“Why?” Anger flushed across her cheeks. “I’ve brought a little help with me before. Never bothered you then.”
Jax rose to his full height with the knife in hand. “I’m not disappointed that you brought it. Only that you chose such poor hiding places. That’s not like you, Vtachi.” His gaze ran slowly down her form, and she didn’t dare breathe. “Unless I was meant to find them, yes?”
Nya scoffed. “I had no idea you’d be the one searching. Usually, it’s Cyrus and Teagan.”
“The championships are the start of the Rovni Trials. Cassius wanted the best.”
“Did you search Xari?”
Jax shook his head. “No, Cyrus did. He’s the other enforcer tonight.”
“So why isn’t he searching me?”
Jax kept her gaze. “Because it’s my responsibility.”
“Stop saying that.” That was the second time he’d claimed to be responsible for something involving her.
His eyes cooled. “It’s true. The day Cassius assigned me as your lead instructor, you became my responsibility.”
The first week in the academy, Tina, the trainer in hand-to-hand combat, thought it a good idea to scare the new recruits so they could test their reaction time. Nya broke two of the warrior’s ribs and gave her a concussion before Jax got between them. From then on, when it came to combat training, the headmistress ordered Jax to instruct Nya.
He reached up and pulled her hair from its tie. Her long braid swept down her back.
“You are not responsible for me. And what are you doing?”
“Making sure you don’t have another throwing star hidden in this mane. Last time we were in the arena, you almost took out Myrina’s eye.”
“I wish I had,” Nya grumbled, remembering the pregnancy test on her bunk. “Is this necessary?” She smacked his hand as he unraveled her braid. Her hair fell around her shoulders in disheveled waves. “Happy now?”
“Not yet.” He gently raked his fingers through her hair. When he grazed the base of her spine, she stepped back.
“See? Nothing to hide.” She held up her hands. “And nothing up my sleeves. Now can I go?”
“No.”
Nya’s heart sped, and she took a deep breath, trying to calm down. If Jax stripped her of all her weapons, she’d have to fight twice. Once to get what she needed from the other warriors, another trying to defend against whatever Cassius had in store.
“Raise your arms over your head.”
Nya’s attention snapped back to him. “What? Why?”
Jax’s hands gripped her waist, his fingers so long they almost touched at the small of her back. “You heard me.”
She blindly stared ahead and complied. Jax’s impassive gaze flicked down her body before he focused on his task. He let go of her waist and reached overhead for her hands, running his fingers down her arms and her sides until his thumbs rested below her breast. “Your personality profile is one of an introvert. You shy away from touch, and you are extremely private. It only makes sense that you would hide a weapon in a place you were sure no one would dare search, especially one who is about to start her championship. You’re betting that no warrior, male or female, would dare touch an innocent, a novo. No one but Cassius that is. And that’s why you waited until the headmistress was in the top box before making your way to the stadium.” His hands swept up while his thumbs stayed put, completely cupping her full breasts from the sides. Nya’s breath caught as Jax’s fingers tightened and then roved over her chest until they centered on her breastbone. With a final sweep, his fingers ran down her midriff before dropping to his side.
He cleared his throat. “You may put your hands down now.”
Nya scowled as her arms fell to her sides. Even though being touched in a public setting was a nightmare, this was worse because Jax’s touch always did something to her.
His deep brown eyes, so perceptive, searched her face. “Nothing personal, Vtachi. I was ordered to make sure.”
Her heart picked up speed as it occurred to her that this was the reason he searched her instead of Cyrus. He knew how touch affected her, but with Jax, it didn’t send her over the edge—yet another way he was trying to help her.
“Thanks,” she mumbled. “That would’ve thrown me had Cyrus or Teagan put their hands ... there.”
Sadly, Jax smiled. “I know, Vtachi. I know.”
She started to walk away, but he reached for her bow.
Nya groaned. “Come on, Jax. No one knows I had the knives but you. Let me keep the bow.”
