But two players stood apart.
The Slurchan and the Rasilian.
They looked… almost refreshed. Their bodies—gelatinous and fluid for the Slurchan, crystalline and angular for the Rasilian—seemed barely affected by the cold of the Veil. They watched Vaelor, Mara, and Gora with unreadable expressions.
Mara noticed too. “They look like they just took a stroll.”
Vaelor’s eyes narrowed. “Their physiologies give them advantages here. But that is not all.”
“You think they’re hiding something?”
“I think,” he said quietly, “that the Veil was not the only threat in that challenge.”
Mara shivered—not from the cold.
The Game Master’s voice boomed again, signaling the end of the round. But Vaelor’s attention stayed on the Slurchan and the Rasilian.
They were too calm.
Too composed.
Too aware.
Were they part of the sabotage as well? The ice picks thrown at them were not going to be the last of the threats they would face.
Chapter 23
Mara
“This is bullshit!” Mara exclaimed. She moved to hug the taller female.
Gora hugged her back awkwardly. “I can’t go on with a busted leg and since my rat of a partner abandoned me to save his own ass, I have to leave.”
“At least you’ll get medical treatment,” Mara told her.
“Look, before I go. I want to warn you. Don’t trust anyone but Vaelor.”
“Do you know something?”
“I heard a few players at the beginning of the competition mumbling complaints about you, a weak human female, and Vaelor, an unknown species, joining the games.”
“Who made the complaints?”
“All of them, including my ex partner.”
Mara was taken aback. Did Blaine feel this way too?
Mara patted her shoulder. “You have proven yourself to me. You helped me when you didn’t have to.”
“I think of you as a friend.”
Gora smiled at her. “I wish you luck friend.”
It was sad to see the only other female in the games leave. It left Mara alone with only male players. This was going to be interesting.
Four teams remained. Her and Vaelor. The Slurchan and Rasilian, their names she could never remember. Blaine and Dugan. Vor and Esto.
The last two players had become more reserved than before. Not that they were social to begin with. But they had decided to leave before the rest of them had been released by the Game Master.
