Page 139 of The Games Gods Play
Zeus sits down hard. “We shall start the introductions,” he says with a dismissive shrug. “As you know, Dae’s person was his grandmother.”
The callous delivery drops the words into a vat of silence.
She’s sitting near enough to me, so I catch Rima’s whispered, “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than Dae’s boyfriend.”
Not hearing her, Zeus waves at Samuel, who gets to his feet.
Luckily, I’m not the only one not all that enthusiastic about this. The room has a subdued weight to it as the champions each quickly make introductions. Most aren’t too surprising. Samuel’s long-time partner is here, and Jackie’s older brother. Meike has her roommate. Trinica rescued her son. The woman with Zai is his mother, like I guessed. Diego’s wife is no shock, and Demeter, showing her mothering side, assures us their two children are being cared for by Diego’s parents. Rima’s husband is here as well.
Neve gets to her feet. “This is my younger sister, Nora.”
I slowly lean forward to look around Hades at the woman sitting directly beside him. She’s probably in her mid-twenties, so only a little younger than Neve. The Nora? The one who Neve was muttering about how she was going to be killed?
Boone gives me a low whistle—one the others don’t even notice, let alone understand. He’s using a pledge’s signals to ask me what I find interesting.
I whistle back the signal for nothing or not important.
Not true, of course. Nora looks a lot like her sister, only her hair is a darker red and her eyes more green than blue. Somewhere in between. She also has a sweeter smile…or smiles at all, come to that.
Neve’s chin tips up. “Our family are…important business owners in our community. Ares informed me that someone from outside the family has threatened Nora’s life if Ares becomes king, but now that I have her back from them…” Her eyes narrow, determination stamped across her features. “They will pay for that mistake.”
Wait. Is Neve’s business-owner family some sort of crime family, Canadian style?
Hard to imagine that accent being used during criminal acts, but that would explain a lot.
Boone taps a finger on the back of my hand to get my attention and raises his eyebrows in question. I shake my head.
He sits back as Dex gets to his feet and waves at the boy with him.
“This is Rafael…Rafe,” Dex says. “He is my nephew, my sister’s son, and he’s only ten.”
Ten? So young. I want to wrap the kid up and hide him away somewhere, or ask Hades to hide him, until the next Labor is over. Amir is already too young at sixteen. A ten-year-old shouldn’t be exposed to this.
“My dad died before I was born, and Mom is…sick.” Rafe speaks up earnestly, looking at Dex like the man is his hero. “Tío Dex helps raise me.”
I’m having trouble reconciling the image in front of me now. I mean, Dex might as well be wearing tights and a cape. How does that fit with the competitor Dex has been so far?
But the affection in his eyes as he ruffles Rafe’s hair is unmistakable and real. Until the Crucible, I thought I read people well. Am I reading Dex wrong now?
Boone leans over to whisper in my ear. “What are you going to say about me, I wonder?”
Not that I’ve had a huge crush on him for years. “That you’ve been a pain in my ass?”
“Stop. You’re going to make me blush.”
I chuckle.
Then pause. Something feels…different with us. Easier.
A glance shows me that, on my left, Hades is leaning away from me, talking to Nora. He even smiles at her. No dimples, but still, he’s charming enough that she smiles back widely, visibly starstruck. Apparently, he can put some mortals at ease.
Neve is pretty, but I have to say Nora is drop-dead gorgeous, her creamy skin flawless against that abundance of auburn hair and a smile that could compete with Aphrodite’s. What’s more, she seems unafraid of Hades.
I bet he’ll appreciate that about her.
I pull my gaze away to fiddle with the stem of my wineglass.
“Lyra?”
