Vicious Champion (Games of the Gods Book 2)

by Nikki Kardnov

  “The real story,” Cronus says as he comes to the front of the box’s stage, “is that I wanted to throw open the God Gate and bring our Eden to the mortals and bring the mortals to Olympus.”

  Suddenly he’s in front of me again and I jerk back. All of the gods have this ability to travel through time and space, but it’s always unsettling when they do it, and even more so when it’s a Titan.

  “As you can imagine, my children didn’t take well to that idea. And I did not take well to their plan to overthrow me. Though, in hindsight I might have overreacted a bit.” He smiles, but it’s full of something that looks like regret. “I was angry, after all.”

  I sniff. “You can say that again.”

  “There comes a time in every father’s life when he looks back and sees the mistakes he’s made.” His gaze is leveled at me now, considering.

  “And now?” I ask, my voice quiet and rough.

  “Now?” He raises his brow and looks at Hades again over his shoulder. When he looks back at me, he seems to have grown by a foot. The hair lifts at the back of my neck. The air crackles with the same orange flicks of lighting from the forest. “Now, dear daughter, I have you.”

  And in a flash, he’s gone.

  Chapter 28

  Cronus just said—

  Daughter.

  No.

  No.

  Oh gods.

  Oh Gaia.

  Oh shit.

  It can’t be true. It can’t be.

  My lungs seize up again and I sink to my knees, trying to suck in air.

  Cronus, King of the Titans, did not just visit me in Hades’s arena and tell me I’m his daughter.

  Ohhhh gods…I think he did.

  Which would mean…Hades is my…brother?

  I can’t handle this. Too much.

  I thought I wanted the truth, but not this one. Not this truth. What am I supposed to do with this? What did Cronus mean when he said he had me?

  Had me how?

  What does he think I’ll do? Fight Hades and Zeus and Hera and Apollo and Athena and…Hestia?

  I glance up at the pantheon above me, living legends in the flesh.

  There is no way in hell I’m their…what, sibling?

  No.

  I can’t do this.

  I can’t—

  I look up and lock onto Haven again.

  There’s rage on his face. Determination and grit. He wants to win more than anything. He wants to prove to his brother and his father that he has what it takes to win and to serve in Hades’s House.

  Haven is ready to fight Cronus.

  I’m not.

  I’m not ready to be Cronus’s daughter either.

  It was better when I had no parents. I never should have dug for answers. I should have lost in my first trial. By now, I’d be stripped of my power and forgotten in the mortal realm.

  Wait—

  If I’m stripped of my power, Cronus won’t expect me to fight along his side.

  I get up and go to Haven’s side. Not a single muscle twitches on his face. The entire arena is frozen and I can feel power tingling through my veins.

  If I really am the daughter of Cronus…and I have the ability to freeze time…I could kill every single person in this arena with hardly any effort at all.

  The thought turns my stomach.

  No. No. I can’t do that. I can’t be a part of this war.

  I won’t be a weapon. Not for anyone’s use.

  So the only thing to do…

  …is to lose.

  Chapter 29

  As I’m considering what I need to do, the magic slips through my fingers.

  Like a wave crashing against the rocks, Haven roars and stabs the air where I just stood and the crowd gasps.

  Hades stands to his feet, his cape snapping around his ankles.

  Descendants don’t have the ability to disappear and reappear like the gods do. And even though that’s not what I did, I know it’s what it looks like.

  Haven whirls around.

  Hades comes to the front of his stage.

  The crowd is buzzing with speculation.

  Nereus has his hands wrapped around the box seat’s railing, eyes narrowed.

  Sword gripped in his hand, Haven takes a step toward me. “How—” He cuts himself off and curses beneath his breath. “Doesn’t matter.” But I can tell it does. There’s doubt on his face.

  Tears burn in my eyes as I drop to my knees. Even now, confused and violent and enraged, Haven is more beautiful than any living being has the right to be.

  I think that’s the first thing I hated about him. I hated how just looking at him could unsettle me. Even his wounded eye somehow made him more striking.

  He’ll make a good victor.

  I spread my arms out. I have no weapon in hand. Nothing to defend myself.

  “What are you doing?” he asks.

  I swallow around the lump growing in my throat. “What I should have done in the beginning.”

  He takes another step. The crowd boos.

  “Ana,” Haven says, “Get up.”

  “No.”

  “Ana.”

  “I’m not getting up.”

  Haven looks away from me to the box seats. I don’t follow his line of sight but I imagine him checking for a reaction from his father and his brother. Just a few minutes ago, Nereus was urging Haven to finish me.

  Now he’s silent.

  The crowd grumbles again, their volume of dissatisfaction growing by the second.

  “They want a battle,” Haven says when he turns back to me. “Get up!”

  “No.”

  He gets closer now, but his blade is still downturned. He puts his back to his family. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he says, low and throaty.

  I want to explain to him. I think if anyone could understand this impossible choice, it’s him. Haven never wanted to do his family’s bidding, but by the time he had an opinion on it, it was already too late.

  But it’s not too late for me.

  And right now is the only time I can make this move.

  This is bigger than me.

  Bigger than Haven.

