by E. M. Moore
“Unless Dumont has suddenly gained a bunch of followers I know nothing about, then he’s sticking with the ones I said. I just don’t know what order he’ll use them in.”
Whatever. It didn’t matter. I was ready when they needed me. It could be tomorrow or the day after, it didn’t matter. “Then I’m fine. Thanks for asking about resting up, but I don’t need it.”
“Actually, I didn’t come to ask about that. In fact, I came to ask about something else. I just thought that was a nice segway. In reality, I could care less if you’re rested or not, Rajyvik. You’re none of my concern. I am interested in why you didn’t pick Young One though.”
Young One… Oh, Jesus. Him, too? “Stuart?” I asked, though I already knew who he was referring to. I hadn’t stopped thinking about what I’d said to her all night. Actually, that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t what I said to her, it was how she reacted to what I said to her. “It’s none of your concern who we choose to fight for us either.”
He chuckled grimly. “Touche.”
I threw some more hits at the punching bag, zeroing in on my target as I’d been trained to do, almost completely forgetting that Soren was even there until his foot scuffed the floor. I looked back and rolled my eyes. “What do you want?”
He shrugged his slim shoulders. “Just curious still. She seems like the most obvious choice. I’ve heard people talk about her. I know what she’s done for your clan since she came here. I’ve seen the boy work and he’s good, but I think there’s one thing you and I can agree on and that’s that skill doesn’t mean everything. Sometimes when it’s personal it can mean a whole hell of a lot more.”
I clenched my jaw, and shook my head. Cocky prick. Didn’t he think I knew that? Didn’t he think I was smart enough to figure that out on my own? We shouldn’t have listened to Isabelle. Yes, Ariana was good for us in other ways too, but she was our choice. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t stand to see the look on Isabelle’s face when she talked about losing Stuart. It was as if she were talking about losing her own daughter, much like when she lost her son. “We wanted her in there, but there were differing opinions. We found she was better served in another role.”
“Another role? Well, that’s just…ridiculous.” He laughed hard and short. I sneered at him until he stopped, his face still smirking. “Sorry, I just thought you wanted to win this thing. What do the kids say nowadays, ‘my bad’?”
My hands clenched to fists as I fully faced him for the first time. After picturing taking him out in as many ways as I could think of, I walked past him. “I think I’ll go get that rest now. Thanks for the tip.”
As soon as I got out in the hall, I ran my hands down my face. I didn’t think we’d lose with Zeke or I never would’ve thrown his name out there, but we had a better chance if Stuart was in there. She had the heart, like she said. She wouldn’t stop until it was absolutely necessary. She’d die trying to take her opponent out. That was one thing I admired about her, her will. It came from her background. At least the part of it I’d been told about. She had a strong desire to live and to power through. I could tell from the moment they brought her here and even though I hated the idea at first, it was one of the best things the princes could’ve done for themselves.
It still didn’t change the fact that I’d gone soft. She should’ve been the pick no matter if Isabelle Ravana pitched us her sob story or not. The truth was, I didn’t really want Ariana out there either. Not because she didn’t deserve the fight, but because she didn’t deserve to die.
12
Another afternoon, another moment of waking up next to my four princes. There was not a lot of room on the bed, but I was never so happy to be uncomfortable. We would’ve preferred to stay the night in the library like we’d done before, but without being behind a lock, it just didn’t seem as comfortable as even this. We weren’t hiding anymore, but that didn’t mean we needed to have people walking in on us. We knew what we were doing wasn’t the norm. We didn’t care, either, but just like most people’s private lives, they were private. I didn’t want to see how Isabelle and Gregor slept, so no one else needed to see the inside of our relationship either unless they were in it.
Lips pressed against the top of my foot, and I clamped my mouth shut around a smile and squelched a squeal. “I know you’re awake,” Connor teased.
“I know. You’re tickling me. Quit it.”
He chuckled. “You’ve been in a good mood ever since you and Nicolai hung out yesterday.”
