Vicious Champion (Games of the Gods Book 2)

by Nikki Kardnov

  But I don’t. I have the power here. He needs to know that.

  The back of his hand slides up my inner thigh, knuckles leaving a trail of heat in their wake. My body tightens up. His mouth is just a foot away from my center where I’m already dripping wet.

  “Haven,” I say.

  He slips his finger in around the seam of my panties and lightly grazes me.

  I am fire. Through and through. Ablaze with the electric shock of him.

  “Haven,” I whine.

  “Tell me you love me,” he says as he pushes my panties aside and sends a hot breath over my folds.

  A wave of tension runs over my body. I can’t tell if I’m the water pounding at the dam or if Haven is. Whichever it is, I want it to break through.

  He lightly flicks my clit. I arch my back.

  “Tell me you love me,” he says again.

  Gods above and below, I will be undone by him.

  “Haven,” I say, “I lov—”

  A rumbling growl fills my head.

  I lurch upright. Tarter’s got his teeth bared and his shadow form has gone to blaze. On my other side, Russ is growling and nipping at the air.

  Dream. It was just a dream.

  I’m trembling all over and…gods, still wet and tingling all over.

  It felt so damn real.

  “Sorry, guys,” I say and hold up my hands in surrender. “I don’t know where that dream came—wait.”

  Anger boils in my chest. Followed by the uncomfortable heat of embarrassment. “Haven.” I turn his name into a curse.

  Body still aching, I swing my legs off the bed.

  That felt like more than a dream.

  That felt like a fucking illusion. So real it almost was. There’s only one person I know who can fool me with their magic.

  And I’m going to murder him.

  Chapter 4

  I stalk down the hallway from my room, across the foyer, up the grand staircase, and down another hallway. Even though I left the dogs in my room, the staff gives me plenty of space.

  I will tear Haven’s stupid handsome face off.

  At his door, I pound a fist against the wood.

  My heart is hammering in my throat. Not from excitement or fear but cold rage.

  How dare he put an illusion in my head! My head is my head. He’s not invited and not allowed to go traipsing through there with his sexy, extremely hot dreams—

  “Haven!” I pound harder and wait. There’s silence on the other side. I curl both hands into fists and pound again. “I know you’re in there. How dare you get inside my head! Haven!”

  “I’m right here. No need to shout, orphan.”

  I whirl around.

  He’s standing several feet away from me in the hallway, arms crossed over his chest. He’s leaning a shoulder into the wall, amused, slightly bored.

  Now that I’m facing him, all the words have left my tongue. I suddenly can’t breathe. And my heart is pounding fast for different reasons.

  It’s only been a few days since I saw him last in the infirmary.

  Somehow a few days feels like forever.

  The damage from our battle with the shadowmen has receded from his face. There’s just a trace of the bruising over his one good eye making the golden color of his iris stand out even more. His other eye, the damaged one, is as white as ever.

  His gaze is unnerving at the best of times. Right now, still buzzing from the dream, it’s downright intoxicating.

  My skin erupts in goosebumps undermining my rage.

  “How dare you get inside my head,” I say and take a step toward him, my finger pointed accusingly at his chest.

  “I assure you, Hearthtender, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He’s not smirking like a liar.

  He looks like maybe he’s telling the truth. But then again, he’s fooled me many times before.

  “Stay away from me,” I say.

  He straightens. “You’re at my door.”

  “Just…stay out of my head and leave me alone.” I swivel on my heel, the urge to flee coiling in my legs. If I stay here one second longer, I’m afraid of what I might do.

  But Haven stops me with a hand on my wrist. His fingers circle me possessively.

  “What was the dream?” he asks.

  There’s fire in his eyes. A hungry curiosity.

  Maybe he didn’t plant the dream? But if it wasn’t him...then my own head is a filthy traitor.

  “Forget about it,” I say and try to yank my hand back, but his grip is strong and my resolve too weak. “It was nothing.”

