Smart.
“If you refuse to answer, you will face punishment, and I assure you, it will be a whole lot worse than what you went through in that dungeon, Silas.”
“Snakes,” Eloa rushed out.“And being seen as weak.”
Nathaniel brought his fist down on the table.“Shut your damned mouth.”
Eloa threw up her hands.“You can go back to that place, but I’m not going through anything like that again.”
“Well done, Eloa.You are safe.”Felditch called for the next course, a cheese plate with an assortment of fruits and breads.
How the hell was I supposed to eat when Silas would be forced to reveal my weaknesses in front of my enemy.
“Ursula,” Felditch said, his orange eyes sliding to me, then drilling into my fucking skull.“Tell me, what was Silas’s biggest fear in that dungeon?”
I stilled.I had no fucking idea.I’d been unconscious or delirious the entire time.I didn’t witness Silas going through his part of the task.“I don’t know,” I said.“Whatever it was happened while I was living through my own fears… I don’t know,” I said again.
“Oh, dear me, I’m not sure I believe you,” Felditch said.
The angels grinned.
“It’s the truth,” I said.“You created yesterday’s event, surely you must have a way of finding out.”
“I’m sorry, but no.”The leaderboard appeared on the wall behind him, and one of the disks beside our name disintegrated in front of us.Nathaniel gave us a smug wink.
Sneaky fucking asshole.“That’s how they always win, isn’t it?”I said to Felditch.“You give them an advantage, you?—”
“Best you stop right there,” Felditch said.
“No, this is bullshi?—”
Silas’s hand landed on my thigh and squeezed.
“One more word, and your penalty will be doubled,” Felditch said, fury vibrating through his voice.
Backing down was not in my nature, but I had no idea what this male, this demigod, was capable of.He was powerful and sadistic, which meant I had no choice but to keep my damned mouth shut.
“Since Ursula has failed, we’ll move to you, Silas.Tell us all here at the table.”Felditch’s glee-filled gaze slid to me.“What does Ursula fear the most?”
Silas’s jaw clenched.He was willing to keep it to himself, to risk another penalty for tomorrow, and as much as I wanted him to keep my fears a secret, we had to win, and now we were already heading into tomorrow’s event on the back foot.I slid my hand over his.He looked at me.I nodded.
He licked his lips, an apology in his eyes, before he turned back to our host.“Abandonment.Ursula’s biggest fear is losing those she loves and being left alone.”
Nausea swirled in my stomach.In the wrong hands, that information could be used against me, and going by the look in Nathaniel’s eyes, he was hoping to get the chance to use it in the near future.
Another course was served, and Nathaniel’s turn finally came.He revealed that Eloa was afraid of not being good enough and also never being allocated a breeding partner, because she desperately wanted a child.She wept silently beside him as he bluntly told her secrets.Then dessert was served.
Everyone was much more subdued after that, and I couldn’t wait to get back to our room.
When Felditch finally dismissed us, we were behind on the leaderboard by one.We’d received the penalty, and I was pissed.I stormed out of the dining room and back to our quarters.“He’s working for them,” I said as I strode inside and shut the door.“He made sure we’d start tomorrow at a disadvantage.This whole thing, the entire tournament is a crock of shit.”
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Silas said.“Angels are ruthless in the pursuit of the things they want.”
I tried not to let that feel like a stab to the heart.I obviously hadn’t been something worth pursuing three years ago, I guess.Now isn’t the time for self-indulgent emotions.“So what was it?”I asked, refusing to let him off the hook.If I’d been laid bare, it was only fair that he was as well.
“What?”
“Your deepest fear.I showed you mine, time to show me yours,” I said and kicked off the hideous stilettos I’d been forced to wear during dinner.Silas was silent.“I’m your teammate, I should know.”