Page 7 of The Chosen Fae

"Tonight, you'll eat a meal. Then you can settle into your rooms. You'll be meeting your advisors. And you'll meet the Game Master. Tomorrow will be the first day of the games. So get plenty to eat, plenty of sleep, and do your best." Then the wizard waved his arm with a flourish and vanished in a puff of blue smoke.

"I wish I could do that," Vesper said, who had earlier remarked that he would win the challenges.

Stone was thinking the same. That was a cool trick. When he transported as a fae, he just vanished and reappeared where he wanted to go. Usually to Rune's glen.

"We don't sit together," Rune told Stone. "We don't eat together. We don't talk to each other."

He raised his brows at her as they followed the others to the dining hall.

"We're lone wolves. We have to act like it."

He smiled. "But I'm the Chosen One. I'll win all the games."

"Do you want to rule a bunch of rebel wolves who have been warring with each other for who knows how long?" Rune sounded surprised and a little disappointed.

"No. I just like a challenge, and I like to overcome them."

"Yeah, I guess I do too, so we'll have to work at it, but not together."

"Absolutely, just like we do in our separate glens."

Then they found the buffet and served themselves food—him roast beef that smelled out of this world. He hoped it tasted as good as it smelled. And she got chicken legs with the works—mashed potatoes and green beans—while he opted for a baked potato and broccoli. He only knew what they were because they were labeled. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had a clue.

"Good thing they have little signs saying what they are," Rune whispered.

He smiled at her. So much for them not talking to each other. But once she had her meal, water, and a brownie, she took her tray to a table far from the others. He noted that just as they had come into the main room, the five fae from the one pack sat at a table, and the ones from the other pack—at least that's what he figured they were—sat at another.

He sat at a table far away from Rune, though he wanted to sit closer to her. But she was probably right. They needed to behave as they would in the wild.

Not meaning to, Rune looked around for Stone to see where he had ended up. He was heartily eating his roast at a table across the room, saw her glance at him, and smiled. She wondered if she should have tried the roast, though her chicken was delicious. She was used to eating fish and more fish, so this was a novelty. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to be here. She didn’t know what the challenges would amount to, but if they had to compete as a team, she and Stone would be out of luck.

The five fae in the two different groups who were sitting together at their own tables looked like family. At least they most likely were in the same pack. She eyed the smallest fae. Probably the runt of a litter. Why was she here competing against the bigger wolves?

Rune wondered if they had all been forced to come here as she and Stone had been. But none of them had come from the cells, so she thought they hadn’t. Their families probably knew about the games from past years and told them all about them, whereas she and Stone had been totally clueless.

Once everyone finished their meals, the Room Coordinator led them to different sleeping rooms, dropping them off at each one. The Room Coordinator paired males with males and females with females, in separate rooms.

Rune asked the Room Coordinator, “Can’t I have a room of my own?” She felt really uncomfortable with sleeping with someone she didn’t know in the same room.

“No. We need to have two per room until participants are sent home. Some reassignments might be made then, or if there is an uneven number of participants, you might end up with a private room. Unpack your gear, and then you’ll meet with your individual advisors. Listen to what they say. It might mean the difference between winning and losing.” Then the woman left them to their own devices.

“I’m taking this bed and closet,” the other girl said to Rune, opening a chest at the foot of the other bed. “I’m Maeve, and you’re a lone wolf, right? You’ll never make it in the games. I don’t know why they even bothered to bring you or that other wolf into the games.”

Rune noticed her chest at the foot of a bed that she’d been given in the glen and kept in her den. When she opened it, she found the clothes she’d been given. Though she and Stone didn’t know who had made them for them.

“I’m Rune, and yes, I’m a lone wolf and happy to be so. Did they force you to come to this?”

“Are you kidding? I want to be in charge of both the warring packs. I will be too. I’m the smartest one of the bunch.” Maeve placed a set of throwing stars on a bedside table.

“Do you know the other pack members?” Rune put all her clothes away in her drawers and closet.

“The ones from my pack, the Glimmerwood, but not the others. But we do know you, and that the other lone wolf will be out of here. The two of you won’t last long.”

Truly, that’s what Rune thought. “Do you have the small wolf in your group? Or are you with the other pack?”

“I think I heard someone call her Lolita. She’s in the other pack. I heard they didn’t have enough wolves the same age and comparable size, so they got stuck with her. It sucks for them during team challenges; she’ll be a hindrance. It will be a good thing for us. Not for you two, but for my pack.”

Maybe, unless Lolita compensated for her size by being more cunning than the others. When Rune and Stone played wolfish games that meant they had to use their strength, she sometimes beat him with feints, like playing tug-of-war with a vine. She would wait for him to get a better grip on the vine. She could sense the tension ease up, and she would yank as hard as she could, causing him to lose the vine to her.