The announcer laughed at his own pathetic joke, but the crowd didn’t seem to notice that his sense of humor was lacking. They were cheering and screaming at the top of their lungs, and Zora knew that the bets being placed would be out of control. Many would bet on Otto, sure that a proven champion like him would never lose to a newcomer, even a newcomer as strong as Oskar. Still, others would bet on Oskar, hoping that the underdog would surprise everyone and sweep the field today. Zora didn’t care who won at this point. She just wanted it all to be over.
Oskar and Otto shook hands, and then made their way toward their respective doors. Zora held her breath as she waited to see what wild animal they would face. The animals today had been some of the fiercest she’d seen in any Games thus far. The bears seemed bigger, the wolves angrier, and the panthers more ferocious with each passing round. If the playing field had been this tough already, what would the final round bring?
Zora knew whatever animal waited behind the doors would be ferocious, but she never expected what came next. She wasn’t the only one shocked, either, because when the bell rang and the door opened, the entire crowd fell silent for a few brief moments.
And then, the cheering started up again, louder than it had ever been before. Zora’s jaw dropped as she watched two lions emerge into the ring, one from each door. Zora had never seen a lion up close, but she had a feeling that these two were above average in height. She’d never seen a beast so large before—or so emaciated. These lions had been starved in anticipation of today’s Games, and likely tortured as well. They were hungry and angry, and Otto and Oskar were expected to take them down. Zora could hardly bear to watch, and yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
“And they’re off!” the announcer yelled into his bullhorn as the lions roared and started charging at the bears. Oskar dodged the first charge, but the second time the lion caught him and ripped his teeth into his leg. Oskar’s bear let out a roar of pain, but he didn’t lose his cool. He sliced his claws against the lion’s broad side, drawing blood and causing the lion to loosen its grip just long enough to get away. Otto was having a similar battle with his lion, and large splotches of blood were starting to appear on the dusty Arena floor.
It went on like this for what felt like hours. The fighting lions and bears had become such a blur that Zora could hardly tell who was beating whom. Blood was everywhere, all over both lions and bears, and all over the Arena floor. But neither Oskar nor Otto seemed even close to holding down their lion.
Where did they even find these lions? Zora wondered. Lions had never been in the Games before, and they certainly didn’t live anywhere near Gilt Hollow. Gilt Hollow itself was separated from any other cities by hundreds and hundreds of miles, and lions didn’t even live on this continent. The beasts would have to have been shipped in from across the ocean, then transported to the nearest big city, then transported again for hundreds and hundreds of miles through dense forests to get to Gilt Hollow. All so that they could be tortured and starved before being thrown into the Arena to fight.
Everything about the Games makes me sick.
Zora sat very still, not even able to muster the energy to act interested anymore. She sat on her hands and gazed at the bloodbath in front of her, wondering how it was actually possible that thousands of people were sitting in this Arena enjoying this monstrosity. Beside her, Loki and her father screamed and cheered, alternating between angry and exuberant depending on how their shifter was doing. Zora wished more than ever that she could cover her ears.
At some point, the announcer started a countdown. Zora looked over at Otto to see that he had managed to pin his lion down. Oskar would lose, but that didn’t matter so much at this point. Even making it to the final round at all was an accomplishment for a first timer, and at least the Games would be done after this.
But the show wasn’t quite over. When the announcer got to five, Otto’s lion struggled free. The crowd gasped and roared, and the announcer gleefully yelled into his bullhorn.
“Oh, my! Ladies and gentlemen, the great Otto of House Severson has lost his lion. The show continues. Oskar still stands a chance of defeating the reigning champion. But wait, what’s this? It looks like Oskar has indeed wrangled his lion into submission. Let’s start the countdown. Ten, nine, eight…”
The crowd began counting in unison with the announcer, until the countdown was complete and the announcer screamed, “Oskar of House Severson is the champion!” But his voice could hardly be heard over the din of the crowd. Everyone was going wild, but no one as much as Loki and Zora’s father. They were jumping up and down and hugging each other and clinking their beer mugs in toasts over and over, slopping beer everywhere as they did. Zora’s father didn’t even seem that disappointed that “his” shifter had lost. It didn’t matter in the end who won or lost this final. Either way, House Severson won. The match would go down in history, with the Severson name attached to it.
Zora could not bring herself to clap. Luckily for her, when Loki noticed her stillness, he attributed it to shock.
“I know, sister,” he said, his arrogant, sing-song voice grating on her nerves. “It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? Loki’s shifter, fresh from Bear Hollow, sweeps the Games.”
“I…I…” Zora tried to respond, but Loki turned away before she could come up with anything to say. He was too interested in celebrating to waste time on her right now, which was just fine. Zora turned her attention back to the Arena floor, where the Games’ paramedics were checking on a very bloody Oskar and an equally bloody Otto. Once the two men had shifted back into human form, Zora could easily see that every part of their bodies was covered in scratches, slashes, and blood. Still, both shifters were awake and alert, which boded well for them. The paramedics had brought out stretchers to transport them to the medical wing of the Arena, but both Oskar and Otto refused the stretchers, struggling to their feet and unsteadily walking toward the exit door.
