I raked through my knowledge of the Greek alphabet. I couldn’t recall anything. “I don’t know. What?”
John’s smile was blinding. “Ligma balls.”
My eye twitched.
This was why everyone hated humans.
“That’s the stupidest”—I punched him in the gut—“joke I’ve heard in my life.”
He chortled. “I’m not the idiot who fell for it.”
He punched me back lazily like a cat playing with its favorite mouse.
With renewed vigor, I tried to get him in a chokehold, but he laughed and easily evaded my grasp.
We rolled around on the bed.
“Knock it off!” Malum ordered.
John and I stilled.
The raspy command was disturbingly loud in the quiet bedroom.
“Everyone, up.” Malum stalked half-naked across the room—layers upon layers of back muscle rippled—he flung the bathroom door shut.
It banged against the wall, cracked, and a hinge broke.
The fuzzy memory of him holding me in the shower and telling me that he was going to take care of me played like a bad trip.
In his bed, Scorpius yawned loudly and cuddled Orion against his chest. I tried to ignore the irrational part of me that wondered if they’d ever considered modeling. It was hard to look away from them.
Forcibly shaking the irrational thoughts from my head, I climbed off John’s bed.
Climbed being a generous term for falling over.
“Calf cramp,” I yelped as gravity slammed me to the floor. Sprawled on the rug I massaged my sore leg.
John leaned over the edge of his bed cocooned in blankets and peered down at me. “Eat a banana,” he said unhelpfully.
My eye twitched.
“Great advice,” I said sarcastically as I shivered from a phantom chill and hobbled to my feet.
It was the morning of the fourth competition.
I’d barely survived the last three.
Darkness swallowed me. Colors muted, and I struggled to take a deep breath.
The haze returned with a vengeance.
When Malum left the bathroom, I went to get ready for the awful day. Nerves ate at my stomach, and my hands shook as I dug through my clothes.
The new underwear I’d gotten from a servant last week was already missing.
I was too nervous to care.
Brushing my teeth like a zombie, I grimaced at my reflection in the mirror.
Whatever they were putting in our food to slow our healing rate was highly effective.
They’d said the Legionnaire Games were a psychological competition.
They lied.
I’d never known that bruises could turn a putrid shade of green and purple or that healing wounds got messier as they were reopened.
Now I did.
I didn’t bother to run water over my hair to try to define my curls. The turquoise mass was a frizzy nightmare beyond help. The deep cut under my left eye was becoming a permanent fixture on my face.
Fae prided themselves on their beauty and class.
A small smile curled my lips.
In the history of the realms, no fae had ever looked as horrible as I did now. I could guarantee it.
A spark of pride flared.
I pointed my toothbrush at the mirror like a gun and bared my teeth. Take that, Mother.
The door opened as Zenith entered, and I whirled around and tried to give off “she’s not having a mental breakdown in the mirror” energy.
Zenith scoffed and made a point of choosing the sink furthest from me.
I bowed my head in deference as I passed him.
He narrowed his eyes.
I winked, and he wrinkled his nose like he’d smelled something bad.
He was secretly obsessed with me. I could tell.
Unfortunately, my momentary god complex didn’t last long.
It never did.
Ten minutes later I sat at the breakfast table, debating whether I should try to kill the kings and eat my heart before the slave brand saved our lives.
I didn’t want to participate in another competition.
I picked at my lip, made a small ball out of the pile of dried skin, and put it in my pocket. You never know when you might need to make some money.
John made bad jokes while I came up with a business plan. It didn’t matter that I was technically rich, it was about having an entrepreneurial spirit.
I picked harder.
John smacked my hand away from my lip.
He was probably poor. He didn’t understand the hustler lifestyle.
My knee shook under the table.
All the windows in the hall were boarded up, so everything was cast in darkness.
It didn’t help.
Across the table, shadows caressed the kings. High cheekbones, sharp jawlines, and sunken cheeks stood out in stark relief.
They looked like the devils they were.
CREAK. WHISTLE.
I dug my nails into flesh and made a concerted effort to not look up at the arched ceiling.
Students tipped their heads back and gawked.
No one spoke.
Even the mutilated man on the tree didn’t gurgle like usual.
CREEEEEEAAAAAAAK.
I jolted in my seat.
The rafters moaned as winds battered against them, and plates and glasses clattered.
Looked like all the rumors had finally come to fruition.
The storm had started.
I finally understood what all the gossip was about. The noises outside the academy were furious. Punishing. Terrifying.
This was no normal storm.
BOOM.
Thunder cracked, and the academy swayed back and forth from the force of the collision.
The cosmos themselves were falling.
The realm imploding.
Was the moon colliding with the planet?
Food fell off plates and ale splashed all over tables as the room shook.
A branch cracked and fell from the sacred tree. It slammed down atop an unsuspecting royal student, who crashed to the floor, unconscious.
Everyone stared at the limp student. No one helped.
When breakfast finally concluded, a stampede of competitors and students rushed from the hall.
Sadie slammed into me in the crush and asked, “Do you want me to braid your hair?” She grimaced as she took in my wild curls.
I couldn’t find my voice, so I shook my head to tell her no.
I was too nervous to sit still.
Sadie nodded in understanding and wrapped her arms around me. She squeezed.
Bodies crushed around us, and I inhaled her cranberry scent, grateful for the moment of peace with her.
A gust of wind battered the boards, and a glass pitcher on the table next to us shattered. Pieces splintered around us.
Students shrieked in surprise.
Sadie gripped me harder.
“How dare you touch her?” Malum forcibly ripped me out of her grasp.
I stumbled back, and Orion caught me. He saved my fall, but he didn’t release me. His hands splayed across my shoulders, and he leaned his head into my hair.
Orion inhaled with his eyes closed. “Relax, sweetheart,” he whispered.
I relaxed back into his embrace.
He pressed his soft lips against my temple, and I closed my eyes. His fingers massaged my shoulders.
I relaxed into his touch.
“Did she hurt you?” Scorpius sneered cruelly, and I blinked with confusion. Was he really asking me if Sadie had hurt me? My best friend.
Malum said gruffly, “I don’t want her near you.”
I jolted back to reality.
I didn’t need men to comfort me.
Clearing my throat, I awkwardly stepped away from Orion, who was reaching for me like he didn’t want to let me go.