Eden turned to me with a perceptive look on her face. “Sure. But you want to go back, don’t you? I know you want to win.”
It was a statement, not a question. Eden knew me far better than I’d thought she did. I took in a deep breath and nodded.
“I guess I do.” I grinned. “You know me, I’m the kind of girl who loves competition, and since the admins said there are no rules against me competing again, I have to go for it. I could win another audience with the gods, and the way everyone talks about them, that’s worth its weight in gold.”
I figured that was the best answer to give her; I certainly couldn’t tell her I wanted to win so that I could infiltrate the godly realm and dig for answers. It would only be dangerous for her to know more than she had to, and I didn’t want to drag her into this until I had a better idea what was going on.
“Yeah.” She pulled a face, and I could practically feel worry radiating from her. “Well, just be careful, okay?”
“Always.”
I wrapped my arm around her shoulder in a quick hug. I wasn’t much of a hugger, but Eden definitely was, so I hoped it would soothe her a little.
As we rounded a corner, I saw all three of the men standing there talking to some of the other Magic Blessed students. They barely glanced at me as Eden and I passed, and I didn’t let my gaze linger on them either.
The two of us headed down the hallway toward the common area.
“Hey, I’ll see you in there, okay?” I said, slowing my steps.
“Sure.”
With a final worried look, Eden went ahead of me, and I slipped into an empty classroom, using my magic to put a glowing star on the outside of the door, hopefully one that only the guys could see. I hadn’t been able to practice that magic much, but I was pretty sure it worked.
Within a few minutes, the door cracked open, and Trace’s head appeared in the gap. He opened the door wider when he saw me, letting the other two men slip in behind him.
Trace dusted his hands together as if wiping them clean. “I knocked the star off just in case someone else could see it.”
I nodded in thanks. “I just wanted to confirm with you guys one last time before the competition starts. So, we’re splitting up at the beginning to make it look like we’re fractured, and then we’ll use that ruse to help us take out our competitors. Do you all know where you’re supposed to go?”
All three of them nodded. Fire burned in their eyes, and I could see the tension in their bodies. They were as ramped up for the upcoming fight as I was. My gaze shifted around to each one of them, and I let out a long deep breath.
“All right, let’s get this over with. The sooner we get to the end of this, the sooner we can reach the godly realm.”
Lachlan nodded once, then pulled me toward him with an arm around my waist, pressing a hard kiss to my lips. He released me, and Trace caught my chin in his hands and kissed me too. The second we split apart, Merrick spun me to face him. For a moment, he just gazed at me. Then he slid his hands through my hair and angled my face, kissing me long and slow and deep.
Holy fuck.
My legs actually went a little weak. I had been with each of these men, and they each lit my blood on fire. But I hadn’t been kissed by them in quick succession like this since our interrupted tryst in the cave in the godly realm.
It was fucking incredible.
Shit. Focus, Aria.
Wrenching my attention back to the upcoming challenge, I cleared my throat. “Stay safe. Be smart.”
“Aye, lass. And ye.”
Each one of us left the room individually, making sure none of us were seen together. We headed out into the cool air, and I let the chill sharpen my concentration even more. The preliminary competition would be held on the grounds outside of the school. There was a large, open-air stadium that led to a massive maze. Just like last time, the maze would contain a variety of challenging tests.
But unlike last time, the stadium stands were almost entirely empty. Apparently, the gods’ messengers had demanded that all students participate in the preliminary competition. We’d missed that part of their conversation when we had eavesdropped at the window, but I assumed it was their command, because the day after their visit, Dean Frost had made the announcement.
The Gods’ Challenge preliminaries were no longer voluntary.
A lot of the students around me seemed nervous as fuck—understandable, since they didn’t want to be doing this in the first place—but my nerves were calm. I knew that whatever I was going to face in the maze would be dangerous. Everything out there would be trying to take us down, including our fellow classmates. Hell, even the few people in the stands were probably plotting against us.
But it didn’t matter. The guys and I wouldn’t let any of them stop us.
Dean Frost gave her usual speech, which I tuned out. When the maze finally opened, I glanced over at Lachlan, who gave me a knowing look. With a deep breath, I stepped into the massive maze.
Immediately, the four of us moved, splitting up as we’d planned.
If I had learned anything from the year before, it was that you didn’t want to stay in one place. You couldn’t even get a bearing on where you were until you were out of the initial clog of students. I sprinted forward, straight into the thick white fog that I remembered from last time. We would all be transported to a separate part of the maze, but with so many students competing this semester, I was sure I wouldn’t be alone wherever I ended up.
As the fog broke, I caught sight of Lachlan in my periphery, but I ran in the other direction. Several other students had ended up in this quadrant of the maze too, and as the students around me began to break away from each other, I jumped over a large rock and landed in a crouch.
I cast a look around and caught sight of Merrick and Trace too. We had all ended up in the same quadrant of the maze, which would come in handy when we were ready to pool our strength again.
But for now, I had to pretend I wasn’t on their team.
I could see each of them going after the people we had determined were the ringleaders of our detractors, which meant that everything was going to plan.
Well… almost everything.
From behind me, I caught the sound of a low grunt. As I looked back, Wesley took off after me, hurling a blast of magic.
Fuck!
My feet dug into the ground, and I shot forward, ducking and diving around the magic he was throwing at me. They exploded like grenades all around me, throwing dust and dirt into my face. To my right, I could see Trace running along the edge of the jungle-like maze, watching Wesley with angry eyes. He was supposed to draw Wesley’s fire so that the others could take him down, but Wesley was coming after me, and he was hell bent on blowing me up with his magic.
I whirled around, throwing a chain of energy at the dickbag on my tail. As soon as it wrapped around his waist, I yanked and then released the magic, watching him as he stumbled sideways. Before he could hit the ground though, he got his footing and took off again.
Dammit. He’s better than I thought.
Wesley was a giant asshole, but I couldn’t deny that he was a decent fighter and quick on his feet. But whatever. I could handle him.
With swift movements, I dodged back and forth, finally leaping up and standing on the top of a large jagged stone. From this vantage point, I could launch my own attacks on Wesley. But as I turned, the smile on my face faded as I watched Merrick, angry as hell, run straight at Wesley.