Page 142 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

142

Reason to Watch

W illow

A hair’s breadth from death or not, I’m eating hearty tonight. They fed us family style, and I’ve reached to the middle of the table three times to refill my plate.

The three of us have been pretty quiet. It takes energy for Valor to siphon our thoughts to each other, and he’s still running on empty.

“Welcome viewers!” Zedd says as if the entire galaxy has been waiting for her arrival. “Wasn’t that an exciting day? And here I said it would be easy. Who knew those killer wyrms would show up?” She shrugs innocently.

I never took a moment to wonder before, but how did TGN arrange for wild animals to attack at just the perfect moment? Perhaps I’ll never know, but one thing is certain, their appearance wasn’t accidental.

“For those of you familiar with The Galaxy Games format, you know daytime is for heart-pounding excitement, and nighttime is for pounding excitement of a different kind.” She gives an exaggerated wink.

“We’ve got something a bit different for you tonight. I imagine some of you are on the edge of your seat remembering the aphrodisiacs we slipped our unsuspecting contestants last season. Well, leave it to the producers of The Game to come up with something new and exciting.”

She pauses here, I guess, so people around the galaxy can give her mental kudos. Her name is plastered all over the credits as being the Executive Producer.

“Instead of forcing our contestants into bed with each other, we thought it would be much more entertaining for them to decide how to please you, the viewer. Each team will be given free rein. If they want to go back to their tents and sleep, so be it. And you, my friends, can vote with your views.

“We’ve divided our stream tonight into ten channels. The teams you watch the most will earn the most credits. Trust me, they’ll need every credit you send them tomorrow. So, what do you think? We leave each team to their own devices. I’ve heard the baby blue team can hardly stand each other. Which, I guess, might be interesting to watch. In this game, it all comes Down To Three, but you, the viewer, get to choose.”

My insides clench and I feel like dying for a quick moment as I grab a muscular thigh on each side of me and clench my fingers tightly. But I can’t stay in denial too long because I knew this was coming. The more I think about it, I’m glad we won’t be dosed with an aphrodisiac. The three of us are going to share that bed tonight for more than sleep, and I’d rather it happen organically than through force.

By the time I release my death grip from their two thighs, I’m sitting taller in my seat and ready to deal with our new reality.

Willow? You okay? Valor asks.

Leave it to him to have my back as he always has since the first moment I was thrown into his cell and he punched out Kalletta who attacked my boob. Despite that, I say a little prayer for Kalletta who started the race this morning and never got to the flagpole.

Turning my attention back to the here and now, I say, “We got through today. We’re going to get through this fine. How about you? Both of you? You’re going to have to share.”

Valor, if you keep us linked, Braveheart says, I think we can do this.

Aye.

This isn’t how any of us wanted it to be. I didn’t want a galaxy-wide audience, I say . But guys, I do want this. I want the three of us to be together tonight. Those pictures I showed you when we were on the front porch earlier. I’d like to try some of them. If Zedd says we’ll need the credits, I believe her. Let’s give the galaxy reason to watch.