Page 36 of Gods' Battleground

“Two-hundred-and-fifty-two werewolf teeth?” Tessa shivered again. “There has to be an easier way to do this.”

“I wish I could go with you guys,” I said.

“No, you don’t,” Tessa told me. “You really don’t want to be there, Leda. It’s totally going to suck.”

“Not as much as it would suck if we had to fight vampires,”Zane chuckled.

I wished I could joke through my fears like that, but I just couldn’t right now. It was a lot easier to be flippant when it was my life on the line, not theirs.

I exhaled. I just had to be patient. I just had to wait for my chance to grab the grimoire. All we knew was it and all the Night Prince’s other treasures were tucked away inside of his Vault, animpenetrable treasury protected by way too many guards and a powerful, perplexing door that resisted every piece of magic I threw at it, even my totally nonthreatening probing spells. I hadn’t been able to sweet-talk the door into opening either.

So, yeah, breaking into that Vault was a work in progress. And patience wasn’t really my virtue, especially when it meant putting my family in danger.

“Leda, how long do we have until the match?” Gin asked me.

“Any minute now.”

“Great. I still can’t get this…stupid thing closed,” Tessa said, fighting with the pieces of her chest armor, struggling to get it all on.

Gin rushed over to help her.

“When they come to take us away to the match, I need you all to pay close attention to the guards’ positions and movements, particularly in the south corridor,” Calli whispered.

“We know, Mom. You tell us this every single time we go out there,”Tessa said impatiently.

Between me and Gin, we’d almost gotten her armor in place.

“I say it every single time because it’s important,” replied Calli. “The more we know, the more likely we’ll make it to the Prince’s Vault, grab the grimoire, and get out of here without getting captured. Again.”

Of course we still had to figure out a way past the Vault door. That was my job in this little heist, and I was failing miserably at it. That stupid door was even more stubborn than I was.

“You’re all in terrible danger because of me,” Bella sighed. “But it’s not too late to save yourselves. Leda isn’t wearing a magic-blocking collar. She can teleport you all out of here.”

“We are not leaving here without you, Bella,” Calli told her.

“Or without the book that contains your cure,” added Tessa.

“Forget about the grimoire,”Bella told us. “The path to the treasury is too well-guarded. Save yourselves. I will stay hereand keep looking for a way into the Vault. You need to get out now. The Tournament is too dangerous. If something were to happen to any of you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“We’re a family. We always stick together,”Gin said.

I’d seen that look in her eyes before. My little sister was usually so calm, but when Bella had run off, it had hit Gin hard. She was clearly still upset with Bella.

And Bella realized that. “I left to protect you all from me,” she said, her eyes wide and worried. “To protect you from the Monster inside of me.”

Gin shrugged Bella’s hand off her shoulder. “Yeah, well, that’s not how our family does things. We solve problems together.”

“We haven’t come this far only to give up now, Bella,” Zane chimed in. “Trust in Leda’s plan. She always knows what she’s doing.”

“Of course I do.” I handed Calli her leather jacket.

She pulled it over her body armor. “Get ready, kids. The guards are coming to take us away.”

Bella and I stood there, unmoving, watching as the Night Prince’s soldiers herded our family out of the room. All of the other prisoners in the Cell—this open prison hall—looked on in silence. The Tournament was dangerous, even deadly. Every time a team left this room, you didn’t know if you’d see them again.

My family was the Night Prince’s favorite team. Calli, the marksman with supernatural aim. Zane, the telepath who could find any opponent, no matter how well they hid. And then, once he did, Tessa teleported the team there. And then there was Gin. Gin was the Prince’s personal favorite. For my phoenix sister, death was not permanent. She was always reborn.

As for Bella, she was the team’s healer and I was her assistant. We were the ones who patched up our loved ones afterthe battle was over. Again and again, we watched as the people we loved were cut, stabbed, and burned.

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