“I’ll see you back here in a week,” Elyjah ends his speech. He turns on his heels and walks out of the arena with his guards following closely behind him. The rest of the competitors start to shift around and converse amongst themselves. I ignore them as I climb to my feet.

  I move past Brielyn who is speaking with some guy with long hair. Unlike me, my friend can chat up anyone. Since he’s the only other person to win any of the obstacles, other than Walker and I, people have been flocking to him, trying to get his attention. Brielyn knows as well as I do that they just want to use him, but he still entertains them.

  It’s hot out today and a bead of sweat trails down my face as I move onto the path leading to the dining hall. It’s time for me to get back on my game completely and the first part of that is fueling my body with food.

  I look down at my boots as I plot today’s training and pull up short when a pair of well-kept leather shoes appear in my vision.

  I let out a sigh and lift my head to find bright blue eyes staring at me. “What can I help you with Orrtyn?” I ask dryly.

  While Elyjah and Walker have always been assholes for the most part, the same can’t be said for the Bae twins, especially Orrtyn. The man has always been nice and charming, always flirting with me and trying to get my attention.

  While I’ve always suspected that maybe it was some plan to keep an eye on me, I can’t forget the worry in his eyes when I was chained to a wall and he was unlocking me.

  He shoves his hands in the pocket of his pants and lifts his head as he watches me. A loose strand of blonde hair falls into his face. “Can we talk?”

  “If this is another one of those talks about keeping my mouth shut, no worries, I don’t need it. Walker has already made it fucking clear.”

  A frown graces Orrtyn’s face, pulling his peach lips tight, and he shakes his head. “No, that’s not what I wanted.” He seems a little put off by the idea which catches me off guard.

  “Then what do you want?” I ask, hardening my voice. I can’t let myself fall for his innocent eyes and little act.

  The royals are my enemies.

  He sighs. “Just walk with me, please, and I’ll explain.”

  I debate on it for a moment, but no matter what I tell myself, a part of me wants to trust Orrtyn. He’s always been upfront with me, even when I was nothing but a bitch to him. Maybe this is just a facade and in the end he’ll prove to me that he’s exactly who I suspect him to be, but the least I can do for the moment is hear him out. “Fine.” I move around him. “Walk and talk.”

  He falls into step beside me and his shoulder brushes mine as his scent invades my senses, something crispy and sweet. “I know that there’s a lot of things going on right now and you don’t know who or what to trust.”

  You’re not fucking wrong about that.

  “But, I know you were starting to warm up to us and I don’t want that to change.”

  “Why is there always an us, with you guys? There’s never a me or an I, everything pertains to you as a unit.”

  Orrtyn purses his lips as his nose wrinkles slightly. “Well, it’s always been that way. Orrael and I grew up with Elyjah and we were always a group, a trio. After Walker joined us and started to actually trust us, the transition into our little group was seamless.”

  I remember the story he told me about Walker not trusting the guys when he first came to the castle. Elyjah had begged his parents to save his life after they killed the rest of Walker’s people.

  “We do everything together and we have each other’s backs.”

  How nice must it be to always have someone watching your six?

  Before Brielyn, I’d only had one friend my whole life and we were always aware that we were on borrowed time. Eventually, I’d come back to Caelumine and she’d continue her life in the mortal realm, knowing that the likelihood of us meeting again was slim.

  Just the memory of Ru’s wild hair and mischievous smirk sends a pain of longing through my heart and I push it away.

  “And where does being a rebel fit into all of this?” I question. A part of me needs a reminder that he can’t be trusted. No matter his soft smiles and kind eyes, he has secrets, just like the rest of the royals, just like me, and for all I know they could destroy me with the information they’re withholding.

  Orrtyn squints slightly as he looks over at me. His lips turn up at the corners slightly before he glances away. “I can’t talk to you about that. I’ve sworn to the others that I wouldn’t.”

