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I sighed, dropping my gaze from his. "Fine, but expect nothing more than the alliance I agreed to.”
Isaac nodded curtly and went back to his task, his jaw tense. I couldn't shake the feeling of unease as we set up camp, the air around us thick with the lingering heat. We ate a quick meal in silence, and water. We had to be careful not to run out.
I was grateful when Isaac took the first watch. Exhaustion weighed heavy on me, and I doubted I could stay awake much longer.
I was just drifting off when the ground shook beneath me. My eyes flew open, and I scrambled out of my tent just as Isaac emerged from his own. The shifting under us increased, the rumbling and hissing growing more intense. It was uncomfortable inside my body, the heat pressing down on us like a physical weight. I closed my eyes, listening to the sounds of the earth shifting beneath us.
It felt different this time.
When I blinked again, it stopped. I thought of the ritual when I'd put my blood inside the stone for Liliana. I wondered what she would think of me now, turning down the man she wanted more than anything, but mostly I remembered how I saw the inside of a volcano. I had felt so connected to it.
There was no more speaking, but I stayed outside. It was no longer so deadly cold. The heat dissipated as the night wore on, and a cool breeze blew in from the north. I gazed at the sky, watching the stars slowly appear overhead.
The sounds of voices traveled with us when I turned around. A handful of people were there, but not Santiago or Isabela. I was worried, mainly because we had started with over two hundred competitors. Just how many people had stopped competing?
I could see La Dama stretching in front of us, taller than anything else in the area. The mountain we had climbed was grueling—about two thousand meters.
La Dama was more than that. All we needed to do was spill our blood on the rock. There would be cameras. It would be documented for everyone to see for the rest of eternity. Joaquín had instructed me on the cutthroat nature of the last stretch. I would need to run after finishing the climb. Killing at the top was forbidden, but there was a stretch where the cameras didn’t have a clear view of the competitors. Isaac could push me off the mountain.
If we were doing so well, and my power was as impressive as it had been thus far, things would be all right.
Chapter27
Going it alone
Aside from the heat, everything felt different. Isaac and I woke up before everyone else, most of which were tired from the game and the climb. It struck me once again just how few tents there were. The air was thick with sulfur as Isaac and I crossed over the closed mouth of the volcano. My boots crunched on the deep red volcanic rock, each step sending a spike of determination through my veins.
I kept my eyes fixed on the back of Isaac's sandy head. He was tall and broad. His muscles rippled under his thin shirt with every stride, and his legs carried him swiftly down the volcano's rocky slope as if he'd been born to traverse this harsh terrain. I struggled to keep up, my heart pounding like a war drum—partly from exertion and partly from the fierce competition that drove me forward. This part of the tournament was dull and ugly. But energy thrummed under my skin as I pushed onward.
Isaac glanced at me, one eyebrow raised. I kept my face neutral, not betraying the churning emotions within.
"If you fall, I won't come to get you," Isaac called back, his green eyes flashing with a mix of arrogance and challenge. His sandy blond hair whipped around his face as the wind picked up, carrying a scent of ash and fire. It was a constant reminder of where we were—on the edge of danger, yet alive with adrenaline.
"Don't worry about me," I shot back, my voice breathless but steady. "Just focus on getting yourself down safely."
As we rounded a bend in the path, the view opened up before us like a painting come to life. The next volcano loomed in the distance. Dark and imposing against the backdrop of an indigo sky streaked with crimson. Its peak seemed to touch the heavens themselves, and the sight of it stole what little breath I had left.
“San Volcán,” I whispered, more to myself than to Isaac. The scene's beauty struck a chord deep within me, one I wasn't sure I'd ever felt. It was a stark contrast to the dry, barren land we'd left behind, and for a moment, I couldn't help but feel a flicker of hope that maybe there was more to our world than just struggle and strife, that I was more than my scars.
It was mystifying that nature could do that.
Isaac noticed I had stopped, so I started walking again, eager to put some distance between us.
The sun was a merciless eye in the sky, casting its intense gaze upon us as we continued our descent. It seemed to pierce through me, leaving my skin slick with sweat and my throat dry as sandpaper. The dry, cracked earth beneath our feet groaned with each step as if burdened by the weight of our ambitions.
I glanced around at the desolate landscape surrounding us, feeling a shiver run down my spine despite the heat. This was La Dama—the Lady—a region revered and feared for its formidable terrain. I had no idea how warm it would be and opened my jacket. To conquer it was to prove a young Élites worth, but the cost could be devastating.
When I thought about those who had been lost at the bottom of the mountain, I wondered how they felt knowing that they had been close to seizing glory but lost. How would they continue? The thought weighed heavily on my heart, like the heavy chains that had bound me all these years.
As we pressed on, the sun climbed higher in the sky, casting a golden glow upon the stark landscape. Though it seemed impossible that anything could thrive here in La Dama, small patches of greenery caught my eye: clusters of hardy plants and twisted trees stubbornly clinging to life amidst the desolation.
"Look," I said, forgetting the uncomfortable silence between us, pointing at a solitary shrub adorned with tiny yellow flowers.
Isaac glanced in the direction I was pointing, his eyes softening for a moment before returning to the path ahead.
The day wore on, the heat grew more oppressive, and I felt beads of sweat trace rivulets down my spine. We stopped to drink water for a few seconds, and I wondered how I had ever suffered in the cold.
The heavy clothes that had protected me from frostbite now clung to my skin, suffocating me beneath their weight. Determined, I stopped to shed my outer garments, revealing the lighter clothes beneath. I would not let something as trivial as modesty stand in the way of my survival.