“What can I say? He enjoys my company.”
“We all enjoy your company,” Stephan said in his lazy, just barely awake voice.
“Maybe he doesn’t so early in the morning,” Connor said, his blue eyes flashing in mischief as he looked at the back of Stephan’s head.
“I like Ariana all the time. It’s just you I don’t.”
Connor pushed Stephan from the bed. A normal person would’ve fallen to a heap on the floor, but Stephan glided off easily as if pulled by cables and then landed on his feet, standing nonchalantly and facing the bed like he’d planned to get woken up that way. “No fighting,” I said, reaching toward Stephan. He curled up next to me, sending Connor a triumphant smirk.
I laughed at the two of them, basking in the flow of the rightness of us all being together, even in such close quarters.
Connor kissed the top of my foot again and I squealed, kicking out. I didn’t hit anything precious because Connor calmly held my heel in his hand, not allowing me to thrash out wildly.
Christian sighed and turned toward us finally. “I guess we’re getting up?”
“It’s his fault,” I said, motioning toward my feet and Connor’s apparent glee at being the culprit.
“You know what I’m in the mood for?” Nic asked from my other side.
Christian turned toward him, his eyebrows scrunched together. “Didn’t you already get that?”
“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.” He winked at me. “Anyway, I want pizza from the shop by The Fort. The place where that waitress always falls all over us. She’s fun to watch.”
I sat up and flicked Nic on the shoulder. “That’s not her fault. You guys are a force to be reckoned with when you’re all together. It’s enough to send any woman over the edge. Especially a human one.”
“You seem to handle us well.”
“It just so happens I’m an expert in Ravana princes,” I said, smiling at them all.
Christian sat up now too, his hand coming to rest on my thigh. He squeezed it once before sighing. “I suppose we should all get up. We have a lot to do today until the fight.” He looked up at me. “Do you think Soren will need our help again with Lex? Gregor might need me—”
“I can fill in,” Nic said. “You can go ahead and do all the political stuff while we have fun in the gym.”
Christian ignored Nic and kept his eyes on me. I patted his hand. “Go ahead. Whatever you want to do, just make sure Gregor comes to the gym today for training too.”
He bent over and kissed my lips. “Of course.” Then, he pushed himself off the bed and fled the room.
Stephan was next. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek and then left, mumbling about a shower and food.
Connor laid back, his hands behind his head as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “I’ll stick with you two today. I’m sure someone can use a superior sparring partner like myself.”
I dug my toes into his side and he shied away, laughing.
After gathering my shower things, I snuck into the bathroom as Connor and Nic talked strategy. People didn’t take Connor as serious as they should. He was smart. Something people wouldn’t list as a trait of his because his humor and good nature overshadowed everything else. I was sure Soren would be happy to use him with one of our fighters. I tried not to focus on the unhappy flip of my stomach when a picture of Zeke flashed in my head. No matter how much I wanted to be angry, Nic was right. I could be angry, but I needed to get it out of my system and
focus on what the task was in front of us. Being upset about it wouldn’t get our fighters ready any faster. It wouldn’t push our way through this war. It definitely wasn’t useful. So, I cast the hurt and the anger aside and focused on what would be helpful.
When I got out of the shower, Nic and Connor weren’t in the room. Not bothering to wait, I dressed in my gear and went down to the training rooms myself. As suspected, there were already the telltale sounds of fighting as I walked up the hall. I entered the room and scanned it quickly, looking for Soren. T.J. caught my eye first though. I strolled up to him and put my hand on his shoulder as he watched Zeke throw stakes at the target on the opposite wall.
He looked up, and when he saw me, he smiled. I was glad to see we were still on good terms. I knelt next to him so we could talk eye-to-eye seeing as how he was still in a wheelchair. “How are you doing?”
He shrugged. “Been better, but no time to rest. We got work to do, right?”
