“What on earth…?” I whispered, crouching next to the body. “And you have a new teammate now?”

“Yeah,” Lumen sighed. “Some strange girl with a mask. Seems pretty eager to play. How’d you do against your sister?”

“Tie. What did you expect? We have the same wings.”

“Mhm. Oh, hey, this is her! Music, meet…” He gestured wildly towards the door, and I turned to take a look at Sky’s opponent.

The mask was over her eyes, which was strange. Her hair was brown, streaked through with red and white, and though she smiled, it wasn’t very reassuring.

“Rhian Stathis,” she said, voice laced with a perfectly false sadness. “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

“Awful is putting it lightly. He’s had his head bashed in,” I mumbled. “Rhian Stathis, is it? You seem familiar…”

“I can assure you that we’ve never met before.”

I knew that much. But even so…

“Since when was Raina Storm participating?” Fala frowned, glaring at the screen.

“What?”

“That girl! Oh hell, Liv, tell Sky to move, now!”

Raina Storm.

And that was when it fell into place.

She’d beaten Livana’s team two Games ago, but in the second attempt that they took, failed to reach higher than fifth overall.

And she didn’t seem to like that.

Had she murdered… no, surely not… but all three of my teammates claimed that she was a cheater. Cheating in Royal Games. A criminal offence (not that Fala was totally innocent). Surely murder wasn’t too far of a stretch?

“LOOK OUT!” Fala shrieked at the screen, seemingly forgetting in her panic that Sky couldn’t hear her through it.

But it was too late anyway.