Chapter 35
Mara
They covered the fire and made their way out of the ice cave. The sun was bright early that morning. Mara took a moment to appreciate how the rays bounced off the ice plain and trees. It was absolutely beautiful, despite it being such a deadly planet. She will always remember this place.
The ice fields stretched endlessly before them—an ocean of white and blue, glittering beneath the pale light of the three moons.
The air was sharp enough to sting her lungs, each breath a cold reminder of how far they still had to go before reaching the Bridge of Souls.
Their boots crunched rhythmically over the frost-packed ground, the only sound in a world otherwise swallowed by silence.
A silence that was becoming unbearable.
Vaelor walked beside her, tall and steady, but distant in a way she hadn’t felt since the very beginning of the Games.
His expression was unreadable, his gaze fixed ahead, his jaw tight.
He had barely spoken since they left the ice cave—since they had shared something intimate, something she had believed meant as much to him as it did to her.
But now… now he was quiet. Too quiet.
Mara’s stomach twisted.
Did he regret it?
Was he pulling away?
Had she misread everything?
She tried to tell herself she was imagining it, that he was simply focused on the trek ahead.
But the longer the silence stretched, the more it gnawed at her.
She felt torn between wanting to demand answers and wanting to pretend nothing was wrong—just to hold on to the warmth of what they’d shared a little while longer.
Hours passed. The cold deepened. The sky shifted from pale blue to a bruised lavender as the sun dipped lower. And still, Vaelor said nothing.
Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore.
Mara stopped walking.
Her sudden halt made Vaelor take several steps before he realized she was no longer beside him. He turned back, confusion flickering across his features.
“Vaelor,” she said, her voice sharper than she intended, “I can’t take this silent treatment from you. What have I done to piss you off?”
His brows drew together. “I’m not angry with you.”
“Really?” She folded her arms, trying to keep her voice steady. “Because you haven’t said more than three words to me since we left the cave.”
He looked away, his gaze drifting toward the distant mountains as if searching for the right words. The wind tugged at his hair, carrying the faint scent of frost and ozone.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Her heart dropped. “What is it?”
He hesitated—just long enough to make her stomach twist again—before meeting her eyes.
“The toxin found in your food packet came from Earth.”
The world seemed to tilt beneath her feet. The distance between them suddenly felt like miles instead of a few steps.
“Son of a bitch,” she whispered, anger rising like fire in her chest. “Blaine’s behind the sabotage?”
Vaelor nodded once, grimly.
“How do you know about the toxin?” she demanded.
“I spoke with Dugan,” he said. “I left a sample from the cloth I used when you got sick. He analyzed it.”
She stared at him, stunned. “Why would he betray his own partner?”
“He’s an honorable male,” Vaelor said quietly. “If he didn’t need to win for his people, he would have turned Blaine in—or let me destroy him.”
Mara ripped her pack off her shoulders and threw it onto the ground.
The sound echoed across the ice. “I can’t believe how stupid I was.
I thought he was my friend. But of course, it makes sense—he shoved me into the herd of ice beasts.
He’s been trying to kill me from the beginning. But why? I’m not a threat to him!”
Vaelor stepped closer, reaching for her, but she pulled away, anger and betrayal burning too hot.
“I don’t think he intended to kill you,” Vaelor said, voice low. “The tent and your biosuit… those were attempts to force you to withdraw. They weren’t meant to be fatal.”
“But the toxins could have killed me,” she shot back. “And then he pushed me into the herd!”
“He grew desperate,” Vaelor said. “He escalated. I’m not making excuses for him. When I found out about the toxins, I wanted to kill him.”
She looked up sharply. His expression was deadly serious.
“You would have killed him because of me?”
“Yes.”
A simple word. A devastating truth.
She believed him.
“Not that I want you to,” she said softly, “but why didn’t you confront him?”
“I wouldn’t have been able to just confront him,” Vaelor said. “I would have attacked him. It would have ended with his death. And if I did that, I would have been disqualified. No player can attack another outside a challenge. If I was disqualified…”
“I would have been as well,” she finished for him.
The realization hit her like a wave. He had held back—for her. He had swallowed his rage, his instinct to protect, because being taken out of the games would mean losing her chance to save her father.
Emotion surged through her, overwhelming and fierce. She closed the distance between them and threw herself into his arms.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his chest. “Thank you for putting me first.”
His arms wrapped around her, strong and sure. “I will always put your needs first.”
Her heart swelled, full and aching. She knew, with absolute certainty, that she would never be the same.
Not after him.