Page 12 of This Shattered Star

I shook my wrist out of his grip. Two could play at this game. And I wanted the power that came with winning far more than he did.

Kodhan’s eyes blazed with inner fire as he studied the answering challenge written across my face. He stepped back, allowing cool air to replace the heat he’d been emitting.

“Anyway,” Brannon said, hesitantly. “Welcome to the team.”

“We’re not so bad,” Theia added quickly. “Actually, I take that back. Brannon is an awful thief and can rarely take things seriously.”

Brannon’s brows lifted. “Theia is meddlesome, and horrible at keeping secrets.”

A headache throbbed between my temples. Made worse by the grating noise blaring from the orchestra, incomparable to its earlier, softer symphony.

I tuned out Brannon and Theia’s following argument, scanning the crowd for Diana. She’d migrated somewhere within the thrall.

I needed to convince her to let me leave, to prepare for the first trial. My time was wasted here.

Time I did not have.

As I made to step away from the three of them, Kodhan grabbed hold of my wrist again, though there was no force to it. I could’ve pulled away if I wanted to.

“What do you want?” I spat.

He purposefully moved to block my path, making my blood boil further. “Maverick is angry. His new ally rule will be the least of our concerns. Unlucky as we are, he is likely to twist more of them.”

“I’ve been unlucky since I was born, Kodhan. My entire life has been nothing but instability. This is nothing new for me.”

He gave me a look I couldn’t read. “All I am saying is that we’ll need to be careful. Be prepared for anything.”

“I will always be prepared. But careful?” I laughed, but it was humorless. Bitter. “Careful is something I’ll be when the rest of the competitors are dead.”

Kodhan’s answering laugh had me sucking in an involuntary, surprised breath. Although it was small, it was… genuine. I wasloath to admit that the man was handsome despite all his faults. But that sliver of warmth was devastating.

“So the viper has fangs, after all.” His fingers drifted from my wrist, trailing upwards until they reached my elbow.

“I’m going to find my grandmother.” Staggering backwards, I came close to colliding into Brannon, who still argued with Theia.

Kodhan said nothing else. Though I could feel his eyes linger on my back as I shoved past intoxicated bodies.

Too hot. This room was too hot.

I found Diana’s amidst a new, smaller group. Kodhan’s father was included. They shared similar colored hair, and strong builds, but that was it. The resemblance between the two was minimal. Kodhan must take after his mother, then.

She remained sequestered in their mountain estate, so rarely spotted within the innermost parts of the kingdom that I doubted I’d seen her more than once. Any memory of her was hazy. Like looking at someone through a foggy mirror.

Diana still gave off the impression that she wanted to skewer someone. Even more so as her attention landed on me.

She cut Kodhan’s father off mid-sentence. “Excuse me, Jareth.” She broke apart from the others and stopped me before I got any closer to them. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

I raised a single brow at her. “I wasn’t very hard to find. If you can spot the drinks, you could’ve easily spotted me as well.”

“Never mind that,” she said, urging me a few paces back so that her group was out of earshot. “You’ve found allies.” A statement, not a question.

“I did,” I admitted. “Powerful ones.” I wasn’t certain about Theia or Brannon. But if Kodhan kept them as close company, it had to mean something.

“You wouldn’t know the first thing about power,” she sniffed, chin raising.

Ignoring the jab, I asked, as nicely as I could manage, “I came to ask you if Gideon could escort me back to my rooms.”

“No.”