  “Clearly it was something, orphan, or you wouldn’t be here trying to break down my door.” He’s within inches of me now. I can feel the heat from his body. I swear the air crackles. “What was I doing in your dream?” he asks.

  “Who said you were in it?”

  “Was I not?” His voice is low and throaty. He knows he was.

  In a flash, he whirls me around and pushes me against the wall. An excited gasp breaks free of my throat.

  “Was it like this?” he asks as he cages me against the wall.

  “No,” I tell him through gritted teeth. “It was nothing like this.”

  His mouth quirks up at the corner. His hand trails up my hip, up my waist. “Like this?”

  “Not even close,” I say, but my voice cracks.

  His eyes flash, seizing the challenge. He bends over me, his breath caressing the waterfall curve of my neck. “How about this?”

  It reminds me too much of his breath on my core and I don’t have the presence of mind to deny it.

  He kisses at my pulse point, then nips at the beat of it. I jerk. He presses closer.

  He’s hard now—the length of him digs at my pubic bone—and I’m fucking buzzing.

  I’m like a wild animal sensing a trap, but too fucking starving to know how to turn back.

  Haven’s hand comes up to cup my face along my jaw. His mouth hovers over mine. I lick my lips in anticipation.

  I need to turn back. I can’t keep falling for this ploy. I can’t keep looking like the fool.

  As a new warmth blooms in my chest, I grab his forearm. A jolt shoots down my arm and Haven pulls back like he was slapped. There’s a burn mark on his skin where I touched him.

  “Getting better control of your magic, are you?”

  I advance on him. There’s a smirk on his face, but he backtracks like he’s afraid of touching me now.

  When he slams into the wall, I drive my knee up to his groin just enough to make him sweat it. He inhales sharply through gnashed teeth.

  “You know better than anyone how much control I have over my power,” I say hoping he doesn’t read the lie on my face. I’m still fighting with my magic. Still desperately trying to learn its language. But the last time Haven saw me use it, I was saving his ass, so as far as he knows, I’m now Reigning Badass of the Underworld.

  “In two weeks, I’m going to show everyone just how useless you are,” I say.

  “Is that right?”

  “That’s right.”

  He laughs. For some reason, I think I’m losing this argument even though I should be winning.

  And then Haven grabs my arm with one hand and hooks his other around the back of the knee I have pinned between his legs. Before I realize what he’s doing, he’s hauling me off my feet with barely any effort at all and driving me down to the floor.

  I land with an umph and Haven pins me, his knees at my hips, my wrists trapped beneath one of his strong hands far above my head.

  “You won’t win, orphan,” he says.

  I clench my teeth. “Yes I will.”

  He laughs again. “You’ve never trained a day in your life. I’ve been training every single day of mine. And now? You’re getting your education from a professor while I’m spending my nights with Nereus. Who do you think is the better teacher?”

  “Maybe I should petition Hades then. Make Nereus teach me too.”

&nbs
p; A rumble sounds deep in his throat and a sharp edge comes to his gaze. “Don’t.”

  “Why? Afraid I’ll learn your moves?”

  When his attention wanders for a split second, I buck him off me and roll him to his back. While he’s distracted, I scramble over top of him and press my knee into his sternum. He grunts. I’m feeling damn proud of myself, the orphan who’s barely trained a day in her life.

  What I want to say is, See what I’ve learned so far? Instead I say, “What are you afraid of? Afraid I’ll win and you’ll be exposed for the loser you are?”

  He rams his hand up between my legs, throwing me back. Instantly, a needy thrill races up my center.

  I fall back on my butt, a little breathless, a whole lot of shaky.

  We’re both sitting there staring at one another. At an impasse.

  “You don’t want Nereus as a teacher,” he says. He’s serious now. And I can tell it’s more than just the training. It’s the man doing it.

  I have a flashback of Haven getting rattled by his older brother in a dark parlor at Zeus’s palace. Of Haven’s back and chest covered in old scars. I didn’t ask where he got them, but I have a guess.

