Chapter 48 Chapter 48: Override
Kalev’s POV
I grabbed Senna’s wrist just in time. My voice had stopped everyone else mid-reach. Holding onto to Senna’ wrist, everyone whipped their heads at me.
I had no idea what would happen if Senna touched that Spire. But my instincts told me it wouldn’t be good. Orrin agreed. Now that I knew it was some sort of siphon, the spire seemed even more dangerous than before.
“What are you doing?” Senna hissed at me.
“There’s another way,” I said.
The thought had hit me like a bolt of lightning, right before I called out for Senna to stop. It was unorthodox. And there would be a shit storm.
There was one privilege I still had. Even though they’d limited my access, I was still, technically, architect of the games. So I could use this privilege.
No one had ever used it before. Hell, most people probably didn’t even know it existed. But I knew. It was a desperate act. But we were in a dire situation.
Everyone stared at me, eyes wide and blinking. The waves lapped behind us.
“Architect override,” I said. My voice steady despite the way my pulse had picked up, despite the way my heart raced. “I am declaring a victor.”
The words felt strange in my mouth. But the system responded.
I felt it more than heard it. There was a shift in the air. Back at the estate, I could imagine the nobility, all rising from their seats, jaws dropped, staring at the screen in front of them. I could imagine the look on my mother’s face. Pure shock. And then anger.
No one had seen this coming. I hadn’t even seen this coming. But it was our only way out.
“I don’t understand,” Senna asked. Her voice came out as a whisper.
I turned and looked up, towards the drones in the sky. “By authority of the Architect’s line,” I continued, my voice even firmer. “I, Kalev Moren, declare Senna the Victor of the Games.”
What followed was stunned silence. For a few moments, the only noise was the waves behind us and the sift rustling of the forest leaves in the wind.
“Kalev?” Senna snapped, jerking her arm free this time. “What did you just do?”
Around us, the air seemed to hold its breath. Then the horns blared. They were loud, piercing, and unmistakable.
The victory horns.
Senna stared at me, fury flashing across her face. “Are you insane?”
“Possibly,” I said.
“They’ll kill the rest of them!” she shot back, gesturing to Thor, Isolde, Thistle, and Korrigan. “That’s how this works!”
“Not anymore,” I said. Her expression didn’t change. Thistle bit his lip, terrified. Isolde drew her hand to her mouth.
“What are you talking about?” she hissed. Korrigan glanced over his shoulder, looking for guards or beasts or anything else that might come to kill them all at any moment.
I knew what Senna was thinking. There was only one victor. And since I’d just used my authority to declare her the victor, she thought all her other friends would die.
But…
There was a loophole. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before.
“They’re not going to die,” I told her. “They changed the rules. The win condition is now the Spire.”
“I know that,” she snapped. “But that doesn’t change what happens after!”
“It does,” I said, nodding.
She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t.”
“It’s always been last one standing,” I told her. “The one who survives is declared the victor. But they changed that when they changed the win condition. The only reason everyone else died in the past is because of the rules. Everyone had to kill everyone else. That was the only way to win. But that’s not the case now. When they changed the rules, Senna, they changed the outcome. All the new rules state now is that the winner is the first one to touch the spire. They don’t say anything about being the only survivor.”
My words landed. Her brow furrowed.
“They didn’t update the termination clause,” I continued to explain. “Because they assumed the outcome would be the same. One survivor. They assumed you would all kill each other to get to the spire.”
Realization flickered in her eyes.
“You’re saying…” Her voice trailed off as she pieced it all together.
“I’m saying the rule that kills everyone else is tied to the old condition,” I said. “Last one standing. Not the first to touch the Spire.”
Thor let out a low whistle. “So you’re telling me we just… walk out of here?”
Senna stared at me.
“You gambled all of us on a technicality,” she said.
“A loophole. Yes,” I replied.
Her jaw tightened. For a moment, I thought she might hit me again. But instead, she looked at the Spire, at the surface she had been seconds away from touching. Then she looked back at me. Her anger didn’t disappear, but something else settled under it: understanding.
The horns continued to echo across the island.
“So we all get to live?” Thistle asked. His eyes sparked in the sunlight.
“Yes,” I nodded.
“And Senna is the victor?” Isolde asked.
My eyes locked with Senna’s. “She is.”
“What if I don’t want to be the victor,” she said.
“I had to do it, Senna,” I told her. “It was the only way to save everyone.”
“No,” she shook her head. “You did it so you could keep controlling me.”
She knew damned well what being the victor meant. She would be forced to live in my estate until the victory tour.
“After the tour, Senna, you’ll be free. You can go and live in Sector 3. You’ll have money. A fresh start.”
She turned away from me and inhaled sharply.
“I’ve just swapped one prison for another,” she said. “The island for your estate.” Then she turned and glared at me. There was fire in her eyes. “I’m not really sure which one is better. The both sound like hell to me.”