Zora felt overcome by the urge to go see Oskar. She turned to Loki and her father and yelled over the noise of the crowd. “I’m going to the medical wing to check on the shifters.” Both of them gave her a funny look, so she added. “To make sure they’re taken good care of. We wouldn’t want our family’s prized shifters getting anything less than star treatment.”
This answer seemed to satisfy her father and Loki, who waved her away without another question. Zora made her way quickly through the crowd, which wasn’t too difficult once people realized who it was coming through. The crowds parted before her and her wide, swishing skirts. Whispers and pointed fingers followed her, and she caught the occasional awed remark. “It’s the Severson girl,” or “Her family is best friends with the Emperor’s family,” or even “She’s the most eligible bachelorette in Gilt Hollow, other than the princess of course. I think she’s prettier than the princess, though.”
Zora kept her gaze straight ahead and ignored them. When she reached the medical wing, the guards let her in without protest.
“Afternoon, Miss Severson,” they said as they opened the door for her with a polite bow. Zora nodded to them, then rushed down the long hallway looking for Oskar’s room. Down here, the glitz and glamour of the Arena disappeared. Everything looked stern and clinical, with doctors and other medical staff rushing around with harried looks on their faces. Many of the shifters had suffered serious wounds today, and if the shifters did not recover well, the doctors would be blamed.
Zora peeked in the tiny windows of the rooms’ doors, appalled at the sight of badly wounded shifters. But she couldn’t find Oskar anywhere, and not all of the rooms had windows. Finally, she managed to stop one of the doctors as he rushed by with a clipboard.
“Excuse me. Can you tell me where Oskar Warden’s room is?”
The doctor looked up with a scowl, which was quickly replaced with a pleasant smile and a deferential bow when he saw who was addressing him.
“Miss Severson, always a pleasure.” He consulted his clipboard. “Oskar of House Sev
erson is in room 121, down the hallway this way on the left side. Congratulations to your family on a very successful performance at today’s Games.”
Zora resisted the urge to snap back that she didn’t consider having two men wounded while fighting a lion against their will “successful,” but she bit her tongue. The poor doctor would have no idea how to respond, and would probably trip all over his words trying to say something that would not upset an important nobleman’s daughter. So Zora merely said a quick thank-you and made her way toward the door number he’d mentioned.
When she entered the room, she found Oskar surrounded by at least half a dozen medical professionals. Bright lights streamed down on him as the staff cleaned up his wounds, stitched up deep gashes, and monitored his vital signs as best they could. Two of the staff seemed to be arguing over whether his wrist was broken or merely sprained. No one noticed that Zora had entered the room. No one except Oskar, that is. He turned his eyes, dark as a moonless midnight sky, to look at her. And then, he smiled.
Zora put her fist in her mouth and tried to hold back tears, but she’d been holding back far too many emotions today, and she couldn’t keep the salty rivers from streaming down her face. She was so relieved to see him awake and in reasonably good shape that she wanted to rush over and throw her arms around him. She wanted to kiss him, over and over again, and tell him that she was so sorry that her family had put him through all of this. But she couldn’t do any of that. Not with so many eyes in the room. Someone would be sure to report back to her father what had happened, and then Oskar would be killed and Zora punished.
So she stood there, giving in to the tears and watching as the staff fixed Oskar up. She soaked in the sight of his smile, reveling in the fact that the smile was intended for her. She had never experienced such warmth simply from a man smiling at her, and she knew in that moment that she had to help Oskar get his freedom back, no matter what the cost to her personally.
Bears weren’t meant for cages, not even gilded ones.
Chapter Eleven
Four hours later, Zora finally made it back home. She’d had to leave Oskar behind in the medical wing to make an appearance with her family on the winner’s podium. She always found it strange that the shifters who had actually fought and won their matches weren’t the ones who received trophies. Instead, the families who had trained the winning shifters received trophies, flowers, and general admiration from the entire crowd at the Arena, as though they had actually done something to deserve admiration.
All they did was force these poor men to leave behind their lives and families. Zora kept a smile plastered on her face through the ceremony, but she said little. She dutifully shook hands when her family went to greet the crowds, but inside her heart felt black and cold. She fantasized about leaving behind Gilt Hollow and running away with Oskar, but where would they go? They couldn’t make it hundreds of miles through the wilderness with winter on their heels, and a Severson disappearing at the same time as a shifter would be a scandal for the history books. Every guard and soldier in Gilt Hollow would be sent chasing after them until they were found and Oskar was killed. Oskar wasn’t the only one living in a gilded cage. Zora had spent her life in one, and while she was treated much better than him, she had no more hope than he did of ever escaping.
Zora begged off dinner, saying she was exhausted. Then she went to her room and lay down, waiting impatiently for the house to grow quiet. It took a long time. Her father and brother drank and celebrated late into the night. But around two in the morning, things finally settled down. Zora slipped out of her room and began wandering through the house, double checking to make sure that all of her family was asleep. She wore a simple pair of soft, loose drawstring pants and a fitted long-sleeved shirt, both in soft cotton. This type of clothing was apparently all the rage in the bigger cities these days, and Zora’s mother had asked their tailor to make Zora several outfits like this. Zora didn’t care much about fashion, but at least this latest fashion consisted of comfortable clothes. Many of the popular looks of the past that Zora had been forced to wear had been wildly uncomfortable.