“You bet,” I said, guilt souring my smile. I watched Zeke throw a few stakes, missing the heart once by a few inches. “How’s it look down here?”
He scanned my face, and I felt a blush creep up my neck. He zeroed in on my eyes and then said, “Good. Everything’s going good. I think our fighters look good and with any luck, we’ll just need the next two.”
I nodded slowly, watching Zeke go down to retrieve the stakes and then turn back around. He caught my eye. His step faltered, but he kept walking, trying to cover it up as much as possible. “I guess I’ll leave you to it then,” I told T.J., still eyeing Zeke as he made his way back to the throwing line.
I pushed to my feet and turned before either of them could say anything. Thankfully, Soren was walking toward me at that moment. His face was thoughtful, and serious this morning. Not like when we were shortening his food supply, but like he had a bulldozer full of problems on his shoulders.
I knew the feeling.
“Where do you need me today, Boss?”
He made a show of looking around the room. “Don’t say that. You know most of these people don’t even like me.”
“Are you serious? We’re indebted to you.”
He rolled his eyes as if to tell me I was going insane. “Listen, I’m going to scout around the arena to see if I can’t find out who they’re sending in this evening. I’m not worried about Lex or Samuel’s training, not that Samuel will listen to me, but he knows what he’s doing. Just fill in wherever they need someone and make sure they work hard. The sooner we found out who their fighter is, the better.”
He turned to leave, but thankfully I was quick enough to reach out and grab his wrist. “You’re going out there? To ask around?” It was my turn to look at him as if he was the crazy one. “Aren’t you worried Dumont will catch you? Try you for treason or something like that?”
“I’m not going to be stupid about it or anything, Young One. Don’t worry about me. Your clan has enough to worry about.”
Didn’t I know it.
I watched as he walked away, giving me a slightly awkward smile as he went. Whatever he said, we were indebted to him. He’d helped us a lot, and in my estimation, that put him right up there as friends in my book.
He passed Connor on the way out of the training room, and Connor clapped him on the shoulder before walking up to me. “So, what are we doing?”
I looked around. Lex was on weapons this time and Samuel wasn’t here yet. I shrugged. “We could ask Lex if she needs us.”
“Actually,” T.J. called out. “You guys want to come help us? I’d like Zeke to go through that drill Christian and Ariana were doing with Lex yesterday.”
Connor locked eyes with me. I closed mine, and heaved in a breath. I could be the bigger person, right? Before I could say anything though, Connor said, “But Zeke’s not fighting until last if he fights at all. We’d probably be better off helping Lex.”
I opened my eyes to see Connor hiking his thumb over his shoulder. When I turned, T.J. had his eyes narrowed at Connor for all the wrong reasons. He wasn’t being a typical vampire. He was only saying that stuff because of me. “It’s fine,” I said quickly to Connor. Louder, I said, “Sure, we’ll help.”
“Don’t bother,” Zeke said. “I’m good.”
T.J. looked back and forth from Connor and I to Zeke, his forehead wrinkling in the process. He didn’t understand the shitstorm he’d just inadvertently started. I gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll help,” I said, forcing myself to look at Zeke. Whether I liked him or not didn’t make it his fault he’d been chosen over me. If we did need him to fight, we needed him to win so I’d be better off helping him even though the thought of having to wrap my arms around his body in order to take him down skeeved me out. I trembled, remembering the way he’d let Ryan think I was a blood whore.
I started to walk forward, but Connor grabbed my hand. “No way. That’s not happening.” Aloud so the two non-vampire folk could hear, he said, “You’re good? Great. We’ll just be over here with Lex.”
“Yep. I’m more than good.” He twirled his stake in the air. “That must be why they chose me to fight instead of your girlfriend. No need for her to be all pissed off about it though.”
Venom shot through my veins, hardening my muscles everywhere, especially turning my hands to fists with the thought of them connecting with his face. Maybe I should’ve agreed to the drill sooner so I would’ve gotten a chance to get a shot in on him ‘by accident’. “Screw you, Zeke.”