  Nereus’s brutal treatment of his little brother is a secret I wasn’t supposed to know, but it’s a memory I can’t seem to wipe away.

  It’s as stuck there as Haven’s wicked, cruel mouth and his achingly beautiful face.

  “Why did you tell Nereus I hid in the maze?” I ask.

  This is the question that’s been plaguing me for days. The obvious answer is he didn’t want to look weak in front of his brother. I think that’s why he did it, but I want him to admit it to me.

  I want to know why he betrayed me.

  He looks away for a second and his gaze goes distant. I think he’s putting his words together. I’m ready for an honest answer regardless of how vicious it is.

  When he turns back to me, his dark brow is furrowed and his mouth is twisted into a scowl. “Maybe the better question is, why did you let me?”

  He climbs to his feet and goes to his door. He doesn’t wait for my answer. He disappears inside without another look and turns the lock a second later. It’s a loud clang that I swear echoes down the hallway.

  An exclamation point on the end of our tête-à-tête.

  Chapter 5

  The next afternoon, not long after I get up, a messenger delivers a note. I think it’s from Monstrat until I notice the red wax on the back is stamped with Hades’s personal seal.

  Report to the Main Hall, it says in his slanted cursive handwriting.

  There’s no time listed so I’m assuming it’s a now command.

  I dress in my tactical gear. I’m supposed to be training with Monstrat today, so either we’ll meet afterward or Hades plans to attend my training. That will be about as much fun as gutting a bog fish.

  After yesterday’s mayhem with Max and the dogs, I decide to take them if only to keep my eye on them. Monstrat won’t mind and a little part of me wants to show them off in front of Hades, Lord of the Underworld, who couldn’t even tame the hounds.

  When I round into the hall with Russ on my left and Tarter on my right, I feel like a queen. It’s a feeling I don’t ever want to lose. Which just reinforces my need to win the last trial.

  Thinking that, a pang of longing hits me in the chest. If I win, Haven will lose and he’ll be banished to the mortal realm.

  You don’t care about Haven. Get yourself together!

  But then I catch sight of him beside Nereus in the Great Hall and my stomach drops.

  I do care.

  I’m a glutton for punishment, apparently.

  Except, why is everyone here? I don’t want to train in front of Haven. If I do, he’ll know how much I suck. I got lucky with him yesterday in the hallway. If he spends a few hours with me, he’ll know the real state of my abilities.

  “Ana,” Monstrat calls. “Come join us.”

  “Late as always,” Nereus mutters.

  I come up beside Haven. Tarter and Russ do me justice and growl up at him. Haven, for his part, does himself justice and doesn’t react at all. The big jerk.

  Hades is before us on the dais with Nereus on one side and Monstrat on the other. I give Monstrat a look that says, What’s this about?

  He gives me a barely perceptible shake of his head. He’s as clueless as I am? That can’t be good.

  Maybe Hades is pushing up our trial and it starts right now? As much as I’m eager to get this over with, I’m in no way prepared.

  “As both of you know,” Hades begins, his voice echoing through the hall, “the Fates have always helped guide us on our journeys. In fact, it was the Fates that helped the Olympian gods finally defeat Cronus thousands of years ago.

  “It is the Fates that chose you and put you here now.” His eyes flash briefly with flames. Tarter pulls back his teeth and lets out a low snarl. I put my hand on his head to quiet him.

  Hades continues, “Now that you’ve nearly reached the end of your descendants trial, it’s time to get a glimpse of your future.”

  Nereus frowns and shoots a look up at Hades.

  “I want you both to travel to Mount Ida, to the Moirai pool, and visit the Fates to ask them for their insight and their wisdom. The journey will be an arduous one. Mount Ida is not known for its mercy.”

  Beside me, Haven flinches.

  Is Hades purposefully pulling on old wounds? Haven’s mom killed herself by jumping off a cliff on Mount Ida. He blames himself for it because he was supposed to be watching out for her. And afterward, Nereus punished him for it by forcing Haven to look at his mom wandering in the Underworld. It’s why one of his eyes is leached of all its color.

