“Besides, there’s danger, Grace, and then there’s danger.” Mekhi grins at me. “No one’s actually died from competing in the Ludares.”
“Nobody’s died? Are you kidding me with this? How is the fact that nobody’s died yet a ringing endorsement for this game?” I look to my cousin for a little solidarity, but she’s right there with the others, a patronizing look on her face, like I’m the one who doesn’t understand.
And that’s when it dawns on me. “Wait a minute, Macy. You’re not actually going to compete in a game where danger is the first adjective that comes to everyone’s mind, too, are you?”
“‘Danger’ is the second adjective,” Luca tells me with a grin. “‘Fun’ is the first.”
“Oh, well, in that case, of course we should all compete,” I tell him. “Wouldn’t want to miss out on a good time.”
“Exactly!” Rafael says with a wink. “Plus, you know, if any of us ever hopes to end up on the Circle, well…training starts now!”
“You mean that’s still a thing?” I ask. I vaguely remember Amka mentioning something about how Ludares originally wasn’t a game but a trial to end up on the Circle, but to be honest, I haven’t thought much about it. “You play a game to become a Circle member? What if you suck at sports?”
Jaxon chuckles. “Ludares started out as a competition for the strongest mated pairs. If you survived the test, you earned a seat on the Circle.”
Mekhi smiles. “Can you imagine how brutal it was? One mated pair against eight kick-ass opponents? I would have loved to have seen Jaxon’s or Flint’s parents compete to be on the Circle. It must have been wild.”
Umm, yeah, so not my idea of a good time. At all. “So only mated pairs can sit on the Circle, then?” I didn’t expect that, but I probably should have, considering both of Jaxon’s and Flint’s parents are on it.
Jaxon nods. “Pretty much—it takes at least two people to survive the Trial, or so they say.” He squeezes my hand, his gaze holding mine. “I keep thinking we should do it one day. The Circle needs someone to lead it who won’t let that happen.”
“Us? Why? I thought you hated all the prince stuff?” I mean, being queen certainly isn’t on my agenda. I’m more interested in art school, even if I have to do a gap year because of the whole “trapped as a gargoyle for four months” mess that screwed up college apps and everything else in my life, apparently.
“I do,” he assures me. “But there’s been a Third Great War brewing for a long time, and Hudson only exacerbated it with the shit he pulled before he died.”
“Yes, let’s blame me for the fact that Dad and the wolves are teaming up with made vampires so they can wipe everyone else out of existence.” Hudson rolls his eyes. “What a wanker.”
“What does that have to do with us being the head of the Circle?” I ask Jaxon, though I definitely want to follow up on Hudson’s comment later, because it sounded very different from anything else I’ve heard.
“Gargoyles are peacekeepers,” Mekhi interjects. “If you and Jaxon take his parents’ place, you have a much better chance of keeping shit under control. Between Jaxon’s power and your ability to chill things out—”
“I can do that?” I interrupt.
“That’s what the old stories all say,” Rafael tells me. “Gargoyles were created to keep the balance among the factions.”
“Exactly. So when my parents abdicate, we can take their place and get things going back in the right direction,” Jaxon says seriously. “Which definitely includes avoiding war.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.” Hudson rolls his eyes. “First of all, the only way dear old Dad would abdicate is if you severed his head from his body and then burned him, twice. And even then I’m not so sure. And secondly, who says sitting on the Circle is a good thing anyway? Jaxon may suddenly have this starry-eyed vision of how easy it will be to stop a war, but the truth is, it’s hard and it’s bloody brutal.” He speaks with assurance, like he knows what he’s talking about.
“Besides, it’s not like being on the Circle is such a good thing. I’d rather stay off the damn council and keep my mate safe than be on it and always have to worry about someone trying to kill her to take our place. Trust Jaxon to not give a shit about that part.”