And somehow, being in a castle housing hundreds, I felt more alone than I’d ever felt living in Middle of Nowhere, California.
That had to have been years ago—decades ago.
Thad was the only person in this entire world who thought I had a chance in the games. I snorted to myself. Who was crazier? Him for suggesting it, or me for believing?
Voices sounded up ahead, muffled and hushed. I paused. The whispers continued and moved away from me. I hurried to catch them, sticking to the shadows of the hall.
“—better, actually,” whispered a voice around the corner.
“How?” whispered another. “Everyone will be watching her like a hawk now.”
I stepped forward; the voices were moving farther down the corridor.
“My father says she’ll be more vulnerable this way. Don’t you see? It gets her out of the castle.”
Once the voices were far enough away, I stepped around the corner. Three distinct figures were at the opposite end of the hall, turning the corner. They passed through the golden halo of a torch, and I clenched my fists.
Denn, accompanied by his lapdogs.
What were they doing wandering the halls at this time of night?
Whatever it is, it probably isn’t good and you should probably go right back to your room.
I waited a moment and crept after them.
“—vulnerable this way,” Denn continued.
“But what if it’s true? What if she really has power?” another asked.
Ah, yes, come to think of it, that one sounded like Laird.
“It won’t matter,” said Denn. “Father says everything is in place, and with the princess entering the games, things are better than they could’ve planned.”
I peered around the next corner; it was a dead end. The three of them were huddled against a wall. What were they doing?
Denn glanced around and I ducked behind the corner, my heart pounding in my ears as I held my breath.
The hall turned quiet. Too quiet. Slowly, I peered back around; they were gone. I stepped into the empty hall. Had they gone through one of the two doors? I crept to each one and listened.
Nothing.
Where…?
Curious, I walked to the spot I’d seen them huddled. It was just a stone wall with a large portrait of a castle built in a mountainside.
A powerful gust of wind rattled the windows, and I felt a slight draft…from the painting.
I reached out and slid my fingers along the frame, reaching behind it, and my fingertips brushed against a small knob. I pushed it in, heard a soft click, and the left edge of the portrait disengaged from the wall.
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching and tugged on the portrait. It swung outward like a door without sound, and beyond was darkness except for a faint golden glow, growing fainter by the second.
They were down there.
I climbed through the portrait, onto another stone floor, and closed the portrait behind me. The hall I stood inside of was just wide enough for one person, dark and dusty with a very low ceiling. It veered sharply left, and turned into a tight, descending spiral staircase.
I followed it down, trailing my hand over the cold stone walls. Round and round I went, careful to keep my footsteps soft. The air turned colder and damp, and I shivered inside of my cloak.
The staircase ended into a small, wooden door.
I pressed my ear to the door and, once I was satisfied they weren’t standing right behind it, I grabbed the handle and slowly turned.
Cold air engulfed me, mixed with damp spray, as I stepped out into the night.
The door I had walked through was hidden in a rocky cliff, the face of it built so that it looked like rock, and I was standing at the base of a hill. A river rushed before me, the same river that ran alongside the castle, which towered high above.
I’d just followed them through a secret passage out of the castle.
I glanced around; I couldn’t find the glow anywhere.
Something struck me from behind.
I fell facedown on the ground, and before I could get up, something sharp jammed into my back.
“Well, well, well, as if this couldn’t get any better,” sneered Denn, as footsteps crunched beside me. “Out for a night stroll…alone, princess?” he hissed in my ear.
I struggled to get up, but Laird and Felix pinned down my arms and legs.
“I’m trying to figure out whether you’re extremely brave,” he continued, “or extremely stupid.”
“Get off me!” I cried.
I felt the desire burn inside of him, and my insides twisted.
He sniffed my hair. “I think you’re extremely stupid. Only an idiot would enter the games without magic, and last time we were together we found out you didn’t have any, didn’t we?” He licked my ear as I jerked and wriggled to get free. “Let’s see if Thad comes to save the little princess now.”
