Chapter 78

“No, June,” Anton says after a long moment. “Of course I don’t love her. I don’t even know her.”

“But that’s not how mate stuff works,” I say, raising my eyes to his. “It’s supposed to be…instant.”

“I don’t have a body,” he sighs, gesturing towards himself. “No body no bond.”

I bite my lip for a second. “If you did have a body, would you love her?”

He smirks at me, shaking his head. “An impossible question.”

“What does your wolf say?” I ask, lifting a hand to tap at his chest.

Anton sighs again and looks away from me. “My wolf says…that she’s not anything like we ever thought our mate would be.”

My wolf perks up a little at this, lifting her head. But my mouth screws to the side in concern. “That doesn’t mean anything. Midnight isn’t anything like Jesse expected her to be. And she’s still fated to him.”

Anton looks back at me. “But Midnight is corrupted. If she weren’t, and didn’t have such a horrible history,” he shrugs, “I think she’s precisely the sort of funny, spunky, clever little mate who would keep a guy like Jesse laughing for the rest of his life.”

My wolf snarls a little, not liking these compliments. “Oh, so Midnight is clever and funny and spunky now? The girl who called me a whore and a rat all night and day?”

Anton’s mouth spreads wide in a grin. “Damn, but you do get jealous easily, June.”

I snarl a bit and smack at him, turning my face away so he can’t see it. “I’m not jealous,” I mutter, lying through my teeth.

“You know, you have a mate down here too,” Anton says, soft, not an ounce of menace in it.

I go a bit still and cold, realizing that he’s right. Faiza said it, and my magic has started working, which means that I’ve met him. I guess I just…didn’t think about that in all of my anger and fury. I let it slip from my mind.

But if that’s true…why isn’t Anton jealous?

“I give you your time with Orion,” Anton says quietly, clearly implying that I should do the same and let him explore Beatrice’s claim as well.

I snap my head up, looking again into his eyes. “Is that what you think?” I whisper. “That…Orion is my mate?”

Anton grimaces a little and shrugs. “He’s…kind of the obvious candidate, June.”

I stare at him in shock. “So…is that what this is going to be? Just…you and Beatrice, of all people? And me and Orion?”

Anton just stares grimly back at me without answer.

My heart sinks like a stone and I shake my head, realizing quite suddenly that I don’t want that. Not at all – not a bit of it. “No,” I say, vehement and sure.

My ghost’s lips slowly break into a smile. “It’s fate, kid. Can’t change it, if that’s what the Goddess has laid out for us.”

“No,” I snarl, dropping my gaze and snuggling closer to him, refusing it. Categorically.

Anton laughs and wraps his arms around me, the soft tingling of his touch filling me with joy. “Only our fierce Junepiper,” he sighs, resting his cheek against my hair. “Would stare fate in the face and say no.”

Absently I flash my teeth. Because fuck fate.

I’m a demigoddess, after all. Fate will be what I will it.

“You leave fate to me,” I murmur, finally able to rest with Anton close at my side.

“Yes, ma’am,” he says on a peaceful sigh.

I close my eyes, wondering at it all and quietly deciding that my new priority might just be figuring out precisely who this Beatrice is and what the hell she’s up to.

Or…to just push her off a cliff. My wolf lifts her head and cocks it to the side, interested.

“No murder,” Anton snaps.

I flash my teeth again, making no promises.

“So, um,” Laila says, a little awkward as we stand together on a raised wooden platform in the middle of a field. “Are you okay?”

I look over at her, my expression blank, completely ignoring the other sixteen contestants who mill around us, and the handful of courtiers, and the nine tall pillars that have been built out in front of the platform, and the God of Darkness, and Orion, and the blue ghost who is currently chatting calmly with a little blonde. “No. I’m not okay.”

Laila gives me a soft smile. “For what it’s worth,” she whispers, glancing over at Anton and Beatrice. “I do not think they’re a very good astrological match.”

I perk up at this. “How do you know that?”

“Oh, Beatrice is all air and sun,” she says with a sigh, looking over at them. “Whereas our ghost wolf is all darkness and stars. It’s…not favorable.”

A little smirk comes to my lips. “Don’t you need their birthdays to know that?”

“When one is as proficient in astrology as me,” she says, quite lofty, giving me a good-humored little nudge with her elbow. “One can basically tell you their birthdays by their attributes, as opposed to the other way around.”

“Really?” I ask, turning to her, quite curious.

“Sure,” she says, laughing a bit. “I mean, the astrological names and signs are all different in my world, even if our calendars are the same. But let’s see…Anton – he’s born in early September, I’d say?”

I just stare at her and shrug because…honestly, I don’t know.

“Yeah,” Laila says, turning to look Beatrice up and down. “And she’s got August written all over her. It’s…not going to work out.”

I laugh and step close to my friend as Anton smiles – genuinely smiles - at something Beatrice says. My wolf leaps to her feet, murder in her heart, but we both calm when Anton waves farewell to Beatrice, stepping away and heading back towards us.

I sigh, thinking it’s going to be exhausting keeping tabs on those two. But at least it’s good to know that astrologically, at least, they’re a disaster. “Thanks for being a good friend, Lai.”

“Everyone needs a powerful astrologer in their friend group,” she murmurs, slipping an arm around my shoulders and giving me a squeeze.

“Hey Anton,” I say, smiling at him as he steps close. “What star sign are you? A Virgo?”

He nearly stops in his tracks. “How’d you know that?”

Laila and I burst into laughter and I give her a high-five – a trick she picked up a few days ago and which she quite likes.

But our joy is cut short when the God of Darkness steps to the front of the platform and clears his throat. “It is time for the trial to begin.”

Anton steps close to me and Laila reaches out, snatching my hand and holding it tight in her own. I look over and give her a nod, letting her know that I feel the same. Because even though our lives aren’t on the line tonight…god, the tension is just absolutely horrible.

We all gather around in a circle around the God of Darkness, listening carefully. I glance around at the girls I know are in the bottom – Ximena, Cadence, Mahina, amongst others to whom I am not so close. All of their faces are pale and stricken, their eyes fastened tight on the God.

“Tonight,” Death says, his voice ringing out around us all, “is an opportunity for the Contestants in the Bottom to demonstrate their strength and their fortitude. They have already been found, in some way, to be wanting – but a Queen must be strong for her King and her land. This is an opportunity to demonstrate that strength.”

I frown at the God, glancing over at the pillars, not getting the connection just yet.

“The Contestants who have been sorted into the Bottom this week will each stand atop one of the pillars,” the God says, pointing to the top of one which is about thirty feet in the air.

My mouth falls open.

“And,” he continues, “this week’s elimination will be decided immediately. For the first to fall to her death will be she who will not move forward in the competition.”

A gasp ripples through the crowd as anger begins to roll inside of me, my wolf snarling in my soul. My eyes snap again to the tops of the pillars, which are a foot wide at most –

Horrible – so incredibly cruel –

“This is bullshit!” I shout, striding three steps forward.

Laila gasps and keeps hold of my hand, trying to pull me back. Anton groans, likewise reaching for me, but I’m already gone, ripping my hand from Laila’s and striding for the God.

He has the gall to roll his eyes at me as he gestures towards the line of eight Heralds that suddenly appear at the edge of the platform. As I move forward the Heralds each stride for their assigned girls, taking them by the hand and vanishing them away to the top of the pillars. The girls shriek as they’re stolen away, but I keep my eyes on Death, who watches me come.