Insatiable (Inferno Games #3)

21. The Third Trial

21

THE THIRD TRIAL

ROWENA

I ’m not crying. I refuse to shed tears for a man who bullied me, just like everyone else who has torn me down over the years. And I definitely won’t cry over something that had the potential to be real.

Having a man stand up for me—that’s never been my reality. The idea of someone sacrificing anything for me is so foreign; I don’t even know how to process it. For a fleeting moment, I saw forever in his eyes. I glimpsed a future I’ve only ever dared to dream of. But dreams like that don’t belong to me. They’re not for people like me.

If Felix stays here, trapped with me in this place of emptiness—no food, no distractions, nothing of value—he’ll start to resent me. It’s inevitable, and it will happen sooner rather than later. I know he thinks he wants this, thinks he’s made some grand decision overnight, but I’ve spent a lifetime imagining my perfect future. And none of those dreams ever involved being stuck in a one-bedroom corner of Hell with a man who, just two weeks ago, admitted he hated me.

The man slept with Quinn’s under age sister, making her kill herself. What other dark secrets lie in his past that I don’t know about? Getting involved with Felix Barclay was a stupid mistake and though he might have changed, the things he has hidden in his past are unforgivable. I mentally berate myself for going back to him It was a moment of weakness that won’t be repeated. Next week, he’ll have moved on, and I’ll pretend he never existed, like a fleeting shadow I can erase. I’m halfway down the third set of stairs when something stops me cold. A flutter. I freeze, my hand instinctively going to my stomach. Did I imagine it? I stand still, waiting for it to happen again. This pregnancy has been speeding by, faster than anything I ever imagined, so is it really too far-fetched to think I might have felt a kick already? Then there it is again. Stronger this time. Definite. A spark of life. Joy floods through me, drowning the misery and the uncertainty. I might never see Felix again after the final trial, but I’ll always have this—a part of him that no one can take from me. The temptation to hide away in my room, nursing the heartbreak, is strong, but this moment—the small but undeniable kicks inside me—is something I can’t keep to myself. It’s a reminder that there’s something bigger than the trials and the pain. Something real. I spot Quinn, Twila, and Juliette sitting at our usual booth. Juliette’s head rests on her hands, not even looking up as I approach. I slide into the booth next to her. "What’s happened now?”

Quinn answers. “Juliette had this grand plan to seduce George, but she somehow ended up in bed with Tomas instead.”

I raise an eyebrow, glad of the distraction. I’ve known Juliette to hook up with some weird people and even the odd demon, but George? “That’s a lot to unpick. Dare I ask why you were trying to seduce George?”

Juliette just groans from under her hair, so Quinn answers for her again.

“She planned to seduce George as a ploy to get everyone back in the games. She’s not quite mentioned how she ended up with Tomas instead, but I think I can hazard a guess that it didn’t go well.” She looks down at Jules, who just snorts in response.

“You won’t get back in the games by seducing George.” Twila says, ignoring the very long sigh that seems to be emanating from somewhere under Jules’s hair. “I would have told you that if I’d have known.”

“But you only tell us what we can’t do, not what we can do,” argues Quinn.

“Will you two shut up arguing?” Juliette says, pushing her hair out of her face and sitting up. “Twila. You are right. Seducing George was a terrible idea, not least because the thought makes me want to hurl. I went to see Tomas to have it out with him and then he kissed me and it was like old times. It was perfect and wonderful and awful at the same time.”

“I get that,” I reply before realizing what I’ve just said. Quinn gives me an odd look before turning back to Juliette. “I don’t get it. Was it good or was it awful?”

Juliette shrugs, looking defeated. “Sex with Tomas was always good. Maybe that’s why I stayed through whore after whore. It was familiar. It was nice. It was home.”

“But?”

“But all I could think of was those other women. It turns out that thinking of a line of women standing out the door ready to give him a blow job the second I left kinda put a dampener on it.”

“That would do it,” Quinn quips.

“I don’t know,” Twila chimes in. “Might be fun if those women join you?”

Juliette snorts. “I’m not into women, thanks.”

“So, do you still think Tate is with him?” I ask, mostly to keep the conversation away from me.

Juliette shrugs again. “Actually, I saw her last night. I think maybe I was wrong about her. Maybe she isn’t sleeping with him after all. He probably wants to, though. She’s beautiful and blonde.”