“Get away from me, you pig!” I yelled.
One of the boys kicked my side, hard, knocking the air from my lugs. I choked and coughed, struggling to breathe, right as Denn reeled back and punched the side of my face. Pain exploded through my jaw and my vision blurred. I blinked but all I could see were little black spots.
Where had the spots come from?
“I expect you to apologize for that, princess,” Denn said in my ear.
“Let go!” I screamed.
“I think I’m going to enjoy this,” he said, licking my ear again. I could almost taste his pleasure, and then he ran his hands down my back, my sides, touching me. I jerked my head back and tried to kick, but their grips around my ankles and wrists only tightened.
“Let’s calm you down a bit, first, shall we?” Denn sneered.
I was being dragged as I tried wriggling free, but they were too strong. My head was shoved into the ice-cold river. I swallowed a mouthful of water and choked as they pulled me from the river, laughing.
I slipped one of my wrists free and threw a punch, but Denn caught it in his fat fingers. His chuckle sounded sick. “I want you more obedient than that.”
They shoved my head in the water again, this time holding me down longer. My lungs burst, the water around me like ice, and just when I thought I’d never taste the air again, they jerked my head up.
Denn smiled as he watched me struggling to breathe while coughing up water. “There.” He crouched beside me. “I think you’re ready for me now.”
He reached out with one hand to touch my face, but the moment his fingers grazed my skin, I struck.
I swung my leg out, knocking him off balance, shoved him back and took off running. The three of them scrambled after me. I sprinted but my vision was blurred and blotchy, and I kept staggering over my feet. Laird headed me off; I dodged just in time and cut straight into the river.
The water was at my waist when something gripped my boot, pulling me back through the river toward the shore. I flailed while water ran into my nostrils, and I coughed and choked as they dragged me back to shore.
But they didn’t pull me out of the water.
Denn shoved me down again and again, each time pulling me up just enough for me to catch a quick breath. At last he let go, crouching beside me as I hunched over, gasping and spitting up water.
He took a handful of my sopping wet hair and pulled my head back so that I was forced to look at him. “Stop fighting me, princess. You won’t win.” He leaned close; his breath smelled like ale. “So you can either enjoy it, or I’ll make it worse. It’s your choice.”
I spit in his face.
His eyes narrowed. He shoved me back along the bank and stomped hard on my ankle. I cried out in pain.
“I want to hear you beg for it,” he said lowly, grinding his knee in my back.
“You—“ My voice cut off with a cry as Denn twisted my arm behind my back.
“I really don’t want to hurt you,” he said, trailing his nose along my neck, the weight of his body holding me down.
“Beg and the pain will stop.” He twisted my arm harder.
I squirmed, but he was too strong. Or I was too weak.
“Maybe I’m not being fair.” He paused, moving his lips to my ear. “Beg for it, and I promise not to hurt Fleck.”
At the mention of Fleck, I froze.
Denn’s satisfaction was acute. “I know all about your little Daloren friend,” he said. “What’s going to happen to him, and trust me when I say that I’m in a position to help him, as long as you do what I say.”
He wasn’t lying.
I heard the clatter of a belt—his belt—as he adjusted his clothes, while the other two held me down. “I won’t tell you again, princess,” he said. “And I’ll have you, regardless.”
Bile rose in my throat. “Let go of me!” But even as I screamed, my voice sounded frail…and defeated.
And he knew he’d won.
“You know that’s not the kind of begging I want,” he said, running his hands down my back.
Tears streamed down my wet face, and I couldn’t stop them. I was helpless—always helpless.
And I hated myself for it.
“Don’t worry,” Denn said. “When people say you aren’t good for anything, I’ll tell them differently.” Denn grabbed onto my belt, and I heard a hard smack behind me. At first I thought I’d been hit, but no pain followed.