He shook his head and grabbed the top of the limb. With one solid tug, he pulled the bow off her shoulder and down her arm. “Sorry. Can’t. Rules are rules.”
Jax reached for her quiver, but Nya grabbed the strap across her chest.
“Fine. Take the bow. But I’d like to keep the arrows.”
“I’m sure you would. But that would leave you with a weapon, now wouldn’t it? And you did bring contraband into the stadium.”
He started for her again. She backed away, her gaze darting toward the inner corridor of the Coliseum.
Jax wearily scrubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “You run, you know what happens. Don’t make me take them from you. You didn’t get much sleep last night, which already puts you at a disadvantage. Fighting me now would needlessly tire you further, and the championship is about to begin. Believe me. Tonight, you’re going to need your strength.”
Nya frowned. “How do you know I didn’t get any rest? I like sleeping in the woods.”
Jax’s piercing gaze shot straight through her. “I was there, remember? You tossed and turned all night like your dreams tortured you.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “And Penn was on your mind. You kept calling for him.”
For years, she’d dreamt of being alone in their field, waiting for Penn, calling his name. But just as he appeared she exploded into flames. Excruciating pain usually woke her from her nightmare, like every nerve had been scorched.
It was humiliating to think that Jax knew.
“My nightmares are none of your business.” Nya grabbed the leather strap across her body and jerked it over her head. She threw her quiver on the ground, and arrows skittered across the floor. “Here. You want them, take them.”
“Vtachi.”
Regret deepened Jax’s tone, but she kept her head high and stormed away.
The five-minute warning rang overhead.
She came to the last checkpoint in front of the entrance to the arena floor. Teagan took in Nya’s hair swinging behind her back and her empty hands and motioned her forward. The tension in her shoulders eased and she quickened her stride. Xari and the other candidates had gone through several searches before getting into the stadium. But the warrior must have assumed that Jax had already found what she had hidden.
Rain pelted her face as she stepped onto the muddy arena floor. Hundreds cheered and took to their feet as the trumpets sounded overhead.
“Where the devil have you been, and where’s your bow?” Xari grabbed Nya’s hand and marched her toward the center of the ring.
Nya shrugged. “Jax took it.”
Xari snapped a band from her wrist and handed it to her. “Here. Tie your hair back before Myrina grabs hold and doesn’t let go. You really should get that mess cut.”
“Thanks.” Nya took the elastic tie and pulled her hair into a high ponytail before braiding it and winding it into a tight ball at the top of her head.
“What are you going to do now?” Xari glanced at her before facing the crowd.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got what I need.”
Fifteen pedestals stood in the center of the arena, arranged in a circle. A brightly colored scarf hung from their edge. One by one, the loudspeaker blared overhead, introducing each warrior. They hopped up to their small dais, taking their scarf and tying it somewhere on their body.
Nya looked at the other females, each one built just like her—tall, broad-shouldered, and big chested. T
heir tapered waists gracefully flared into strong hips and muscular thighs. They kept their heads high, shoulders back, their eyes alight with anticipation of the upcoming challenge. Strong. Able. Confident. Nya realized that even though she’d kept her distance from everyone but Xari, she felt a strange kinship with these females. The experiences they’d shared over the past four years had bonded them.
Her name echoed across the field, and the crowd went wild. Nya tied the scarf around her neck, tucking the ends securely in her jacket.
They stood, feet apart, hands behind their backs and heads bowed as Cassius’s voice replaced the announcer’s. She touted each of the warriors’ accomplishments before going over the guidelines of the tournament. Per usual, the rules were pretty much cut and dried. The only thing strictly forbidden was deadly force, which was understandable. After all, the entire point of the process was for the champions to find their equal and create future generations. Females wishing to disqualify themselves need only climb back up on their platform or if they were injured and unable to make it that far, they were to drop the scarf on the ground. Trainers and medics would then come to their aid.
