Chapter 634: Why (1)

Grey stayed quiet for long enough that Amunet eventually shifted against him, her bare chest sliding across the fabric of his shirt while her thighs tightened around his waist to keep herself from slipping.

He barely noticed. His hands had settled against the backs of her thighs, fingers sunk into the soft skin just beneath the curve of her ass, but his thoughts had already drifted somewhere far away from the room.

The time travel part didn’t bother him much. If Prometheus had stolen a piece of Kronos, then throwing one girl a few thousand years into the future was exactly the sort of thing that power would be good for, and the angel lady had already told him enough for the pieces to line up. What bothered him was everything surrounding it.

’Her dad found out Earth was getting dragged into the Games, so he sent her ahead to get everyone ready. Fine. But if he did this because he caught wind that the council or whatever the fuck they are wanted to send us into the Games, why wouldn’t the council want us to be prepared?’

Amunet pulled back far enough to glare at him, her dark-gold hair spilling over one shoulder and curling against the swell of her breast. Grey’s eyes dropped for exactly one second before he dragged them back up, and she caught it anyway, her lips pressing into a thin line that promised violence at a more convenient time.

"Can you fucking say something?" she hissed. "I’m standing here with my tits out and you’re staring into space like you forgot how to read."

"I’m thinking."

"Think faster."

Grey snorted and shifted his grip, pulling her hips a little closer, partly for the benefit of whatever was watching and partly because he bet that that would get her to shut up.

Amunet stiffened as her body settled more firmly against his, the thin fabric of her panties pressing flush against the front of his pants, and a small breath slipped out of her before she could swallow it back down.

"The Council forcing Earth into the Games doesn’t make sense," Grey murmured against her ear. "Sure, it kills a ton of people, but it also gives whoever survives a chance to get stronger. I’m sure I would have made something of myself back on Earth, but there’s no shot I’d be anywhere near capable of doing what I can do now."

Amunet’s fingers curled against his shoulders. "And?"

"And if they wanted us weak, dragging us into the Games is a dumb way to do it. If they wanted us dead, why bother at all?" Grey’s fingers traced a slow line along the inside of her thigh, playing with the line of fabric the separated her groin from what lay underneath. "Sending us into the Games just adds restrictions to them. Why not just blow up the planet?"

Amunet’s breathing hitched when his fingers climbed higher, and she pressed her forehead against his temple to hide whatever face she was making. Her hips rolled once, a small involuntary motion that dragged her against him, and Grey’s train of thought derailed so hard he needed a moment to find the tracks again.

"You’re doing that on purpose, you pervert." she complained

"I’m maintaining our cover. You said we had to keep moving." Grey said innocently.

"I said move, not grope me like a teenager in heat—" Amunet cut herself off with a sharp exhale when his other hand slid up the length of her spine, fingertips skimming each ridge until they reached the nape of her neck. But what really got her was the fact he was holding up her lower half with just a hand now, and for balance purposes, his palm was somewhere she didn’t want to speak aloud. "Just keep going. Talking. Keep talking."

Grey grinned into her hair, enjoying its scent as he pulled her neck closer to him. Though the expression faded as he picked his thoughts back up.

"Before the Games, Earth wasn’t under any of the system’s rules, so they could’ve done whatever they wanted and nobody would’ve said a word." He paused, letting the idea settle. "Linking Earth to the Games tied their own hands."

Amunet lifted her head slowly.

"So they need something from Earth," Grey finished. "From Earth specifically, and from inside the Games. Otherwise none of this is worth the headache. Or maybe only by linking Earth to the games could they trigger what they needed to happen back home."

For a moment she only looked at him, and Grey found himself looking right back. Up close, with the curtains dimming the room to a warm amber haze, she was almost unfairly beautiful, her skin a smooth golden brown that caught what little light slipped past the fabric, her cheekbones high and sharp beneath eyes the color of glistening honey. Her lashes were long enough to cast faint shadows when she blinked, and her lips, swollen in rouge, parted just the slightest bit as she searched his face.

Her chest rose and fell against his, full and soft, her nipples dragging across his shirt with every breath. Grey was honestly proud of himself for paying as much attention to her words as he was now with all this happening.

"I don’t know what they want," she admitted. "My father didn’t either. If he did, he never told me."

Grey frowned. "Your dad threw his daughter three thousand years into the future without knowing why?"

"He didn’t care why."

Amunet’s voice had changed again, carrying the same hard edge it always did when she spoke about the man. She loosened one hand from his shoulder and let it rest against his chest, her palm flat over his heart, as though she needed something solid to hold onto while she spoke.

"My father built our kingdom into the greatest it had ever been by looking at risk differently than everyone else," she whispered. "The way he sees... saw the world was just different. He looked at everything like it could be balanced on a scale. You could never just take without giving something in return.

"He was likely gambling that since they were going so far, they had to be over extending themselves somewhere, and that would be our opportunity to strike by taking advantage. Toward that end, he was more than willing to sacrifice a few pawns."