Chapter 22

Chapter 21

Fucking Alessi.

Why was he even in the Labyrinth? Especially this time of year, when he knew we would be playing the tribute game. Sometimes I wondered if he enjoyed rubbing everything in my face at the one, and only, time of year I had responsibility to the king. We'd danced around each other for millennia, and I was over his games and his bullshit. Not even Butterfly was a good enough excuse to stay in his insufferable presence for another minute.

The fucking irony that he thought I'd do anything for Jericho if I didn't have to. It was easy to have so many opinions when you're an untouchable, uncatchable fox from the heavens. He had no tie to the King outside of causing him havoc, and leaving me to deal with the aftermath. He thought I'd chosen Jericho over him all those years ago, when he'd put me in an impossible position, and never even considered that I might have other reasons.

But devil forbid he ever get my side of the story. No, just hold a grudge and whine about it. He and Butterfly did deserve each other.

"It matters because you're the only friend I have in this place."

I dragged my index finger and my thumb along the cuts across my cheeks, and immediately I recalled that single, misguided declaration she'd shouted at me so carelessly.

She thought I was her friend?

Why? What had I done to give her the impression I was trustworthy? What part of this violent, dark mess of a journey led her to believe I cared about her well-being? I melted Aegaeon because I hated the Centimanes. I saved her from Rai because Rai was a bitch who didn't deserve to be the one to kill her. I only gave her hints to get her through because watching her struggle was giving me a literal headache. And that dream?

I tensed my fingers, and lashed out to rip a vine from the deep jade walls. I crushed the small limb of the flesh-eating ivy in my fist, and I listened to the maze squeal like a stuck pig. I hoped Rai felt that one.

Let's see whose side Butterfly is on next time the Minotaur hunts her down. Alessi couldn't stand up to Rai. His only skill was running away like the cowardly kit he was. They would both be fucked if and when they reached the Red Sector. They'd be lucky to make it through the Cronus in Orange.

I didn't care anyway. I hoped they got stopped. I'd gotten way too involved this year, and I was over it. I shouldn't have marked her. I still didn't even know how that had happened, but who knew what kind of tomfoolery Jericho had been sneaking past the gods. If I had known my marks would take, I never would have delved into her mind at all.

That's what I get for letting my emotions get caught up in a stupid human dream.

I was still huffing internally when I was forced to attention by a violent thrust against my shoulder. I was shoved into the wall with a thud that reverberated through my bones, and I swallowed down bile that practically knocked itself up my throat. Vines that would normally swallow me whole recoiled from the hit.

Or more specifically, they recoiled from the man who dealt it.

Jericho's strong fist gripped my scarf, and I sucked in a quick breath before he could tighten enough to block off the airway. I held my composure best I could as he cornered me with his body.

"Why are you alone, Theron?" He growled, but he didn't release my scarf. I had to wait for permission to be allowed to breathe or to speak. "Don't you have a job to do?" He loosened his grip just enough to let me exhale once and inhale halfway. That was his version of granting permission to respond.

I wasn't scared of him, but I knew better than anyone what he was capable of, at least when it came to the two of us. I tried to keep up the illusion of steady composure, but he could always sense my heartbeat, and that internal traitor never lied. His ability to read that unsteady pounding was innate, and he often took advantage of that fact. I hated how well he knew how to play me.

"She's with Alessi. He'll keep her safe. I don't need to be there anymore." I managed once he loosened a slip more.

"Alessi." He moved his hold from my scarf to my neck, and he forced my chin upwards, putting painful and threatening pressure over my pulse. "Alessi doesn't work for me, if you weren't aware."

What? Really? And here I thought the Olympus spy was your loyal subordinate. Tell me fucking more.

My sarcasm was thick even in my mind. Obviously, I knew that. I knew more about the Teumessian Fox than I needed or wanted to.