  “Because they suspected that you would?” I question. It wouldn’t be a surprise since Orrtyn has always been the most open out of the group, the one always letting me in just a little bit and exposing the hidden layers beneath the surface.

  He nods. “Yes, especially Walker, kept saying I’d let you sway me if I even started to see a slip in your resolve. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s watching us now to keep an eye on me.” His gaze moves around slowly as if looking for the man to pop up out of nowhere.

  I shake my head. “He most definitely hasn’t had a problem keeping an eye on me,” I say dryly, thinking of the man’s presence at the arena. “He’s just begging to be ran through with my sword.” My hand moves to Gwev, reflexively.

  Orrtyn raises a brow before letting out a sigh. “Just like him,” he mutters. “I really wish you wouldn’t have run,” he says a bit louder.

  I glance over to him, feeling my shoulders stiffen. “You can’t expect to just drop big news on someone and not get the reaction that you did.”

  “We thought that…” He trails off and lets out a long sigh. His arms hang limp at his side, his shoulders deflating. “They’re right, I’ll give out all our secrets to you if I’m not careful.”

  For some reason, those words send a warmth through me that I try to ignore.

  He’s just trying to trick you, trying to make you think that he’s a gazelle when he’s really a tiger, lying in wait.

  “Well, don’t worry too much on it,” I tell him, gazing at a battalion of royal guards that pass by us. None of them spare us more than a second’s glance. “I’m going to stay away from you and your little group of friends. I came here to win The Calling and I won’t let you distract me.”

  His face pinches together and one of his hands flexes slightly. “I’m not trying to distract you, I’m trying to help you.”

  “How?” I ask roughly.

  How does he think he’s helping me with all these cryptic conversations and confusing secrets? The only thing he’s doing is setting my mind into a whirlwind.

  Another deep sigh. “Everything is not as it seems.”

  Clearly.

  “So you keep telling me, but what am I supposed to make of that? The only thing I know is that I can’t trust anyone but myself. I certainly can’t trust a bunch of royals who are nothing but a bunch of confusing assholes.” I take a deep breath, clenching my fists. “One minute you’re telling the queen I’m a piece of tail. In the next moment, you’re saving my life and telling me you’re not really who I think you are.”

  Because I haven’t forgotten the harsh words I’d heard them say while talking to the queen about me.

  We’ll stay away… there are prettier and classier women we can choose from.

  Dumbly, I’d just started to let my resolve slip and start to think that maybe they weren’t as bad as I thought, only for them to say such words about me. And not even hours later, they were saving my life.

  It's a confusion I can’t deal with right now.

  “It all would have made sense if you didn’t run,” he repeats, sounding exasperated. “We would have explained everything, but now Elyjah and Walker are persistent that we shouldn't trust you.”

  “And you don’t agree?” I ask, reading between the lines of his wording.

  “Neither Orrael or I agree with them, but they’ve always been the most guarded in our group and they won’t be swayed.”

  He’s giving me just the barest bits of information and I grasp onto them. “Well, until you’re ready to explain everything in detail to me, you should keep away from me.” I blow out a breath, “Actually, no, just stay away from me period,” I tell him as the dining hall comes into view.

  I don’t want Orrtyn speaking to me again, because unlike with the others, I always feel a pull to him, a feeling that I should trust him. There’s something so welcoming and inviting about the man. If I felt any animosity toward him like I do with Walker and Elyjah, it’d be a completely different matter. But hate is a less dangerous emotion than the one Orrtyn evokes in me.

  He pauses and I find myself doing the same, turning my body so I can look up at him. His golden hair seems to shimmer in the sunlight, and as his blue eyes gaze at me, I see nothing but sincerity in them.

  “I can’t promise to stay away,” he says softly.

  My heart pounds a little quicker in my chest. “Why?”

  “Because Roxana Delamontee, there’s something that pulls me towards you and I refuse to ignore it. I will convince the others that we can trust you and I’ll convince you that you can trust us.”

