Chapter 18

“Damn,” Anton murmurs, tapping his fingers soundlessly on the table while he processes everything Laila just said. “That is…that is definitely not the bedtime stories I was told as a child.”

“Oh,” Laila says, turning to him with wide-eyed interest. “What kind of stories did you have?”

“About a mouse,” he answers instantly, quite earnest, snapping his gaze to hers, “that would come and take the teeth you lost as a child, give you money for them –“

“We are getting…very far away from the point here,” I interrupt, waving a hand between them to disrupt this nonsense.

“I hate mice,” Laila whispers, grimacing. Anton grins at her.

“Laila,” I sigh, drawing her attention back to me. “Why is it bad if the God of Darkness got the whole world back? It was his to start with.”

“Yes,” she says, nodding. “And when he was in charge, all souls went directly to him when they died. It was only after Death and Life stole half of his world and began the system of reincarnation that life began to flourish in all the lived worlds.” She nods, stating this as a sure fact.

“Why?” Anton asks. “What happened before?”

She grimaces. “Darkness would use the souls,” she whispers. “To fuel…his dark deeds and power his priests. He still does, when he can get his hands on them. It is…not a kind fate.”

“Damn,” Anton murmurs, shifting his gaze back to me. “So, one of the twenty of you really has to marry this guy. To save everyone from becoming some kind of dark…fuel.”

“Yeah,” Laila sighs. “And the rest of us have to die in the process.”

“This is such shit,” I growl, leaning back in my chair and staring down at the table. “What’s with all the death?”

“Maybe it’s just the general vibe here,” Anton murmurs, casting a hand around at the wasteland around us. “Not the most lively place.”

“Well, I hate it,” I snap, getting more and more pissed as I turn it over in my mind. “Why can’t Orion just…find his mate by sensing her instantly? Like the rest of us?”

“You can do that?” Laila asks, looking at me with her wide, innocent eyes.

I flick my gaze up to her. “You can’t?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “No. Sounds convenient. No, we choose our beloveds after long courtships and consultations with our families and the Diviners, who cast stones and compare our horoscopes.”

“Yeah, we just smell ‘em and know immediately,” Anton murmurs, looking out into the darkness. Laila laughs, delighted at the simplicity of that.

“Well, Orion’s half wolf,” I sigh, looking between my friends. “Or, at least that’s what we heard in the bathroom last night. So, he should be able to just sense his mate like us. Have you heard any reason why he can’t?”

Laila just shakes her head and pulls her mouth into a grimace. “I’ll keep my ears open,” she says with a shrug. “And tell you if I hear anything.”

I smile at her, liking her open and generous nature very much indeed. But before I can say anything else, two black envelopes suddenly appear on the table between us, each pillowed on a large square of folded velvet fabric.

“Did you…conjure those?” Anton asks, looking between us.

“No I did not,” I say, dread filling me as I eye them.

“You haven’t gotten one of these yet?” Laila sighs, reaching for the envelope closest to her. “Official communication from the Game. You should read it.”

I clench my jaw as I reach for the envelope. Anton stands and moves closer, peering over my shoulder to read too. I hold it up so that he can see better.

“Thank you,” Anton murmurs, and I feel the gentle tingle of his touch on the back of my neck as he leans close.

All Contestants are hereby invited to attend the Beauty Trial this evening, escorted by their Heralds. Please wear only the enclosed garment and prepare yourself to be judged by your physical charms. The lady who least appeals to the Prince will be Eliminated at the end of the week.

“What the hell?” I snarl, tossing the invitation aside and snatching up the velvet. I stand as I allow it to unfurl to the ground, my mouth falling open when I realize that it’s…just a cloak.

“Oh dear,” Laila murmurs, anxiously tucking her own invitation into her lap and eyeing the cloak with concern. “Is…there’s nothing except…outerwear?”

I balk. “Is he…is he serious?” I whisper. “He wants us to come…naked!? Except for this!?”

“Well,” Anton sighs, “they did say it would be a trial based on beauty. And I am not getting the impression that Prince Orion and Papa Death are deeply interested in inner beauty, that of the soul.” He gestures towards his own sparkling self.

I smirk a little at Anton’s rather daring nickname for a god but otherwise keep my mind on the problem at hand. “I’m not doing this,” I snarl, tossing the cloak on the chair and shaking my head. “This is bullshit. Just…parade around naked for them? Seriously?”

“Oh, no, Juniper, you have to participate,” Laila says, shaking her head vehemently at me. “Failure to attend means that you’re instantly marked for elimination.”

“What!?”

“Yes, they were very clear about that,” she whispers, looking anxiously at the cloak, her eyes getting wider and – to my shock – starting line silver at the edges with tears.

