Page 23 of Mountain Trial

“Okay …”

Isolde looked at her with wide, luminous eyes. “So you’re saying you haven’t been able to get ahold of him, in all this time?”

Kat scratched at a small stain on the sleeve of her uniform. “I guess I didn’t try that hard. I mean, he’s busy training for the Victory Games, and I … it probably wouldn’t have worked between us.”

“Because he’s in a wheelchair?” Isolde asked.

“No! I couldn’t care less about that. But I’m not … I’d probably only end up hurting him, anyway. You know me, I’m―”

“We do know you, Kat. We know you’re smart and loyal …” Kat blushed, but Isolde wasn’t done. “… and kind with everyone except yourself.”

“Is it possible you’re trying to sabotage the relationship, Kat?” Tess asked, her bright green eyes shiny.

“Relationship?” Kat scoffed. “I don’t do relationships. And Luc wasn’t looking for a relationship either. We were just―”

Kat’s mind went back to those two kisses she and Luc had shared.

There was nothing “just” about those kisses.

“Oh, Kat,” said Isolde. A small smile played on her lips. “I think we need to meet this man.”

“I think you two should open a matchmaking agency,” Kat said, laughing―and if her laugh sounded forced, neither of her friends said anything.

They hung out together a while longer, until Isolde’s mouth opened in a yawn she tried unsuccessfully to hide behind her hand.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Come on,” Kat said, “I’ve got my car parked outside. I’ll take you home.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to cut the evening short―”

“We’ll meet again next week,” Tess said. “I should probably get home anyway, Jamie’s working on a science project for tomorrow, and I’m not sure Damien knows enough about the solar system to help him.”

Kat stood up, relieved to be off the hook, for the moment at least.

Chapter 10

Luc

It didn’t matter how much one trained―race day nerves were unforgiving.

Luc was old enough, and experienced enough, to acknowledge that anything could happen. Sometimes, things happened simply because one was there―not because of what one did, or failed to do.

He’d tried to explain that to his friend Scott over breakfast that morning. Scott had moved in to the apartment next door a week earlier, so they’d taken to having breakfast together on their shared terrace most days.

At Luc’s words, Scott had paused, a forkful of scrambled eggs just inches away from his mouth.

“That’s a pretty fatalistic way of looking at it, Luc.”

“Not at all,” Luc denied. “On the contrary. It’s just my way of accepting that nerves are normal, and expected.”

“Whatever you say, buddy,” Scott said. “Now, finish that sad excuse of coffee you insist on drinking, and let’s get going. I don’t want to miss the first event.”

Luc nodded, but didn’t bother finishing his dandelion root coffee―it tasted nothing like the real thing, which was one of the things Luc liked about it. It meant he was less tempted to finish it, and he had to watch what he ate and drank today. Eating and drinking less for a few hours was a small price to pay for not having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the event.

When they arrived at the cable car, a tired-looking attendant took a look at their race bibs and ushered them into their own cabin.

“La plupart des participants sont déjà là,” he said.