Page 34 of Hallowed Games

He gave me a faint smile. “He’s fine.” As he stalked across the room to me, he pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket.

With a racing heart, I unfolded it. I exhaled, long and slowly, scanning Leo’s familiar handwriting, cramped on the right side where he always ran out of space because he held the pen wrong and smeared the ink at the edges. A few of the letters were backwards, as always.

ELOWEN — THE RAVEN LORD HELPED ME FIND HEMLIN. I WILL AP HELP HIM. HEMLIN.

LOVE

—Leo x

He always signed his name with an elaborate flourish for the L.

I traced my fingertips over his signature, imagining him writing it. My gaze flicked up to Maelor. “You helped him find his uncle?”

He nodded. “I found Leo on the road to Eboria. He was starving. I got him some food, and then I brought him to his uncle, who agreed to take Leo in as an apprentice.”

“How?” I demanded. “How did you find him?”

He shrugged. “The Archon guided me.”

The Archon, the Archon. It was the answer for everything here.

I breathed out slowly, and tears stung my eyes. While waiting, my muscles had been coiled tightly as corset laces. With the note in my hands, the tension started melting out of me.

“Thanks,” I said simply. A fat teardrop fell from my eyelashes onto the paper, and I turned away, unwilling to cry in front of the Raven Lord. “I want to keep this.” I clung to the note. If I died during these trials, this would be the last thing I’d ever hear from him. I slid the note into a pocket in my leather trousers. It would be my talisman. My good luck charm. The most important scrap of paper in the world to me right now.

With my back turned to Maelor, I brushed tears from my cheek.

“He’s lucky to have you, you know,” said Maelor.

I turned to look at him. I hated that the Raven Lord looked dizzyingly gorgeous in the firelight.

“Well, he doesn’t have me now, does he?” I said. “Because you brought me here.”

“Maybe the Archon wants you to live.” He crossed to me and brushed his thumb over my cheekbone. “You have a streak of ashes on your face.”

I didn’t explain that I’d been snooping around his things.

I let out a long sigh. “The odds are not great of me returning to Leo. You know that.”

“You must just focus on one trial at a time. Will you be able to sleep now that you know Leo is fine?” asked Maelor. “The labyrinth begins tomorrow. You need to be alert.”

“Did he seem welcoming? Leo’s Uncle Hamelin?” I couldn’t believe I was even asking him this, like I trusted him. He was the bloody Raven Lord.

“Yes. He said he felt bad about not taking him in before, and he regretted it, but he didn’t know where to find you. He doesn’t have children of his own. His wife died years ago.”

I pressed the last of the tears from my eyelashes and waited until I was sure my voice would come out steadily before answering. “Yeah. I’ll be able to sleep.” Whatever his true motives were, he seemed willing to help me. I might as well use his help as much as possible. “Is there anything you can tell me that will help me get through it alive?”

“I’ll tell you what I can, but nothing in the labyrinth is ever certain.” He gestured at the green daybed before the fireplace.

His gaze dipped to my lips. The glance was just for a moment, but for some reason, it made my breath catch.

I dropped onto the daybed, feeling all the tension wash out of me. I stared into the writhing flames as Maelor sat beside me. Firelight wavered over his sharp cheekbones, his too-full lips. “Sion will probably tell everyone this tomorrow, but only those who get through the labyrinth by nightfall will survive. The moment the sun sets, the wolves will arrive. They’re not ordinary wolves, though. Some say they’re monstrous ghosts of pagans from the old days, hungry for the blood of their conquerors. Others say they’re the spirits of those who died in the labyrinth, starving for blood, for life. Anyone they catch will be ripped to shreds.”

I nodded. “And this is the organization you want to dedicate your life to?”

Ignoring my question, he went on. “The labyrinth is underground but open to the air. Walls will rise up on either side of you. Often, the Penitents grow disoriented and circle around the same part of the maze. You’ll smell the dead from the last trial sometimes, and that’s a clue that there might be a trap ahead. Their bodies are never recovered. But it can be hard to judge how the labyrinth will behave. The path always changes, almost like it’s alive.”

“I don’t suppose you can draw me a map.”

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