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She went numb. Sounds warbled. “You’re not Jace.”
Not Jace.
Not Jace.
He must have died. She was truly alone. Her legs became jelly. Cold, cruel reality sank into her bones. Too often since she’d awoken, her hopes soared, only to be crushed.
She wasn’t sure how much longer her sanity would hold. God dangled a cruel, sweet carrot before her eyes. This Guardian was identical to the only man who ever came close to being her everything. The only man she’d ever—her throat closed, and she looked away. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
“Time to begin!” Captain Grung pushed into the crowd.
His eyes smoldered with lust. He’d cleaned and shaved, yet still couldn’t erase the monstrous edge to his appearance. Or his foul breath. Nova smelled it when he stopped before her and panted like an aroused dog.
Nova should have panicked. She should have calculated ways to escape. But all she could do was blink. Her mind was shutting down, preparing for the nightmare about to unfold. For disappointment to cycle back, to beat her down, to—
“Wait,” the Guardian barked.
Grung snarled, “Guardians do not interfere.”
The elf’s arrogant, unwavering gaze held the giant orc’s almost as if he was bored. “Surely that big, empty skull of yours has some sense knocking around in it.”
Gasps and snickers traveled through the spectating soldiers. More arrived at the taste of violence in the air.
“Do not mock me.” Grung poked Leaf in the center of his forehead. “You. Do. Not. Interfere.”
“Unless, of course, it involves a threat to the integrity of the Well. She wears contraband in her ears. She has broken our laws and must be arrested.”
The captain roared in the elf’s face, spraying spittle. To his credit, the Guardian barely flinched at the stench-ridden threat. He didn’t even reach for the sword at his back. He waited until the orc finished, then pulled the hem of his shirt from beneath his jacket and wiped his face.
Nova forced herself to reassess. Yes, he was the spitting image of her friend. But he did not act like him. Jace ran a Fortune Five Hundred company. But he wasn’t rude or cocky. He never laughed at Nova’s idealistic views about saving the world. He resented working for his father’s company, but a sense of duty had been drilled into him as a child. So he’d dragged himself to that private academy and then moved to college without a complaint. He quit surfing and did what was asked of him so he could be smart enough to inherit a company. He should have been arrogant. But Jace never belittled anyone in his life.
“You cannot take our prize,” Grung declared vehemently.
Before Nova noticed the danger, a sharp tug at her ears drew a cry of pain. She slapped her palms over her stinging ears and felt wetness. When someone screamed in agony behind her, she realized what had happened. He’d ripped the earrings out and was cut from the Well.
“She comes with me,” the Guardian decreed in a tone so cold she tasted ice.
“No.” The captain stomped like a giant, petulant toddler. “We have already decided. The same rules apply to all of us. You included.” His voice deepened to a dangerous pitch. “Breaking rules is death.”
Grung pointed into the dark forest. Nova refused to look. She knew what was stuck in the ground as a warning. She held her breath as she passed the pikes daily.
Leaf’s gaze hardened. Long, torturous seconds passed. Then he straightened. “Understood.”
A whimper erupted from Nova’s lips. Her brother had been right. This world was past saving.
Nova had always prided herself on her resilience. Even when Jace left them, even when her parents died in their sleep, even when Niles became a cruel, bitter man and Jace had fallen ill… she’d always found a way to look at the world and think, if the magic of life could exist, then surely her problems were minor in comparison.
But now… now despair as she’d never known wrapped around her soul.
“So… you will not arrest her?” It was almost comical how Grung’s features contorted into disbelief.
“Oh, you must have misunderstood. I will,” he said. “But I’ll join the hunt. Same rules apply to everyone, correct?”
The orc blanched. His jaw opened and then clicked shut. The two females next to Nova whimpered as though they were more frightened of this elf than the green-skinned brute.
“Winner must take the prize as a mate,” Grung warned.
“Why?”
