Page 58 of Kingmakers, Year Four

Our son slumbers peacefully in the sling between us, unbothered by anything around him.

I rest my hand on his head, marveling how the curve of his skull perfectly fills the palm of my hand, his wavy dark hair softer than featherdown.

Sloane watches me, unsmiling.

“What is it?” I ask her.

“Did you see Evalina Markov’s face?” she says.

“What about it?”

“She had melasma—darkening of the pigment in the skin.”

“What of it?” I say.

Sloane frowns, cradling our son’s warm body in the crook of her arm.

“Usually that happens from pregnancy,” she says.

15

Ares

The first challenge of theQuartum Bellumtakes place directly before Halloween.

Leo is, of course, voted in one last time as Senior Captain. He’s trying not to let on how badly he wants to be the first Captain to lead his team to victory four years in a row.

I’ve never been able to tell him how much that would enrage my cousin Adrik, the former record-setter. Adrik is intensely competitive, maybe even more than Leo or Dean, if you can picture that level of psychopathy.

He’s been infuriated by the ongoing war with the Malina. He wants to go scorched earth on them, though he knows as well as I do what their first act of reprisal would be.

My family will never be able to repay my uncle Dominik or his sons Adrik and Kade for how they’ve stood by us through all of this. Dominik’s name has been slandered among the Bratva—he’s been accused of embezzling money, overstepping his position, and god knows what else. He swallows it all to protect us, though his honor means everything to him.

Kade and I used to talk about how much fun we’d have attending Kingmakers together. Now I have to pretend I don’t even know him.

I fucked up on that too, trying to come to his defense when Bodashka, Valon, and Vanya were harassing him last year. It’s infuriating hearing those idiots slander my own family right in front of me. Hearing their “secret plans” of how they’ll exploit our weakness for their gain. I’d like to strangle every last one of them in their sleep.

I asked Kade to enlist Dean to help us—to inform us if he hears of any concrete plans from that snake Danyl Kuznetsov. Dean, of course, thinks that Kade is only asking on his own behalf.

I wish I could tell Dean how much I appreciate his kindness to our family, which is in direct contrast to his own self-interest in Moscow.

I wish I could tell my friends a lot of things.

Despite Kade’s team being eliminated in the second round last year, the Sophomores apparently feel he did well enough to warrant being voted in as Captain again.

I can at least congratulate him publicly, giving him the same kind of friendly fist bump that a casual acquaintance might offer.

The Juniors, perpetual first-round losers in theQuartum Bellum,seem at a loss when choosing their Captain. This year they go for brains over brawn, voting in Jacob Weiss, a slim, bespectacled Spy from a well-known Chicago mafia family.

The real surprise is the Freshman Captain: none other than Sabrina Gallo.

Though not everyone likes her close friendship with Nix Moroz, there’s no denying Sabrina’s charisma. Within a week of landing on campus, everyone seemed to know her name—certainly all the male students did. The Freshmen may be hoping that all Gallos are born champions. Or they might think that only a Gallo can beat a Gallo.

Leo and Sabrina have been engaging in non-stop shit-talk at every meal. Sabrina fully intends to knock her cousin off his pedestal, and Leo is equally determined to grind her into the dirt, not giving a fuck that she’s three years younger and a girl.

“That’s true equality.” Leo grins at Sabrina. “I wouldn’t be a good feminist if I let you win.”

“Let me win?” Sabrina scoffs. “You’ll be lucky if you even catch a glimpse of me as I speed past you to the finish line.”

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