"What does it matter? He'll get her through the maze until he gets bored, which will probably be in about twenty-three minutes, and then she'll be in so deep, with no support from anyone, that she'll be at your lap dog's complete mercy. Or hell, you could get off your ass and deal with a tribute yourself for once. It's completely within your power to decide if she gets any further or not. You win your stupid game either way, so why don't you leave me out of it?"

Jericho narrowed his eyes at me. My heart skipped and my lungs hitched at that intensity, and I hated that he had that influence over me.

"Because I don't trust Alessi." Join the club . "And quite frankly, I'm not sure I trust you."

"What have I done to make you mistrust me, exactly?" I feigned ignorance, though I knew very well the answer. "I've done everything you asked. I don't normally accompany the tributes this far, so if anything, I went above and beyond for you. The girl would have been dead the moment she entered the Blue Sector otherwise. "

"You're aware that Aegaeon is completely under my command, are you not?" He glared as he tightened his grip on my throat again. "His orders were the same as yours. There was no reason you needed to murder him."

"Ha!" The laugh was involuntary. A titan was, at best, vaguely obedient. "If that was him acting on the same orders you gave me, then we have a very different interpretation of ‘keep the girl alive, but make sure she doesn't make the deadline.' The fucking monstrosity was going to tear her into pieces. I was the one following orders by stopping him from disobeying you, your royal fucking highness." I spat in his face, and he leveraged my scarf to bang me against the wall. My horns scraped against the stone, sending a shiver down my spine at the sound of it, while the sensation shot a nauseating jolt through my gut.

"Do you really think I haven't watched every one of your cute little exchanges with her?" He raised a brow, and I'd have to admit I didn't have a good rebuttal. Other than the fact that ‘cute' was absolutely not a word I would ever use to describe anything I was entertaining with SEE-luh.

"What exchanges?" I tried instead, moving the goal post away from his sightline. "You mean exchanges like severely traumatizing her with her own nightmares? Or the one where I let her hit her head into ever low hanging false wall? Or the one where I kept her still long enough to get Aegaeon's attention in the first place? What about the one where I left her alone with the heartless fox, who will undoubtedly lead her astray? I've kept her alive. I've stalled her and gotten her in danger. I've done everything you've asked of me to a fucking T. So you're welcome, but I'm done."

This time, Jericho was the one laughing. "You mean the nightmare that you admitted you softened and rearranged, because you didn't want to go too far and hurt her soft little heart? The maze of false walls, where you taught her what to look for, so she could advance to the next section? The ice segment, where you held her hand to keep her warm, steadied her when she stumbled, then cushioned her fall, because you liked having her on top of you? Or were you referring to the Centimane you murdered to protect her, and the way you swam with her to the surface because she couldn't do it herself?" He yanked on my scarf again and twisted it tight. "Or did you mean the way you literally carried her to safety when you encountered Rai, cauterized her wounds, and rescued her from the vines?" He leaned in close, until I could feel the heat of his breath on my neck. He followed the line of my carotid artery with the tip of his nose, then stopped only when he reached my ear. I swallowed thickly. "And now you left her in the care of a man who you've been playing cat and mouse with for several thousand years, pretending he wasn't the safest way to defy me. How convenient that you can now pretend her successful navigation was all just Alessi doing as he pleases, being a thorn in my side, just as he always is." His frustration only grew with every word. "Do you think I'm blind? Or just oblivious?"

He didn't want me to answer that question.

"That's just your interpretation." I turned my head to the side, trying to make what little distance I could. "Why are you so paranoid, Jericho? You're the King of Devils. You claimed your place on the throne indisputably. Are you this scared you're somehow going to lose at your own game? To a little girl with a temper even worse than yours?"

Jericho snickered, then he pulled back, and gripped my chin to force me to face him again. He had his entire body pressed against mine, and I knew he was reveling in the way my pulse was speeding against his fingertips. It was the one thing I would never be able to control around him.

"Is that what you think I'm afraid of, Theron?"

