Groom Wars

49. The Predator and His Prey

Cadmus glanced at Steven, who hurried to complete the paper maze, making many mistakes. His hand exposed to the elements was red and cracked as he held the pencil. Cadmus' hand was equally pink, and the biting wind stung the tiny cracks in his skin. He stared at the great body of the maze in front of them.

Somewhere within was Adriel, a faint blush on his cheeks, a hood covering his head, and a black muffler covering his slender neck. Cadmus remembered what Leandro had told him in the morning, "It will happen soon. We have lost a lot of members. And I can feel Lord Columbia's plot unfolding; he has won many of our prior supporters, and we are vulnerable whether we want to admit it or not. I know this is a lot to ask but lose this match and take Adriel home to his family.

"Look after him; I know you care about him, so lose this challenge and the elimination round accompanying it. Something doesn't feel right. You feel it too, don't you? Something big is coming. They have had plenty of chances to send us home, so why haven't they? I think they are toying with us, lulling us into a fall sense of security before they strike."

As if sensing Cadmus' turmoil, Steven took a break from his maze, looked at Cadmus, and said, "Do what you think is best. Leave or stay—the choice is yours, but if you decide to stay, phase one is coming to an end, and I think Lord Columbia would prefer to stage his attack here before we're transferred to the castle with its heightened security." Steven crossed out his maze, cursed, then glanced at Cadmus and said, "Let me see yours."

Cadmus handed over his completed copy.

Steven said, "Ah, that's where I went wrong," as if the scribbles, circles, and crosses on his map indicated that he had only gotten the route wrong once.

As he liked to watch people, Cadmus knew that Lord Columbia had been having private talks with the production staff members and ex-Dryads.

He also knew that Lord Columbia visited the gym at the same time every day. Just after noon, when Adriel liked to work out, Colombia liked to watch the boy train in his loose-footing clothes. He leaned forward when Adriel's shirt shifted and exposed more of his chest or whenever the boy fanned his abs.

Lord Columbia had also assigned two players to follow Cadmus, Steven, Mike, Leandro, and Luke around wherever they went. Not Adriel, Columbia followed Adriel himself, which only increased Leandro's worries.

Cadmus felt that Lord Columbia's antagonism of Leandro came more from the need to dominate something that wasn't in his possession. So, Cadmus was sure Lord Columbia would go after Adriel; the question was not so much how as when. Cadmus' fingers brushed the plastic cover of the virtual reality headset, and he put it on, locking the strap behind his head. It covered all sides of his eyes and sat on the bridge of his nose. Once Cadmus adjusted the straps, the external light faded, and he could only see was the LED display within. It was dull but he saw the world through Adriel's eyes.

Adriel faced a slate wall, stooped, and drew shapes in the snow with his finger.

Cadmus couldn't bring himself to say, 'Let's go home.' He knew Adriel would think it was because Cadmus lacked faith in him and looked down on him like everyone else, which couldn't be farther from the truth. Cadmus trusted Adriel in certain events. He knew the boy's weaknesses and strengths and knew that Adriel could go farther if he had the opportunity.

One could be naïve and trust the security guards to keep them safe, or one could accept that money corrupts, and Lord Columbia had a lot of it.

At first, Cadmus, too, had been blind like Adriel, but as Dryad members left for other alliances, including Les Braves Hommes, Cadmus started to visit shared spaces more, watching the people gathered and listening. Then he noticed he saw the same two people near him every day. People that pretended to talk and play cards.

Later he noticed Lord Columbia accidentally bump into Adriel twice a week, but it wasn't an accident as Adriel was a creature of habit, so Lord Columbia went out, knowing Adriel's schedule, knowing he would see Adriel by the pool or jogging, and when Lord Columbia saw Adriel, he soothed him with sweet words, flirted with him.

Cadmus didn't like being surrounded by so many people he couldn't trust. And yet, every day, there they were. Cadmus turned on the comms unit in his ear, and Adriel's soft voice came out of the speakers. Adriel said, "Are you there, Romeo?"

Cadmus smiled, said, "Yes," and began to lead Adriel down the wrong path.

A few hours later, ex-members of the Dryads, new members of Les Braves Hommes, Zeke and Hunter were crowned winners. Bummed but oblivious to the betrayal that had unfolded that day, Adriel told Cadmus, "It's alright, we'll take the next one." Adriel hugged Cadmus, and Leandro watched them from a few feet away, his jaw clenched as he restrained himself from prying Cadmus and Adriel apart. Not wanting to get in between the two, Cadmus patted the boy's back, and Adriel released him with a mischievous grin.

Adriel walked around Cadmus, and Cadmus felt more than saw Adriel duck behind him to hide from the bitter wind. Adriel muttered, "I have found a good pillar. Now I need one on this side too..."

Cadmus smiled; he had grown to like the boy. However, his decision to withdraw from the fight with Columbia had less to do with Adriel and more to do with the fact that he wasn't ready to lose his life for a woman he had never met and didn't love.

Cadmus glanced at Leandro, examining the boy's wind-bruised face, chapped lips, and fair hair which Adriel had reluctantly put into fine braids and tied back from Leandro's face while they waited for others to complete the maze. Sensing Cadmus watching him, Leandro's pupils shifted to him, his jaw tensed. He nodded, but it lacked any trace of friendliness. This was Leandro's fight; he and Steven wanted to marry the princess, whoever she was. They wanted to raise their status.

All Cadmus wanted was to animate stories for children, and he didn't need this show to do so. It was time for him to go. He had other means of earning money.

When they returned to the mansion, Cadmus asked his housemates, friends, and foes to vote him into the elimination round. It wasn't in his nature to quit, but he didn't mind losing to a worthy opponent.

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