Page 15

Odessa

D inner was quiet. The only sounds to be heard were the scrapes of forks against plates and a few groans of pain.

It seemed that everyone was run down from training, but also grappling with losing two contestants.

The empty spot across from me where Magnus once sat felt like a dark reminder of just how deadly and volatile this contest was.

I didn’t realize that the learning curve to utilizing my magick would be so grueling.

I’d just assumed that the moment I put on the mask it would be easy and that I could wield the shadows without a problem.

How wrong I’d been. It took skill and patience and a surprising amount of energy to harness the wild sparks of power that now resided within me.

But once that mask came off my face, the power seemed to fizzle out into nothing.

Only winning the competition would allow that magick to remain with or without the mask, or so I’d been told.

I forced myself to eat every bit of meat and potatoes that lined my plate, even though I felt queasy from ingesting the dirty water during training.

My strength would be needed to not only get me through the training sessions, but the competition itself.

The beef burned on its way down my esophagus.

The inside of my throat was still raw from how hard I’d coughed to expel the water from my lungs.

I chased the food with a swig of wine, hoping to dislodge it from where it felt stuck.

It went down hard and had me longing for the roast my mother used to make before her illness.

How we would all clean our plates of every crumb when she would make her famous roast. Usually for a birthday or celebration Thoughts of my mother soured my already irritable stomach and I pushed my plate away, trying not to focus on my family and what they might be doing.

Or if my mother was still with us. I tried and failed not to think about it and the life I’d left behind.

To think right above our heads laid an entire city. Bustling and alive with people and carriages. While we were down here in the flickering candlelight, surrounded by the long dead and buried. Living and training in the domain of the gods.

The upcoming masquerade was only a few days away and the gods would be in attendance.

While I was certain the dress I’d packed for the occasion would be perfect, the knowledge of having to interact with our city’s rulers and reason for this competition gnawed at my anxiety.

How could I look them in the eye and know they only saw me as a chess piece?

A mere moment of fleeting entertainment in a lifetime of endless charades meant to make their immortal lives less boring.

Dex’s gaze locked onto me then, wine glass paused on my bottom lip as I remembered I was in a room full of my potential murderers.

I glanced around at the contestants nervously as I shakily put down the glass harder than I intended to, causing a small splash of liquid to careen over the side and drop onto the wooden table beneath.

Dex watched me curiously, and while I actively tried to avoid his attention, I couldn’t deny the warm feeling that accumulated in my chest and down my spine every time he looked at me as if I were the only person that existed in this crowded room.

Since the start of the competition, he’d singled me out for whatever reason. The weight of his gaze simmered under my skin as if my body liked the way he looked at me. Like he was undressing me in that handsome head of his.

The thought was insane. I couldn’t possibly like someone like Dex. Not when I had Theo at home waiting for me. Sweet, devoted, Theo who I’d known all my life. It was just the stress of this place getting to me. Maybe the lost oxygen had gotten to my head and had me entertaining wild ideas.

I could practically hear what my sister, Marley, would say about the situation.

She’d tell me to forget Theo and have some fun for once with the devilishly handsome stranger.

She’d always found Theo dull and didn’t understand our relationship.

But I did. With his family’s station, Papa wouldn’t have to work as hard.

I’d be able to provide and have a security that we lacked.

Sure, my father’s designs were well sought after now, but I remember a time when our stomachs groaned with hunger because he wasn’t selling anything and the bills from the physicians kept piling up.

How my father would go out at night and beg when he thought we were all asleep.

Being with Theo would alleviate the worry that lingered in the back of my mind. Gods knew Papa wasn’t getting any younger.

A loud gong rang throughout the room announcing the end of dinner.

No one made a noise as we shuffled back to our rooms, eyes downcast and shoulders slumped.

Whatever illusions of how easy this competition would be were snuffed out today.

Even Dex looked slightly defeated and that had me worried.

If the most arrogant among us was feeling that way, I didn’t know what to expect once the games started.

I could only hope that I would master my power before the shots that signaled the start of the games rang out.

No matter what happened, any illusion of being able to walk out of this unscathed were dashed to pieces.

There would be blood on my hands by the end of this, I just hoped it wouldn’t be my own.

“Again!” Nat called, sparring towards me with a blast of power. I’d narrowly dodged her attack and rolled onto my back avoiding being turned into stone.

“Nice to see you’re all healed up,” I wheezed, struggling to get my feet underneath me.

“Yeah, well, the healers did what they could.”

Nat bounced energetically on her feet waiting for me to get back in position. Her chin length hair swished with the motion as I put my hands up and readied myself for another attack. She was fast and strong, making me work hard to keep up with her.

Yesterday was a grim wakeup call that I was woefully unprepared for this competition. Theo’s words haunted me on a loop inside my head, reminding me that even he didn’t believe in me enough to make it out of here. That’s probably why he didn’t show up to say goodbye. He knew I was dead meat.