"No." I glared down my nose at the asshole like he was below me, even if he was the one who forced my head up in the first place. I knew I was nowhere near his power or influence, but reaffirming that for him was not an option. I lifted the corners of my lips in a mocking grin, wide and with my sharpest fangs on display. "I think you're afraid that I'm going to be the one who beats you."

"Cute. But wrong," Those sparkling green eyes narrowed, and his once rounded pupils closed back into tight slits. "I'm just worried that you're going to get your heart broken, and I care about you. I've never seen you show so much affection towards one of my tributes, and since I'm planning to keep this one, I don't want it to sting when you see her on her knees for me." His own twisted smirk crushed mine. I took a full, deep breath, and I held that air in my chest as he danced his fingernails over the front of my jeans, tracing the firm shapes. I couldn't lie about that either. "After all, with all of your scars…" He climbed upwards, over my belt buckle, then softly along the center of my abdomen. He grazed the contours of each muscle with his fingertips, feeling along the thousand healed cuts he'd given me.

I lost the hold on my breath and forcefully sucked in fresh air again as he settled over the deep gashes that criss-crossed my heart, usually hidden purposefully behind the draping of my scarf. "Who could ever love a man like you? One so weak and fragile, who wastes his time with illusions, because he's so very terrified of reality."

He pressed his palm harder against the deep cross, and I bit my lip as pins and needles prickled through my nervous system.

"Let go, Jericho." My voice was far steadier than I felt.

"So weak. I could kill you so easily." He dug his fingers into the scars, as if he was threatening to tear my heart from my chest. He roughly scraped along the lines, opening the wound again for the thousandth time. My heartbeat grabbed a few more beats per second. "Maybe I'll rip out your heart and skewer it on your horn while it's still attached." He licked his lips. Another beat. "But then, stabbing you is so much more fun." He leaned in close and whispered softly in my ear. And another. "Do you need me to cut you again, Theron Darling? Do you need to be reminded why I'm the King of the realm, and you're simply my fool?" He painted my body with streaks of my own blood as he made his way back down to my belt. "I respected your wish for solitude when I took the crown. I never took advantage of my power over you, and I gave you the most simple task during the games. But maybe that was never what you wanted. Maybe you prefer being put in your place by someone stronger than you, over and over again." He inched downward, then he gripped me roughly below the belt. I fixated on the way his lips brushed my earlobe, avoiding any acknowledgment of my body's reactions. "I would be happy to remind you exactly who you're beholden to, my precious Little Nightmare."

"Let. Go." I repeated the demand with forced calm, using every disciplined fiber in my body.

To my surprise, he obliged. He stepped back, and I stayed against the stones, subtly gripping the rough surface for support, while holding a neutral expression in a vice grip. He wouldn't see me shaken. He never would. Not anymore.

"Let's try this again then, shall we?" Jericho swept his fingers through his reddish-brown hair, streaking my crimson essence through his locks. "You're going to rejoin the mangy fox and my tribute. You're going to set aside whatever grudge is between you and Alessi, you'll continue to get closer to them both to win their trust, and if she makes it as far as the Red Sector somehow, you're going to assure that's as far as she gets within the allotted time. Simple enough?"

"How exactly do you want me to do that? The Cronus own the Orange Sector. You're going to be carrying her to your bed in pieces if I don't intervene before then." Still I kept my voice steady. I shouldn't have been struggling to remain composed in front of him, but no matter how many thousands of years I'd lived at his mercy, he still got under my skin. From the moment when we were children and he ripped off my right horn to carve out the scar over my heart, to the way he'd kept that horn for our entire childhood, just so he could use me as a sadistic canvas, he'd always known how to assert his power over me. Even once my horn grew back, the threats never stopped. It was a cruel joke that I would be bound to him for eternity.

Despite all appearances, Jericho was unnaturally powerful, and he'd earned his place as king. While my powers manifested in the form of mental manipulation and heat, his portals paired with his physical strength were an impossible combination to take in a fight. I could respect that power even if I hated him for it.

