46. Ophelia
OPHELIA
Ophelia exhales a sigh of relief from her viewing tower when Kallias finally coaxes Alexander away from the dead boy and into the labyrinth.
Not that she doesn’t have sympathy, but it puts the two of them behind Eudoxia and Zeno, and sitting around all sad won’t bring anyone back to life.
Thankfully Kallias will be able to navigate the map quickly and affix the mirrors to the walls of the maze without having to calculate angles, so they’ll catch up fast.
She and Kallias both have an eye for stuff like that.
She turns her focus away from the boys and to her new favorite official couple. When Eudoxia came to her dorm last night, she gave Ophelia the whole recap. A lot of kissing, a lot of cuddling, and a lot of talking. Eudoxia’s dark blush and adorable smile made Ophelia want to cheer.
Eudoxia, more than anyone else, deserves to be happy.
The two of them work together very well, as always, and move at a swift but careful clip. Ophelia wishes they could test the system to be sure they’re setting it up right, but despite her design being discreet, once it’s used, it will no longer be.
Lazarus is on track as well, sneaking around the maze on his way to what she’s dubbed the ‘loser’s exit’.
When someone has been knocked out, the Priestesses of the Scale drag them into a room filled with other passed out Auxiliaries.
It’s from there that Lazarus’ actual challenge will begin, but everyone else has to do theirs first.
She was concerned that he’d sabotage them at the eleventh hour, but after last night, she doesn’t really think he’s capable. He’s too earnest, plus he looked… hopeful. Like he’d rather be leaving with them than rotting away here.
Or, at least, that’s what she thinks. But if he is going to betray them, there’s nothing she can do for that now. She needs to focus on her own task. Find the Educator.
“He’s old school,” Kallias had explained to them, leaning back in his chair. “He has a key for the control room, I know that for a fact. But it’s a physical key, not digital. And it’s attached to a bracelet with a dozen other near-identical ones for other rooms.”
“How am I supposed to take that from him?” she asked, tone incredulous enough to warrant the worried looks everyone shot at her. It’s just, the Educator makes her uncomfortable even from a distance. She doesn’t want to get close enough to touch him.
“Distract him,” Eudoxia suggested.
“How?”
“Flirt with him,” Alexander said without missing a beat.
Ophelia scoffed, but Kallias spoke before she could refuse.
“It’ll work,” he said.
“How do you know that?”
“He’s a man, and you’re nice to look at.” Kallias shrugged. “Use magnets so the swap is faster. You’ll be fine.”
Ophelia really regrets letting herself be swayed by that argument. Because now she’s here and she has to flirt so hard that the most powerful man in the Republic doesn’t notice her taking a bracelet off his hand and attaching a new one.
She’s about to turn around and start her search when she feels a presence on her right.
“Hello, little Priestess,” the Educator says. He must remember her from their conversation in the second Trial.
That’s lucky, she supposes.
“Hello, Educator.”
“Are you enjoying the Trial?” he asks, facing the screen to watch Lazarus carefully turn a corner with a taser at his side.
“Very much so, sir.” She lets her hood fall back a touch, and looks at him through her eyelashes. “I understand you are responsible for their organization.”
The Educator hums. “Rather grim, planning the events that will decide one’s replacement upon one’s death, but interesting still.”
“You do not look very close to death.”
“No, I suppose not.” He laughs, shooting her a handsome smile and glancing down to where her robe is slightly open and her cleavage is visible. Kallias was right—men are disgusting.
But at least she can use that to her advantage. Time to start making real moves.
She toys with her tinkling gold facemask, feigning discomfort, and shifts her robes around.
“Are you alright, young one?” he asks, concern just this side of genuine.
“Of course. Hot in the layers and the mask is all.”
The Educator nods in sympathy, and puts a hand on the small of her back. “I have some chambers here if you’d like to cool down without all the prying eyes,” he suggests. Is he seriously trying to seduce her in the middle of the Trial that he planned to find his successor?
“You’re truly Forms-sent, sir. I would be honored.”
“Come along, then,” he says with that smile of his, guiding her with his hand that wanders a bit further with every step.
They climb the stairs until they reach a bedroom with an amazing view of the sea.
She wanders toward the window and takes a quick glance backward to see if the Educator has stepped outside for her privacy.
In a not very shocking turn of events, he has not.
Instead he stands leaning against the closed door, watching her like a cat ready to pounce.
It works to her advantage, given that she’s trying to make herself into a distraction, but she has to wonder how it’s meant to go.
She looks behind her again, this time with her chin tilted down, and shrugs her robe off a shoulder. His eyes narrow in on it immediately. Then, she turns back to the window and lets the whole thing drop.
When she goes for her mask, she hears, “Leave it on.”
She taps the glass window pane in nothing but tiny shorts and a lacy scrap of a top, and says, innocently, “What an amazing view.”
The Educator sits on the small couch at the foot of the bed. “Yes, quite. Though not as nice as what’s in front of it.”
She turns around and smiles shyly before biting her lip and dragging her eyes down his body.
He pats his lap and says, “Come here, little one.”
She valiantly manages to stop herself from gagging when she does. She straddles him and places a hand on his shoulder, with the other clutching the decoy bracelet behind his neck.
When he lifts an arm to touch her hair, his sleeve rides up enough for her to see it. An unmistakable twinkle of metal. Keys.
He palms the spot where her neck meets her shoulder, and grabs it tight.
“You are very beautiful,” he says. “Just so… unique.”
She hears that a lot.
“You look quite like someone I once knew,” he adds, and that she does not hear a lot.
“I’m glad you like it,” she says, letting his hands touch where he wants and his lips latch onto her neck.
She makes small, pleased noises, and pulls his hand with the keys onto her thigh, hoping it keeps his attention for long enough that she can attach her own bracelet clasp and swiftly remove his.
Somehow, some way, it does. She pulls back quickly once the job is done.
“Sir,” she sighs, like she’s disappointed. “I must return downstairs. The Mothers will be looking.”
He moves both hands to her thighs. “I don’t think you have to leave just yet,” he says, and it isn’t a suggestion. A man used to getting what he wants.
“You know how the Mothers are.”
The Educator smiles, but does not let go. “I suppose I do.”
“But,” she asks, playing with a bra strap, “could I return tonight? To your chambers, I mean. I want you.” It’s far too breathy and wanton, but it seems like it works well enough for him.
“You’re more than welcome.” He releases his hands and lets them hang off the back of the couch. “You may have to share me with another, though.”
Ophelia pouts. “I suppose that’s alright.”
Then she eases off of him and desperately tries not to look like she’s scrambling for her robes. Her skin feels itchy.
Not that she’s above using sex to get what she wants, but there’s something about the Educator touching her and using her however he pleases that makes her want to scream.
What if she was one of the younger girls who don’t know how to say no?
Would he have flipped her over and taken what he wanted without asking twice?
She has to let that go for now. She closes up her robe on her way to the door.
“I will be waiting patiently for tonight, sir. I need you.”
Forms, she is really laying it on thick.
“I’ll see you soon, little one.”
She sprints down the stairs and slips into the hallway outside the control room. Despite what she had to do to get them, she’s giddy from her successful key-wrangling.
She tries one key, then another, then another, until she’s reached the final one.
“This has to be it,” she whispers, trying to contain her anticipation. When she slots it in, though, it doesn’t turn.
“What?” she asks the empty hallway.
She must have missed one. Or perhaps not used them correctly. But she knows how a key works, doesn’t she?
She frantically pushes keys she’s already tried in and out until a voice stops her short.
“Looking for this?” the Educator asks, standing smug behind her and holding up a sole key.