Page 172 of The Games Gods Play
There’s a breeze in the Underworld. I’d pictured a roasting wind to go with the burning fields, but not here in Erebos, the Land of Shadows. Here, the breeze is cool and perfect.
I’m wearing a sundress, of all things, in a cheerful yellow. I have no idea how Hades knew I’d always wanted one. Pledges wear utilitarian clothes or clothes to blend into the environment where we have a job, but we don’t get to keep those. And I never got to that level anyway.
I stare out over the vistas and sigh again because I think I could stay here forever and never miss any other place. But maybe that has something to do with the god who calls this home.
I feel Hades before I hear or see him move up next to me at the rail. Not from his emotions. I haven’t felt those again in the extra days he wrangled for me to rest and recover.
But there’s this tension now.
Like a thin wire has been strung between him and me, and if we get too close…sparks travel that wire and we both risk getting scorched. So we’ve been moving around each other carefully.
We don’t touch.
We don’t glance or stare.
We don’t share a room alone for longer than a few minutes.
We don’t breach the invisible walls of personal space, like glass bubbles around us.
We don’t imply. Or tease. Or tempt.
And thanks to all of those unspoken “thou shalt not” rules…I fucking smolder with unrealized need.
“You’re still determined to go through with this?” he asks.
All of our discussions since I stopped sleeping all the time have focused on strategy. How to win the Crucible.
“Yes.” For Boone. For me. For Hades, too.
“Lyra!” Meike’s cry has us turning to find her, Zai, Trinica, and Amir coming up the stairs that lead to the rooftop.
I don’t have to look, because I already feel that Hades has disappeared. He’s not supposed to be here with the champions. Any of them. Not for what I have in mind.
With hurried steps, Meike runs to me and pulls me into a hug. “Thank the gods,” she says. “We thought…” She grimaces as she pulls back.
“Thank Hades, because he’s the reason I’m still alive.”
She glances around as if she’ll find him here.
By now, Zai has joined us, also giving me a hug. “We didn’t know what happened to you.”
“I’ll fill you in.”
Trinica hangs back, watching warily, Amir at her side. It’s not like I’ve been present for most of the Labors they’ve been officially allied with us for. “I’m glad the four of you had one another while I’ve been gone,” I say.
“We missed you,” Amir says, offering me a boyish smile.
Trinica just nods, but she’s lost the wariness.
I lead them to one of the large outdoor couches that horseshoe a firepit. “We don’t have long to talk,” I tell them. “The others will be here in about fifteen minutes.”
Zai leans back a tad. “Others?”
“I invited all of the champions here.”
The four of them exchange glances.
Meike frowns. “That doesn’t seem like a good idea.” And usually she is the optimistic one.
