From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(37)

“Really, Eleni, will you ever learn that you cannot beat me?”

“Let us up the stakes. A game of Mirror, Mirror,” she said, sounding sure of herself.

“If you insist.”

Eleni ran with her bow drawn, did an aerial, and fired midair. Her arrow hit its mark, dead center.

Artemis followed suit, splitting Eleni’s arrow again. The Nephelai pouted, and her wings snapped impatiently behind her.

“My turn.” Artemis put her back to the target and ran for a tree in front of her. She took three paces up the tree and flipped, loosing an arrow midair again. It hit home.

Eleni sighed with narrow eyes and put her back to the target as Artemis had. She ran for the tree, then up the tree, and fired as she flipped. It hit just left of center.

The nymph’s cheeks sparkled, flaming pink and hot as she cursed.

“New game. To the trees.” Her wings beat hard as she flew to a branch with a scowl.

Amused, Artemis climbed into the trees. They nodded to each other from separate lofts and took off running, flying through the treetops and across branches to jump into neighboring trees with bows drawn. Eleni would loose an arrow to mark a target, and Artemis would fire her own before Eleni’s next arrow flew.

She hit every one.

Eleni screeched in frustration but smiled wickedly when she saw an onocentaur chewing cud under a tree. She shot the ugly thing in the ass, and he bleated and ran. Artemis couldn’t help but laugh as she hit the target, and the half-donkey, half-man ran a little faster on his squatty legs.

Artemis leaped for a branch, using it to catapult her into a mossy clearing.

Eleni landed next to her, panting, with a smile stretched across her face. “Losing is not so bitter when I can end the game by shooting Risto in the ass.”

Artemis laughed as they made their way to sit on the spongy ground. The dappled light danced over them as the trees swayed, and Eleni uncorked her water bladder, taking a long drink before handing it to Artemis.

She leaned back on her elbows. “I must say, the mirror was a clever play. Aphrodite has been mostly absent from the competition.”

“Thankfully so.”

“Although she is still making plays. She is quite good.”

Artemis took a drink with Aphrodite lurking in the shadows of her mind. “This game is not easy, and I am not entirely confident in my abilities. This realm is one I do not understand and have no desire to. But the players are divided, which is all I can hope for at this stage.”

“Perhaps, but it would seem that Josie cares for him even though she resists.”

“Her head will win that war; she cannot trust him with her heart. And if he continues to push her, she will continue to push back. I see a storm coming for the two of them.” Artemis handed the water bladder back.

Eleni took it with a downtrodden frown.

“Whose side are you on, nymph?” Artemis was almost serious.

Eleni rolled her eyes. “Yours, of course, but that does not mean I have to be happy.”

Artemis let the jab go and turned her face up to the rustling treetops. “Well, find consolation in this—I have a plan to occupy Josie that should keep her away from Jon for the duration of the game. She won’t be hurt by him anymore. Would that please you?”

“That would all depend on what you plan to do.” Eleni’s black eyebrow rose.

“There hasn’t been nearly enough of a hunt yet. I plan on introducing evidence, irrefutable evidence, in Rhodes’s case. He will either be apprehended or he will run. If he runs, Josie will chase him. Either way, she will be distracted. My hope is that I can run the clock down.”

Eleni took a drink in an attempt to mask her discomfort. “If Josie chases Rhodes, she could be put in danger.”

Artemis shrugged and said without emotion, “She can take care of herself. I have faith that she will be successful.”

“Are you not concerned that she is too close to the case?”

“She can manage it,” Artemis answered in such a tone that it closed the subject.

The Nephelai eyed her. “You are very brash in this competition.”

Artemis stiffened just a little. “I am no different.”

“You are.” Eleni shook her head with a smile. “I believe your player is too close to you.”

“That’s absurd.” Artemis sat back.

“It is not. You’ve not had a competition with Aphrodite where your player has so much in common with you.” Eleni began to ramble on with her face animated, as if she’d just discovered a clue, “Not the last one…nor the one before. I cannot recall a single one who has had so many likenesses to you.”

“You are ridiculous.” She adjusted her robes.

Eleni’s eyes were big and bright. “You deny it, which confirms that it is truth,” she said with a grin. She sat up to tick off points on her fingers. “Josie lost her partner. She’s lonesome—”

Artemis grew more and more uncomfortable. “I am not lonesome. How could I be lonesome when I’m always surrounded by twits like you, dearest?”

Eleni rolled her eyes and continued,. “She hunts. She is solitary and jaded. She runs on instinct.” She looked pleased with herself as she leaned back again. “The factor that you never take into account is human nature.”