Chapter 183

He too was thrashing around in their grasp. Sveta was shouting and trying to pull one of them off. Fur started to sprout on Adams arms, and one of the guards slapped a silver bracelet on his wrist. The fur instantly disappeared. The two guards did not pause, they pushed their way past a screaming Sveta, and took him down the steps and through the vampire crowd to the spot where Lyle was being held. "Father, what are you doing? Why are you taking Adam? He is my mate! You can't take him. He has done nothing wrong!" Sveta yelled at her father through sobs. The once fierce looking woman who took pleasure in others pain was now reduced to a sobbing mass of running mascara. The King turned to his daughter. He tenderly grabbed her arms and pulled her to him. He took his large hand and smoothed the back of her hair with it. "Pumpkin, he did not mark you. I know he told you it was so that he could get the girl's powers, and I think in some way that may have been true, but he had tried to get her to mark him back at his pack village, then again with the help of the vampires masked as his brother, pretending to be her mate. He would try to force her to do it. You see I have exposed a plot. He was going against me." Sveta pulled back from her father and looked at him. She sniffled loudly. "But he is my mate." She said and sobbed again. The King looked at her with pitty. He ran his hand down the side of her face. "Yes my dear, I know. That is why I am giving you the chance to walk down there now and reject him before I send him in the maze." Sveta sucked in a breath. Her eyes wide with surprise, but then she seemed to accept what her father said and gave a small nod. Her father pulled out a handkerchief and handed to her. "Now pull yourself together and show him what a Greynost looks like when they have been betrayed." Sveta took it and wiped her eyes and nose, pulled her shoulders back with a deep breath and turned and walked away. The King stood and watched her walk down the stairs and across the walk way. "You need to be firm but loving with children. They still need to be told what to do even when they should be old enough to rule themselves." He sighed dramatically and turned to Amaris. She could almost feel some sort of warmth from the man. Maybe he was not totally without feeling, but he was still not in his right mind. All this showy stuff was over the top and theatrical. Amaris was not sure why. Either way his lack of respect for human life, other people's choices, and bloodlust were more than enough to rule out the little tenderness that he showed his daughter. Amaris looked away from him. She had no desire to let him think that he had scored any brownie points with her. She wanted no part of him. Instead she took this time to scan the crowd once again and see if she could find any sign of Gran and Anna's parents with the vampires since they were now so close. Even with craning her head from where she was sitting, she did not see them anywhere.

After a few minutes, she heard a woman cry out from below. It was Sveta. She was now crumpled in a heap on the ground in front of Adam who was still being held by the guards. "I knew he would accept her rejection. He had no intention of being her mate. He just wanted her power." The King huffed angrily. Amaris could see his hands balled into fists at his side, and knew that no good could come from it for Adam. Adam had played a dangerous game and betrayed many people including his family, his brother, and even his own true mate. He had to know that if his plan did not work, or if he was caught, that he would die. The King had protected his daughter from what was to come. If Adam were to die in the maze, even though they are not marked, Sveta would have felt tremendous pain when Adam died. The King had spared his daughter that by having her reject him. The pain of rejection is much less than loosing your mate, or so Anna had told her when she explained about mating to Amaris. Amaris was just afraid that Adam had dragged his brother into this as well. Lyle and Adam both stood there and were both still held by guards. Two more guards had come to help Sveta off to the side of the arena. Amaris did not see where they had taken her, but she did not imagine that she would be coming back to the box to particpate in the challenge. The King hung his head with a shake as if he had known that would have a bad end. He finally rose from his throne and stepped forward once again. "Now that the unpleasantries are out of the way." He mumbled to himself. "Our two challengers are at the gate to the maze and ready to start." The King called out to the crowd as a way to both quiet them and return their attention to him. "I will explain the rules for this round." Complete silence fell and the guards had made the challengers face the box above them. "It is simple. Each challenger must make their way through the maze, get by any obstacles that are in their way, and make it to the other side before their opponent. They may fight anything that they come across as they please and if need be they may fight each other. There is one catch. They will need to do all that and avoid the menotaur who will also be roaming the maze hunting them."