But there was another voice, a stronger, gentler one of my mother’s reminding me that I had a strength inside. It was the only thing pushing me forward.

“Looking good, Deveraux,” Dex’s voice crawled over my skin as he walked past.

“Drop dead, Bourreau,” I snapped, losing control and feeling the embers of my magick coat my hands. Shadows danced along the tips of my fingers ready to strike.

I was in no mood for his shit today. Muscles I didn’t even know I possessed ached.

Every inch of me it seemed was worked to the bone in yesterday’s training.

The healers merely took the edge off, but it wasn’t enough.

I could still feel the dregs of my near-death experience clinging to the periphery of my mind, taunting me.

“Aw, don’t be like that. I know you secretly like me.” I rolled my eyes and almost missed the moment Nat decided to strike. The magick hit my shield and it became instantly ten times heavier as it slowly morphed into stone. I dropped it with a resounding clang and called for a time out.

“Almost got you,” she said with a smirk.

“Yeah, well good thing you didn’t, or you’d end up like Magnus.” I shuddered, and she did too.

While we were on the same team, and working together for now, I couldn’t let myself forget that the moment the games started she could turn on me. It didn’t look like I’d be making any real friends here soon with that kind of environment.

Dex crossed his arms over his chest as he watched me drink from my canteen of water.

He looked at me as if I were the most interesting thing he’d ever seen, and it did funny things to my insides.

“What?” I snapped, feeling a dribble of water drip down my chin.

He caught it with his thumb, wiping it away with a swipe, only he didn’t let go. His hand cupped my chin and angled my head to look up at him. My heart stuttered and I swallowed thickly.

His nostrils flared as he stared down at me, almost like he was angry at me for something, but I didn’t know what.

“Try to be more careful. Wouldn’t want you dying already when I haven’t even had the chance to play with you yet.”

“You disgust me.”

“Oh, yeah?”

My chest heaved. “Yeah.” I shoved him backwards, needing space from how fuzzy he made my head.

“That’s too bad.”

“Why?”

He shrugged his toned muscular shoulder with a bored expression glinting behind that mask of his. “If I disgusted you so much, you wouldn’t want to find out.”

I harrumphed angrily.

“If the two of you are done with your foreplay, we have training to get back to,” Nat said with her hands splayed on her narrow hips.

I gaped at her, but Dex just chuckled like she’d said the funniest thing in the world.

Even with his dimpled smiles and intense way he paid attention to me, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was in the presence of something dangerous every time I was around him.

It was like being locked in the same room as a sleeping bear.

Sure, they were cute and asleep, but at any moment they might wake and maul the ever-loving life out of you.

Perhaps I was being overly paranoid, and the nature of Nocturne was starting to get to me.

I was painfully aware that we only had one more day before this thing kicked off into full gear, and we’d be in the middle of an all-out war against each other.

Just as we were about to spar again, the captain entered the room with her entourage of personal guards. The training area fell silent, and we all stood up straight.

While Dex’s danger felt buried, the captain wore hers like a second amor. It was palpable in every calculated move. Even the slightest glance from her felt like it might be your last.

“Follow me,” she instructed.

We did as we were told, getting corralled by the guards as if we were a herd of cattle being led to slaughter. The tunnel had a short ceiling and confined walls, not allowing us much space to maneuver as we walked not knowing what exactly we were in for.

A large wrought iron door sat at the end and opened with a wave of the captain’s wrist. She must possess some type of magick, I thought. Maybe the ability to manipulate metal.

We filtered inside the small dark room that was surrounded by human remains. Skulls and bones were embedded into every crevice. Only the faint flicker of a candle illuminated the tight space. At the end of the room lay an open casket that was occupied by a skeleton.

Was this a tomb?

The very air around us smelt of decay and damp mold. It made my skin crawl. I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of this small space, feeling panic take root in my stomach as the captain’s eerie smile was illuminated from the bottom as she held a single candle below her chin.

“While we are now two contestants down, it will only get worse from here.” The people around me tensed at her words. “Practicing your magick is only one aspect that you’ll need to survive the games. Wit and physicality are also valuable assets that will see you through to the finish line.”

Uneasiness rolls through my gut in anticipation for what she’s about to say next and how that would apply to where she’s brought us.

“Your next training session will leave you locked in this room with your teams, with clues hidden in which you will need to decipher in order to break free. Since you failed your last test, the winners from this round will have the opportunity for the same prize. A five-minute head start.” Her smile was cruel as she walked out into the tunnels and turned back around.

“Oh, and try not to kill anyone this time.”

The lights flickered out and the door shut with a clang leaving the remaining fourteen contestants in a tomb surrounded by skeletons.