Coen was a little bit frightening.
“I’m next,” Aros announced, jumping to his feet and launching himself over the wooden barrier without a backward glance.
I looked up at the Gamemaster—a sol male standing beside the gong that sounded the beginning and ending of each match. He was set right beneath the glass box, probably so that the gods could whisper down to him whenever they wanted to see a particular sol perform. Sure enough, Aros’s name was now glittering in flame above the Gamemaster’s head, along withTabatha, whoever that was. I watched with increasing trepidation as Aros sauntered out into the center of the arena, standing there patiently. Pretending that poor sols didn’t get beheaded there on a regular basis.
Speaking of … “Uh, if you guys die, does that mean I’ll die too?” I spoke rapidly, uncaring which one of my soul-stealers answered.
Siret laughed—loudly, as though he had just heard the funniest joke ever. This sort of weird red haze descended across my vision and I was about to launch myself head first into his face. I knew my head was hard, and it would hurt if I hit him with it.
Yael must have seen my intentions, because he wrapped an arm around my waist just as I launched. “Calm down, Rocks. Trickery is amused because there’s no possible way a sol will ever take one of us down. None. So don’t worry yourself about it.”
Yeah, sure, don’t worry your pretty head about it, Willa,it’s just your life we are holding in our hands. My scowl swung to face Yael. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the deflection toward my actual question there, so either you know your death would kill me, or you have no idea. Neither of which are comforting.”
Siret’s laughter was dying off; lucky for him, because I was still calculating the best angle to head-charge him. Would totally be worth the headache. He spoke through the dying chuckles. “We aren’t easily killed, don’t you worry. And the simple fact is … we don’t know what this means for any of us. Maybe you can’t be killed now either—as in until all six of us die, none of us can die. Or maybe there’s still a piece of your soul inside you. It would make sense, seeing as you’re able to feel emotions that are entirely your own, and you can easily make decisions for yourself.”
Well, that would be a bonus, but knowing my luck, doubtful. If there was only a little piece of me left, I’d almost definitely turn into a Jeffrey when I died. My attention was distracted then when Tabatha entered the arena.
She was just a girl in simple fighting-gear striding out from the door leading below the arena. There was probably a dweller running down there to fetch sols when they were called. I couldn’t see her properly from where I sat, but she looked beautiful and badass, her hair braided down her back, her scowl in place. She walked over to Aros, and then attacked, right when I thought that she was going to sayhi, how’s it going?or some other kind of casual greeting.
He flung out an arm as she pounced at him, so quickly that I would have missed it if the girl hadn’t run right into it. He caught her right at her neck, sending her feet flying out from beneath her, sand spraying, and flipping her up. His other hand seemed to push against her face as she was falling, sending her toward the ground much faster than she would have fallen on her own. She collided with the sand so roughly that her body actually seemed to bounce, and then she wasn’t moving at all.
Aros started walking back to us as the gong sounded. I supposed that an opponent falling unconscious would be considered a surrender, which was a good thing. I wasn’t exactly spokesperson for the sols, but I was happy that there were alternatives to beheading. I knew both Yael and Siret had smug grins on their faces, like they were saying mentallyI told you so.
Aros climbed over the barrier and sat down beside Siret, looking completely bored. I leaned over Siret, peering at him. “Why’d they pair you with a girl?”
He turned away from the sand, his eyes finding mine, his unease creasing fine lines between his brows. “The gods are always hoping that I’ll use my gift to win a fight.”
“How would that even work?” I was thoroughly confused, and a little too aware of the hand that Siret had dropped over my back.
Aros leaned forward, bringing his face close to mine. “I could have distracted her with desire,” he muttered, his eyes flicking between mine. “And then she would have let me close to her.” He reached out, his fingers winding around the back of my neck. “She would beg me to kiss her, because I would make her. I would make it all that she could think about.” His power trickled through to me, nothing like the debilitating need that he was describing, but enough to convince me that he was telling the truth. I bit down on my lip, trying not to do something stupid, like moan.
“And then?” I couldn’t help that my voice rasped a little bit.
“And then I would snap her neck,” he said silkily, his fingers tightening on me.
I drew back, wrenching myself from his spell, and he allowed me. Siret’s hand fell away from my back, and I turned to the arena numbly, my emotions running rampant.
Holy shit.
“Language,” Siret chastised.
Fuck you. I narrowed my eyes at him.
He grinned. “You have a dirty mind, Soldier.”
“I’m up.” Yael’s deep voice cut through the moment, drawing all of our eyes back to the Gamemaster as the persuasive Abcurse launched himself over the barrier.
His name was there, in flame. I didn’t even bother looking at the other name.What did it matter?They wouldn’t last. Not against Yael. Not againstanyof the Abcurses. Part of me understood why Siret had laughed at me before. My guys weren’t normal. They were something else.
Notmyguys. Just guys. Some random guys. Some random, weird, annoying guys.
“Are you insulting us inside your head again, Rocks?” Rome asked through a yawn, standing and plonking himself into Yael’s vacated seat, his massive hand falling to my knee.
I stared at his hand, and then at his face. He didn’t even seem to be needing a response. He was watching his brother, who was standing out in the middle of the arena as Aros had.
“Nope,” I lied. “I have other friends that I insult inside my head, you know.”
He turned, finally focussing his full attention on me. The glittering, gem-like green of his irises darkened with his focus, making my seat a pretty frightening seat to be sitting in right then.
