Page 11 of Infala: The Bonding Games
He was bigger up close, and despite the gray-blue coloring to his skin, he was anything but cold. She could feel the heat radiating off him, his muscles pumped from exercise and his veins thick and long running down his arms to his considerable hands. Equally sizable was the distracting bulge pressing against his left trouser leg.
“You’ve finished your circuit, I see,” the guard noted. “You were pushing yourself today.”
“Because I know I’m going to be hindered from here on,” he grumbled, his eyes shooting daggers at the human woman he was to compete with. “Well, get it over with,” he said, holding out his left arm.
The guard waved over one of her comrades who had a long cable in his hands. Only when he got closer did Ziana see the two padded metal cuffs attached to either end. He snapped one over Dorrin’s wrist. The unit clicked and buzzed, then fell silent, securely locked in place.
“Gimme your wrist,” he demanded, grabbing Ziana’s right arm.
“Hang on a second. No one told me we were going to be chained together.”
“It’s not a chain, it’s a cable,” the man replied with a chuckle as he locked her cuff in place.
She turned to the woman who’d guided them there. “What’s this all about?”
“Protocol. Everyone is bound for the early rounds. Even the elites. But later? Well, you’ll have to earn the privilege of having the cuffs removed.” She turned to Maria as a bearded man with dark-yellow skin strode over. “Come on, you. You’re next.”
The man was clearly Borkus, and poor Maria was going to be bound to him just as Ziana was to Dorrin. And suddenly it all made sense. It was absolutely nuts, but it made sense. The lodging, the beds, even the clothes. It was all designed for people chained together.
Okay, not chains, but close enough, she mused, her gallows humor the only thing keeping her from freaking the fuck out. A crowd was gathering, other competitors wandering over to ogle the newcomers.
Dorrin was standing close, looming over her, sizing her up with the only part of him that actually was cold. His stare nearly made her shiver, his silver-gray eyes looking at her with such a cool intensity she almost couldn’t stand it. Finally, he looked away, turning his ire to the guard.
“Look at her. She’s a useless piece of meat.”
“Hey! There’s no reason to be a dick!”
He ignored her, his gaze now locked on the guard, pleading his case, though he knew full well there would be no undoing this.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with her? Her runes aren’t even healed yet.”
The guard shrugged. “They’ll heal.”
“And she doesn’t even know the rules.”
“Then teach her. It’s that or go home, Dorrin. And do you really want to wait another three years?”
One of the other competitors, a pale man with golden-blond hair and a jaw so square it was almost comical, came striding close, his clothing of the same basic design, but clearly made of far finer material. Everything about him screamed wealth, even the wrist band binding him to the lithe woman with the same familial skin and hair standing at his side, and his attitude only reinforced the impression. Though she believed in giving people a fair shake upon first meeting, as soon as he opened his mouth, Ziana’s first impression was fixed in place, and she didnotlike him one bit.
“Yes, Dorrin. Why don’t you give up?” the man said with a haughty laugh.
Yep. I hate him, Ziana confirmed.This guy creeps me out worse than an entitled frat bro.
“Not happening, Flagro, and you know it,” Dorrin replied, his dislike clear in his gaze.
“You actually expect to win? How comical. But you’ll lose, you know. Just like last time. Just like every time. First your father, ever the loser, and now his son following in his footsteps of failure. Expectations and reality are not always what you plan for. Face it. You’ll never ascend, Dorrin. You’ll never become one of us, you know. You’ll never achieve true wealth and status.”
“So you keep saying. But is that worry I hear in your voice, Flagro?”
“Worry? You don’t even have your real partner. And what a tragic injury, that was to your former one.”
“Yes, funny how that happens around the games, and always to your fiercest competitors.”
“Are you making an accusation? You know the penalties for spreading lies.”
“Just an observation,” Dorrin replied, his jaw flexing but his ire held back.
Ziana could almost feel it. How badly he wanted to punch that man in his perfect teeth. But she’d seen this dynamic before. The privileged getting away with whatever they wanted while the commoners were held to a different set of rules. It seemed some things were the same no matter what planet you were on. Whatever dislike Ziana had felt for her unwanted partner, she was, for the moment at least, very much on his side.