“So… Do you think you’ll sleep with him again?” I ask.

“No.” Juliette answers quickly. “Last night was a fond farewell. It felt like a goodbye.” She sighs. “I guess it was a goodbye. He’ll be leaving this place anyway soon. Once the third trial is over, I’ll never see him again.” I never thought Juliette and my life would share the same path, but here we are. It’s both ironic and sad.

Quinn slams her fist down on the table, making all of us jump. “We are going to get out of here. I’m not letting them win.”

“If by they, you mean Hades and George and Anthura, they’ve already won. You can’t beat them.” Twila looks over in my direction. “Look at Felix. He tried and Anthura dragged him off.”

I try to remain impassive as the talk turns to Felix. When Quinn turns to look at me, I swear she knows, or at least she suspects something. “Do you know what that was all about? Have you seen Felix recently?”

It’s like she can see right through me, but I can’t tell her the truth. She’s made it perfectly clear what she thinks of Felix. I can’t tell her that I slept with him again. It would destroy our friendship. For the first time ever, I lie to a friend. “No. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Just like Tomas, he’ll be gone next week, too.”

Quinn grimaces. “Why is everybody being so complacent? We have to find a way to get back in the games, or get past the hellbeast.” She looks at Twila pleadingly.

Twila shakes her head, her eyes filled with resignation. "Quinn, you don't understand. There's no way past that hellbeast. It's not just a guard dog - it's a creature straight out of nightmares. Even if you could somehow get by it, Hades and the others would hunt you down. They have eyes everywhere."

Quinn's jaw tightens with determination. "Then we find another way. There has to be something we haven't thought of yet. A secret passage, a hidden exit, anything."

Twila sighs. “I know you’ve been down there a lot. If there was a secret passage, you’d have found it by now.” Quinn goes quiet for a moment, her face lost in thought. Then, suddenly, her eyes light up, and she pulls out her Hell Cell. We all watch as she types something quickly, a triumphant smile creeping across her lips before she punches the air.

“Are you going to tell us what you’ve just done?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Nope.” Quinn grins at me. “But don’t feel defeated yet. I’m going to get us all out of this.”

She stands and is halfway out of her seat when all of our Hell Cells buzz. I pull mine out and read the message:

GEORGE: NOW THAT EVERYONE IS FIGHTING FIT AFTER THE LAST CHALLENGE, THE THIRD TRIAL WILL START NOW. MEET IN THE ATRIUM IN FIFTEEN MINUTES.

A heavy sense of dread settles in my chest. “Well, whatever plan you had, you’d better act fast. The trial starts in fifteen minutes.”

The color drains from Quinn’s face. “No, no, no. There isn’t enough time.”

It’s only then that I realize Quinn is the only one of us still in the games. The one person I believed might find a way to get us through, even if it was a long shot... and now, that last glimmer of hope is slipping away.

Quinn looks around at each of us, a storm of emotions brewing in her eyes. “I guess that’s it, then. If I get through, tomorrow I’ll be gone.”

My heart clenches painfully at the look on her face. She was our hope, and now it feels like everything is slipping away faster than we can grasp it. “Twila, do something!” I plead.

Twila looks distraught. “I’ll go speak to Hades. I’ll do what I can.” She runs off toward the atrium quickly, but I think we all know she won’t be successful in persuading Hades to let us all back in. She’s told us enough times.

“I’m sorry, Quinn,” I say, standing up and pulling her into a hug. Hear head rests on my shoulder as her body racks with silent sobs. Suddenly, there’s another pair of arms around us. “I never thought we’d be parted,” Juliette whispers as we pull together in a three-way hug.

Eventually, we have to part. George, Hades and Anthura are already waiting by the sofas.

“We were quite the team,” Quinn says, tears streaking her face. “I’ll miss you. Take care of that baby of yours.”

I hold her hand to my stomach. “I felt it kick this morning. I forgot to mention it.”

Her face breaks out into a sad smile. “So soon?”

“I guess time has no meaning in here. Come on. We’ll walk with you.”

Juliette takes one of Quinn’s hands as I take the other.

