And Then There Were Four novel Chapter 192

Chapter 192: Battles & Balder

Cassie.

The sounds of battle echoed around me within the stadium. My eyes couldn't look away from the massacre happening in front of me, and as much as I wanted to tell them to stop because this was more than brutal, I knew I couldn't. There had to have been at least fifty people on those training fields, wallowing around on the grass greener than anything I'd ever seen. Blood coated their skin as they spared each other.

Odin called these games, but in reality, it was nothing but brutal force. I couldn't understand why things weren't just done normally. Then again, I was in Asgard and Nordic traditions was the only way to go here.

■’Cassie!" A voice called out to me, causing me to look down the walkway to see Sansa walking toward me with a smile and a bounce within her step. "I figured that I'd find you out here. I just was hoping that she would have waited for me."

Raising a brow in amusement, I stared at her for a moment as she sat next to me. The clothed awning protected us from the sun, the fabric billowing gently in the morning breeze." Girl, this shit started like an hour ago. We would have been late."

"There is nothing wrong with being fashionably late,” she remarked with a smirk that made my eyes roll before I turned my gaze back out onto the field.

I had awoken early this morning ready to get the first trials over with so I could return to normal life, and no matter how much I would have rather be doing anything else right now. I knew that wasn't possible. Odin wanted me here.

I was the prize these men fought for and being present was important to remind them of that.

Or at least that was what I was told.

"I can't believe they find this entertaining... this is barbaric."

Sansa's laughter floated around me as she nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but this is Asgard. You should have seen the games a few years ago. One of the poor guys lost an arm."

Snapping my attention to her with my jaw dropped, I tried to wrap my head around what she had said. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope," she muttered. "They take this shit seriously here."

Of course, I had grown up around training and whatnot, but this was far more violence than was needed. They called it sparring and it was anything but that. Blood was being spilled and men were getting hurt one after another and everyone seemed to act like that was perfectly acceptable.

"It's disgusting," I replied, trying to keep a smile on my face but I had no doubt that my disgust in this was shining through.

"Girl, you think this is bad? They haven't even gotten to The Hunt' yet. That's when shit gets really interesting."

I didn't even want to ask what the hell that was, but I had a feeling that was the last event that Freya had tried telling me about before. I had given suggestions to small things I wanted to be added to these games but in the end, Odin said they would stick to being traditional with only minor changes.

On top of that, I was only just informed of the final task requirements this morning. The final task was I would have to entertain the last three contestants individually in the days leading up to the main event. "Oh, by the way... thanks for filling me in on my hosting responsibilities."

"Hosting?" My gaze fell to her once more, taking in the confused expression on her face hidden behind her furrowed brows. "What are you talking about?"

"Freya told me that Odin wants me to entertain the last three contestants in the days leading up to the hunt or whatever you want to call it. I'm not sure why, but I'm not looking forward to it."

By the way, Sansa opened and closed her mouth, I could tell she was taken aback and confused as to what I was talking about. I began to wonder if this was something they had just made up for this particular situation. 'You didn't know, did you?"

"No,” she replied softly. "Honestly, I didn't. But I will admit that even though I'm surprised... I'm intrigued as to how that's going to go."

"What do you mean?"

With a smile, she shook her head as she looked back onto the field. "You're not exactly the easiest person to get along with Cassie."

"Excuse me?" I replied with shock as my eyes widened and my mouth dropped open.

"Yes, I am."

Chuckling she gave me a ‘who are you lying to' expression as she looked me up and down. "Is that so? Because last time I checked, you had a thing for running people off."

Her words were harsh but she was accurate so I couldn't fault her forthat.

"I suppose you're right," I mumbled under my breath, causing her to laugh again.

"Have you seen any of them today?"

My mind instantly went to Silas and my heart dropped. "No."

I had an amazing evening with him that completely took me by surprise, and since then, he had gone back to avoiding me again. Something that annoyed me like no other. I was tired of being avoided, and as much as I wanted to hunt him down and yell at him for acting this way again-l knew that it would do no good.

Looking out on the field, I searched for the two bodies I knew would be present today. Lucas and Finnick were both participating and as much as both men had recently irritated me, I was deeply concerned about either getting hurt.

"Are you looking forthem?' Sansa asked me, causing me to sigh as I slowly nodded my head.

"Yes, but of course, I can’t see shit out there. Every one of them all seem to blur together. This entire thing is exhausting."

Falling back into the lush pillow-lined chair I was reclining in, I felt like giving up on all of this. My heart and mind had been pushed to the point of breaking lately, and as much as I wanted to keep going, I didn't know how.

I needed a reprieve, and when I thought about walking out of the arena, the flash of white and black I had been searching for appeared before me like a solution. Lucas and Finnick prepared to spar against their opponents and my heart almost stopped.

"Oh my God, there they are."