  Nereus keeps his face schooled to one of indifference as Hades goes on. “The journey will be as much about what you learn as it is about your ability to work in a team. For whoever ascends will one day be responsible for others beneath them. Soldiers. Descendants. Staff. I need to know you are loyal to your kin and that you’ll put aside any differences for the greater good.

  “Should one of you return without the other”—he levels his gaze at us and I swear I see smoke—“you will both lose. Leave as a team. Return as a team. Those are the only rules.”

  Well, this just keeps getting worse and worse. Now I have to spend several days with Haven? Alone? On a mountain?

  Son. Of. A. Nymph.

  “My lord,” Nereus starts, “is this really the best use of their—” Hades cuts him off with a scathing look.

  Monstrat and I share a glance. This is going to seriously cut into our training time. And I can’t say I really want to know my future. Because what if I lose?

  What if I win?

  “When do we leave, my lord?” Haven asks.

  “Now,” Hades says.

  “Now?” Nereus barks.

  Hades unclasps his hands from behind his back and turns to face Nereus straight on. Nereus is bigger than Haven, taller by several inches, more corded with muscle, but Nereus looks like a house cat next to the God of the Underworld.

  “Your insubordination is starting to vex me,” Hades says. “Open your mouth one more time and I’ll have it sewn shut by Arachne herself.”

  Nereus clamps his mouth shut, but his jaw flexes like he’s gritting his teeth.

  “You have an hour to prepare,” Hades says. “Then you set out on foot for Mount Ida. You are dismissed.” He looks at Nereus. “All of you.”

  I snap my fingers and Tarter and Russ follow me to the door. I can feel Haven behind me. What does he think of all this? Is he dreading this as much as I am? Can we really work together for several days without killing each other?

  Russ whines and I scratch her behind the ears. “Don’t worry, girl,” I say loud enough for Haven to hear, “I wouldn’t leave without you. You’re coming too.”

  Let’s see Haven try something when I have two Underworld guard dogs at my side.

  Chapter 6

  On my way back to my room,
I run into Max in the foyer.

  “Done with training already?” he asks as he falls into step beside me while keeping his distance from the dogs.

  Since I have no one else to complain to, I unload on Max. “No. Get this—Hades is making me and Haven go to Mount Ida to the Moirai Well!”

  “He—what?”

  “Can you believe it?” I growl in frustration. “Has he ever done this before? With any of the descendants before us?”

  We turn into the hallway to my room.

  “No. Never.” A worried pinch appears between Max’s brows. “Mount Ida is not exactly the safest place to be. And the Fates’s Well…I’ve never been there, but it’ll take you at least a few days to get there.”

  “I know.”

  “And then a few more days to return.”

  “Ugh I know.”

  “Which means by the time you get back…”

  “The trial will be upon us.”

  Inside my room now, the dogs hop up on the bed and curl into each other. I open my wardrobe and grab the black pack that had appeared in there along with my clothing. I toss items into the bag.

  “I have an hour,” I say. “Tell me what I need to watch out for. Got any tips?”

  “Well…” Max sits in the wingback chair as he thinks. “There are the arae—deamons of curses from the Underworld. The catoblepas can be found on the mountain too, sometimes, usually in the winter. But if you happen to come across one, do not look at it. Oh, and a cerastes will literally buck you right off the mountainside so don’t go standing on cliff edges.”

  “Remind me of what a cerastes is again?”

  “Serpent with horns like a ram.”

  “Ahh right.” I ball up a shirt and throw it in my pack.

  “A crocotta would be a nasty thing to run into, so don’t. And there’s rumor of a nest of gorgons so watch out for that too.”

  “I’m going to die on this mountain.”

  Max makes a face at me like he’s trying to cheer me up but is really thinking, yeah, that might actually happen.

  “Have you gotten better control over your power? You can use it to protect yourself. Most of the creatures of Mount Ida don’t have powers. Other than the sirens and crocottas.”