She looked from the stands to the large white tarp at the far end of the arena. Raven Whitewind and the other witches who had created the Gauntlet stood beneath it. There must have been somemagical mechanism for a witch to project the visual for the onlookers.
Stella looked ready to burn the tarp down.
Teddy loved her conviction, but he was afraid it was that stubbornness that would keep her from completing the challenge.
Endros smiled at her hesitation. “For my collection and for the good of our people, I find it’s good to occasionally reflect on the mistakes of other important figures in the kingdom so that I can learn not to make the same ones myself.”
Teddy turned to face Stella head-on. She looked so angry and so beautiful. “I’m choosing to believe my father wouldn’t have given this over if he didn’t think this was a possibility.”
“I can’t believe this,” she said in a hushed whisper. “He wants to keep them like little trophies. He has no right to their pain. He has caused them enough heartache already.”
“I know, but we don’t have a choice.”
“Don’t we?”
Teddy cocked his head to the side. “Minyha, you know we don’t. You know the price if you don’t complete the task to the best of your ability. We made the same magic binding agreement to the Gauntlet Games. It’s one thing if you’re too wounded to complete the Games, but you’re standing here with the task completed. If you don’t forfeit the memory stone, you’ll forfeit your life instead.”
Stella looked away. Gods, she was stubborn. Perhaps Teddy would be too if he had seen what she’d seen. He had only the implication, but she had lived it and felt her mother’s pain. He didn’t blame her for not wanting that to be entertainment for a heartless god and a bunch of ghoulish onlookers.
“If you won’t do it for you, will you do it for your mother?” Teddy asked. “She looks like she’s about to climb out of the box and jump down here.”
Stella huffed a laugh. “I bet she’s planning all the ways she would kill him again.”
Teddy smiled sadly. “She’ll have to get in line.”
Without another word, Stella walked up to the raised dais whereEndros was waiting and plopped the stone into his hand. Teddy followed suit.
“Very well. Stella McKay and Theodore Savero, you have completed the memory challenge. Congratulations and enjoy some much-earned rest,” Endros said.
A smattering of applause broke out in the crowd.
“And do be careful with those Sons of Endros causing havoc. I want to see both of you in the final challenge in two days’ time,” Endros said.
Stella nodded curtly and returned to Shark. Teddy followed and mounted Poker. They rode together to the stables, gathering their bags and leaving the horses with the stable hands.
Teddy paused outside of the stables. Stella looked weary but still lovely in the last dregs of daylight. He searched for what to say after all they’d endured on their short quest.
She’d saved him, and he’d saved her back. He’d seen her elated, grief-stricken, angry, sexy, and vulnerable. Nothing felt weighty enough to capture that.
Stella smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “It doesn’t have to mean anything, Teddy. You were just trying to hold me together when I needed it, and I’m grateful for that. I’ll be fine.”
It was like a door slamming closed in his face. The subtext was loud.I don’t need you.
She didn’t, and Teddy liked that she didn’t—but he hated it just as much.
When they were close, the bond felt like a powerful connection, but now it seemed the barest of threads stitching them to each other. He’d been a comfort for her in a dark moment, and that was all. It wasn’t like Teddy to be so sentimental about it.
The sex was incredible—he’d never felt so connected to someone else—but it went far beyond that. He didn’t know how to be casual when he knew her so much better.
Now they were home, though, and the escapism was no longer necessary. She would go running back to Arden, who was entirely unworthy of her, because that was what she’d fought for.
Teddy would go back to trying to win the Gauntlet Games, but he had no clue what favor he’d even ask for. He’d started off fighting for the freedom to marry who he wished, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted anymore.
For now, he just needed to face his father and apologize.
“I should walk you back.” He sounded so pathetically eager to spend just five more minutes with her.
Fortunately, Stella didn’t seem to mind. She just fell into step beside him.