  “What makes you so sure of that?” I ask, folding my arms over my chest.

  A smile ticks up the corner of his lips. His hand reaches out and his brightly polished fingers flutter along my skin, so soft and so brief that I don't know how to react to it. “Because, I can already feel you wavering and I plan on capitalizing.”

  With that, he offers me one more smile before turning and leaving.

  I watch the broadness of his shoulders as he retreats and pain forms behind my temple.

  Gods.

  As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. My resolve is slipping again and that in itself is a death sentence.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I know exactly who the eyes on my back belong to, but I refuse to turn around and meet their gaze.

  I let out a huff of breath, keeping my attention on Brielyn instead. He has a sword in his hand and his knees are bent slightly as he points the tip of the sword towards me. His lips pull back in a snarl and he charges at me.

  I easily duck under his surgence and spin around, kicking his left leg out from under him. He goes down in a heap of limbs and curses.

  “The snarl almost made you seem threatening,” I tease him slightly, still feeling the heat of the gaze on me.

  “Fuck, one of these days, I’m going to kick your ass,” he declares before hopping back to his feet. He brushes dirt off, as if he won’t be back on his ass again in moments. I have to give him credit though. The man used to run away from me after the first few times I’d kick his ass in training, now he tries to keep up for as long as he can before his limbs refuse to move for the rest of the day.

  “Stop trying to charge me so aggressively, be smarter with your attacks,” I tell him. I don’t even have Gwev unsheathed, knowing I won’t need her. It’s easy enough to disarm Brielyn without her.

  “As you keep saying, but no matter how I attack, you always get the best of me,” he says and he almost sounds like a child. I glance at him and find his lips poked out in a pout.

  Yep, most definitely a child.

  I shake my head at him. “It’s not my fault you can’t find an opening, now come on, I want to leave a couple more bruises on you before dinner time.” I give him a shit eating grin and watch as his cheeks redden, almost as bright as his orange hair.

  He doesn’t snarl this time, but he does charge at me just as aggressively as before despite my warning.

  I shake my head. I duck beneath the sword and his arm, spinning and wrapping my arms around his waist before driving him into the ground.

  “Fuck,” passes through his lips as his head thunks against the firm ground of the arena.

  I press my body weight down into him and despite being bigger than me, he struggles to try to buck me off of him. I snap a hand out, taking his sword off of him with ease. With the sword now in my hand, I glance down at him with a smile as I press the tip against his throat. “Submit.”

  “I submit.” He doesn’t even try to put up a fight, tossing his hands out to the side in surrender.

  I pat his forehead, not getting up off of him. “Good boy,” I say. I finally allow myself to glance over and my eyes meet with green ones.

  Even from yards away, Walker’s gaze is intense and penetrating. He’s been watching me since I got to the arena this morning, just like he has for the last couple of days. He never approaches me though, which is smart on his part since it’d end in a bloodbath without a doubt. The second he gets close to me, I always feel a burning anger that can’t be denied and the second he opens his mouth, he only ignites the fire.

  We’re combustible together.

  The only time I can think of, that I didn’t want to take his head from his shoulders, was after he saved me when I was poisoned during one of the obstacles. He’d saved my life and it’d thrown me off. No matter his excuses about saving me because he wanted things to be fair and my dying through poison wouldn’t be, it'd rattled me. He’d taken a beating at the hands of the queen’s men for it, something he knew would happen. Afterward, I’d watched over him and it’d changed things even further. I’d started to feel things toward the man that I didn’t want to.

  It was a momentary lapse, and I can’t let it happen again.

  “Hey, are you going to get off of me?” Brielyn asks snippily, wiggling beneath me. “As much as I’m sure others would enjoy this, I’d like to remind you that I’m not into tits and vaginas.”

  I smile down at him, taking my gaze off of Walker. “You know all the right things to say to a woman,” I joke before finally rising to my feet.

