Hades Academy: First Semester Read online

  “It’s not romantic,” Raines said, as if he were reading my mind. “It doesn’t have to be and it won’t be. I don’t want anyone thinking that. It’s more dangerous if anyone knows, actually.”

  “Yeah, well, what’s in it for me?” I said, only realizing once the words slipped through my lips how callous that sounded.

  “Plenty,” Raines said. “For starters, more power.”

  “You mean any power?” I said. “Because I’m starting from basically zero here. Are you sure that will even work?”

  “I was actually paying attention in class,” Raines said, “so yes.”

  Okay, he kinda had me there. That was definitely a day when Wilder was more than a little distracting to look at.

  I swallowed. Gaining power was more tempting an offer than I was prepared to admit. I didn’t know if I was still in danger of getting booted from Hades, but given that Wilder maybe-or-maybe-not wanted me to die and was responsible for reporting on my powers to Dean Harlowe, I probably shouldn’t take any chances.

  But at the same time, I knew that soul binding was serious shit. This wasn’t a spit-on-your-palm-handshake kind of deal, or splitting a heart-shaped pendant. I mean, hell, I’d already signed a contract in my own blood, and that was just school paperwork. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of fucked-up ritual soul binding would involve.

  And yet...

  I didn’t want to fuck things up for Raines.

  Even with his jerky attitude and his petty-as-hell rivalry with his brother and his mopey heartbreak after Tavi—which I remembered like a dagger to the heart—I could kinda relate to him. Not belonging anywhere. Not having a super-great, or even existent, relationship with your parents. Needing your friends more than anything to get by.

  Maybe I hadn’t asked for the burden of knowledge about his wings, but I hadn’t asked for a lot of things that Hades had given me. And if defending them gave me a purpose, the kind of purpose I’d been searching for my whole life, well...

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

  END OF BOOK 1

  Free prequel

  Ready for more Hades? Join my mailing list and get a free prequel novella from Raines’s POV.

  Click here to sign up!

  “The truth was, I didn’t know why I’d been having the nightmares. Hades Academy was the only place that could fix me. And I was going to get myself back together if it killed me...”

  Learn just what happened to Raines before he arrived at Hades...

  Afterword

  Dear reader,

  Thank you so much for reading Hades Academy. I hope you enjoyed the book and loved hanging out with Nova as much as I loved writing her.

  Reviews are so helpful to authors, so if you have a second, would you consider writing a quick review? Even a few sentences can hugely help a book’s visibility.

  There’s more coming! Book Two in the Hades Academy series will be here soon...

  Click here to preorder!

  xoxo,

  Abbie

  http://www.authorabbielyons.com