We make our way slowly to the sofas, savoring our last moments together. The enormity of what's about to happen weighs heavily on all of us. Quinn's hand trembles in mine as we approach the others. Hades regards us solemnly, his dark eyes filled with an emotion I can't quite place. Is it pity? Regret? It's hard to tell with him. Beside him, Twila gives us all a slight shake of her head. It was a long shot. Anthura stands beside them, her expression a smug grin. “That’s everyone. Quinn, take a seat on the sofa. The rest of you have no place here, but don’t worry—you can watch everything on the big screen.” She narrows her eyes, locking onto mine. “Wouldn’t want you to miss out on watching your friends suffer now, would we?” A wave of hatred crashes over me, seething through my veins like poison. She knows how much it will hurt me to see Quinn in pain… but then I realize she’s not talking about Quinn at all. My gaze shifts to where Felix sits on the sofa, staring at me as though he wants to say something. But the time for words has passed. Tomorrow he’ll be gone. I shouldn’t have left things the way I did.

“Now, now, Anthura, there’s no need for such words,” Hades interjects, though I don’t catch the rest of his sentence as Juliette pulls me away.

Juliette and I sit back in our booth, a heavy silence enveloping us as we watch the remaining contestants in the games receive their grim assignments. Each face is etched with fear, and as they stand to head toward the elevator doors, a wave of desperation washes over me. I want to leap up, to run after them, but my body is frozen in place, paralyzed by the weight of what’s happening.

“I slept with Felix again last night,” I finally admit, my voice barely above a whisper once they’ve all disappeared from sight. The confession feels like a boulder dropped into a deep, dark well; my heart sinks, heavy as stone. There’s no point in hiding it anymore. Quinn would have hated me for this. J Juliette will probably just roll her eyes and think I’m an idiot—which, deep down, I know I am.

Juliette turns to me, her grip tightening around my hand. “I guess I wasn’t the only one saying goodbye,” she says softly, her eyes filled with empathy. In that moment, I see the reflection of my own pain in her gaze, and it makes everything feel even more real. The weight of regret and longing crashes down on me.

“We should have tried,” I murmur, my voice cracking under the weight of what-ifs. “Quinn never gave up, and we just... did nothing.”

Juliette’s lips twitch into a sad, knowing smile. “Quinn was always stronger than us.”

I shake my head, the knot of regret tightening in my chest. “Do you think she would have gotten us all through?”

Juliette shrugs. “I don’t know. She certainly looked like she had a good idea, but then we got the text. I guess we’ll never know.”

Suddenly the lights flicker and the image on the giant screen that surrounds the canteen changes from floating cakes to Anthura smiling straight at the camera. I want to throw something at the screen but I have nothing to hand.

“Welcome to the third trial of the Inferno Games.”

Her voice booms out throughout the whole building and grates through me.

“As usual, the trial will take place in the Earthery. Just like the last two trials, the images you see are what the contestants will see. Only to them, everything they encounter will look, smell, and feel very real. Now George, can you tell us a little about this trial? What can the remaining contestants expect?”

It’s funny. I’ve never seen the games from this side before. I knew we were being watched, but it never really hit home what everyone was seeing before now. I glance to the side to see the canteen filling up with people. In the last circle, we were celebrities. Down here, the emaciated population never seemed to care about the Inferno Games, but now I see I was wrong in that assumption. They just weren’t as forthcoming as the residents of Purgatory and Lust. Now they are coming in droves to watch the final Trial.

The camera pans to George who’s almost shuddering in excitement. His belly wobbles as he talks. “The idea for this trial was actually inspired by Hades.”

The screen quickly cuts to a shot of Hades, his expression stoic.

“It’s a labyrinth of sorts,” George announces, his voice bubbling with excitement when the scene returns to him.

“So what makes your labyrinth different from Hades’ famous labyrinth?” Anthura inquires, her tone laced with excitement.

“In Gluttony, we feel hunger, but we cannot perish from it,” George explains, a strange gleam lighting up his eyes.

“I doubt the bastard has ever felt hunger a day in his existence,” Juliette hisses beside me, her contempt palpable.

“We can wither to bones and skin,” George continues, “but it cannot truly kill us unless…” He presses his fingers together and giggles, his jowly chin wobbling comically. “Unless they are in the Labyrinth.”

“Are you saying that people can starve to death in there?”

“They can and they will. Within the walls of the labyrinth, there is food. Some will be easy to find; others will be much more elusive. But here’s the catch: there’s only enough for about two or three of the contestants to survive more than a few days. As the days drag on, people will begin to wither and eventually die of starvation.”

