cleared from his mind, Marduk leaned down, kissed Aya briefly and whispered in his ear.

“I would have loved you like this every day and every night. This is what you threw away when you traded me.”

Pain streaked through Aya’s eyes, and he broke into tears, but Marduk made no attempt to comfort him. He pulled out, leaving Aya sobbing on the bank. He realized then that he could never forgive the god for betraying him.

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W
hen it was time for Seth’s class, Marduk approached the theater entrance and froze. He was suddenly cold and could go no further. Shamash had promised his protection, but Shamash wouldn’t be there in the class. He couldn’t help thinking that the moment he stepped into Seth’s classroom, he would be placing himself right back in Seth’s hands. Marduk finally gathered his courage and followed the other students into the theater. He took a seat next to Nanya and Shala and laced his fingers over his knees, trying to ward off his apprehension. A few moments later, the sight of Seth and Shamash standing just outside the theater caught his eye. They appeared to be wrapped in a heated exchange. Marduk clutched his arm, his limbs tingling. He imagined Shamash was breaking the news to Seth—that Marduk was off bounds.

When Shamash parted, Seth stormed into the theater, fire burning in his eyes. Marduk instantly regretted coming, but he clung to Shamash’s promise, and struggled to collect his confidence. Stopping before the class, Seth’s eyes gravitated to Marduk.

“Welcome back, Marduk,” Seth said, staring right at him. “How’s your ass?” Several gods laughed, and Marduk’s stomach flipped. “The way you ran out of here yesterday, I wasn’t sure you had the balls to return.”

Marduk closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. He couldn’t say a word to provoke this god. Seth started in on his lecture and soon had the students taking up arms to practice dueling with one another. Seth handed each deity a sword as they came down from the seating, until Marduk approached.

“Step aside, Marduk!”

A weight pushed down on his chest. The impulse to flee twisted his insides, but he did as Seth said, waiting by the railing as Seth handed out the last of the swords. When Seth finally finished, he turned toward Marduk and made a move in his direction. Marduk stepped backward, staying out of Seth’s reach. Then a smile curled onto Seth’s lips.

“Come here, Marduk.”

“No ... you’re not supposed to touch me.”

Seth’s expression darkened, and he lunged at Marduk, grabbing him by the neck and smashing his back against the railing with his weight.

Marduk’s heart beat out of his chest while Seth laughed in his face. “You really think Shamash is going to save you?” He breathed down Marduk’s neck. “What do you imagine he’d say if I told him my dick was in you first? Do you think he’d still protect you?” Fire shot through his core, and he struck at Seth’s chest, desperate to break free—but Seth was too strong. Tears began to leak from his eyes.

Seth laughed again. “You know, Marduk, you may have sweet talked Shamash, but it’s not going to stop me from fucking you. I’m going to finish what I started, and if you run off crying to Shamash, it’s going to be your word against mine.”

Marduk’s sense of hope from that morning began to fade, and a sob escaped his throat. Then a voice broke him away from his misery.

“Lord Seth.” It was Aya who spoke. Seth turned his head to face him. “The great god Shamash, director of the college, has asked me to deliver Marduk to him halfway through your course.”

Seth tightened his grasp on Marduk’s hair as he glared down at Aya.

Marduk stole a sideways glance at his classmates. They were all still dueling with each other, and none of them seemed to notice Seth’s aggression. Then Seth returned his attention to Marduk and growled in his ear.

“Don’t ever let me find you alone,” Seth said, releasing him and stepping back. Aya grabbed Marduk by the arm and led him out of the theater. Marduk walked beside Aya for some time, still in shock from what happened. When they were well into the gardens, Marduk stopped abruptly, leaned forward, and grasped his knees, attempting to collect his senses.

“Are you really taking me to Shamash?”

“No, Shamash just asked me to get you out of there if Seth tried anything.” A wave of relief washed over him, though he didn’t want to feel gratitude toward Aya or Shamash. Marduk avoided Aya’s gaze and slowly stood back up.

