I’m determined to not let that work its way under my skin. I’ve had a lot of practice at not being bothered when others don’t like me, or think I’m odd, or actively try to avoid me, or even just forget I exist. I can’t say all that practice helps much.
It still hurts.
“Me?” I ask. “What did I ever do to Rima?” Pretending I don’t have a curse and know exactly what’s happening is how I’ve always handled things with the pledges. Zai is different. An ally. Maybe I should tell him about it. After all, if it means he loses out on allies, he deserves to know.
He shakes his head. “It’s more like she’s against your patron god.”
I’m so used to being unlovable—thank you, Zeus—it takes me a second to catch up with the fact that I’m not the problem this time. “She doesn’t want Hades to become King of the Gods.”
He pauses as if he’s not sure he should tell me the next bit. “She looked…terrified of the idea. Went all pale and shaky, just rambling about how you were going to win and it would be the end of us all.”
I snort. “Based on what evidence? You did all the winning in the last one.”
“Thanks to you,” Zai insists, expression taking on a stubborn cast as he puts a hand over mine on the bench.
Hades’ taunt about Zai falling at my feet whispers in my head. Pretending like I’m simply shifting positions, I turn sideways to face him directly, which breaks the contact. “Okay. So let’s talk strategy. I was thinking, since we’re already breaking virtue ranks, maybe it would help to get at least one champion from the other three virtues.”
Zai nods and narrows his eyes, clearly putting that big brain to work. “Neve and Dae are both Strength and seemed to be working with Dex today. I don’t know about Samuel, and I couldn’t see the others to know if they’ve formed strong alliances within their virtues or not.”
“Me neither.”
“But the Courage champions are down one. Maybe we start with one of them.”
“Which one?” I ask.
“Well…Amir is obviously strong and courageous, but he might be too young and immature. He can also be arrogant.”
I guess I’m not the only one who’s been paying close attention.
“And we still don’t know how injured he was from his fall today,” he adds.
I don’t want that to be a factor in choosing allies…but it is.
“Trinica seems smart, capable, and calm in the middle of a crisis. But she’s a little older and maybe isn’t as strong as the others,” Zai mentions. “She’s a school principal, did you know? For teenagers.”
I raise my brows. “Sounds like she can handle a lot. How about we approach both together? That way they don’t have to choose between us or them.”
“That could work,” Zai says slowly.
“Do you want to—”
“Well look who we found,” a voice sneers to our left.
As one, Zai and I turn our heads and jump off the bench as our gazes collide with Dex’s glaring face—and he’s not alone. Rima isn’t with him, but Neve is. So are Dae-hyeon and…Samuel. That answers that. Strength and Mind are teamed up.
After Samuel’s help in the first Labor and the way we worked well together, that strikes harder at my heart than I’d like to admit, and I have to look away.
Which is when the mistake Zai and I made becomes glaringly obvious.
No. Fucking. Powers. Including the sandals to fly us out of here.
Felix would be apoplectic if he saw how badly I failed to ensure I had multiple outs.
“Why are you such an asshole, Dex?” I sneer right back in an attempt to not let him see how badly I’m shaking right now.
“It’s nothing personal, Lyra,” Samuel says, but his eyes won’t meet mine. “Hades would be the worst King of the Gods in the history of histories. We all have families back home we have to protect, and we can’t let you play, let alone win.”
They’re still up some of the steps. Can we get out of here before they get to us?
I grab Zai’s hand and tug him toward the rail at the edge of the landing. I say just loud enough for Zai to hear over the roar of the water, “We have to jump.”
“Jump?” His eyes go wide. “We can’t. No sandals.” He shakes his head. “Besides, they can’t hurt us here anyway.”
“We’re outnumbered and outgunned. Dex and Samuel wouldn’t even need help. They can drag us off the temple grounds and then kill us.”
“That’s violence.”
“Do you really want to put that theory to the test?” I look over the edge. “If we hold on to each other, your sandals should work after not too far, right?”
“I guess—”
“Any other ideas?”
“You want to live, Aridam? Switch sides now,” Dex says, stalking forward.
“See.” They’re almost to us. We have seconds at most. “Zai, come on!”
His face takes on a hard cast. “Let’s go.”
