The Underworld Crown (Series)

Chapter 13

"You're not focusing again. What's distracting you this time?"

I gritted my teeth, stumbled as I caught the weighted ball that Persephone threw me, did a squat with it, and threw it back. We'd been keeping up this back-and-forth exercise for at least two minutes, and I was certain my legs would collapse if I was forced to continue it for any longer. I'd been welcoming the pain as a distraction from everything that had happened last night, but if Persephone's comments were to go by, the pain hadn't been doing a good enough job.

"Lots of things are distracting me. Nineteen things are, to be exact. The number of demigods and demigoddesses in the tournament."

I'd probably only received four or five hours of sleep. This morning, Persephone had barged into my room carrying a torch, scaring away all of the darkness from my bedroom but also scaring the living daylights out of me. She'd demanded we needed to start our physical training sessions extra early, when there would be less prying eyes from the other participants.

We don't need them to know how weak you are, she'd told me.

I had to give it to her, she had a point. It also wouldn't bode well for my confidence if I happened to see someone like Cleo arriving at the gym and benching a hundred kilos. The ten-kilogram weight Persephone and I threw back and forth was heavy enough.

"The good news is that they'll be distracted by you, too," she said, barely winded. I was breathing loudly enough to cover a passing steam train. "The only thing we can do is minimise your distractions."

"And how should I do that, oh wise one?"

Persephone smiled, but it had an edge to it. "Let's talk about your competitors while you do some sit-ups."

I followed her instructions and let myself collapse to the floor. Persephone helped me fix my technique, and then we recontinued our conversation, "Who do you find the most intimidating?"

I thought about it for a moment. My first answer would have been Cleo, but I was starting to think that she was more insecure than most of the other players. This had definitely shone through last night, when she wasn't quite as quick to join others in conversation than I would have expected. The more I thought about it, the more I believed Cleo's handing me over to the Crown Guard was because of insecurity, not greed. In any case, I knew that Cleo harboured feelings for Alek, and I could use this desire to my advantage if the circumstances required it.

Jackal, however, had more mysterious motives. He seemed politically inclined, and I had never been able to pinpoint exactly what it was that he wanted. He also had gone out of his way to apologise to me, but since he had done this in front of both his father, Hades and Persephone, anything he said felt like a performance. The truth was I had no idea what to expect from him.

I briefly considered Alek, but I quickly crossed him from my list. He didn't seem like the ruling-type or one who would want to win or even sabotage others in the tournament. Hades' current role would be much too political for him, and I knew he would prefer to do something hands-on. 

I hardly knew anything about Himeros. His presence often concerned me, but I wasn't intimidated by him.

"Maybe one of Lyssa's children," I answered honestly between crunches.

Persephone nodded. "I would be surprised if you weren't intimidated by them. You might remember that there were three boys and three girls?"

I gave a non-committal sound of agreement.

"The three boys are triplets. Their names are Nox, Thanos and Keros."

I stilled, memories of the triplets rushing back to me. It was difficult to forget how threatening they'd looked as a group yesterday, following Lyssa around as if they were her bodyguards.