“What now?” he asked.

“Well, we can just hang out until our next class begins.”

Marduk shot Aya a look. Aya had saved him from Seth, but Marduk wasn’t about to forgive him so easily. He still hated this god.

“I don’t care for your company,” Marduk finally said, ignoring Aya’s hurt expression. Without waiting for a reply, he turned away from Aya and trailed deeper into the gardens. Too much had happened in too short a time. He needed time to clear his mind. He wanted to do what Shamash expected of him, but he had just gone through hell, and it was impossible to return to class as if nothing had happened.

M
arduk hung out in the gardens until his last class began. When Nanya and Shala arrived, he entered the haunted ruins and took a seat on the ground beside them. The afternoon sun cast a shadow, shrouding half the roofless, stone structure in shade. Their instructor, the great moon god Nanna-Sin, arrived shortly afterward and stood before them with a long, black cape draped over his shoulders. With his tall, solid build and short, disheveled black hair, Nanna-Sin was like a handsome devil. He tossed his cape back, his piercing black eyes staring down at them.

“Yesterday, I introduced you to the world of spirits, but today you will meet them,” Sin said, his lips crooked into a grin. “Spirits are like serpents of Hades to mortals, but gods have the power to command them. They will obey our orders, because they know we can banish them from this world.”

With a dramatic swish of his cape, Sin spun around and strode to the middle of the structure, threw up his arms, and began chanting. Every sound immediately became muted and distant, and the temperature around them plummeted. Dry leaves swept into the air around Sin as the sky darkened. Then a sickening screech rang out, echoing off the walls of the structure. Marduk covered his ears, noticing some of his classmates were doing the same. A moment later, the screeching was replaced with a deep drumming voice that spoke in a language he’d never heard. Marduk’s heart raced, and goose bumps rose on his arms. The voice seemed so close that it appeared to be inside his head. “Great god of spirits, I am yours to command,” the voice said.

Then Nanna-Sin thrust his hand toward the far wall of the structure, and the wall blew out, stones blasting out with the explosion. Sin waved his hand again as if throwing an invisible projectile at the adjacent wall. Stones flew through the air, crashing against the wall just as Sin had motioned. A howling wind threw his cape back, and the structure began to rumble. Marduk stared at Sin, his mouth falling open. Sin’s voice suddenly rang out in his ears.

“Leave us,” he said, and the structure immediately stopped shaking. Marduk shivered as the darkness receded, and the afternoon light warmed the air around them. No god had use of his powers while on temple grounds, so the only way to explain Sin’s display was due to his command of the spirits.

Tossing his cape back, Sin came toward them once more.

“Raise your hand if you heard and felt nothing.”

Several deities, including Nanya and Shala, raised their hands.

“You don’t have the gift. Leave my class,” Sin commanded.

Shala glared at Sin as she rose to her feet, and Nanya rose by her side, pouting. “I guess we’ll catch you later, Marduk.” Shala said, giving him a quick kiss, before grabbing Nanya’s hand and storming out the exit. When all the rejected students had cleared out, Sin turned toward the remaining pupils.

“For those of you who will continue this course, this year you will learn how to summon powerful demons and speak with the spirits. Not all of you will be strong enough to command the spirits, but for those of you who are able, your influence in this world will far exceed that of your peers.”

Sin continued his lecture on supernatural forces, but Marduk’s thoughts wandered. Given that this would be the last class of the day, Marduk would soon be expected to report to the lower hall. His stomach twisted into a knot as he imagined the things the gods might do to him next. He stared forward at his instructor, trying to focus, but by the time the class was dismissed, the anxiety raking through him had left him lightheaded and weak. He took a moment to collect his senses before rising from his seat, but when he arrived at the exit, his instructor held out his hand, barring Marduk’s way. Eyes wide, Marduk looked up at the great god Nanna-Sin before him.