“Payback for taking my kill away from me last week!” she’d screamed as she held Pierce’s heart up in the air, his blood dripping down her arm like war paint.
When I asked Emmet why he’d teamed up against his supposed best friend in the Games, his answer was simple.
He wouldn’t be able to kill Pierce himself. So he figured it was best to have Octavia do it for him.
Next, Octavia won Empress of the Villa in a competition clearly designed in her favor. Her only options to send to the arena were me, Julian, Emmet, Felix, or Antonia. Emmet was the brawn working with her, and Felix wasn’t a physical threat. Plus, Octavia bristled every time Felix got near Antonia.
So she sent Julian and me into the arena with Antonia.
Julian made Antonia’s death as quick and painless as possible.
This week, I’d won Empress of the Villa. With only four other champions left in the Games including Julian, my decision might as well have been made for me.
Octavia, Emmet, and Felix.
Part of me wanted Emmet to take Octavia out.
Another part of me didn’t, so I could do it myself.
However, I’d been preparing myself all week for the logical result. Octavia and Emmet would join forces against Felix. The two of them together would be much stronger against Julian and me when we had to duke it out next week.
I watched the fight with the same detachment as Sorcha, even when the final blow was struck.
“Emmet—the chosen champion of Mercury—is officially out of the Games!” Bacchus announced.
I barely heard the rest of it.
Because Octavia’s heart had won out over her head.
And I couldn’t wait to finally get my revenge.
30
Selena
I entered that bathhouse that afternoon, ready to clean up, when I found the last person I wanted to see.
Octavia.
She was in the bathtub, with bubbles all around her. They glowed from the light of her ocean blue wings. She was leaning her head over the edge, and her eyes were closed. It looked like she was sleeping.
She was usually in and out of the shower quickly so she could return to her alliance-mates. She always had someone by her side. Now that they were all gone, I supposed she didn’t have to worry about anyone conspiring against her. She could finally be alone.
I turned and tiptoed back toward the door, hoping to leave before she noticed I was there.
“Selena,” she said, stopping me in my tracks. “Trying to avoid me, are you?”
I spun back around. She’d raised her head, and was looking at me straight on.
“We’ve barely spoken for the entire Games,” I said. “I have no intention of changing that now.”
“No surprise there.” She sat up, the bubbles just below her shoulders. “You think you’re so much better than the rest of us, don’t you?”
“No.” I raised my chin.
“Liar.”
“You’re the one who’s been parading around the house with your little minions from the beginning, like you’d won the Games already,” I said. “But look around. Where are your minions now?”
“Dead.” She shrugged. “Like you should be. But you just won’t die, will you, Selena?” There was a singsong quality to her voice, and she actually giggled.
Octavia was losing it. The Games had taken a part of all of us, even for her.
But she hadn’t started like this. At least I didn’t think she had. And there was one big question I’d been burning to ask her…
“You’ve wanted me dead since day one,” I said. “Why?”
“You have no idea what my life’s been like.” She leaned forward in the tub, her eyes narrowed. “My father escaped this godforsaken city when I was seven years old. He was searching for a secret half-blood sanctuary—something from a story told to half-blood children to help us sleep at night. He said he would send for me and my mom once he found it.” She gave a half-hearted laugh, and I knew what she was going to say before she said it. “We never heard from him again. Killed by the monsters in the North, most likely.”
I didn’t want to hear about Octavia’s life. I didn’t want to feel an inkling of sorrow for the girl who’d tortured my friend and enjoyed it.
But my feet were glued to the floor.
“Then there was my mother—my poor, weak mother.” She smiled, like she was getting a kick out of telling me this. “It took her two years to realize my father wasn’t coming back for us. She was never right in the head after that. She couldn’t do much of anything, let alone keep a job. With her mind so useless, she used the only thing she could to keep a roof over our heads. Her body.”
“She prostituted herself to the fae,” I said.
“Not to the fae.” Octavia laughed again. “My mother was no courtesan, at least not with her mind only half there. So she sold herself to half-bloods.
“Then, when I was eleven years old, she realized a way she could make more money,” she continued. “You see, men will pay a decent amount for a grown woman. But there are some out there with a much younger taste. They’d pay twice as much for a child. More if the child is a virgin.”
Horror sank into my bones. “You didn’t…”
“No.” She let out a single laugh. “She brought him into my room. She told me to listen to him and do whatever he said. She left me alone with him. But the moment I realized what he was asking of me… what she wanted me to let him do to me…” She shuddered, like she was back there in that room, re-living each awful second. Then she snapped her focus back to me. “I killed him,” she said. “When he was hovering over me, I grabbed my stylus off my nightstand and rammed it up his jaw. I stabbed him over and over and over again. I hated him, I hated my father for leaving me, and I hated my mother for trying to sell my body to the highest bidder. And each time I rammed that stylus into him—each time I left another bloody hole in his body—I felt better. Calmer. More in control. Just like I did when I took my time with your dear, sweet Cassia.”
Whatever pity I felt for Octavia was squashed the moment she said Cassia’s name.
“You enjoyed it,” I said. “However many people you’ve killed, you enjoyed it every time. Haven’t you?”
