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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
KANA
Rush’s glamor gave us an unbelievable advantage as we sneaked our way through the twists and turns of the labyrinth, hunting the voices of my two oblivious competitors.
Even accounting for our invisibility, the Prophecy section seemed pretty tame overall, compared to the Flora and Fauna areas.
There weren’t any large animals to hunt for blood, but that also meant there weren’t many deadly ones to avoid. And while there didn’t seem to be any medicinal plants, there also weren’t poisonous ones - just ones filled with vengeful fairies.
It figured that Merden had placed Luca in one of the hardest sections, and I was assuming she’d commanded Jillian to choose me, keeping me away from my men and saving the easier sections for the weaker teams.
Because in my mind, Janus was the weaker link of their little brother-sister mess.
Rush gave me a nudge with his shoulder and pointed to the wall we’d been following, cupping his ear. I paused to listen, grinning when I heard Collette whine about how hungry she was. She sounded close enough to hit if I could punch through the stone wall itself.
“Let them only see me,” I whispered to Rush just before we rounded the final corner and spotted them ahead, bickering about something and not paying a goddamn lick of attention. He drew two wicked-looking daggers and gave me a sexy smirk in answer.
“Had anything good to eat lately?” I called down the corridor, strolling toward them as I swirled my whip across the ground, stirring up pebbles and dust.
“Look, Collette. There’s the blood bag you wanted,” Janus sneered, using one of the offensive nicknames for the blood slaves.
I didn’t let him get a rise out of me. I was here on official book-stealing business. Just in case that was the determining factor whether I won or lost this Trial, I was going to make damn sure I had one of the four reference books in my possession, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to track down Blaise again before the Trial ended.
“She looks too dirty. Probably poisoned,” Collette said, trying to make fun of me and hitting awfully close to the truth. Idly, I wondered what my blood would do to her, if I had indeed been poisoned by Rush.
It hadn’t seemed to make any difference to Kas or Luca, though, thank the Goddess.
“I’ll trade you a bite for a book,” I offered, having no intention whatsoever of letting her bite me. “I’ve found some interesting prophecies here, and I’d love to look them up.”
For a brief moment, Collette looked like she might agree, but Janus shoved in front of her.
“You’re not as clever as you think, princess. We knew you’d be hunting us for the book, so we’ve hidden it.”
“Really? Thanks for telling me the plan. I don’t need to be clever when you’re so nice about it all,” I said, laughing when his face reddened in anger. Of course, that did complicate things a bit. The fucking book could be anywhere, if he was telling me the truth.
“Torture it is,” I added cheerfully, snapping my whip at Collette’s ankles.
She shrieked and jumped back in reflex, knocking into Janus. He cursed and shoved at her, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing again at them. Seriously, these two were in the top ten of a Trial to win the throne formyQueendom?
Fucking ridiculous.
I felt the spark of ice magic pass between them as they hashed out a plan, but while they were distracted, I gave Rush a little wink. They still thought I was alone, and that reveal was going to be the best part of my day so far.
“Which one of you wants to go first?” I called, sauntering toward Collette again, even as she backed up like a coward. Janus had the same streak of pain enjoyment as his sister, but Collette would break - I knew it.
“You can’t kill us,” Collette growled, finally drawing a gobbelin club from her back. I was a little surprised she’d killed one of the creatures. Must have been a lucky blow.
“Again, who said anything about killing?” I asked innocently, just before Rush let his glamor drop, daggers drawn as he rushed toward Janus.