Of course, if the challenge was hand-to-hand combat, another warrior could forcibly take the scarf, and the candidate would be defeated as well.
There were three rounds, and the tournament ended when only three warriors remained. Those females would be declared champions and then head to the Rovni Trials in Romania.
Nya took one last look around. Half of these warriors wouldn’t last an hour, and judging from their expressions, they knew it. A few had a chance as long as everything went their way—which it never did. That left Xari, the fastest, Nya, the most cunning, and Myrina, the annoying.
Cassius droned on and on about what an honor it was to serve, protect, and assure their noble race continued. Nya kept her head down, glancing out of the corner of her eyes. Where were her parents? Maybe their flight was delayed.
The trumpets sounded overhead, signaling the end of Cassius’s speech, and Nya finally had a chance to look up. She scanned the crowd, row after row until her eyes made their way to the top box. Silhouetted against the stadium lights were the Chancellor, a broad-shouldered male, and the slightly smaller frame of a female. The lights shifted to the arena wall, and Nya’s heart jumped into her throat.
What in the hell were her mother and father doing in the top box with the headmistress?
A horn blared, signaling the start of the first round and she was engulfed in a deafening roar as the crowd stood and cheered. Nya jumped from her dais and crouched, using the column and platform to help guard her back. The dull clatter of chains grinding against gears chinked above the noise as small sections of the arena’s perimeter wall opened.
Distracted, she glanced up. Her parents in the top box were to be expected. They were part of the Society’s elite, and God knew her father would have wanted to avoid the press. Her mother leaned against the railing, her expression grim.
Shit. What if control freak Gia Thalestris was here to claim her right as Nya’s guardian? The law was clear. If Nya didn’t win, it would be up to Gia to decide if her daughter participated in the Claiming Season. Hell, she probably had some male in mind—maybe someone from her or Ike’s unit. Someone that would keep tabs on her and report back.
Nya growled and focused on the wall, determined to take out whatever came her way. She might not want any of this, but she’d be the one to control who she claimed as an equal. Not mommy dearest.
The chains ground to a stop, and silver orbs the size of basketballs rolled onto the field. Hundreds of tiny red lights flashed, a sure sign of infrared sensors. Each sphere came within a few meters of a female as if they had been programmed to take them on individually.
Nya knew better. As the warriors fell, the bots would move on to the next. If this weren’t the first round of the championships, Cassius would probably let the challenge continue until one warrior was left to fight them all.
The rain didn’t seem to affect them, but it could help her get through this round.
Someone screamed to the left, and Nya glanced at Dianne doubling over in pain. A blue bolt shot from the orb, and she dropped where she stood. Light flashed from Nya’s periphery, and she jumped behind her pedestal. The jolt of energy landed on the column, just above her head, leaving a scorched mark in its wake. Her mind raced with possibilities.
Silver gleamed from her right, and Nya shifted, her foot slipping on the mud-slick floor. A bolt of blue missed her leg by mere inches. The machine hissed, quieted, and then a high-pitched sound started as a whistle and grew into a scream. A blue bolt shot from it again.
Nya scrambled around the column. One lesson Jax had drilled into her time and again was to observe the enemy before engaging. She allowed the bot to fire a few more times, counting between the hiss and through the crescendoing pitch until the thing shot again.
She had just under a minute between strikes, which would have been plenty of time if she had kept her bow. The only way past this challenge was to take down the bots, but how?
The silver ball rolled toward her, and she realized the outer rim of the sensors were raised. The thing fired, nearly hitting Nya’s shoulder and she slipped as she darted to the left.
Mud. That was the answer. The bot couldn’t aim if its sensors were blocked. She fell to her knees, scooping up as much muck as possible. Shifting around the column, she then waited. Blue streamed, missing her yet again, and Nya charged.
Electricity shot through her palms as soon as she touched metal, but she gritted her teeth and powered through, reaching over and grabbing more sludge, slathering the sphere, filling every eyelet until she held nothing but a dark, muck-covered ball. She dove, barely making it behind the pillar before the ball blindly shot a stream of electricity.
