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Are you there? I ask with my thoughts. I know the Outcast is out there even if he can’t hear me. Who else could be just beyond the wall and have the audacity to kill one of the king’s archers?

A dark laugh fills the empty silence, and soon the royals join in.

“What a show!” the king exclaims. He waves us away. “Finish up the final candidates so the sponsors can judge their skills. Looks like a few more girls are still in the pool.”

Ulara leads me away as Ferra gives me a strange look. I can’t say she’s grateful that I just tried to save her life. Confused is more likely.

That makes two of us.

After Sofia completes her bout, I thank the Gods that the archer had been removed.

Because she had lost.

I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to Sofia.

“Why did you do that?” she asks me when we’re shuffled toward the practice mannequins and some of the girls are given wooden swords. The royals have grown bored and left with the king and other notables. Even Arwan and Godric are gone, but I still feel a particular set of eyes on me.

I glance up again at the wall, only to find empty sky waiting for me.

As someone hands me a wooden sword, I weigh it in my hands. “She’s one of us,” I decide aloud.

It doesn’t matter if Ferra wants me dead. She’s trapped just like the rest of us on this isle and given no choice but to survive.

Sofia snorts, which is completely unladylike. I grin. Maybe she will fit in around here after all. “Don’t spare her a second time. She won’t do the same for you.”

Ferra gives me a glare from across the training yard. One that somehow has even more hatred than before.

I embarrassed her in front of the camera.

In front of the king.

I pinch my lips together and realize that Sofia is right.

I just made one hell of an enemy.

CHAPTER 14

I survive another month in the Blood Moon Pack. Godric spends his nights in wolf form sleeping at my feet like a sentry, and I spend my days either on the training grounds or occupying one of the skill camps led by one of the female shifters.

What surprises me is that the kinds of skills candidates are expected to know aren’t just ones based on survival.

They are ones meant for court.

Dance. Etiquette. Languages. And the art of seduction.

I have a feeling there are other parts of the Monster Games that aren’t shared with the rest of the world.

King Njord has his secrets. Whoever survives the first run across the island has to pass muster for the grace of his court.

“Is Godric a sponsor?” I ask as Ulara takes me to yet another skill camp. This one has to do with meal prep, and I know that Sofia will excel at it.

Ulara chokes. “Fuck no.”

I frown. “Then why take me as a concubine if he doesn’t want me as a mate?”

I’ve gathered enough information to realize that mates can only be taken through the Monster Games process. I doubt that’s a physical requirement, but rather a rule strongly enforced by King Njord. And only sponsors can take mates.

Ulara remains silent for a moment, which tells me that she knows something she’s not sharing.