  And by removing myself from the equation, I can give him a fighting chance.

  “I tire of this,” Nereus calls out.

  Haven’s eyes turn glassy. “Ana,” he says again. “Don’t make me do this.”

  My chest grows thick as tears sting in my eyes. “Take what is already yours,” I say.

  His jaw tenses. His nostrils flare. Through gritted teeth, voice low and hoarse, he says, “It’s not mine if you give it to me.” The black sword trembles in his hand.

  “Let us be done with this!” Nereus shouts.

  The crowd chants for blood. The roar of their bloodthirst sends a shiver down my spine.

  “Don’t make me do this,” Haven pleads again.

  “I’m sorry.” I shake my head and steel my resolve. I think this might be the hardest part of this whole thing—seeing the emotion on Haven’s face. Seeing the hurt. I’m not sure if it’s for me or for him. Maybe it’s a little of both.

  “Go on!” Nereus shouts.

  Jaw trembling, Haven brings the sword up and points the tip of the blade at me.

  Can I survive the stabbing of his blade? And if I can’t, will it hurt to die?

  I don’t have long to contemplate.

  At the last second, Haven shifts so that the sword is pointed at my shoulder as he plunges the blade in.

  An all-consuming white light of pain wracks my body.

  I think I fall over. I’m not sure.

  The blade is driven further. Something hot runs down the front of me beneath my breastplate. The crowd is thunderous now. I think I feel the ground vibrating beneath me, so I must be on my back.

  Someone shouts. I think it’s Haven. “Get the medic! Get the fucking medic!”

  My vision comes back to me in spurts through the white light. I don’t want to move. If I don’t mo
ve, the pain isn’t as bad.

  “Where’s the fucking medic?!”

  I open my eyes to see Haven overtop of me shouting at the gate.

  And beyond him, behind the royal box seats, I see a flash of Cronus. He’s far away and the crowd is roaring and cheering and Haven is screaming, but when Cronus moves his mouth, I hear his words as if he’s standing right beside me.

  “Worry not, child. The battle may be lost,” he says, “but the war has just begun.”

  Chapter 30

  When I wake, it’s dark and I’m not sure where I am.

  I blink several times and groan when an ache comes to my shoulder. The pain wakes me further and I realize I’m in an infirmary. One lamp glows in the background.

  I try to pull myself upright and wince from the effort. That’s when a chair creaks and someone stands up to help me into a better position.

  Half of Haven’s face comes into the lamplight.

  “Drink,” he says and thrusts a glass of water at my mouth.

  With considerable effort, I manage to get down a sip of lukewarm water and then collapse against the pillow.

  Everything hurts. My head is pounding. My face feels hot and my hands are swollen and tingly.

  “Why did you do it?” he asks.

  I open my eyes again and loll my head on the pillow to meet Haven’s gaze. His permanent scowl has returned.

  I sigh at the ceiling. What can I say that’ll make it easier? Him being mad at me is probably for the best anyway and it’s not like I’m going to brag about how I forfeited in order to help him.

  Because the truth is, there was cowardice in what I did.

  I did it for me as much for him.

  I don’t want to fight anymore. Not Haven. Not Hades. Not Nereus. And I certainly don’t want to fight some stupid war I know nothing about. I’ve always been separate from the gods. Even in Hestia’s House, she kept us out of the important dealings of the divine.

  Why change now?

  I finally have the name of my father and all I want to do is go back to not knowing. Maybe being stripped of everything I am and being forced into the mortal realm will allow me to forget this life.

  And everything in it.

  So instead of saying all of the things I want to say to Haven, all of the truths, I say, “This is what you’ve wanted from the very beginning.” I keep my voice even and light and without emotion, when inside it’s killing me to be so flippant. “You made it clear you meant to win so I don’t know why you’re being an asshole now.”

  I chance a glance at him and immediately regret it.

  Rage I can take. Annoyance I can take. But this…the look on Haven’s face…it’s unfettered betrayal.

  Guilt churns in my gut.

  He says nothing for the longest time and the silence slowly snakes its way around my throat like a viper. I want to curl beneath the blanket and hide. I want to take his pain away. I want…

  I want to take his hand and beg his forgiveness.

  Finally, he sits forward, elbows on his knees. He hangs his head and takes a breath.

  And that’s when he lands his most painful blow yet.

  “You are no better than them,” he says to the floor.

  I have to grit my teeth to keep the sob from escaping my throat.

  “You forced my hand,” he goes on and looks at me.

  I know he sees the tears pooling in my eyes, but he keeps going.

  “You forced my hand and gave me no choice. And now I will always be known as the victor who won by default, the champion of nothing.” He stands up and towers over me. “Have fun in the mortal realm, orphan. I will be glad when the memory of you is gone.”

  And then he leaves me alone in the bed, in the infirmary.

  And I can’t hold the sobs back any longer.

  Chapter 31

  I’m allowed to heal in the infirmary for two days.

  On the third day, it’s not Hades or Monstrat that comes to collect me for my banishment.

  It’s Nereus.

  He’s quiet but businesslike as he hands me fresh clothes to change into. The pants are mortal denim, the shirt scratchy, mortal cotton. The shoes he gives me are black leather with cushy soles. At least they’re comfortable.

