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I’m missing something.

Sofia squeezes my shoulders as the guards leave. Our instructions are to be more careful and get some rest for tomorrow’s training exercises. At least I’m off the hook for anything strenuous today.

But that tells me an important bit of information.

Everyone here is a candidate for the future Monster Games. Even Sofia.

I’d thought that it was a volunteer system, but maybe not.

I’m not surprised when I see Lady Violet and the older girl who tried to drown me. They’re too mean not to survive the evaluation.

“You’re a resilient little thing, aren’t you?” Violet asks. She smiles, looking completely innocent as her blonde ringlets frame her pretty face. Like her namesake, her eyes are a brilliant purple.

Which tells me all I need to know about her.

“I learned to be,” I say as I lean back against the wall and rub my sore arm. “Unlike some people, my mother didn’t drink enhancement tonics when pregnant with me.”

No, my mother took it a step further and enhanced her own life, which hindered mine. But I’d never consider myself lesser for it. In the face of resistance, I’ve learned to be resilient.

My hardship doesn’t define me. I get to decide that. People like Violet are given an edge that makes life too easy. That’s their weakness, one I have learned to exploit.

Violet beams. “Too bad your family couldn’t afford such enhancement tonics. Mine covered all of the possible segments for me to take over the manor one day. Beauty, wit, and…” She licks her lips. “I’m damn good in bed.”

I chuckle. “You might want a refund on the wit segment. It sounds like you were created not to take over the manor but to be sold at top price.”

All the blood drains from Violet’s face as the girls around her snicker, because they all know I’m right.

It isn’t a lack of wit that would keep Violet from coming to that obvious conclusion. It’s pride, and I just tore it to shreds.

“I hope you like eating dirt, bitch. Because I’m going to make sure you die a slow, painful death,” she snarls, then snaps at the girl at her side. “No one touch her. Don’t let her eat. We can watch her wither until she’s nothing.” She glares at me as she turns to leave the room. “Then we’ll see how resilient you are.”

Violet departs, and the rest of the girls go with her, leaving only me and Sofia sitting on the pile of towels as I remain leaning against the wall.

I don’t dare try to climb back through the window. I can hear the guards carousing outside. They’re talking about Ulara and her ass.

I roll my eyes.

Men are all the same, no matter what kingdom I find myself in.

“You really pissed off Violet,” Sofia whispers to me after we’ve sat in silence for a moment. A huge grin spreads across her face. “That was fucking awesome.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you curse,” I say.

Sofia shrugs. “Just trying it out.”

I sputter on a laugh, then start coughing.

Sofia hovers her hands over me. “Are you okay? Did Ferra hurt you? She’s from one of the villages. She has no manners. When she comes back, I⁠—”

“I’m fine,” I say, even though my voice is scratchy. And exhausted, more so than usual.

Maybe it was Arwan’s magic making me this tired. Magic usually comes with a cost.

Arwan’s seems to be excruciating pain followed by the need to fall into a coma.

I feel like I could sleep for a week.

The familiar sensation of tingles running up my legs and the tight band around my head warn me I’m about to be taken under in one of my episodes.