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My heart grew erratic as my head fantasized that he really was speaking directly to me, but it was quickly tempered when he looked away, lips curling in a charming smile.
My fingers brushed my own lips, where they were still warm from the lingering kiss.
I could still leave.
The thought came automatically, the same voice that had kept me out of trouble for years reminding me that I’d already pushed further tonight than I had in a long time. I could walk back through those gates, go home, and wake up tomorrow knowing I’d done the smart thing.
I didn’t move.
I’d come here for one night where I didn’t have to do everything perfectly.
“For this year’s activities, we’ve set up nine games throughout the grounds. Some test your nerve, some your luck, and others how adventurous you’re willing to be.” A few knowing laughs rose through the crowd. Ronan’s smile widened. “Complete all three games on your card, and you’ll be entered for the grand prize. Be the first to finish, and Corvus will add five thousand dollars to it.”
Excited voices broke out around me. Five thousand dollars was enough to make my fingers tighten around my card. Apparently, rich people needed financial motivation to get naked too.
“But don’t get too excited. Speed isn’t everything. Each host has the right to fail you.”
“For what?” someone shouted.
Ronan’s mouth curled. “You’ll find out.”
“Does that include you?” a daring voice called out, speaking my thoughts out loud.
“Of course, all three Regents will be participating. Although only one of you has been selected to play in our games.”
The murmur that rose around me was half-excited and half-disappointed.
A girl somewhere behind me actually groaned.
The likelihood of joining them was one hundred to one.
“Each of you has received a card.” With a twist of his wrist, a black card appeared between his fingers. “On it, you will find three symbols. Each represents a game you will play tonight.”
The card I’d forgotten after crashing into Ronan weighed heavily in my hand. He gestured to a nearby post that had a sign of a circle with a mouse inside it.
A soft gasp came from beside me as a girl looked between her card and the sign.
Her friend looked over and said, “What is it?”
“I have that symbol.” She paled when she looked back to the dark path next to the sign. “That’s my first game.”
“Lucky. I bet Ronan is leading that one since he mentioned it.”
A stone sank in my stomach, an uncomfortable feeling I had no right to have settling in.
Apparently, Reckless Gwen was also a jealous Gwen.
None of the symbols on my card matched the mouse on the post or any of the signs close enough to see.
“Let the games begin,” Ronan called out and punctuated his words with a loud thump of his staff.
It acted like the starting gunshot at a race, quickly dispersing the crowd.
The masked men with glow sticks from earlier stood at the head of a path. They reviewed each person’s card and directed them to their own tent.
The groups divided, forming new ones until each path had five to seven people traveling down it.
Avoiding the crowds, I checked the signs carefully, but none of them matched the key, the first symbol on my card.
