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Squaring my shoulders, I look at the women who are here—ready to help me without knowing why. They haven’t once asked if them being here could have any consequences for them, just as they didn’t inquire why I needed them here. They came when I asked, and now they’re promising to once again show up when I need them to.
“There’s something else you need to know,” I say, my voice trembling. “My dad—Alexander the Great—isn’t dead. He’s very much fucking alive, and he intends to take the place as my family’s Leader. Kai, Gus, and Liam knew he was back, but they didn’t tell me. He kept it a secret from his daughter.” My voice cracks as bitterness and sadness wash over me.
Despite the bond I feel forming between all of us, I feel naked and vulnerable. Showing emotions is a weakness, and outside of Gus and Liam, I can’t remember allowing others to witness my vulnerability.
Lupa and Morgana gasp in shock, but they don’t speak.
With trembling hands, I grasp my glass and empty its content, needing it to wet my throat. “Before the Ruler can get married, there has to be a claiming. I’ll spare you the sordid details and stick to the basics, which is that Kai had to fuck me in front of the Leaders. All. Three. Of. Them.”
“Cia.” Lupa reaches for my hand, but I move it out of her reach and shake my head.
“I can’t,” I croak before clearing my throat. “What I didn’t know is that there’s another test the woman is subjected to. They drug her, and she has to survive on her own merit. But… Lupa, Morgana… something went wrong. I’m so sorry, I don’t know how it happened but Uther and Romulus are dead, and so is Nikolaos. All three Leaders were poisoned and died.”
Watching their faces pale as I spin their worlds on their axises is haunting. They fire questions at me, and I try to answer each one. It’s useless, because I don’t have the answers they seek. I have nothing to offer them, only the truth of what they’re about to face.
Though Morgana looks shaken up, she has a much better hold on herself than Lupa. I feel like an interloper as I helplessly observe Lupa’s breakdown.
“What am I going to say to Remus?” she sniffles, reaching for her phone.
Before I can form a reply, Morgana snatches the phone out of her girlfriend’s hand. “You can’t tell him anything,” she says, looking at me for confirmation and I nod. “I’m pretty sure we aren’t even supposed to know yet. So what will you say? Where will you tell him you learned of his dad’s death? And when the rumors start… Lupa, they’ll turn against you.” Morgana is right, of course she is.
Lupa’s family despises her, so I have no doubt they’d find a way to make it her fault.
“I want to meet him,” Morgana says, holding Lupa close and stroking her hair. “Can we see him now?” Nodding I get up, I don’t need to ask who she means.
As the sun sets, we walk over to the small boat that got me here and we board it.
When a Russo, a Hatt, and a Drákon walk into the clearing where the maze is, it doesn’t feel like the beginning of a joke, it feels like a betrayal. This is Drákon territory, yet I’m bringing a Hatt and a Russo to the middle of it. I shake my head, wanting to get rid of the misplaced sense of guilt. The only one I should feel that for is dead, so it’s not like it matters.
“I’ve been here before,” Morgana mutters, looking around. “This is… this maze is…” she shakes her head, mumbling that she must be mistaken.
I don’t pay her much attention, too busy blinking my unshed tears away, not willing to make this about me or my loss. Not when Lupa and Morgana are about to meet Kai, likereallymeet him, and especially not since Lupa is still crying.
“Kai?” I call out as I look around.
It’s dark now, but the torches surrounding the entrance are lit and lighting up the area. Smiling ruefully, I wonder if I’d still be able to complete the maze, or if my mind has forgotten the route in the year I’ve been gone.
“Nereid?”
“Agápi?”
“Cia?”
My men answer my call, sounding out of breath. “We’re at the entrance,” I shout, answering their calls. Then I gesture for Lupa and Morgana to follow me.
As the men come into view, I gasp. Kai is limping and Liam is bleeding from his arm. Gus, however, looks smug as he walks tall between the other two.
“What happened?” I gripe, my imagination running wild with ideas. When they all three smile widely I shake my head and decide that I don’t want to know what the hell they’ve been up to.
As soon as Kai is within reach, Lupa pulls her hand from Morgana’s and kneels, bowing her head—Morgana follows suit, but not before rolling her eyes and scowling at her now empty hand. It’s times like these where I want us to be closer, because at the core, I like her.
“He doesn’t care,” I whisper, hating that they feel they need to hide their relationship.
Lupa looks at me, her eyes wide and glassy with the tears she hasn't shed yet. “Does he know?”
Shaking my head, I quickly mumble that I haven’t told him anything. I also remind her that he knows about the attack, so it’s likely he’s worked it out for himself. I honestly don’t know, all I know is that he can’t care because if he does, I’m not marrying him.
“Please stand up, ladies,” Kai’s voice is full of warmth and authority. “There are no formalities between us here, this isn’t my stomping ground. Like you, I’m a guest of the Drákons.” This makes me smile.