“Hey,” Anton says with a frown, instantly moving to crouch at her side. “Are you okay?”

“Um, I’m fine,” she says, her shoulders shaking a little as she works to hold her tears back, wiping anxiously at her nose.

“Juniper,” Anton growls, snapping his eyes up to me. “Would you get over here and hug her? I’m not precisely built for that anymore.”

“Oh!” I say, realizing that he’s right and instantly moving to Laila’s other side and wrapping my arms around her shoulders, hugging her tight and pressing my cheek to her soft blue-green hair. “It’s okay, Laila! Don’t cry!”

She laughs a little, glancing at both of us on either side of her, the hug doing its work.

“Tell me,” Anton murmurs, quite heartfelt and empathetic. “I can tell that this is a bigger deal for you than it is for June, even if she too hates it. She’s angry – you’re devastated.”

I peer at Anton as I loosen my hug and pull back a bit, because how did Anton sense that so fast? He’s more empathetic than I’ve given him credit for. I keep a hand on Laila’s shoulder, squeezing it as I crouch at her side, waiting for her answer.

She shrugs a little. “It’s…I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being naked,” she says, glancing between us. “I don’t want you two to think that I’m a prude or that my world is restrictive. I know that in other worlds it’s different. It’s just that in my world, men and women save themselves for that experience – we don’t show our naked bodies to anyone except for our beloved, and even then only after we’re very, very sure that they’re the right one. I mean, people experiment romantically and physically – some even have sex before they find the right person – but always somehow clothed. Being fully naked? It is…an intimacy that is very important to us.”

I soften towards my friend, thinking that sounds very romantic if…well, quite foreign. And even as I warm towards Laila, a cold fury builds in my soul.

“And here Prince fucking Orion is,” I snap, standing straight and crossing my arms over my chest. “Demanding that you appear naked in front of more than just him when he hasn’t even agreed to marry you, let alone consult your horoscopes and your Diviners to see if you’re a good match.”

I turn away then, cursing swiftly and thoroughly, a newly fervent hatred burning within me.

Behind me, I hear Anton murmuring very nice things to Laila, comforting her and trying to make her laugh. But even if I do wish I was as good a friend and person as he, my anger takes hold, my wolf prowling around in my soul with her hackles raised.

“Well, I’m not going to do it,” I snap, turning back towards Laila. “And you shouldn’t either.”

“Juniper,” she says, shaking her head and looking up at me. “We have to –“

“We have to what?” I ask, raising my chin and asking for clarity. “We have to attend these stupid trials? Or we have to fully participate in them?”

“Um…” she says, anxiously twisting her fingers together in her lap. “I don’t know…”

“Well, I’m going to find out,” I say with a sharp sigh, putting my hands on my hips.

“Juniper, it’s not safe,” she says, shaking her head. “He’ll eliminate you –“

“Yeah, well, he’s probably going to do that anyway,” I snap, bringing my eyes back to her. “You’re way prettier and nicer than me, and would make a much better wife, so I’ve got no chance as it is. So why not go out guns blazing?”

Anton grins at me, pleased, even though anxiety flashes across his expression at the same time.

Quickly, on impulse, I crouch down at my friend’s side. “Listen, Laila,” I say, holding her eyes with my own. “I think that there’s got to be another way around this whole thing. All these prophecies and curses – Orion and Papa Death are making it seem like they have all the cards, but surely there’s another path than this one where we all parade around naked for them before we die and one girl lives.”

Laila bites her lip, desperately wanting to believe that’s true.

“I think that my time is best spent here trying to find that other path,” I say, looking at her seriously, meaning every word of it. “And I could use your help in the search, if you’d be willing to give it.”

“Of course,” Laila whispers, taking one of my hands in both of hers. “If that path exists, Juniper, then of course I want to be on it with you. I just think that…I mean, I don’t know if it really exists. Surely, if it did, they’d have already told us.”

“Oh, I’m not sure I believe that,” Anton murmurs, meeting my eyes with his own serious gaze. “I think that when it comes to most Kings, they like people to believe that they have all the power. And that they’re quite comfortable using it to make women strip themselves down for their pleasure. I think that there’s certainly more to this story – and I, for one, am going to help you both uncover it.”

I fight a smile as I hold Anton’s gaze, pleased at his support and his vigor, before I turn back to Laila. “I won’t ask you to do anything that puts you in danger,” I say quietly. “But if you want to help, I’d love to have you on the team.”

“Of course,” Laila says, her face breaking into a smile as she squeezes my hand. “There’s nothing more I want in the world than to work with you two.”

“Good,” Anton says, nodding at both of us in turn. “Then we begin tonight.”