Page 78 of Mud

Once again, I shook my head. “It’s a game of magic.” Which she knew—very well.

Was that why she was messing with me, why she even brought it up? To taunt me? To mock me? Because not only was the Iris Roe all about magic—it was also deadly. People died in it regularly, and there was a shitload of forms to sign before you could even enter. It had ananything goestype of vibe, and the IDD allowed even the most absurd things to happen in Roe. The kind of absurd things that took lives and left people mutilated for the rest of their days. At that meeting about the catfairies in the Headquarters all the agents had been nervous. I remembered the statistics, too—sixty percent of all players had died last time, and the numbers grew with every new Iris Roe.Sixtypercent.

A game of magic that I did not have anymore, and I still hadn’t even come to terms with it, hadn’t allowed myself to think about it, hadn’t really comprehended it—becausewhendid I have the time for that?!—but she wanted me to play in the Iris Roe?

“It is, indeed,” Madeline said as she slowly paced in front of me with her hands still behind her back. “It’s a game of magic and skill—skill taught at the IDD Academy, if you bothered to pick up any of their lessons.”

I could have laughed.

How do you think I survived all this time as an agent?!

“Grandmother, I do not have magic.” That she made me say this was the most absurd thing yet. And those tears—angry, sad, enraged tears—filled my eyes but I refused to let them shed. Not in front of her. She could get pretty much anything out of me, but she didn’t get to see me cry again.

“Well aware,” she said with a sneer. “Which is why you’re going to compete in the Iris Roe—and win.” She stopped a few feet to my side and looked down at me. “Theprize of the game is the Rainbow.” Yes, the Rainbow—an actual rainbow full of colors. Full ofmagicalcolors, which I needed magic to win. “There is a theory that suggests that enough chromatic magic consumed at once can restore color to a stained Iridian. It has never been tested before—but no time like the present, especially since you’remygranddaughter.”

My mouth opened and closed a million times before I was able to make a sound.

“I’ll never make it,” I said in a whisper. “The Roe is ruthless. The players are…” I shook my head again and again. “I’ll die.” There was no doubt about it—I would die in the Iris Roe without magic.

Madeline raised her brows just slightly. “Yes. Eitherthat—or you earn your magic back. Those are the only options you have.”

By then I should have known better than to want to remind her of what she just said herself—that I was her granddaughter, her family, her own flesh and blood. Her daughter gave birth to me—how can you be so cruel?!

Yet I still wished, for a second, to scream those words out at her, to shout them at the top of my lungs. I still wished, but I kept my mouth shut and just looked at her because it made perfect sense, didn’t it? True to her character, Madeline. She always stayed true to her character.

“Get some rest. Eat. I’ve given permission to the staff to perform magic on you. You will be taken to the Roe tomorrow evening, and you’re not allowed to leave your room until then,” Madeline said with a wave of her hand, looking down at my body like I was the vilest thing she’d ever seen in her life.

I will not cry.

“Grandmother, I can’t win the Iris Roe. It’s impossible. Ican’t win without magic. Iwilldie.” Just in case she didn’t think it through enough—which she did.

“I know, Rosabel. I don’t think you heard me: you either die or you come back with your magic. There is.No. Third. Option.” With each word she leaned closer and closer, wide amber eyes never blinking, her minty breath filling my nostrils. “Consider yourself lucky. Your misfortune came at the right time, at least. If it wasn’t for Roe, there wouldn’t be a second option, either.”

Meaning, she’d have killed me. Or she’d have had someone else kill me for her. Just like she said in the infirmary room—she would havetaken care of it.

Lucky for me, a game that was no game at all was going to kill me instead.

And you know what—I was glad for it. I’d chosen to go find Taland sohecould kill me instead, but a power-hungry player in a deadly game was still a better candidate to end my life than Madeline.

I wasglad.

“Noted,” I forced myself to say and stood up, forgetting the state of my leg until I almost collapsed on the floor. I would have if it wasn’t for the armchair to steady me.

“And by Iris, take a damn bath. You stink.” She wrinkled her nose like she smelled something foul.

“Will do.” I turned around, sweat beads lining my forehead already, and I began to hop toward the door. My leg didn’t hurt nearly as much as in the beginning, but I didn’t want to test it, not now when I wasthisclose to being alone in my room.

Alone.It sounded like a fucking blessing.

“You forgot to saythank you,Rosabel,” Madeline said when I was still halfway to the doors. I turned my head to her, sure I’d heard her wrong. “For saving you.”

Yes, I had heard exactly right.

“Thank you for saving me, Grandmother.” The words tasted acidic on my tongue. They soundedawfulout there in the world, even worse than they did inside my head.

Madeline said nothing, only nodded her head, and a different look fell over her, one that said,well, at least she gotonething right.

She didn’t stop me again.

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