Though if he thought I would do anything so vicious to Butterfly, he was sorely mistaken. No one deserved the life I'd lived. Jericho had Rai to command if he really wanted more senseless brutality.

"You're the Dream Weaver. I don't need you to maul her." He rolled his eyes, like he'd read the recollection of all the trauma he'd put in mine. "Show her an image that will paralyze her. Sink into her brain, find her worst fears, her darkest fantasies, and her most painful insecurities, and show her those images over, and over, and over again, until she loses some of that overbearing will she keeps flaunting." A smile graced his lips, and he might have looked harmless if he was anyone other than the Devil King. "And if that's not enough to break her—which, honestly, it might not be—show her some of your memories. I know I've given you some fun ones, and that should play at her heartstrings. With the way she dotes on that cat of hers, she's obviously got a soft spot for useless, defenseless little things."

"Yes sir." I said under my breath, barely audibly, hoping that would be enough to get him to leave me alone.

Jericho nodded. "I knew I could count on you."

"Until the end of time, Jericho." My enthusiasm was hollow, and I didn't bother to hide that fact.

It didn't matter how I framed the statement anyway. He knew those words were true.

With that, he vanished as quickly as he'd appeared. And also with that, I let myself collapse onto the ground in a low, deep squat. I focused on slowing my breathing until my heart rate followed suit. I pressed my hand to my scars, and I held the reopened wound until my chest burned and blood stopped dripping down my wrist.

Our relationship had always been complicated, but it had changed shape once he'd taken the crown. We were born on the same day, we grew up in the same environment, and we stood side by side in the war against the heavens. His sadism was the opposite side of the coin to my masochism, and in that sense, we had always been a fated pair. I was loyal because I had no other choice, while he abused his power because he had no equal. Not in this world or any other.

But still, my obligation to him didn't make me want to return to Butterfly's side. If anything, it was a reminder that I should stay as far away from her as possible. So long as she was with Alessi, she was safe, whereas I couldn't make the same guarantee with myself. I shouldn't have to intervene to protect her from the Labyrinth's pitfalls so long as she had him, and I likely wouldn't have to make any effort to delay her, considering how lazy and disinterested in punctuality the fox so often was. If she made it to the Red Sector, and her success was imminent, only then would I step in.

Which was fine. I'd just be showing her a dream. I wouldn't hurt her. I could do that.

But what conjuring could possibly be worse than the last image I'd shown her? Did I really want to make that kind of deep dive into her psyche? Admittedly, I wasn't sure which scenario I was more afraid of—Jericho punishing me, or having to experience the visceral darkness of dream weaving inside Sela. Neither felt like a win.

I wasn't sure what would feel like a win at this point though. If I slowed her down long enough as ordered, she would lose the game and he would take her as his toy for the rest of time. Wasn't that more terrifying than both of the previous scenarios? Butterfly was human. She couldn't survive Jericho's bedchamber. I barely could, for that matter. The fact that Rai had for so long was one of the seven wonders of Hell. What was the point of delaying her just so she could die a more painful and humiliating death? If anything, it would be a mercy if I made her nightmare a reality, rather than letting her reality become a nightmare.

And yet, as I stared back at the green walls of this near halfway point, where Alessi and Butterfly were now bonding as they continued on without me, I already knew I was pathetic enough that I would go through with his orders anyway.

I slipped my fingers beneath my scarf and traced the scar on my chest like a prayer.

I couldn't deny I was protecting her beyond my duty, and something about that had been twisting my stomach in a way I hadn't experienced since the war. The last time I'd lost myself in the quiet little moments of emotion, it was when I was coiled up with the spy who didn't belong here. The fox who I fell for and betrayed just as quickly.

I didn't want to think any further on what that feeling meant in regards to either one of them.

Jericho was right. He always was. Who could possibly hold any affection towards a fucked up mess like me ?