Page 29 of Beta Lies and Cursed Lives
“They go back to base camp,” Arlowe offers.
“Which is not much better.” Nyx’s tone is sour. “The faculty makes the eliminated students their lackeys until the exercise is over. There’s no actual rest or anything.”
“Well, maybe you and Erich will enjoy a bit of bonding time together.”
When Nyx shoots another bolt at Arlowe for her teasing, she jumps up. “That’s it. I’ve had enough of this abuse.” A darkness covers her body like thick, black smoke, and in a blink, she’s gone, the shadow with her.
“Touchy,” Nyx mumbles.
I smirk at her. “You did electrocute her. Three times.”
She lets out apffft. “What I sent her way equated to a joy-buzzer. She’s just being a baby.”
My head shakes as I smile at my friend, and then all my senses go on alert as those familiar scents invade my nostrils. My body turns automatically to face them, Colt, Rai, and Aubrey, as the three approach our little sunny spot outside the treeline.
“Well.” Nyx stands with haste and looks down at me, wiping her palms on her pants. “Enjoy time with your ‘boy-toys,’ hm?” The smirk she gives me is knowing before she turns to head back to the academy, waving at the Alphas as she passes them.
“We did not mean to disrupt your time with your friend,” Rai tells me, although he doesn’t seem sad that we’re alone now.
“He’s not, and neither am I,” Colt chimes as he plops down on the ground beside me, his hand immediately finding my knee.
“What did we talk about the other day?” I warn.
“Boundaries. Personal Space. Self-control. Right. Forgot.” He’s absolutely flippant.
I sigh, although I can’t find it in me to be frustrated. A part of me is comforted by not always being alone in my thoughts.
His hand squeezes my knee.
“We were in the library and got bored,” Rai explains. “We missed you.”
The way his words make my heart squeeze is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Rai is always this way, with his kindness and reverence.
“I can be sweet, too,” Colt grumbles.
I let out a puff of laughter, and Rai clears his throat.
“There is...something I would like to try, Mira. An experiment, if you will.”
My brows lift, my heart giving a little stutter. “An experiment?”
“I would like us to go to the farthest training ground from the academy. If you’d indulge me.”
I look at Rai and smile, my trust in him shining, even if he can’t see it. “Of course. Let’s go.”
Rai smiles then, too, and the sight is so beautiful that it takes my breath away.
He looks at Aubrey in that uncanny way he has of knowing where you are. “You brought it?”
Aubrey gives him an affirmative nod, and I say, “He says, ‘yes.’”
“Good.”
Aubrey takes the lead, keeping several paces ahead of us, and we move away from the academy building in a slow trek. We stay on the cobbled path that runs between outdoor and indoor training grounds, most of which I’ve never visited. Curiosity looms, but I keep following, Rai to my left and Colt with his arm looped through my right.
When we’ve walked maybe two hundred yards, an enormous coliseum appears over the path that begins to lead downward. When we crest the hill, it comes into full view, like something out of ancient Greece. Towering stone columns and arches form an open circular structure, the contents exposed to the elements.
It takes even more time to reach the entrance, and once we’re through the giant arches, what’s beyond is revealed.