  Since I haven’t showered in so many days, I wind my hair up on the top of my head and tie it off with a leather strap the nurse gave me.

  When I catch my reflection in the dark glass of a window, I don’t look like myself. Odd, that in the weeks I’ve been at Hades’s House, I came to think of myself not as just an orphan but as a descendant of the God of the Underworld, a girl on her way to being a warrior. Or at least, a version of one. Then, Cronus said I was his daughter and…am I a goddess?

  It doesn’t feel like it fits what I know about myself. It feels too big.

  In my new cheap clothes, hair greasy, I look like a mortal girl and that feels closer to the truth. In a few hours time, I’ll be stripped of all my power and immortality anyway, so if I really am Cronus’s daughter, that part of me will be gone by the afternoon.

  Nereus leads me down a staff hallway and then out to Hades’s stables where a carriage is waiting for us. Though we’re still in the shadow of Mount Olympus, I can tell by the pale light in the distance that dawn is nearing.

  Horses whinny and snuffle inside the stables. A stable boy carries two heavy buckets inside, water sloshing over the rim. He looks to be Marigold’s age. Will he someday be chosen as I was? Will he win? I had no idea how good I had it at Hestia’s House. No idea at all.

  “Hearthtender,” Nereus calls. “It’s time to go.”

  I climb into the carriage and Nereus climbs in behind me to sit on the bench across from me. He raps the ceiling and the carriage driver snaps the reins.

  We’re off.

  The ride to the God Gate is quiet and quick. Nereus doesn’t bother with small talk and I’m glad of it. I try not to pay too close attention to the Olympus I know and love blurring past the window. I don’t want to notice new flowers and plants blooming on the hills. Or see the mountains in the distance that I never got the chance to explore.

  I don’t want to have a fresh image in my mind of what I’m leaving.

  As I feel the tears prick at the corners of my eyes, I study Nereus and his hateful face to distract myself.

  “Would you have had to take Haven?” I ask before I can stop myself.

  “What?” he barks, clearly not expecting me to address him.

  “Haven. Would you have had to take Haven to the God Gate if the outcome had been reversed?”

  Nereus stares at me for a long minute and I wonder if he’s going to answer me at all.

  “He would never have made it to the God Gate.” He pauses and before I can ask, he says, “I would have killed him myself before he reached it.”

  And there it is. The missing piece of the story. The Fates were right after all. As they always have been and always will be. The confirmation that I truly did save Haven’s life settles in, though I’m not yet sure what the knowledge gives me more of: pain or comfort. But there’s a kind of peace in understanding what my message from the Fates truly meant.

  The carriage pulls to a sudden stop and Nereus jumps out and holds the door open for me.

  The sky has brightened, but the sun hasn’t crested the treeline yet. Birds chirp from the trees. The crickets have gone silent. I should be exhausted now that my schedule has transitioned to Hades’s nocturnal schedule. Instead I’m buzzing with fear and relief.

  I just want this to be over. I’m ready.

  I want to be done with this side of the God Gate and start anew. Maybe Theo can help me find a safe place to stay. I’ll be all right. I’ll make it work.

  Nereus walks me to the gate and undoes the latch. The gate swings open to the mortal side.

  “So how do we do this?” I ask.

  Nereus digs into his pocket and pulls out a metal stick about the size of a small carrot. Stuck in one end is a stone that glows orange
from within. I know what it is even though I’ve never set eyes on one in person.

  It’s an Underworld ember. A devourer of magic.

  Nereus pushes me through the gate, though I’m surprised by how gently he does it. “When I put this to your forehead, your magic will be gone. And when I walk back through that gate and close it behind me, you will be banished from Olympus and forgotten.”

  I nod once.

  Nereus rubs his thumb over the ember and it glows brighter. I brace for the impact of the stone, but Nereus hesitates.

  “Why did you do it?” he asks.

  “Do what?”

  “Forfeit.”

  I narrow my eyes. Why does he care?

  I level my shoulders. “I was a fool to think I had a chance of winning.”

  Nereus cants his head and scrutinizes my face looking for clues to the truth. “Is that all?”

  “Isn’t that enough?”

  “You did it for my brother,” he states, as if he knew that was the answer all along. He was just testing me to see if I’d admit it.

  I say nothing.

  “He’ll never be respected,” Nereus adds. “Not by our family. Not by Hades’s inner circle.”

  I clench my jaw, resolving to show no emotion at all.

  “You damned him,” he says matter-of-factly. “If you wanted to lose, the least you could have done was fake it.”

  I scowl at Nereus. “I’m sure he can win back his dignity by being vicious. He’s a Knightfall, after all.”

  Nereus shakes his head. “You forget his fatal flaw.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “He has a heart. And though no one will remember you, they will always remember that he showed it in the last moments when his final blow was not a killing one. His shame will be eternal.”

  Nereus jams the Underworld ember to my forehead and the world goes white.

  Epilogue

  The air is sticky and dark in Haven’s room.

  He tosses and turns in the black silk sheets and can’t find a comfortable place to sleep.

  How long has it been since Nereus took Ana away?