Page 44 of Let Me Win You

As Invi continued straight, Gul turned off into a passage on the right, and Ira turned left.

“Wouldn’t Ira have an advantage over his brothers, since it’s his maze and he knows it the best?” I asked.

“Not necessarily, since the maze moves all the time.” Pandora twirled a strand of her hair between her fingers. “So, which one is your favorite?” She tipped her chin at the glowing figures that rushed through the passages below.

“I don’t have favorites,” I said quickly.

“But you do have at least some preference for the winner, don’t you? You’ll be living in his house, after all.”

A tendril of black smoke separated from the wall as Invi was passing by. It stretched, forming a clawed hand with gnarly fingers that reached for him.

“Watch out!” I screamed, nearly sliding off the saddle in agitation.

Pandora flew in a circle around me. “We’d better take you out of here. You’re way too unsteady in the air.”

I followed her, but my focus remained glued to the green sin below. The gnarly black hand grabbed his tail, yanking him back. He fell to the ground, face down.

One passage over, a massive shape leaped from around the corner on Ira. The Sin of Wrath roared so loud, the walls of the maze shook. The beast that attacked him looked eerily similar to Ira. It had a humanoid shape with the head of a bull, but with no tail and with feet instead of Ira’s hooves.

“A minotaur!” Pandora gasped in awe. “You won’t normally see them anywhere but here in the maze.”

Another beast just like the first one rushed Ira. Their horns locked with a thundering sound that spooked my pegasus.Frantically beating the air with his wings, my mount lurched to the right, shaking me out of the saddle.

“Ahhh!” I screamed, plummeting until the reins yanked at my hand stopping my fall.

I dangled in the air, held only by the reins clutched in my hand, as my pegasus flew around, flapping his wings wildly.

“Nicole!” Pandora called from above, but I couldn’t see her through the cloud of black, pungent smoke rising from the maze.

No, the smoke wasn’t rising, I realized, as a gray rock wall rushed by me—I was falling.

In a desperate attempt to get free from my weight dragging him down by the reins trapped around his neck, the pegasus jerked to the left, slamming me into the wall so hard, breath rushed out of me in a groan. The reins slipped from my weakened fingers, and I fell into the gaping mouth of the maze.

I braced in horror for the inevitable impact with the sharp rocks and the hard ground below.

Instead, strong arms caught me. The thick green tail coiled around me tightly. I rolled on the ground, but Invi’s torso and tail cushioned my fall and kept me safe from the rocks and the walls.

“Invi…” I exhaled.

“You have to get out!” He panted in alarm.

His tail uncoiled like a spring, lifting him above the ground, with only the short, rattled end propped in the dirt.

“Mother!” he shouted, holding me up in his arms. “Get Nic to safety. Now!”

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” Pandora’s voice filtered through the surrounding smoke. “I’m trying. But it’s tight. There is no space for the wings between the walls?—”

The clashing of horns and the roars of minotaurs fighting with Ira nearby drowned the rest of her words.

A growl came from below. Invi jerked suddenly as if something rammed into the lower part of his tail. Like a cut down tree, he tilted and crashed with me in his arms.

With a screeching, deafening sound, the walls of the maze shifted.

“It’s moving.” I gripped Invi’s shoulders in rising panic as our passage grew narrower. “Invi, the maze is moving.”

“Fuck.” Pressing me to his chest, he propelled himself with his tail, sliding over the ground smoothly like a knife through butter.

The smoke around us thinned. But the sky disappeared, too, as we rushed into the covered section of the maze.

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