Amazon Princess by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781733666763
Publisher: Little Fish Publishing
Published: 2019-12-05T22:00:00+00:00

14

Bright and early we’re brought to a round stone room. It’s eerily quiet even though every noise reverberates. I’m scared to say a word, like maybe a loud noise might bring everything down around our ears.

There aren’t any chairs so I sit on the hard stone, going full on criss-cross applesauce. Edie’s advice on footwear hadn’t been off base, and I’d extended it to my wardrobe as well. I’m wearing a super cute fuchsia tracksuit and my favorite no-show underwear. Prisha follows me to the floor, but everyone else stands.

“Hello,” someone says and I jump. There’s a guy standing beside me, his kneecaps at eye level. I hadn’t even noticed him. He talks very softly, with a whisper that forces you to lean in, because it feels like what he’s saying is probably important and you don’t want to miss it.

I cough and everyone stares at me.

“Sorry,” I say and wince as my words sound like a shout in a church. I notice Trevor across the room with a cup of something. He offers it to Constantine, who sneaks a glance at the rest of the guys, and then gulps it down.

What is going on with that?

“I am Harpocrates, the god of silence,” the whispering man continues. I scramble to my feet, Prisha following course. I wouldn’t have tagged him for a god. He’s small and weaselly looking.

“As well as the god of secrets,” he continues, which actually makes me feel a little better. The god of secrets I can relate to. You can’t live a life on the pageant circuit without noticing who’s had dental work, a nose job, or some cool sculpting on their floppy bits—but everybody knows better than to talk about it.

“The trial I have set for you today is to see who can remain the quietest, the longest.”

So…we’re playing the quiet game?

After having to wrangle a horse, this almost seems too easy. Like child’s play. Except, now that I think about it, I always lost that game.

From across the room Constantine breathes out a sigh of relief. “I’m gonna scream so loud the moment this starts. Then I can lose this boner, and go home.”

“Wait, you want to quit?” I ask, to which he nods emphatically.

“Catching a horse was easy enough,” he says. “But riding one in this state? No, thank you. And besides, I can’t lay on my stomach anymore.” He hiccups loudly and then smiles in a sort of cross-eyed way. “Get ready to make some noise!”

He sounds a bit drunk. What was in that cup that Trevor gave him?

“Excuse me,” Harpocrates says in a soft voice. “It matters to me not at all if you wish to purposely lose, but wait until the contest begins before you start to chatter.”

“Oh no, I’m not trying to lose,” I quickly say.

Harpocrates lifts a single eyebrow. “Nor are you trying to win.”

I open my mouth to object, but Prisha nudges me. Hard. Okay, so maybe I sometimes don’t know when to shut up. But if he saw me carrying that horse last night he’d know how hard I’m trying to win this thing.

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