“Days?” Anthura presses.

“Yes. This trial will only end when there are five people left alive. Those five will advance to the next circle.”

“Wow,” Anthura exclaims directly to the camera, her delight unmistakable. “So it’s either get through or die.”

“That’s about it,” George affirms, a grin spreading across his face, though it sends a chill through me.

“I’m excited, and I know those of you watching this on the big screen and on your portals are excited too. But before we go live into the Earthery, let’s have a recap of our contestants.”

A photo of Tate flashes up on the screen. She really was quite extraordinarily beautiful. I barely knew her thanks to Juliette’s unreasonable hatred of her, but I think we’d have been friends in another life. We both suffered similar fates that brought us here in the first place. I wait for words of derision from Juliette as Anthura reads out a short bio about Tate, but it never comes. I glance over at her. She just looks sad.

The next picture to flash up is Tomas. I grip Juliette’s hand as her ex husband stares down at her unknowingly from the big screen. Her grip on me tightens as Tomas is replaced with Felix. I’ll never get over how I ended things with him. I had good reason, but I could have been better.

His bio is the longest one yet, but I learn nothing new from it. His list of earthly accomplishments never interested me.

When Quinn’s face flashes up, there’s an almighty bellow from behind us. Juliette and I crane our heads back to see a flash of black wings rushing through the crowd now filling the atrium.

Juliette gives me a panicked look. “Shit! I forgot about Dade.”

She’s up and out of her seat before I can say anything. I stand and watch as she pushes her way through the crowd. Dade is an impressive character, especially with his wings outstretched as they are now, but he doesn’t look like he’s going to get past the two demons with pitchforks guarding the elevator doors. Juliette rushes up to him, and though I can’t hear what they are saying from so far away, I get the impression she’s trying to calm him down. His wings falter as she points over to where I’m sitting. I give a half hearted wave. At least Juliette and I were able to say goodbye. Dade wasn’t offered that chance.

Dade's wings fold behind his back as he follows Juliette through the crowd. His face is a mask of barely contained grief and anger.

"I'm so sorry, Dade," I say softly when they reach me. "It all happened so fast."

He nods curtly, not trusting himself to speak. Juliette puts a comforting hand on his arm.

"Let's sit," she suggests gently, guiding him into a chair. "The next trial will begin soon."

“I was asleep’” he explains. “The damned poison is still affecting me. Why didn’t she come to me?”

“There was no time. She had an idea to get us all into the trial, or at least out of here, but then she had to go. I’m sorry.”

His face blazes with anger and grief that echoes in my own soul. I’ve never spent much time with Dade, but being this close to him I can practically feel the dark emotion roll off him. I’m glad I’m on his side, that’s all I can say. I wouldn’t like to be opposing him, and I get the feeling that if Juliette hadn’t guided him away from the demons, he would have put himself in jeopardy. The three of us can only watch as the final picture – Orlin’s – fades and finally we see the inside of the labyrinth.

Memories of Hades’ Labyrinth come back to me with its poisonous bushes creating the walls, but this is very different. The walls are all made of stone.

The ten contestants are all standing huddled at the very start.

My eyes seek out Felix, but it’s Quinn they come to rest on. She looks so determined. I guess she has something that the other contestants don’t. She has Jenny spurring her on.

George’s voice once again comes over the tannoy, but this time it’s clear the contestants in the Earthery hear it too.

“Welcome to my labyrinth. The objective of the labyrinth is to find the centre. When you do, you’ll find a button to press. If you are in the first five people to press the button, you are through to the next circle – Avarice. The rest of you will head back to Gluttony.”

I look at Juliette who appears as confused as I feel. That’s not what was said earlier. The image cuts back to Anthura, stranding smugly outside the Earthery.

“Of course, only we know that there is no centre of the labyrinth.” She winks at the camera. “And no one is getting out of there alive if they don’t find enough food.”

My blood boils at the duplicity of it all.

“That’s not fair!” Juliette screams out, but her voice is deafened by the rest of the crowd cheering. It’s then that it dawns on me that this is what I’ll have to look forward to, losing my soul as I spend centuries here with only the thrill of watching people being tortured by the Inferno Games, every time it passes through.