Page 47 of Souls of Steel
“Yes, yes,”I told her, “but you’re a welcome parasite. I just have a bad feeling.”
“If it helps, Sphinx is monitoring your broodmate. She says Selene is doing well.”
The information cheered me up, and I managed to go through the qualifiers without getting anyone killed. I almost crossed paths with Brendan and Knox once or twice, but we successfully avoided one another. The powers Charybdis had awakened inside me might be difficult to carry, but right then and there, I was so grateful I could’ve wept.
As the qualifiers ended, we all returned to our previous spots. As soon as I saw Selene, a surge of fury coursed through me. Her neck was covered in bruises and minor burns. Her wrist was swollen red, the sign of another wound created by Tartarus’s power.
By comparison, we were mostly fine. As expected, Brendan didn’t have a scratch on him. Pollux and I had a few bruises and Knox was favoring his right arm. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Selene’s injuries. But I supposed it could’ve been much worse. She was standing on her own feet, not immobilized, clear-headed, not bleeding. As long as that was the case, I wouldn’t insult her by panicking over her wounds. We’d have to see to the issue, but in private.
Brendan seemed to have the same idea. “You did well, Selene. We’ll have to help you with your injuries after the results are announced.”
He didn’t ask her if she was healthy enough to stay and Selene rewarded him with a smile. “Thank you. It’s not so bad. I just hope I managed to get enough points to qualify.”
She had, and so had the rest of us. When the results were announced, the fire burning inside me settled down a little. The highest of us was, predictably, Knox. He was in third place, although I was pretty sure he could’ve gotten first if the numbers of points assigned to each person hadn’t been so weirdly assigned. Brendan was in eighth place, while Pollux and I were in tenth and eleventh respectively. Selene had earned an excellent twenty-two.
Not bad if I did say so myself.
Selene let out a relieved breath. “That went better than expected. I guess I got lucky.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Pollux said. “You’re a good fighter. Give yourself some credit.”
Behind us, Jared Glass scoffed. “As if. If I’d had a few more seconds, I’d have taken her out.”
“Really?” Selene drawled. “I think I’m the one who should say that. As I recall, you were on your knees at my feet.”
Jared twitched in irritation. “A temporary setback. It wouldn’t have taken me long to fix the problem.”
He’d qualified too, although just barely. He was the second to last person, which meant that his bet with Selene was officially over and done with. Neither of them had achieved their goals. Selene didn’t seem too mad about it. In fact, she didn’t seem too upset with him at all. When she looked at him, her eyes held a speculative light. It was very different from her previous anger, reminding me a little of the way she was with us.
What had happened in the labyrinth, during their fight?
I wanted to ask, but when we were ushered out of the arena, I didn’t get the chance. Medical staff rushed to tend to the wounded. Selene was whisked away and came back with the bruise around her neck looking much better.
A drone brought us some rations and we ate in companionable silence. It was nice, peaceful, and I wanted to prolong these simple, quiet moments, to not have to think about all my questions and duties. But now that Selene had qualified, we were back to our previous dilemma.
What were we supposed to do in the following stages of the competition? Could we use the tournament to turn her away from the school? I didn’t really want to, not anymore, but I didn’t have a choice.
“Any idea what the next test will be?” Selene asked, snapping me out of my musings.
“If they turned the qualifiers into a battle royale, I’m thinking the second stage might involve piloting in some way,” Brendan replied.
Selene frowned. “Would they use chimeras, though? I mean, it doesn’t seem fair to the others.”
Sometimes, it was so easy to forget how new Selene was at this. “The others will all have different vessels, although granted, they will be inferior to our chimeras. But nothing in life is fair, Selene. War is the most unfair thing of all. There’s always going to be a person who’s more powerful than you. If we have chimeras, it’s because we’ve earned them. The Grand Judiciary won’t hide that, no matter how much of an issue they have with you.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Selene offered. “It’s not like the first stage was all that fair.”
No, it hadn’t been, since the whole thing had been set up specifically against Selene. But The Grand Judiciary couldn’t have guessed Selene would pass the qualifiers, so maybe it hadn’t occurred to them to prepare a second stage of the same nature.
I really should’ve known better than to jinx us like that. When we returned to the stadium and saw the mirrors set up all over the field, I was instantly horrified.
“Mirrors?” Selene asked, completely unaware of the danger she was now in. “What’s this all about?”
Pollux looked like he was about to throw up. And how could he not? He hated this technique, since it reminded him of the true brutality of The Grand Judiciary.
Mirrors seemed harmless, but for us, they had long ago become a weapon, one that could easily kill those unprepared to use it. And Selene was not prepared.
King Philip hadn’t taken any chances. He must’ve decided to make sure Selene was out of the picture, just in case something extreme happened and she did pass the qualifiers. The first stage of the tournament had been more versatile, but this was very specific and not something Selene had gotten the chance to learn.