There was shuffling and someone grunted. Footsteps splashed through water and then the weight was gone from my back, followed by a succession of thuds and grunts and smacks. More footsteps splashed away.
My tears wouldn’t stop. I choked on them and swallowed them as I lay there, shaking and clutching my stomach, curled on my side. I felt filthy. I hated that Denn’s hands had touched me, that he had been that close…
That I had been so helpless and weak.
Someone pulled me into their arms and whispered, “I’ve got you, now. You’re safe.” And then I was faintly aware that I was being carried. My ankle burned as it swung back and forth.
“Please…” My voice trembled and my lips were so cold it was almost impossible to move them. “Don’t…”
“Shh.” The voice rumbled against my ear. “They’re gone.”
My lids fluttered open.
I couldn’t see his face, just the outline in the night, but I knew that outline anywhere.
It was Alex.
He stopped walking and started talking to someone, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.
At last, Alex bent his head to me, holding me tight. “Daria, I’m sorry, but I have to hand you off to Brant, all right?”
Brant? I knew the name, but my head was too fuzzy to place him.
“He’s another Aegis,” Alex said softly, brushing wet hair from my face. “He’ll take care of you, I promise.”
“We met briefly at Rook’s Landing,” said another deep voice nearby.
Rook’s Landing. What was that? I couldn’t remember, but I thought I should’ve been able to.
Their voices faded in and out like a dream. I just wished I could wake up in a warm dream.
My body shifted from one set of arms to another, and my legs started swinging again.
“You sure we shouldn’t take her to the healers?” whispered another voice.
“No,” Brant replied. “Alex said it’s too dangerous. We’re taking her to her room while he gets Prince Alaric.”
Warm air engulfed me, but it wouldn’t chase away the cold.
Why was I so cold?
Brant set me down on something soft and started tugging at my cloak. It triggered me and I snapped awake, raking and clawing at him, but I was slow—sluggish. He stepped back from me, hands up in surrender.
“Here,” said a soft voice. “Let me do that.”
Rhea rushed to my bedside and placed a hand on my forehead. “She’s burning up.”
“I know,” said Brant, “but Alex didn’t think it’d be a good idea if we took her to a healer and this got out.”
Rhea’s face was tight as she studied me. She took off my cloak and helped me lie down. “Keep an eye on her while I start the bath,” she said over her shoulder.
“Yes, ma’am,” Brant replied.
Rhea leaned close, brushing the wet hair from my forehead. “I’m going to leave for a moment, and these two boys are going to keep an eye on you until I come back. You’re safe with them, I promise.” She squeezed my hand and left.
I glanced at Brant, who lingered a few feet away.
“Are her lips supposed to be that purple?” Another boy appeared with flaming red hair.
Denn.
My insides churned and I struggled to scoot away from them on my bed.
Brant said something and rushed to my side before I fell off the bed. “Princess, it’s okay. Relax. No one is going to hurt you.”
I stared wide-eyed at the boy with red hair and as I watched him, I realized it wasn’t Denn. This boy was about one-fifth Denn’s size, with a face full of innocent-looking freckles and he appeared slightly aghast.
Brant adjusted a pillow on my bed, and I heard a sharp, “Where is she?”
Brant stepped back and my dad appeared at my bedside. Alex wasn’t with him.
Dad looked horrified, his eyes full of fear, searching mine in disbelief. “What happened?”
Brant said something to him, but all I caught were the words “bank,” “ankle” and “Alex.” My dad’s fury was almost enough to warm my insides. Almost.
Dad rested a cheek on my forehead. “She’s burning up! Where’s Rhea?” He whipped his head around.
“Right here.” She rushed into the room. “Bath’s almost ready.”
“Brant, Phin—thank you,” Dad said. He walked them to the door, and the three of them continued discussing things in whispers while Rhea helped me sit up.
“I need to get you to the bathroom; think you can walk?”
