Page 63 of Xeda

"Yes, just fine."

He nodded. "The vrisha hasn't kept you up?"

She stiffened. "No, sir."

"Good. Good. And he hasn't hurt you at all, I assume? Even with his shitty attitude?”

She tried to keep her face blank. “No, sir, he hasn’t.”

He watched her for a long moment, then turned back to his map. "Hm. That's good at least." He tapped his fingers on the table as if thinking. "You look good, so it must be true. You have a sort of glow about you. Who did you have to fuck last night to make you look like that, huh? Was it Zachary? You've been talking to him a lot. Working your magic to get on his good side, right? Trying to figure out how you two can get those vrisha to work together before they tear each other apart." He shrugged. "It's a good strategy, I can give you that. Maybe it will actually work. Or maybe he's playing you while Kaxek gets ready to strike. What do you think?"

She listened to his words but didn't let them affect her. He had no idea. "We have talked," she said. "We were thinking of getting them to work together, but it's likely not going to happen. Xeda is too threatened by Kaxek and won't trust him. Kaxek is out for blood and not looking to make an ally."

"I see." Sal shook his head as if disappointed in her reaction, her answer, or both. "I'm not going to lie to you, Ophilia. I'm concerned about our star fighter. Really concerned. First he almost fails on us the first game, big fucking mistake, then he loses it at the showing. On my son, no less. I don't care what that little shit says to provoke him, I would see that vrisha whipped until I’ve cut off enough of his scales from his body to make a damn suit of armor, do you understand?" He took a seat by the table and reclined back, taking a bluum drop and popping it into his mouth. "But, lucky for him, I want to win the game more than maiming him. He's already going to be penalized in some way or another by the wardens, anyway. Which is bad for us. I don't need him being weakened more and dragging our chances down. I just need to know that he's better now. That you got a hold of him."

Ophilia hardly moved. "He is better. I don't expect another issue again."

Sal watched her with cold black eyes. "So, you've made him aware of the situation. Because one more move like that, and I'll kill him even if he wins."

Though her blood went cold, she forced a smile. "It won't happen again."

"And as for you." He pointed. "I know you plan on running if he does win. You'll take your part of the prize money and fuck off to wherever. But don't think you’re off the hook just because you'll be out of my debt. If my son is even so much as verbally threatened again by that scaly sonofabitch, I'll see you responsible. And I will make you pay. Got that?"

"I do, sir," she said softly.

"Good. With that out of the way"—he leaned forward in his chair—"I have some good news. The next game is the day after tomorrow. And I got some dirt on what it will be. So, listen carefully, and make sure that damn vrisha is ready to win."

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

Xeda

He strapped the grivhide to his shoulder, cinching it tight. Flexing his arms, he felt he could move freely despite the armor covering him. He eyed the blades and took them from the chest, placing them into a pair of sheaths strapped to his chest. He hoped he wouldn't need them. If he was going to defeat his opponents, he preferred doing it with his bare hands and tail. But with the fyrien, Aeriz, still alive and Tazyn known to use his double staffed blade, he considered they might come in handy against those who wielded weapons to kill their opponents, giving him an equal advantage.

Except, for this game, he might not need to wonder about a fight at all. Because, this time, from what Ophilia had told him, they meant to have them compete in an obstacle maze.

A race. Or rather a hunt. Apparently, they were meant to track down something within the maze before they could make their way out of it.

He loved a good hunt, but he hated the very idea of it in this moment because it only meant to prolong the fight once again.

"Everything is very intense this time," Ophilia had explained. "There's never been this many champions and high-end fighters in one game. Fighters who have been in the games for a long time and have a lot of money on their heads. No matter what, they are going to lose champions and peak fighters that will take years to find replacements for and train them up to their level. So, they're trying to stretch these games out even if only a few more days."

Basically if he lost this idiotic hunt, he would lose all enhancements in the next game. And apparently those were vital to have for the finals if one wanted any chance to win. Some would also lose their weapons.

It didn't matter to him either way whether he lost anything or not. Because he wasn't planning on letting there be a next game.

For the last several days, his growing impatience to finish this once and for all had reached its peak. It spilled over into worse frustration when Ophilia had given him the news about the next game being nothing more than a fill-in.

That next day after she’d returned from Sal’s, he was thrown into a ring with more low end fighters for everyone's entertainment. It was only those times in between fights that he was able to let off steam about how pissed he was over the situation. He'd call Ophilia to him and would pull her into a vacant room, to relieve his heat but also the tension.

"We have to be careful," she had whispered breathlessly to him as he pinned her against a wall, still latched to her even after his release, letting her tight warmth encase him. "We can't let them know, Xeda." Her little nails dug into his arm.

He understood. But he couldn't care. If he didn't have her right now, he feared he would have given up having to pretend long ago. And he’d still be in that damn cell if it wasn’t for her.

But he needed out of this game. He was so close, yet freedom still felt so far out of his reach.

And if he wasn't already pissed enough about that, there was always Kaxek. Whenever they passed each other in the ring between fights, he always had something to say, some remark to make Xeda's blood boil.

"You didn't care much for the females I offered," he said with a glow of amusement in his eyes. "Tell me, did your little human satisfy you enough then?"

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