“Stop, please,” Odessa begged. “I need to catch my breath just for a second.”
My eyes swept both ahead of us, then behind us, before I agreed. She collapsed against the wall and took several steadying breaths. Her eyes seemed clearer than they were back in the cave. The nectar must have been wearing off.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Her hand was pressed firmly against her chest. Her eyes were no longer spinning. They looked deadly focused.
“I knew. I knew this would be hard, you know? But knowing and experiencing it are two different things. I mean—” she started to laugh. “That was a fucking Gerataux, Dex! I used to have nightmares as a child about them. And then my maman told me they were just a fairytale, and I fucking believed her. Oh gods, I hope I make it back to tell her she was wrong.”
Her shoulders sagged then.
“What is it?” I asked, stepping closer. I knew letting my emotions and my protective feelings for this girl was a bad fucking idea, but I still kept coming back to her. Still kept treating her like she was mine to protect. Because if anything were to fucking happen to her, I wouldn’t know how to live with myself.
“I don’t even know if I’ll make it out of here.”
“You’ve made it this far.”
“And if I make it out? I’m afraid of the things that wait for me back home. If my maman will still even be alive. She’s been sick. And all I want is for her to be well again. I’d heal her with the money or new powers I got from this place if I win.” She was quiet then, and her breathing steadied. “I loved my life. I love my family. I love— I love—” my chest twisted waiting for her fiancé’s name to drop from her lips. “I loved knowing what was going to happen.” I let out a breath and closed my eyes, grateful she hadn’t said whatever his name is.
“And then, I come here. And nothing is certain. And you? Gods, you annoy the hell out of me. You’re so sure of yourself, and you won’t let me know you! And I shouldn’t want to, Dex! I have a life. A good one. But down here? I’m different. I’m not someone’s well-behaved daughter, or perfect student, or wife in training. I’m just me. And I like that too. It might be a crazy thing to even say, but I do.”
I tucked a stray hair behind her ear, wishing I could do more. Gods, I wanted to. I wanted to shove her up against this walland take her like I’d dreamed of. Now that I knew what she looked like under those clothes, I didn’t know how much longer I could last without acting on that impulse. She drove me wild with her raw honesty and passion. She was transparent in all her emotions. Never hiding them from the world. That took fucking courage, to bare yourself in a way that others could see exactly how you were feeling. I’d always been taught to shove those parts of me down. That it would only make me weak. But staring at me in this dimly lit tunnel, I began to question what I thought I knew. Maybe there was a strength to be found in vulnerability.
“Wait a minute. Back there, in the cave. Did you?” She shook her head. “Did you use the power of light?” Odessa asked.
I pushed my hands into my pockets and took a half-step back.
“You did! Didn’t you? That was light I saw coming from you.” Her brown eyes were wide as she tried to piece everything together. “How long have you had that power?” Her voice was calm. Too calm.
In an instant, that dagger she had tucked away was at my throat.
“Who the fuck are you? And how did you get that power?”
Chapter 27
Odessa
Dex raised his hands from his pockets. My arm was shaking with anger and adrenaline. I might have briefly calmed myself down from almost being eaten by a monster, but that feeling was back and in full force as I stared into the eyes of the man I’d stupidly been falling for.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked again. “You come here with an accent first of all, when it’s hard as fuck to get in or out of this city. Then you act like this competition is beneath you. And now, you possess a power that you shouldn’t have access to!”
“You’re right,” he agreed, his hair falling over his mask, and I fought the urge to brush it back. He’d seen me naked, I realized. I let him see me like that. Not even my fiancé had seen me naked, but I’d let Dex— a man I’d only known for a handful of days. What was I thinking?
“I know I am. Now are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on or not?”
Dex sighed taking a step towards me. It moved the dagger, but I stood my ground with it raised between us. My back was to the wall, pressed tight. He was standing so close to me that his breath fluttered over my face. I could flick my wrist and slice his jugular, but something held me back. I wanted toknow why and how he could possess such power. His blue eyes bounced between my own brown ones. He licked his lips, and my traitorous eyes follow the motion.
“I took the masks off the mounted heads before we started the games.”
“I don’t understand. I thought—” The rules. The rules of the game were clear. He had to be lying.
“I know. They told us the only way to get the power was to kill another contestant, but it’s not true. You only have to place a mask on your face and the power will be absorbed into your body.”
“Why would they lie?” Nothing was making any sense. I glared at him and rose the dagger higher so that it was pointing straight at his Adam’s apple. The tip of the blade was flush against his skin, nicking it and sending a sliver of blood trailing down his neck.
He leaned forward surprising me.
“Don’t believe me?”