“Watch out!” Nya screamed.
Xari fell to the ground.
Chapter Six
“Thanks for the heads up, Ny,” Xari shouted, as the blue bolt shot overhead.
As soon as the energy fired, Nya charged the ball again, grabbing her hidden knife from its sheath. She flipped the bot over, finding its seam.
The structure was a spherical hexapod, meaning she could section the thing like an orange, but she’d have to do it quickly. The curve of her blade served as an advantage, and Nya plunged through the metal shell, allowing the sharp edge to arc along its outer perimeter.
She dropped the ball and ducked again as another bolt shot from one of its sensors. Luckily, the blue streaked toward the sky this time. Determined to find the timing mechanism before it ended up shocking the hell out of her, Nya charged, prying apart the metal shell and shoving her hands through the tangle of wire.
Her fingers wrapped around a small, black box, and she smiled. Grabbing the sensor, she cut the timing wire cleanly with her knife. The high-pitched squeal stopped.
“Nya!” Xari screamed.
Blue shot from the left. Nya dove, but the bolt grazed her arm. White hot pain streamed, and she shook as she crawled, dragging the disemboweled orb with her. Aggressively taking deep breaths and exhaling, she accepted the pain coursing through her. She’d found early on that fighting pain split her focus. Better to accept it and concentrate on the problem at hand.
Xari scrambled next to Nya as two more orbs rolled their way. “I followed your lead and buried mine in mud, but my sword is too damn big to do much at disarming it.”
Nya pulled the wiring from the ball, following the red wire to its end. “You ever play baseball or golf?”
Xari just looked at her like she’d lost her mind, but Nya kept her eyes focused on the nest of wiring, finally finding the small taser mechanism in the center.
“Take your sword in its sheath and swing ... preferably toward Myrina. I need another minute, and then we’ll give these things a taste of their own medicine.”
Xari’s eyes lit up. “Got it.”
They both ducked as four orbs closed in, the high-pitched mechanic
al drone eerily drowning out the cheers of the spectators.
Xari unbuckled her belt; the sword and casing fell to the ground. She grabbed the hilt with both hands and swung. One of the orbs sailed across the way. She turned to the other just as a blue bolt shot out of it, hitting her square in the chest.
“Damn it!” Nya yelled, dodging the third and fourth orb while scrambling to Xari’s side. “Breathe, and don’t you dare reach for that scarf.”
Xari clutched her chest, while Nya dragged her behind the column and covered her.
“Hang on, let’s hope this works.” Nya twisted two severed ends together, causing the tangle of wires to hiss and then scream like the thing was in pain. The other orbs rolled closer, all eyes aimed at the two females by the column.
Where the hell was everyone else?
A series of hisses followed by squeals sounded around them, getting higher with each passing breath.
“Stay behind me!” Nya yelled as the tangle of wires grew hot; she grabbed the small taser mechanism and aimed.
Blue shot out of the metal prongs in Nya’s hand, her muddy leather gloves doing little to keep the residual shock from firing up her arms. She let out a deep-throated yell, her fingers digging in, as she turned wildly from side to side, aiming from one ball to the next.
The bots glowed an unholy red as each of the eyelets exploded, quickly followed by the acrid scent of hot wiring and burning plastic.
A horn blared overhead, signaling the end of the first round. Nya fell to her knees and crawled toward Xari. “You okay?”
“I feel like someone hit me with a two-by-four, but yeah. Other than that, I’m all right. You?”
“Peachy.”
Xari chuckled.
Nya threw down the eviscerated orb, noticing the burned tips of her gloves and fresh blisters covering the pads of her forefinger and thumb. She blew on her fingers to soothe the sting.
Xari moaned. “Great.”
Trainers walked on the field, and Jax headed straight for them.
Nya turned away from him, quickly sheathing her knife back in its hidden spot.
The Scythian Trials Page 5