15 #3
“The other palaestra isn’t for me,” he answers, his voice holding sternness with his kindness. “I won’t be going back.”
I smile. “We were just about to get in. Care to join us?”
Koda gestures to his red shorts and button-down shirt. “I’ve come dressed for it.”
August moves to help Koda when Niall snaps at him. “I’ve got him!”
“As do I,” the Greek agrees.
They take turns steadying Koda while they shed their shirts and sandals. Koda’s balance wobbles whenever they let him go. Despite days of rest, it’s worse than it was at the last feast.
When they’re all ready, the three men take the short staircase into the steaming salt pool where ledges line the pool’s edges. Koda takes a seat on one, telling his helpers he’s fine and that they can stop hovering and enjoy a swim.
I smother a smile as Niall and the Greek swim deeper.
When August grabs the back of his grass-stained shirt and draws it over his head, I swear time slows for a blissful second. His dark gilded hair is still damp with sweat from his matches with Ulani. I’ve seen him shirtless every night, but right now, his skin glows golden in the sun’s last light.
I drag my eyes away.
“Coming in?” he asks with a hopeful grin.
I don’t glance at Niall. He can leave if he’s uncomfortable. I sit on the edge and ask Daedalus’s magic to release my leg, then remove my prosthesis and sheath, leaving them behind as I slip in.
The water instantly soothes my aching muscles.
August climbs in beside me. He groans as he sinks in and the warm water laps at his shoulders and neck.
Koda scowls at the fading bruises on my throat. “Niall told me what happened. Torsten is a menace. He should be made to forfeit for what he did to you!”
We all know he won’t be punished. “The gods encouraged him to get a weapon. He was probably rewarded for trying to steal mine.”
Koda watches me carefully for a moment. “We wanted to talk to you about something.”
“We?” I look at Niall and the Greek.
The Greek answers when Niall chooses to brood instead of responding. “We… are sick of Torsten.”
“That didn’t take long,” August quips dryly.
“Does Athena care if you’re fed up with him?” I ask.
“I haven’t discussed anything with her since she offered to champion me,” he informs before splashing Niall in the face.
“What was that for?” Niall sputters, wiping the saltwater from his eyes.
The Greek splashes him again. “For looking so sour. So she told you to leave when you wanted to help. It was a perfectly reasonable request when she thought you knew Torsten was going to try to steal her spear!”
“But I didn’t!” Niall shouts, staring at me instead of the Greek who soaked him. “I would’ve warned you. Gods, Callalie. I wouldn’t have let anyone do that to you.” He gestures to my neck and eyes.
I’m sure he thinks that. But when it comes down to it, Niall freezes when he’s afraid. I can’t trust that he would warn me if he knew I was in trouble.
August juts his chin at the Greek. “What’s your name?”
“Elias.” He dips his head back, soaking his dark hair before shaking the excess water out. “And to be perfectly clear about my motives, I came here because I think we should all team up. Become allies.”
Athena is a master of warcraft and strategy. He could be scheming with the goddess; she might have sent him here to befriend us so he can sabotage our effort to win. She, or perhaps Torsten.
Days ago, this man drove his chariot into mine. There’s no way he’s stopped hating me since then.
“Don’t all agree at once,” he blandly says when August and I don’t speak.
“I thought you wanted me dead.” I wait for him to look at me.
“I want to win,” he tells me honestly. “I want to win the trials. I want to win the games. I want to go home. To win, I’ll need a team.
And somehow, I hate Torsten worse than you, even though you stabbed me and left me for dead.
So here I am, baring my soul and my truth to you, hoping you will accept me – us – and align with us.
At least for a time.” He shrugs. “Only one of us can wear the laurel in the end.”
August defers to me with a quirked brow.
“We’ll discuss it,” I decide.
“Great,” Elias agrees, and proceeds to spend the next hour describing to us – in disturbing detail – the nightmares he thinks the rest of our trials might hold.
I wonder if any of it was suggested by his champion.
With all that I am, I hope it’s from his imagination, because if any of it’s real, half of us won’t live to compete in the games.
Eventually, Elias and Niall wade from the water and stretch out in the grass on the far side of the pool where they talk about their favorite activities, food, and celebrities as the night fades from violet into obsidian.
August and I move closer to Koda.
I value his opinion. “What do you think of Elias?”
Koda takes a moment, looking the young men over. “Both of them have been good to me, and I like them far better than the other championed.”
Not a glowing recommendation. The lesser of two evils is still evil. But it’s something, and I can’t help but feel like he’s right. I think we’ll need to work in teams at some point. While we started the first trial individually, we only survived the troll by working together.
“This afternoon, Anansi told me that it would behoove me to find a group for tomorrow’s trial,” Koda whispers.
“Do they know that?” I ask, looking toward the two championed still lying in the grass.
He shrugs. “Their champions may have given them the same warning, but I can’t say for sure. They could just be assuming it would be best to have a group if it becomes necessary or an advantage.”
“Did Anansi say how large a group would be helpful?” August asks.
“He didn’t,” Koda whispers.
My stomach clenches. “What if the gods choose the groups? They separated us for training.”
Koda’s eyes turn to flint. “The rules don’t say we have to play the way they want. We can always regroup once the trial begins.”
“Can we trust them?” August nods toward our unexpected visitors.
Ulani and Vailea might join us. I’d trust the two of them. But I’m not as sure of Niall and Elias.
“No way to tell until we’re in the thick of it,” Koda says.
I toss out a separate issue. “I’m close with Morrigan. If she helps Niall and as an ally, he divulges information to us, Ares might accuse her of helping me since I’m of her blood.”
“There’s no rule preventing us from helping each other. Morrigan would only violate them if she were to directly assist you,” Koda notes.
Until Ares alters that rule. A bridge we can cross later, I suppose.
“Elias’s champion concerns me,” August breathes.
Koda flattens his hands, moving them over the water’s surface.
“I can ask Anansi for advice if you’d like, but I think Athena would want Elias to win the competition no matter how he manages it.
If a trial requires allies, she’ll want him to align with those with the best chance of victory. For now, at least. It’s still early.”
Elias raises his head and looks over at us. “You know we can hear what you’re whispering, right?”
August, Koda, and I smile at one another.
What are we doing? Aligning with Athena’s champion, the man who rammed my chariot mid-race is a terrible idea. Not to mention the fact that he’s Ares’s soldier. On every level, Elias is a problem.
But my gut says we might need his strength. Even if it means I have to watch my back.
“So, are we good for tomorrow?” he asks, still craning his neck. “I’m not in the mood to die yet.”
I smile.
Koda and August chuckle.
“We’re good. For tomorrow,” I emphasize.
“So, tomorrow’s an audition? That’s fair,” is his answer. He lays his head back down, untroubled.
I can’t say I feel the same. There’s a knot in the pit of my stomach and I’m not sure how to unravel it, or whether I should.