“What can I say? I’m agile.” Artemis smiles and winks at me.
“Adonis. Look at him.” Triton points towards the town’s edge where his figure grows distant. “He’s going to win.”
Shit. I forgot that he passed us. “No, he isn’t.” I watch, stunned, as Artemis stumbles off on shaking legs, in pursuit of Adonis.
“Artemis!” I call. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m okay.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Without another word, I pursue her.
Adonis is still ahead, and although she’s gaining ground, he’s at full strength and she has no hope of reaching him.
“Artemis. It’s okay. I’ve got this.”
Her tangled red hair flies around her face as she glances at me. “No. I have to win!”
I watch in horror as she nocks an arrow and points it in Adonis’s direction. “Don’t! Shit, you’ll get disqualified! You can’t shoot another god.”
I power forward, drawing on every ounce of strength left inside as I catch up to Adonis. Please don’t let Artemis do something that stupid.
An arrow shoots over my head, almost touching Adonis’s scalp.
Okay, she can be that stupid.
“What the fuck?” he shrieks and covers his head. “She’s a mad woman. How can anybody give her a chance to lead us? I told you that you were crazy to accept her!”
“She isn’t a traitor.” I grab the running Adonis by the arm and throw him to one side, behind a nearby wagon. “And where is your alliance anyway?”
We both know Eros, still on the ground in the melee behind, only looks after himself and that Skoll fell in a crevice a mile back.
“Fuck you!”
But I have the advantage, gaining ground as he attempts to chase me. My chest burns, the cold air icing my cheeks as I thunder across the hard ground toward the brown tent. I throw my head back as I reach the assembled judges and shout a victory to the sky, triumph replacing the exhaustion.
Loki steps forward, concern mingled with triumph on his face as he smacks me on the back. I stumble forward and suck in huge breaths of air.
As Artemis half-limps towards us, Loki leans in and whispers. “Dude, you should’ve let her win.”
“I could have, but do you really think she’s that sort of woman?” I barely know Artemis but I sense her nature. Her competitiveness. Like her brother, she only wants a win she deserves. It’s why I can’t stop thinking about her. She challenges me in a way that no other goddess has ever managed.
Artemis’s fiery eyes meet mine and, with a frustrated yell, she fires an arrow above my head before stumbling away.
Loki watches. “Well, that was awkward.”
And he chuckles.
31
TRITON
“Damn him,” Artemis mutters bitterly, barging into the locker rooms. There isn’t a room specifically for her to use during the Trials. It’s mind games, or so I suspect, little things they’re doing to unnerve her.
From what I can tell of the girl, they’re going to have to try much harder.
We’ve given her space in the corner off the front, near the lounge. Right now, though, she doesn’t seem to care for privacy. She’s in a rage; tossing her bow across the bench, then flinching when it clatters across the floor.
“I loathe losing. Loathe it. With the intensity of a million fiery suns.” She says these words to herself, or at least that’s what I assume. Females confuse me. They often say things they don’t mean. Not Artemis though. Her actions match her words. Right now, they tell me to steer clear.
I limp into the room, nursing a wound from the game. Each trial seems set up to match our strengths, although we never know before going in. This one was specifically designed for Thor, and to a lesser extent, Loki.
Speaking of Thor, the crowd outside chants his name and he roars in celebration. He’ll be insufferable tonight.
“I’ve never come across such savage and strong beasts,” she says, glaring at the door behind me. Her expression softens though and lines of worry tug at her eyes when she sees my injury.
I lower my aching body onto a massive leather chair and prop my leg on a matching footrest, wincing at the gash on my leg. I’ll heal, quickly too, but for the moment the injury causes real enough pain.
“Is it really that bad?” She strips off her leather vest, revealing a thin cotton undershirt. There’s nothing between the fabric and her skin and I forcibly avert my eyes when I see the outline of her nipples.
“The trial organizers aren’t holding back. They definitely do not want our alliance to win. These Trials are a set-up to failure. You saw how close Adonis was to winning.”
Artemis turns her back and rummages in her bag. She approaches me with a metal tin. Opening the top, she holds it out. “Would you like some? It’s from my home. The women there are excellent herbalists.”
I sniff and catch the scent of honey and lavender. Unlike at the cabin, I don’t refuse her medical care. Instead, I nod my thanks and reach for the tin. She doesn’t give it to me, instead taking a dollop in her fingers and gently works it into the area around the wound. Gods, she is so very close.
“Thank you.” I watch her closely. I don’t have the other guys’ experience with girls, as they constantly remind me. I’ve always been focused on academics and studies. The females in the school seem foolish, with a lack of ambition, but Artemis… She’s different. Her lips purse as she applies the salve. Her pants are torn. Her hair is a wild mess from her battles in the trial. She was very close to winning, something none of us, especially me, thought she could actually do.
My fingers itch to touch the long braid of hair hanging around the column of her slim neck. Impulsively, I lift it back over her shoulder. “You had a good day today, Artemis. You showed your skills and never backed down.”
“I didn’t win.”
“No,” I agree. “You didn’t, but this isn’t about you or me or Thor or the others as individuals. We’re in this as allies. Something that’s never been done at this school before—at least not for good. Not for the righteous.” Our eyes connect. Hers are blazing emerald green and I feel a strange, intense sensation in my lower belly. “His win is our win. We revel together, even if it sucks that we failed individually.”
“I still don’t like it.” She sulks and it’s surprisingly cute. “And to Thor, of all people.”
“It’s the first time I’ve noticed it,” I say, “but you’re very similar to your brother.”
She looks startled at the mention of Apollo. “We’re twins, after all.”
“But not raised together. It’s interesting that you’re so similar with such a different upbringing.” I note the bruise under her eye. “Apollo would have been proud of you today.”
“You think so?” Her hands pause.
“No doubt.”
There’s another moment of silence, one I use to control my hormones. I close my eyes to block her out but it only magnifies everything else; her scent, the way her fingers massage my arm, her sheer closeness.
She slips into her thoughts, probably replaying the trial in her mind. She jumps, fingers skittering on my skin, interrupted by the guys cheering outside the room again. “They’ll do that all night once we get back to the Academy, won’t they?”
“Celebrate? Yes. Dion will use it as an excuse to party.”
“Of course he will.” She seems amused. I’ll never understand that man and his appeal to every woman he encounters. Even Artemis, who seems smarter than that and less likely to fall for his smooth moves.
I don’t understand why she’d be interested. He’s notoriously lazy, apathetic, and irresponsible; he doesn’t care about studying. Dion’s handsome, though, I’ll give him that. Charming in his own way. Ridiculously wealthy—he’ll inherit his father’s entire estate if he graduates with no problems. But any goddess he settles with will have to accept his manwhoring.
Artemis doesn’t seem like the type to be one of many girls in someone’s life.
I catch her eye. “The gods are notorious for celebrating each win as well as drowning their defeat the same way.”