Connor tugged on my hand and I turned, prepared to follow him from the room, but Zeke’s voice stopped us again. “You have no right to be upset about this. You did the same thing to me when they brought you here, and now we all know why. Just because I’ve taken my spot back again doesn’t mean you can act like the royal bitch you were brought here to be. They haven’t turned you yet.” He tapped the stage against his chest. “I deserve this spot. Not you. I’ve sat through your medal ceremony, your speeches of recognition, and practically gagged my way through it. No one could see through to what you really are—the princes’ plaything. Now your secret’s out and everyone’s on to you.”
“Zeke!” T.J. said, his face reddening.
I stepped forward, my vision tunneling in on the poor excuse for a human being in front of me. “Say what you want. The truth is, you’ll always be a coward. I don’t care if you were chosen or not. You proved yourself a coward when you tried to take me out when I first got here—twice. You’ve proven your character again and again with every single move you’ve made out of fear. You were scared I was going to take your spot? You were right to be. It’s still not yours and just because they picked you this time doesn’t mean they’ll do it again. So if I were you, when people volunteer to help, it would be best to shut your mouth and accept it.”
He laughed hard. “You forget how much longer I’ve been training than you. You couldn’t show me anything I don’t already know. Taking out a few vampires and going out on scouts doesn’t mean anything. It just means your boyfriends arranged for that to happen. You haven’t gotten anything on your own merit.”
Connor hissed. I squeezed his hand as soon as I heard it. Turning, I saw his fangs had already protruded, sinking into his lower lip. I pulled back on his hand, not wanting to start anything here, especially if one of the princes was going to get involved. We definitely didn’t need that when there were other way more important things going on.
Lex had come up on Connor’s other side while T.J. just looked furious, his head moving back and forth like he was watching an intense tennis match. He’d tried to stand when Connor hissed, but Lex was already there so he didn’t have to.
“Alright, come on,” Lex said, pulling back on Connor’s shoulder. “Why don’t you two come help me out? I could use some angle by attack drills.”
I heard an amused noise from behind us and then a word that sounded like it rhymed with four. Connor tensed, but a near bellow beat him to it. My head jerked up only to find Samuel standing in the entryway.
“Watch your mouth, Nichols. How many times do I have to tell you that warriors use their honor, their instincts, their mental capacity to fight instead of their words? Words are just cheap threats when you don’t back them up.”
“I’m willing to back my threats up, Sir,” Zeke seethed.
Samuel ran forward, blurring a little before a smack sounded. I turned to find Zeke pushing his cheek out with his tongue and Samuel towering over him. “And that’s why you’ll always get yourself in trouble. If you were smart, you’d focus on the task in front of you. There’s nothing to say you can’t be replaced. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear the part about you initiating fights with Stuart when she first got here unless she’d like to make a formal complaint. If she does, you realize you’ll be suspended from training and won’t graduate.” Samuel looked toward me, his eyebrows raised.
Zeke glanced at the floor. He looked remarkably less holier-than-thou, but managed to still narrow his eyes at me as if what had just happened to him were my fault. I straightened my shoulders. “I think you misunderstood me, Samuel. I don’t have any complaints against Zeke. I’m going to beat him fair and square during final testing.”
Zeke’s lip curled, welcoming the challenge. Me too. Sooner or later, Zeke was going to get himself in trouble, or get what he deserved, but not by me telling on him. He didn’t need my help to screw his life up. For now, we were on the same side. After all this though, all bets were off. It was every guard for himself.
Lex pulled back on both our shoulders now. T.J. gave me a curious glance right before I turned and followed the best female guard there was to the far side of the room. When we got there, she said, “Don’t worry about it, Stuart. Men like Zeke can’t understand women like us. They feel like they have to attack in a way they think will hurt because they can’t rely on their supposed strength with us. What the asshole doesn’t know is that you’d kick his ass. I’d pay to see that fight.”