“You talk like you’re so much better than me.” She sneered. “But you’re not. Or have you already forgotten what you did to Bridget?”
“That was different,” I said, although my voice trembled when I said it.
“How so?”
I opened my mouth, but then closed it. Because how was it different? Did one death matter more than another because of how it was dealt out? At the end of the day, murder was murder. It was still one more person gone from the world before their time, at someone else’s hand.
“We’re not so different, after all.” Octavia smirked. “Are we, Princess?”
I backed toward the door, needing to get out of that cramped, stuffy room.
“Don’t you want to hear the rest?” Octavia asked. “Don’t you want to know why I hate you so much?”
Angry electricity buzzed under my skin.
I wasn’t angry at her for taunting me.
I was angry because she was right. I did want to know why she hated me. Because while everything she’d told me so far was awful, it still didn’t answer my original question.
So I stayed where I was.
She smiled again, looking pleased with herself. “Once he was dead—once I made that final hole in his heart—I packed up my satchel and left through the window,” she continued. “I lived on the streets, on the other side of the city, where my mom wouldn’t find me. Not that she ever came looking.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, since I truly was. Not for the Octavia I was looking at now, but for the child she’d once been.
“Then there’s you.” She ran her fingers through the bubbles, which were slowly disappearing in the tub. “Princess Selena. Raised by a king and queen in a castle on a utopian island, daughter of one of the mo
st powerful princes in the Otherworld, and the first ever chosen champion of Jupiter. I hated you before we entered the villa. But you just won’t die.” The water crashed in small waves around her, splashing over the rim of the tub. “Why won’t you die?”
“So that’s what this all comes down to?” I flexed my fingers, ready to defend myself with my magic if she attacked. “Jealousy?”
“No.” The water boiled around her, her cheeks flushed with rage. “It comes down to the fact that after everything I’ve been through—after all the hardships I’ve endured—I deserve to win. My entire life has prepared me for the Games. And I’m not going to let a spoiled little princess take that away from me. Especially now that my victory is so close I can taste it.”
“You won’t win,” I said. “Maybe you could have if you’d kept Emmet instead of Felix. But now it’s three against one. And you have no one to blame for that but yourself.”
The water stopped boiling. Everything was eerily silent and still.
Octavia stood up, her eyes not leaving mine as the water slid off her naked body. “You really think Felix is on your side,” she said. “Don’t you?”
“He mourned Cassia more than I did,” I said. “You saw him. Everyone saw him.”
“He’s a magnificent actor.” She stepped out of the tub and slipped into her robe. “And I’m not so bad myself.”
Tendrils of dread curled in my stomach. “What do you mean?” I asked slowly.
“You didn’t think that little temper tantrum I threw in the sauna was real,” she said as she tied the belt of her robe. “Did you?”
“You were jealous of Cassia.” I stayed perfectly still, refusing to let Octavia get to me. “That’s your fatal flaw. Jealousy. You’re only saying it wasn’t real to save face.”
“Come on.” She rolled her eyes. “That whole thing was planned. Didn’t you or your boyfriend wonder how I happened to be at the exact right place at the exact right time?”
“You were looking for Felix…” I said, although now that she’d said it, I realized she did have a point.
“Felix told me to be there,” she said. “He wanted to put a rift in your little foursome. He’s loyal to me, and he always has been.”
“No.” It took all my effort to stop my lightning from erupting from my palms. “He’s loyal to us. He was loyal to Cassia.”
“You really are gullible, aren’t you?”
I didn’t bother to reply. Instead, I headed to the door, opened it, and looked at Octavia over my shoulder. “Come on,” I said.
Amusement danced in her eyes. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“To find Felix and Julian,” I said. “It’s time for the four of us to talk, so Felix can tell us the truth once and for all.”
31
Selena
I stormed into the villa, Octavia at my heels. The orbs buzzed behind us.
They want a show? Then I’ll give them a show.
“JULIAN!” I yelled. “FELIX!” I went from room to room, throwing the doors open and screaming their names.
I found them in the game room playing Latrunculi—an ancient Roman form of chess.
“What happened?” Julian shot out of his chair and hurried to me. He skidded to a stop when he was a few feet away.
Why?
A glance at my hands showed me. Electricity danced across them, spreading over my body. I was a light bulb turned up to full wattage, and I was about to burst.
“I’m fine.” I took a deep breath, and the magic fizzled out. “But Octavia and I just had an interesting chat in the bathhouse. The four of us need to talk. Now.”
Julian was by my side in an instant. Octavia stood in front of the doors in her bathrobe, smirking and not saying a word.
Felix didn’t bother getting up from his chair. “What kind of chat?” he asked.
“She says you told her to come to the sauna so she’d overhear us talking,” I said. “That you’ve been loyal to her from the beginning.”
Felix looked to Julian, to Octavia, and finally, to me.
Then, he laughed.
“No shit,” he finally said. “It should have been obvious on day one, when she took me with her on that horse.”
I froze, his easy admittance catching me off guard. “But the two of you didn’t even know each other then,” I said. “You were just taking what she offered. You were saving your own skin.”