  “Thank you,” he says back sarcastically. He remains lying on the ground. “I think I’m done for the day.”

  “Really? I’m sure you’ve got a couple more rounds in you.”

  He shakes his head and I watch as the dirt starts to accumulate in his hair, making it look brown. He’s not going to be happy when he realizes it. “Nope, not today. One of the guards kept me up all night.”

  I roll my eyes at his antics. “Really, Brielyn?”

  He raises his neck slightly so he can look at me with a wolfish grin. “What? I’m on a last hurrah tour before The Culling. I need to get as much dick as I can, there’s no telling how long it’ll be before I get some again.”

  “You’re ridiculous,” I tell him, but I offer a hand to help him up.

  His eyes shine with mirth a moment before he yanks me down next to him, catching me off guard. I let out a yelp as I land face first in the dirt next to him. Pain rips through my face and Brielyn lets out a giggle.

  I should have saw that coming.

  “Cheater,” I mutter. Yet I can’t help the curvature of my own lips as I rub at my nose while rolling over. I slap Brielyn’s shoulder before getting to my feet, spitting out the dirt that managed to land in my mouth. “That’s what I get for trying to be nice.” He only continues to laugh and I kick him lightly with my foot.

  My gaze moves up and this time, when I find Walker looking at me, he’s leaning against the stone wall with an arrow in his hand. He lifts a brow at me and I feel my cheeks heat slightly before I turn my gaze away. “I’m going to go for a run,” I tell Brielyn, wiping my shorts off. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “Okay, I’m just going to lay here for a little longer before I go in search of that handsome guard, Porter.” The name slightly rings a bell and I realize it’s the guard who helped the royals a couple of weeks ago after Walker saved me.

  I nod before turning around and exiting the arena, Walker’s gaze never leaving me.

  I start a light jog along the trail that circles around the castle as thoughts take over my head.

  Walker has been watching me constantly, which isn’t a surprise. I’ve caught Elyjah doing the same thing, though typically a bit more discreet. The twins on the other hand have made sure to speak to me every opportunity they get despite my cold response.

  It’s done nothing but mess with my head further. I know I shouldn’t trust them and I don’t, but a part of me wants to.

  As much as I keep reminding myself that I don’t need or want them around me, I know its a lie. But Elyjah is a Fawcett and the others are closely enough associated with the Fawcetts for me to label them as one also.

  You can never trust a Fawcett, Conrad has told me many times along the last decade.

  I let out a deep sigh as my eyes move to the walls of the castle. A sudden urge to just get out and escape takes over. Despite knowing I can’t go far, I find myself climbing over the walls in broad daylight. It isn’t smart or reasonable, but I need to feel not so… trapped, just for a moment at least.

  My feet hit the ground and I stretch out my legs, ignoring the vibrations going up them from the drop.

  The castle is surrounded by trees and I find myself maneuvering toward them, letting my feet lead me. I remain cautious though, not moving too far.

  I pause when a pond appears in front of me and a glance at a tree with ribbons lets me know where I’m at.

  The small clearing Orrtyn once took me to.

  Just like the last time I was here, there seems to be something majestic about the pond. The clear blue water sparkles, rays of light reflecting onto it. Two swans sit in the middle of the pond with their necks intertwined. The coat of one is ivory white and the other onyx, but they’re both breathtakingly beautiful.

  I sit down and cross my legs right next to the pond as my eyes land on the baby swans not far from the bigger ones.

  The last time I was here Orrtyn told me a story about the swans and the fact that Walker loves the animals. It’d made me start to think maybe the royals weren’t as bad as I thought.

  I wish the conversation never happened.

  I certainly wouldn’t be as confused as I am now.

  A turtle’s head bobs out of the water and its big eyes watch me. I stare back at it, wishing my life were as simple as swimming around in water all day, instead of constantly drowning.

  A gust of wind blows through the clearing and I move strands of hair out of my face. My skin heats up as the sun peeks through the trees, baring down on my skin.