After wandering for about twenty minutes, Zora felt convinced that her family was all asleep. In fact, her father and brother would probably sleep like rocks for several hours, passed out from all the alcohol they had consumed. Taking a deep breath and chewing nervously at her lower lip, Zora made her way toward the wing of the estate where the shifter quarters were located.
She’d checked with the cooks a few hours ago to see whether Oskar was back in his room, pretending to be interested in whether he was eating and regaining strength. The cooks had assured her that he was indeed back, although he didn’t seem to be interested in eating. Zora hadn’t been surprised that he didn’t want to eat. Not after the day he’d had. She knew that to him, eating the food the Seversons set in front of him felt like treason. He didn’t want to accept any of their “hospitality,” especially when his own people were starving back in Bear Hollow. She’d always thought his views on this were a little extreme, but after today she couldn’t say that she blamed him. She herself wanted to do something extreme to stop the monstrosity of the Games. But what?
Join the resistance. She frowned at the thought. She would love to do that, but the shifters didn’t trust her enough to even acknowledge that it existed. Somehow, she had to change their minds about her. Starting with Oskar.
She stopped outside his door for a brief moment to listen. There were no sounds inside, and she wondered if waking him up when he was sleeping was really such a good idea. He probably needed his rest after today. But the middle of the night was her only opportunity to see him alone, and tonight, with her father and brother both passed out drunk, was her best chance at not getting caught. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand and rapped against the door.
Oskar did not answer, so she tried again, a little louder this time. Still, no answer. He might be sleeping quite deeply, too, especially if the doctors had given him pain medication. Zora decided to take a chance on entering his room to wake him up. Hopefully he would forgive the intrusion once he saw it was her. He would be glad to see her, wouldn’t he? Zora thought so, unless she’d horribly misread his smile in the Arena’s medical wing.
With her heart pounding in her chest, she pushed the door open. It creaked loudly in the quiet night, and Zora winced at the sound, but quickly shut the door behind her anyway, causing the door to creak again.
The room seemed unnaturally bright after the darkness of the hallway. The curtains were open, allowing the bright light of the moon to flood the room. Oskar was lying on the bed with his back to her. He wasn’t under the blankets, but he must have been asleep, because he hadn’t turned at all to look, despite the door’s loud creaking. For a moment, Zora stood and admired the silhouette of his broad shoulders and strong back.
“Oskar?” she finally said. “Are you sleeping?”
He turned around immediately, his eyes wide awake. “Oh, it’s you. I thought it was more staff…”
He sat up, wincing a bit, then seeming embarrassed by the fact that he had winced. “I guess I’m still a tad bit sore,” he explained with a sheepish grin.
“I think you’re allowed to be sore. You fought a goddamn lion after all. Among other things.”
His eyes darkened. “Yeah. So amusing, huh? Watching the animal men fight animals.” He scooted backward so he could lean his back against the headboard. He was still wearing daytime clothes—a fresh shifter Games uniform. He probably had about a hundred of those in his dresser. Every shifter had dozens of uniforms, since they so frequently ruined their clothes while shifting during training. His must have been the largest the tailor had ever had to make. Zora could see his leg muscles bulging beneath the tight uniform pants. And there was another bulge there, too, large and right between his legs, that showed just how much of a man she was. Zora felt herself blush, and she was glad that she was standing in the darkest shadows of the room at the moment.
“I don’t know what to say other than I’m so sorry. I wish I knew what to do to make the Games stop.” She walked toward him, taking tentative steps and hoping he wouldn’t tell her to go away. The darkness in his eyes looked different than anything she’d seen before. He’d always been angry, but this was a new level of anger.
He didn’t look directly at her. Instead, he stared off into the distance, not seeming to really see anything. “It’s like I’m only an animal to them. No better than those poor wild animals that they starve and torture. They dehumanize me and put me on display, force me to shift for no reason other than their own entertainment, and then act like my strength is due to their training.”
“It’s not. I know it’s not.” Zora came to sit beside him on the bed. He looked over at her for a moment, then looked away again.
“Of course it’s not. I’ve been strong my whole life. All of my people are. We have no choice. We haven’t been able to grow soft under the comfort of plentiful food and warm shelter. We’ve eked out our survival as best we could, all while suffering under the oppressive fist of people like your family.”
Zora reached over and took his face in her hands, turning him so that he was looking directly into her eyes. For a moment, she thought he was going to pull away, but he didn’t. Instead, he stared into her eyes with a gaze so intense Zora felt like he could see right through her.
“I’m not like them. I want to help you. I don’t see you as an animal. I see you as a man who has worked very hard to survive. A man who loves his friends and family dearly. A man who has a good heart and a great many talents, and has never been allowed the chance to fully thrive. I see you, Oskar. You. All of you. Mighty bear-man. Strong protector. Fierce warrior. You are so much more than they give you credit for.”
The Misfit and the Bear Page 9