“That’s what I wanted you to believe,” he said. “But come on. Look at her.” He motioned to Octavia, roaming his eyes appreciatively over her body. When he met her eyes again, they gave each other seductive smiles. “She’s gorgeous. I’m gorgeous. We’re perfect together. Why would I settle for anything but the best?”
“But Cassia…” Her name caught in my throat as Octavia sauntered over to Felix and made herself comfortable in his lap.
Felix wrapped his arm protectively around Octavia’s waist. “Cassia was desperate for love,” he said in disgust. “She wanted to be consumed by my magic. She didn’t try to fight it—not even once. It was pathetic.”
“But you loved her,” I said. “You mourned her.”
“I was pretending.” He shrugged. “It was the perfect way to get protection from you and Julian. And hey—it worked.”
“What did I tell you in the bathhouse?” Octavia looked to me as she ran her fingers across Felix’s chest. “He’s a magnificent actor.”
Rage coursed through me, but I controlled it. I’d get my revenge in the arena.
Until then, the best way to fight was with words. And Felix was Octavia’s weakness. His magic had clearly gotten to her, too.
I’d seen how hurt she’d been when she’d seen him with Cassia and Antonia.
I could use that to break her.
“He is a good actor.” I agreed, focusing only on her. “But what if you’re the one falling for it? Let’s think about it, here. He used Antonia. He used Cassia.” It hurt every time I said her name, a sharp stab in my heart. “Why would you be the exception?”
Her eyes flickered with doubt.
“Because I love her,” Felix said fiercely, his grip around her waist tightening. “I’ve loved her ever since she was chosen by Neptune at the Stone of Destiny. So fierce, so strong. A beautiful goddess. We may not have long together, but once I’m in Elysium and she’s won the Games, I’ll be honored to have had her love, even if it was only for a short while.”
Octavia smiled, apparently placated by his response.
“Pretty words from a pretty boy.” Julian’s voice was hard as stone.
“But not as pretty as when you promised Cassia an eternity with her in Elysium,” I chimed in. “He didn’t offer you that, did he?” I asked Octavia.
“Of course not,” she said. “He believes in me. He knows I can win the Games. Unlike that stupid little bird, Cassia. She never stood a chance.”
“So how will it feel,” I started, tilting my head playfully. “If you win the Games and live your immortal life here, knowing that Felix is in Elysium laughing with Cassia about how easily he deceived you? How happy he’ll be to never have to see you again?”
“He wouldn’t,” she said, although she pulled away from him slightly.
“Oh, he would.” It was impossible to deny that I was having fun with this. “I’ve seen him with Cassia, and now, I’ve seen him with you. He looks at you with lust. But he looked at her with love.”
“Stop this nonsense.” Felix stood up, pushing Octavia down into the chair.
She looked startled for a second, but it was quickly replaced with anger. Anger toward me, anger toward Felix, or anger toward Cassia—I didn’t know.
All I knew was that I was getting to her, and I was loving every moment of it.
“Everything I’ve done in these Games has been for her.” He pointed to Octavia. “We’ve been an amazing team. You remember Antonia’s reign as Empress of the Villa, right?”
“How could we forget?” Julian stiffened next to me. I had a feeling it w
as taking all his self-control not to break Felix’s neck and rip his head off his body.
“Guess who was the brains behind that?” Felix squared his shoulders, continuing before we had a chance to reply. “Me.”
I stared at him, unsure if he was joking or not.
Once it was clear that he wasn’t, I laughed.
“Octavia went to that arena that week,” I reminded him. “If you were the supposed mastermind of that week, then you sent the person you claim to love to the arena. That makes no sense.”
“I volunteered to go to the arena.” Octavia stood up, her murderous gaze fixated on me. “I wanted to kill Cassia. And I told Felix exactly how I intended to do it. Slowly and painfully. It turned him on just hearing about it.” She looked to him and batted her eyelashes. “Didn’t it, love?”
“You know it did.” He marched over to Octavia, took her in his arms, and kissed her. Tongue and all.
I clenched my hands into fists.
Don’t kill her now, don’t kill her now, I thought, tempering the rage swelling inside of me.
There was bravery, and then there was stupidity. I hadn’t got this far in the Games just to be murdered by the gods for breaking the rules. I refused to do that to myself, and I refused to do that to Julian.
Julian took my hand and squeezed it, as if he was thinking the same exact thing.
Eventually, Felix and Octavia broke apart to get some air. Felix’s fingers were tangled in her hair, and he pulled at it roughly, like a promise for later.
Octavia was still pressed against him, breathless. She was butter in his hands.
It didn’t take long for her to compose herself and face us again. “It wasn’t easy to get time alone with Antonia before the selection ceremony, but I managed,” she said. “I told her what I’d heard in the sauna—about how Felix was also with Cassia. I told her I was coming to her as a friend. She didn’t believe me—at least not fully. She truly thought Felix wanted her. He had her wrapped around his finger.”
“Sounds like he had her wrapped around something else,” Julian muttered, glancing at Felix’s breeches.
The Faerie Mates (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 3) Page 12
