Page 11 of Wild Hunt
“Be that as it may, I need someone I can trust to get close to her.”
“What about Daphne?” she blurted out.
I frowned. “What about her?”
“They’re friends, sort of. I’ve seen them talking,” she said quickly, clearly relieved for the chance to pass the buck to someone else.
“I see,” I murmured. Daphne wasn’t usually the type to get involved in a Hunt, which made her an even better choice. Kore wouldn’t suspect a thing. Ariadne was too timid for a job like this, really, but until now, I hadn’t had a better option. “If that’s the case, then you’re free to go.”
She lingered, looking like she was going to disappear into the wallpaper. I realized what she was after and sighed, slipping a small packet of capsules from my pocket to hand to her. “Make yourself useful and tell Daphne I want to see her.”
She nodded and disappeared from my sight. Honestly, some days I hated this job for how easy it was.
I waited around in my office, AKA the lounge I’d commandeered from day one, until Daphne appeared at my door. She was wearing a nervous look on her face, but she didn’t shrink and skitter like Ariadne. She kept her shoulders as high as her red ponytail and walked in to meet me. “Ariadne said you wanted to see me.”
“I did, as a matter of fact,” I said, sitting back in my throne. “I hear you’re close with Kore.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” she muttered. “We’ve talked once or twice.”
“No need to get defensive,” I grinned. “I wasn’t about to give you a rose.”
I expected her to wilt, but she didn’t. The look she was giving me wasn’t quite a glare, but it was close enough. “I’ve heard that’s going around.”
Bold. Good. Kore would like her. She would trust her, if she didn’t already.
“I called you here because there’s something I want you to do for me. An opportunity, really.”
“An opportunity?” she asked doubtfully. “Whatever it is, I’m not interested. No offense, but I have better things to do than play your little bully game.”
I couldn’t help but smirk at her candor. She and Kore were definitely two peas in a pod. Funny how her mouthiness simply pissed me off while Kore’s… well, that was intriguing in a way I found perplexing, to say the least.
“I think you might change your mind when you hear what the opportunity is.”
Her eyes burned with agitation and she stood with her arms crossed, but she waited for me to go on.
“Your father is in the Underworld, isn’t he?”
Her eyes widened and all the toughness left her expression. Not the hatred, though. That remained. “What about it?”
“I’ll be ruler of the Underworld soon, and the keys will be in my hands,” I mused casually, stroking the engravings on the arm of my chair. “You’re a smart girl, according to the test scores posted last semester. I’m sure you understand how beneficial it could be to be owed a favor by the god of the Underworld.”
She gulped. “You can’t release him.”
“That’s true, but I can grant passage for a limited time,” I reasoned. “I’m sure you and your family would love the chance to see him again. But of course, I wouldn’t want you to go against your principles.”
“No,” she said quickly, her voice broken with desperation. “I… I’ll do it.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” I said, allowing myself to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that always came with breaking a particularly strong will. The harder the will, the easier it was to break, really. You just had to know where to apply the exact right amount of pressure and then…
Snap.
Easy as can be.
“What do you want me to do?” She wasn’t meeting my eyes anymore. Thoroughly put in her place.
“I want you to get close to Kore,” I said, shrugging. “Earn her trust and when I ask you to do something, you do it. Simple as that. Starting with joining her team in the Games.”
“That’s impossible. The teams have already been chosen.”
