Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Lita
Beside me, Emma clutched my arm so tightly her fingers left marks. We hadn’t really spoken since the scoring was announced, but she kept looking at me like I was going to tip sideways and shatter.
She wasn’t wrong.
I was tired. Not just in the bone–deep, body–won’t–move kind of way, but in the soul kind of way. My pride was scraped raw. My limbs shook. And the juncture between my legs still hadn’t settled since Damon pinned me to the ground.
“You okay?” Emma whispered, glancing over,
I nodded, swallowing back the lump that had been stuck in my throat since Ronan called my name.
“I made it through,” she said softly, like she couldn’t quite believe it. “Sixty.c
I blinked at her, startled. “Seriously?”
She gave a crooked, sheepish smile. “Yeah. I thought for sure I was going homen
made the cut.”
I almost threw up on Beta Ronan.”
Despite myself, I snorted. It hurt. But the sound helped. Like it made me remember I was alive.
Emma squeezed my arm again. “You were incredible, you know that?”
“No,” I said. “I wasn’t.”
“You stood up. Against him. You didn’t give up.”
I didn’t answer. Because she wasn’t wrong. But that didn’t make it a victory. I hadn’t given up. But I’d still lost.
And Damon… gods. Damon hadn’t even tried to win. That was what haunted me, that he could’ve ended it
Why? Because he wanted to test me? Watch me break? Because he knew I wouldn’t?
The thought made my chest ache.
any second…and didn’t.
We exited the field into one of the open–air halls of the palace. Servants bustled nearby with pitchers of water and cold cloths. A few of the other girls were already being tended to, fawned over, praised like celebrities.
I kept my head down.
A chill had settled into my bones, even though the air was warm. The adrenaline was gone now.
“Hey,” a voice drawled from up ahead. “Did I call it, or did I call it?”
I looked up, and there was Asher, leaning against a pillar like he’d been carved there, lazy grin in place, hair pulled back in low plait. He looked like he belonged in an oil painting. Or a scandal.
“Forty silvers well–spent,” he added, strolling toward me. “You gave quite the show.”
I blinked at him, still slow to respond. “You bet on me.”
“Of course I did.” He flashed teeth. “The odds were terrible, but the drama was excellent.”
Emma bristled slightly beside me. “She nearly passed out.”
1/3
I should’ve said something sharp to knock that smirk off his face. But my mind was already spiraling elsewhere.
“You okay?” Asher asked, this time quieter, his tone sincere.
“I’m fine.” I said automatically.
“You don’t look fine.”
My hands clenched slightly at my sides. I didn’t need his pity. Or his praise. I needed a bath, a bed, and a new strategy.
“You know,” he went on, stepping closer, voice just low enough that only I could hear it, “you lasted longer than anyone expected.”
I forced my gaze to his. “Including you?”
Asher gave a small shrug. “I said you’d survive. I didn’t say you’d make it interesting”
He leaned in, just a little closer, and I caught the faintest trace of warm leather and crushed pine. His voice dipped even lower, “You’ve got teeth, Elena. The kind that could do real damage if you stopped pretending to play fair.”
I raised a brow, not bothering to hide my suspicion. “Are you suggesting cheat?”
“No,” he said, smiling like a secret. “I’m suggesting you stop waiting for someone else to give you power.”
Something in the way he said it sent a chill down my spine – not entirely unpleasant. But dangerous. Like a hand offering a knife instead of help.
He said it with a grin, but his dark eyes betrayed him.
I didn’t want to like it. And I wasn’t sure I trusted it. But Asher was the only one besides Emma who had any faith in me at all.
Emma pulled at my arm gently. “We should go. There’s going to be an announcement about the next round.”
I nodded and turned away without another word.
Asher didn’t push. He didn’t chase. Just stood there, watching us go with a warm, knowing smile. Like he was watching a puzzle piece fall into place.
Casting a glance over my shoulder, his gaze crashed with mine and held until Emma pulled me around the corner.
Back in the candidate wing, the hallway felt quieter than usual. More of the women were gone now, eliminated.
Even Vanessa had been quiet. That alone felt apocalyptic.
As we passed the grand mirror near the center of the hall, I caught my reflection and barely recognized myself.
Dirt–streaked. Red around the eyes. A small cut still crusted on my cheek. Hair matted at the temples with sweat.
I looked like a fighter. I looked like a mess.
I peeled off from Emma and walked slowly back to my new, too–luxurious room with thick carpets and a view of the gardens. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, finally letting myself sag.
My body ached like it had been chewed up and spit out. Carefully, I pulled off the outer layer of my armor, dropping it to the floor with a soundless sigh.
I moved to the basin of water, splashed my face, and stared down at the rippling surface.
“You already won,” Ruby had said. “Just not the way they count it.”
But I needed their kind of win too. I needed to stay and be chosen for my mother. I couldn’t afford to burn out now.
2/3
17:44 Fri, 30 May
Chapter 30
There was a knock at the door reminded me of that.
I tensed, for a split second | expected Damon, and that thought made something sharp coll low in my gut.
But it wasn’t him. When I opened the door, I found a servant holding a scroll.
“Instructions for the next trial,” she said. “It will be announced offici!!!
in the morning. But candidates receive early notice.”
I took the scroll, thanked her, and closed the door again. Sitting on the edge of the bed I unrolled the parchment. The next trial was listed in sharp script: “Strategy and Allegiance. Political compatibility test. Simulation.”
I stared at it for a long moment. This one wouldn’t be about scent compatibility or corribat prowess. It would be about cunning,wordplay, Pack
knowledge. Hierarchy.
Elena was supposed to be good at this. But I wasn’t Elena. And this was going to politics was more dangerous than that combat ring.
ma
problem. This next trial would toss me to the wolves, literally. Court
three days to learn enough about every major Pack’s
I leaned back against the wall and stared at the ceiling, trying to slow my thoughts. I had politics to bluff my way through this.
I couldn’t afford to lose again, not even barely.
I thought of Damon’s expression as he walked away from me. That cold mask. The muscle ticking in his jaw. The weight in his silence.
Had I proven something to him today? Or lost something?
I didn’t know, But I knew this: I wasn’t leaving this palace until I had something that could guarantee my mother’s life.
Even if it meant bleeding for it again.
Even if it meant playing nice with the King.
Even if it meant lying through my sharp canine teeth.
**
宙
AD
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