Underworld Bride Trials 1 Playboy King - Meg Xuemei X. Page 0,12
War and Wisdom.
“Hold your thoughts.” Esme raised an elegant finger, power in her voice. She wouldn’t allow anyone to sidetrack her. The reporter staggered back two steps. The hybrid mage had just demonstrated that she ran the show, not them. “There will be an opportunity for questions after I finish briefing the contestants on all the rules.”
The contestants consisted of over a thousand armed women packed into the enormous hall. This was fucking insane, but then again every girl dreamt of being a princess, or even better, a queen.
From my secure corner, I studied my future opponents—all different species and races. I identified shifters, Fae, demonesses, vampires, witches, and valkyries from my fugitive years fleeing from one realm to another. I couldn’t make out some species, but they also looked damn intimidating. At least one-third of the contestants appeared to be career fighters, judging from their stance, their gear, and the scowls on their hard faces.
Loki must be proud that he could attract so many women to fight to the death over him.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” a demoness hissed at me.
She was ugly—asymmetrical eyes, a flat nose with several rings that were too large even for her big face, and thick lips curled up in a leer. It didn’t matter how she looked though; she had as much right to be in the trials as anyone else. Being pretty wasn’t a requirement for entering the trials. And if she was the last one standing, she could be queen to the Demon King.
From the swaggering attitude of the demonesses, it wasn’t hard to conclude that they were all trying hard to remind the females of other species that Hell was their territory.
I flashed a smirk at the demoness. “You’ve got spinach between your teeth.”
“I’m not even a vegetarian!” she growled, but she unsheathed a dagger and checked out her big front teeth on the shiny blade, then she snapped her eyes to me. “I’ll eat you in the games.”
“No kidding,” I said.
A demon guard at the back entrance snarled at both of us for talking. We quieted, but not before the demoness tossed me another threatening stare, marking me as her quarry. I offered her a sparkling smile that displayed my pearly white and even teeth.
I loved to smile at my adversaries to encourage myself that things were looking up before I killed them.
During my brief interaction with the demoness, Esme had moved on to the middle of rule number five.
“After the first trial, weapons are allowed,” she pronounced. “Here’s the last rule: there’ll be no rules in the final trial. Magic, weaponry, poison, spells, potions, assassinations are all welcome and encouraged. Do whatever you need to win the crown, ladies. The Queen of the Underworld is supposed to do whatever it takes to get what she wants, to win the King of the Underworld, the hottest bachelor!”
The audience roared, pumping their fists, and two cameras panned over the bloodthirsty female fighters.
Esme smiled viciously and raised a fist, and the cheers faded in the hall.
“The Bride Trials are bound by magic,” she continued. “You’re being offered two chances to stay alive. Walk away now and nothing will happen to you. Or you can proceed to the first trial and take your chances. Once in the arena, things can happen fast and get bad quickly. You might be damaged, maimed, or even killed before you can surrender and leave the game.” She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in, and grinned at hearing heavy breaths, rasps, nervous shuffling, and bloodthirsty curses breaking out in the room.
“After the first trial, you won’t be able to quit. It’ll be either death or a fight to the end.” Esme finished her speech. “Ladies, decide your own fate now.”
A quarter of the contestants stirred, probably deciding to opt out after hearing the looming hardships. As the crowd shifted, I spotted Veronica, the vampire princess, at the front, as she turned to glare at her rivals behind her.
Her creamy face was pinched with cruelty, her hazel eyes brimming with violence as they assessed those outside her circle like a vulture. She’d recruited over a dozen vampires to aid her, and they would make sure she went to the top.
When she told Loki that she was going to erase everyone from the trials to reach the crown and ride him day and night, she’d meant business.
The vampire princess was dressed in red leather, her flashy outfit already declaring war. I, on the other