Very carefully, she helped me slide off the bed, catching me so that I wasn’t forced to put all my weight on my ankle. The two of us hobbled to my bathroom.
Even the stone floor felt warm.
She helped me peel off my cold, wet clothes and slip into the bathtub.
“Too…hot…” I tried to climb back out, but she wouldn’t let me.
“No, you’re frozen,” she said gently.
The water burned. My body felt like it was slowly melting, fire spreading over every inch of my skin. I wasn’t sure which was worse—freezing to death, or burning alive.
Rhea sat at my side, quiet, looking like a worried mother. “What happened to your ankle?” she asked.
I shut my eyes and sank into the tub until the water brushed against my nose.
I could still smell the ale on his breath, feel his hands on my body, and I felt like throwing up.
“It’s all right,” Rhea said softly, squeezing a warm, wet rag over my head. “You don’t have to talk about it. You’re here now, and safe—that’s all that matters.”
Safe.
I was safe…because of Alex.
How was I going to survive this week when I couldn’t even protect myself from Denn?
I stayed in the tub until my fingers and toes turned to raisins and the water had turned somewhat cold. Rhea helped me out, wrapped me in a towel, and assisted me into my pajamas. Together, we walked back into my room, where my dad waited impatiently for me. He immediately took Rhea’s spot beside me and helped carry me to my bed.
Rhea exchanged a glance with my father, and Dad shook his head. “Tell him no,” Dad said.
Rhea nodded and left.
“Tell who no?” I asked.
Dad sighed and looked back at me, face tight. “Your brother. He’s been outside of your door ever since Alex told me what happened.”
I swallowed and glanced away.
Dad sat on my bedside and folded his hands in his lap. “Alex said he was on his way back from the marketplace with Brant and the others, and he saw you near the bank.” His eyes were so blue, so worried and loving. “Princes
s, what happened?” His voice was so tender.
I bit my lip and looked away. So, Alex hadn’t told him what happened, and there was no way I could tell him. It was…humiliating. It made me feel like I’d swallowed a pile of dung and then rolled around in it. Naked.
Dad sighed. “How’s your ankle?”
I wiped a stray tear. “Hurts,” I whispered.
His rough, warm hands felt around my ankle, and I winced.
“Not broken,” he said, “but it might’ve hurt less if you had. Looks like someone stomped on it.” Dad looked questioningly at me, and I glanced away again.
“I’ll get Sonya in here to tend to it soon. Until then, you need to rest. Today is a big day.” His voice sounded burdened and sad, and his face looked strained. “Promise me you’ll stay here and rest.”
“I don’t have a choice,” I said.
He leaned forward and kissed me gently on my forehead. “Princess.” He gazed into my eyes. “I don’t care about the games. I don’t care about this world, its magic, its politics. All I’ve ever cared about are you and Stefan.” He paused, his voice shaken. He clenched his jaw and continued in the faintest whisper. “Please…be careful out there. You don’t have to win, Daria. Just stay alive. If anything happens to you…” His voice trailed and his eyes filled with water as his sorrow flooded over me.
I’d done this to him.
All he’d ever done, all his life, was try to make sure I was safe.
He was the one person in either world who loved me, and he was the one man I kept torturing.
He turned from me and wiped his eyes. “I need to let you rest.” He stood from my bed and walked to the door.
“Dad,” I whispered.
He paused.
“I’m sorry.” My throat clamped down.
He looked pained. “No, I’m sorry.” And then he left.
Chapter 16
The First Competition
Vera, Danton, and I were all that remained.
The cheers and clapping from the arena reverberated down the hall and into our room directly beneath the arena, while each of us waited our turn to compete. From the moment Master Durus had escorted us deep inside, Vera had taken a nice little corner and had stayed there, gifting us with a view of her back. It wasn’t until the three of us were left that she’d decided to spin around and nominate me the subject of her hard glare, spending particular time staring at my right cheekbone, where my bruise was.
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