Chapter 11: Tavian, My Guy, You’re Welcome

💖🦄 ✦ FUN FACTS ABOUT KAI STARBORNE ✦🦄💖

The font belonged on a little girl’s birthday party invitation.

Kai looked up at the jumbotron just in time for the first one.

FUN FACT #1: Kai Starborne’s bedroom still has glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. 🧸

Kai’s face went through a color wheel that started at pink and ended somewhere in the ultraviolet spectrum.

"That’s bullshit," he said to no one in particular.

The fact disappeared. Another one loaded.

FUN FACT #2: Kai Starborne’s wolf is afraid of geese. Do not ask him to explain.🪿

"THAT IS NOT—" Kai was halfway out of his chair before his mother grabbed his wrist.

"Sit. Down," she mouthed.

Kai sat, arms crossed with a sour look on his face. Definitely pouting.

The crowd lost it.

Across the arena in the Thunderfang section, Derek Thunderfang dropped into his seat.

Landon didn’t look at him. "Where have you been?"

"Placed some bets."

"For forty minutes?"

"Big bets."

Landon’s jaw tightened, but he did not interrogate further.

Beta Tavian, however, was staring at Derek, not buying it. "What do you mean big bets?"

Derek didn’t get a chance to answer. At that moment, the column runes flashed blue, which meant the next pair.

"Celeste Starborne, Firstborn Daughter of Alpha Lucian Starborne."

Celeste’s music started and she entered the arena like the final boss of a princess simulator.

Unfortunately, the jumbotron decided to malfunction right as she entered, frozen on the image of her brother’s sulk, and completely stole the spotlight.

No standing ovation. Maybe a third of the audience offered a golf clap. Just a standard entrance like every other average contestant. She waved harder like that was the problem. It was not.

Derek’s smirk was gone, replaced by something too serious.

"You good?" Tavian asked.

Derek glanced at him and grinned immediately. Fast enough that most people would buy it.

Tavian was not most people.

"Never better, my guy." Derek clapped him on the back hard enough to slosh Tavian’s beer. "In fact, I just put forty thousand Helix points on a blind bet that whoever gets paired with Celeste beats her. Double payout if they win the endurance category. In your name. You’re welcome."

Tavian’s drink made a U-turn somewhere between ’blind bet’ and ’in your name.’

"Come again?"

"Relax. Celeste won’t win anything."

"She’s the number one seed, Derek."

"Is she?"

Landon turned his head slowly to look at his brother.

"Whoops." Derek shrugged, without a care in the world. "Both of you need to relax. They’ll pair her with someone good then if she’s top seed."

Tavian dragged his hand down his face. "Have you been paying attention? Actually, don’t answer that. You’ve been gone all morning. I’ll tell you. They pair the high-ranked ones with slaves."

"Tav, have I ever steered you wrong?"

Tavian did not hesitate. "Yes."

The runes flashed blue. Derek rubbed his hands together. "You ready to see your horse in the race?"

"Sure. Let’s see my damn horse."

"Registration #7709."

No one reacted to the announcement. No one noticed at all, actually. The crowd was still too busy talking about Kai Starborne.

"There she is. Beautiful, isn’t she." Derek pointed at the cloaked figure currently shuffling into the arena. "A winner. I can feel it."

Tavian looked at the cloak. Looked at Derek. Looked at the cloak again like the second glance might reveal something the first one missed. It did not.

"The cloaked ones are the worst ones."

"You need to look at the potential under the cloak."

"That’s my Helix points."

"Technically, yes. I did use your Helix points. Can’t have my name attached to a blind bet like that though. Embarrassing if it’s wrong."

"So you attached MY name to it."

Derek shrugged the way a man shrugs when he’s already done the thing and the conversation is decorative.

"Pretty much. If she wins the whole category, you collect a million Helix points and you’ll owe me a favor. If she loses, the bet goes under your name and I keep my reputation. It’s a win-win, Tav. Mostly for me. But the energy is collaborative."

"You bet forty thousand of my Helix points on a random person who ended up being a cloaked slave. Without asking me."

"Correct."

"And you see nothing wrong with that."

"I see several things wrong with it. None of them are my problem."

Tavian turned to Landon. "Are you listening to this?"

Landon was watching the arena floor where 7709 was approaching the center line. "I heard it."

"And?"

"And Derek has been making terrible decisions since the day he was born. This one barely cracks the top fifty."

"Top twenty," Derek corrected. "Give me some credit."

Tavian ran a hand down his face. "The crowd isn’t even booing. That’s how you know she’s dead last. They boo at every cloaked one but not her."

"Or, the crowd sees a winning horse."

Down on the arena floor, 7709 reached the center.

Tavian shook his head and took a long drink of what was left of his beer. "If that cloak opens up and there’s a three-legged goblin under there, I’m telling everyone you made this bet. I’ll commission a plaque."

"If that cloak opens up, I’ll ask that goblin out on a date and pay for the plaque myself." Derek leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, settling in with the posture of a man who couldn’t possibly be wrong.

Tavian opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

Landon hadn’t looked away from the arena floor. Just as his suit started to light, Derek stood and stretched in front of him and yawned.

Landon shook his head once. Twice. Then glanced up at his idiot brother.

"Before you say anything," Derek called over his shoulder. "There are zero places to stretch."

"Uh, Derek," Tavian said slowly. "I think the princess thinks you’re standing for her."

Celeste was waving at the Thunderfang section. She blew a kiss that turned into a hologram heart. The jumbotron decided to start working again and zoomed in on Derek’s face.

The announcers ate it up.

"It looks like Derek Thunderfang has declared himself for Celeste. The Alpha is letting his brother have it. If that’s not a blessing, then I don’t know what is. Elders, take note!"

The jumbotron cut to Celeste as her expression spoiled in real time. She’d been waving at the Thunderfang that didn’t count. The one she wanted was blocked from view behind the one she blew a kiss at.

In a blur, Derek grabbed a sign from under his chair.

Tavian blinked. "When did you—"

Derek was already holding it up. The jumbotron found it immediately.

6.5

The number filled the screen. The crowd processed it in waves. Confusion first. Then recognition. Then a laugh that rolled downhill like an avalanche.

Celeste had already turned away from the Thunderfang section and didn’t notice for a good fifteen seconds.

In those seconds, the arena died, pun intended.

Her eyes found the jumbotron. Found the number.

Six point five.

Not a six, which is an insult she could leverage for sympathy. Not a seven, which could be a compliment if you squint. Six point five. The official score of "she has a great personality."

Her face snapped back to factory-issue resting bitch. She buffered for three seconds. Then her smile returned, stiff as a hostage on a mission titled Landon Thunderfang.