son.
My mother had recreated the world my dad had invented. And now it was killing me.
In the last … I didn’t remember how many days, I’d been tortured and jailed, and lost my life over and over again. But the worst moment in the game was this one. When I no longer had a dad to make proud.
I wiped my wet cheeks. A branch snapped behind me. I grabbed my sword and turned to face it.
Dagney held a branch. “R … Ryo? Are you okay?”
I lowered my sword. It took me a moment, but I could remember her. From before. Same angry green eyes, thick dark hair, her real curves made of all things soft. But this beautiful girl was small consolation for losing my dad all over again, or this torture my mom had put us through.
This wasn’t real. I wasn’t this handsome prince from my dad’s stories. Lives were at stake, people were watching our every move, and we didn’t need any kind of distraction if we were going to win.
And I was the next to go. If I pushed this further, it would only hurt her if I reached my game over.
I lifted my jaw. “Why do you care? I don’t even know you.”
Her jaw trembled as she looked way. She clenched her fists. “Seriously?”
I lowered my voice. “It’s a game. It isn’t real. So any feelings or connection between us was a lie anyway.”
“Because you remember who I really am now? Not going to flirt with a fat girl?” There was a challenge in her glare.
It nearly broke me. She had no idea how beautiful I thought she was. “You’re ridiculous.”
She glared. “You’re such an—”
“I’m dying. Maybe give me a second to process before you make this all about you.”
That shut her up.
Part of me wanted to apologize. Put on the flirtatious mask I wore around school, and used as the prince. I could play the part and make her smile again. Make her want me again. But then a fresh wave of grief curdled in my stomach and made my arms hang heavy. My dad was dead, and this world made of his stories wasn’t going to bring him back.
She took a step closer. “What’s going on with you?”
I pinched my lips so they wouldn’t tremble. “I’m not sure I want to go home.”
I closed my eyes. I hadn’t meant to say something so honest. I wanted to rage, to insult her, to do something cruel in order to make her walk away. It was better for both of us. She didn’t need my damage.
Before this game I was so good at putting up walls. Why did they always crumble around her? Why did the expressions on her face make me want to tell her all my secrets?
Dagney marched forward, her face pink. “You might not want out—but the rest of us do. Grig needs to get back to Bluebird, and there are six other players stuck in this hellscape who don’t deserve to die.” She brushed her hair behind an ear. “Stop being such a baby and pull your weight. And if you want, once we’re out of this game, we never have to talk to each other again. That’s fine by me.”
She stalked out of the woods and I growled after her.
That did not go the way I wanted.
I punched the air, shook my fingers through my hair, and tucked away my grief. Then I picked up the sword I’d dropped. I had to play the dutiful son.
I knew how this story ended.
17
DAGNEY
My eyes burned with tears and that pissed me off. I stomped out of those woods and away from that jerk. I did not look back at him. Not once. I didn’t replay him slashing trees and damaging his sword, or the way he held his head in his hands like he couldn’t hold his head up for one more second, and I did not worry about the anguish in his eyes. That would be foolish, and I was not a fool.
When we emerged from the trees, Grig stood with his arms folded and his shadowed eyes careful. Pumpkin floated over his shoulder.
The mechanical squeaked its gyroscope and floated to Ryo’s side.
Screw him. “Whirligig half price. I’ll sell it for parts if it means a higher profit.”
The peddler squeaked in excitement, and I ripped the drawers open, searching for anything, everything. I’d outtrade this peddler; I’d prove I was … I wouldn’t let anyone make me feel small.
I was not nothing.
I