Page 151 of The Games Gods Play
I glare. “Don’t be stubborn.”
He snorts. “Said the most stubborn pot in existence to the most equally stubborn kettle. Besides, I told you I’ve always wanted to work with you.”
I let out a sharp breath. That was a low blow just to give me warm fuzzies and get me to agree, and he knows it.
“You could save yourself. I’d feel better—”
“If something happened to you, how would that make me feel? Especially when I’m good at shit like this.”
Now he’s appealing to my logical, clerk side. He’s definitely not going to let this go. “Fine. Put your life on the line. See if I care.”
Boone’s slow grin makes my stomach flutter. Just a little. Not like Hades, but still, when Boone chooses to be charming, he’s hard to resist.
Hephaestus holds up a hand, signaling for quiet. “First up is Amir, starting with his guest, Zeenat.”
But Amir and the woman we’ve all learned was his nanny are arguing. She’s small but mighty, and I can tell she still expects Amir to listen to her the way he did as a child.
“Amir?” Hephaestus demands.
“No, ayah,” Amir snaps with a swift glance in the god’s direction. “I will not listen to you. Not this time. I didn’t save you in the last Labor to lose you now. I—” His voice chokes a little, and he looks away, swallowing hard. “I couldn’t take it.”
Zeenat searches the face of the boy she’s known and obviously loved since infancy, then reaches out and pats his hand. “All right. I will wait.”
Relief hunches his shoulders, and Amir bends over to give her a hug. “Thank you. I’ll do better if I’m not worried about you.”
“Always such a kind heart, my Amir.”
He smiles. The arrogant boy who at first I thought was used to getting his own way in everything has turned out to be someone else entirely. With a kiss on Zeenat’s cheek, he leaves her and walks through the gate and into the woods.
After that, it’s a waiting game. For me, at least. Hephaestus doesn’t say specifically, but as names are called, I have no doubt Boone and I will be last. As usual.
Amir isn’t the only one who chooses to compete alone to save their loved one. Zai does the same for his mother. Meike, too, for her roommate, who I think is older than her by at least a decade.
And Rafe argues with Dex right up to the last second. “I’m strong.”
Dex’s face is a study of regret and determination. “I know you are, sobrino, but your mother would never forgive me—”
“She’d want me to be the man of the house. The gods picked me to help you, Tío Dex.”
They go on and on in circles until Hephaestus calls Dex’s name.
Rafe bolts for the gate, but Dex grabs him by a skinny arm. Every one of Dex’s thirty years is suddenly etched into his scowling face as he marches his nephew over to the god. “Hold him for me?”
To my surprise, Hephaestus scoops the boy up under one arm, like a football, ignoring the pounding of ineffectual fists as Dex nods his thanks, then runs into the woods.
“Dex!” Rafe’s call after his uncle would wrench even the hardest of hearts.
And those are, I think, the easier decisions among us. Everyone else argues for even longer. Trinica is determined that her son must get married and provide her some grandbabies, and he can’t do that if he’s dead. She doesn’t win that argument. Neve doesn’t win her argument with Nora, either.
Diego, in the end, does win his heated debate with his wife, Elena, by insisting that their children need at least one parent in their lives should something go wrong. The kiss those two share before he heads off without her… I have to look away, give them their privacy. But their love is something precious. Something rare. Something worth fighting for.
A feeling Zeus stole from me.
Actually, every goodbye today makes my heart both whither with sadness and warm at the evidence of love in the mortal world. The cruelty of our gods and goddesses is highlighted with every word, every glance, every embrace.
I wish the fucking world was watching this and taking notes.
The guests not running the course are escorted away by the Daemones, no doubt to wait for their champions to finish and find them.
