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The interview
Huling Na-update:
2025-04-02 23:34:38
Kaugnay na kabanata
The Mate Games Blunt truth
ALTHEAI hurry back to my room, my breath uneven. My hands clutch at the torn fabric of my dress, fingers trembling as I try to smooth the jagged edges. It’s no use. The rip is too big, running straight down the side, exposing way more skin than I’m willing to show on live broadcast.Panic squeezes my chest. I’m supposed to be on stage in minutes, answering questions, pretending I actually want to be here. And now, I look like a disaster.I swallow hard, trying to force back the tears burning behind my eyes.Not now. Not over this.I squeeze my eyes shut and take a slow breath, but then—“Elena! Be careful, or you’ll—”The door bursts open.Elena stumbles in, nearly dropping a sewing kit, her dark curls bouncing with the movement. Mira follows behind her, arms crossed, a knowing look on her face.Elena’s eyes widen when she sees me. “Althea, we saw what happened?”“It’s ruined,” I say, defeated. “And I don’t have time to fix it.”Mira hums, unimpressed. “Well, good thing we came prepa
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-04The Mate Games At breakfast
ALTHEAI enter the breakfast hall the next morning and immediately feel the change in the air. The moment I step in, I notice the strange looks the other girls throw my way. Some are quick glances, others are longer stares, full of something I can’t quite understand. It’s not anger exactly—but it’s not friendly either.I walk slowly, feeling every step like I’m being watched, judged. My stomach twists a little. Did something happen? Did I do something wrong?Just as I start to panic, I see Elise. She’s already seated at the long table. Her eyes meet mine, and she gives me a small smile. Then she pats the empty seat beside her.Relief rushes through me, and I quickly walk over and sit next to her. “Thanks,” I whisper, giving her a grateful smile.“Of course,” she says with a shrug. “I figured you might need a friendly face today.”I look around. Most of the girls have gone back to their food, but I can still feel some eyes on me. I try to ignore it.As we start eating, Elise leans clos
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-05The Mate Games A proposal
ALTHEADays pass slowly after lady Ivanna’s announcement.Each morning, one of the girls gets called away by a guard with a message from Prince Asher. Every single time, she returns with stars in her eyes and a story to share.Elise was the first. “He took me to a movie,” she said, practically glowing. “An actual theater. There was popcorn and everything.”Then Isobelle, a quiet dark-haired girl, came back from a garden walk. Her lips said little, but the blush on her cheeks told everything.Caroline had a picnic by the lake. “He brought my favorite dessert,” she gushed. “How did he know?”They all returned changed. Lighter. Giddy.And I—well, I barely sleep the night before my turn.Not from excitement.From dread.Whatever Asher has planned for me, it won’t be sweet. It won’t be charming. No, I know exactly what kind of game he’s playing. And I refuse to fall for it.After breakfast, Mira and Elena come to my room, full of excitement and nerves on my behalf. Mira brushes out my hair
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-06The Mate Games The ball
ALTHEA The excitement in the air is almost suffocating. Girls are twirling, giggling, whispering about the ball. A masquerade. Lady Ivanna made the announcement just after breakfast, and since then, the palace has been buzzing like a hive of bees. Everyone’s talking about dresses, masks, and which royal they hope to dance with. But I don’t share their excitement. This ball, this celebration… it’s going to come with a feast. Tables full of food we could never finish. Dozens of dishes made to impress, to dazzle. Meanwhile, commoners barely have scraps to feed their children. It makes my stomach twist. “Elena, Mira,” I say, staring at the emerald green dress they’re holding up, “I told you to keep it simple.” Mira waves a dismissive hand. “You did. We just chose to ignore you.” Elena giggles. “It would’ve been a crime to put you in anything boring.” The dress is far from simple. It has a fitted corset, silk sleeves that drape off my shoulders, and tiny silver beads that sh
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-07The Mate Games Behind closed doors
ALTHEA“Go to the back of the room, ladies!” the head guard yells, his voice loud and firm. His name tag says Mark and he runs quickly toward a window.That’s when everything changes. A wave of guards rushes into the hall, their boots heavy on the floor, weapons drawn. I see more of them lining up just outside the room, and then the large doors slam shut. There’s the sound of metal scraping as the guards bolt the doors and slide thick bars across them.Everything happens so fast.Most of the other girls are confused. Some gasp. Some look around in fear. I move with them to the back of the room, just like Mark ordered. My heart is pounding.“They’re inside the halls, Your Majesty, but we’re holding them back,” Mark says. His voice is grave and tense.My stomach drops. My heart feels like it’s about to stop.No one here knows who I really am.What I really am.And if they find out—if anyone finds out—I’ll be dead before I can explain.I don’t know how I didn’t expect this. It should’ve
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-08The Mate Games What do you think you’re doing?
ALTHEAIt’s been a few days since the attack.The memory of it is still sharp—screams, the rush of feet, the cold fear sitting heavy in my chest—but the panic has faded. Mostly. Enough for us to act normal again. Or pretend to.The king didn’t even take it seriously. He called it “an unfortunate but minor disturbance.” His words exactly. He didn’t assign extra guards. No announcements. Not even a stern warning. Just brushed it aside like it was a spilled drink. Something that didn’t deserve attention.At the time, we were terrified. Some girls cried through the night. I sat up in bed, clutching the sheets, my ears tuned to every little sound. But now… now we’re calm again. Or maybe we’re just tired of being scared.To ease our families’ worries, Lady Ivanna asked all of us to write letters home. “Assure them you are safe and well,” she said with her usual calm voice. I did as asked. I told my family I was fine. That the attack wasn’t as serious as it sounded. That everything was under
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-10The Mate Games A kick to the thigh
ALTHEAI walk out of Asher’s room, my thoughts spinning too fast for me to catch a single one. My heart still beats too hard in my chest, like it’s trying to remind me of what just happened. What I just saw.The scars.They were everywhere. Slashes across his back. Faded burns along his side. I want to scream, How? How did I not notice them that night?Was I that caught up in the heat, the rush, the chaos of it all? Did I not care enough to look? No… I didn’t care. Especially not that night.My hands are shaking. I press them to my sides and walk faster. I don’t want to think anymore. I don’t want to see his face again in my mind—eyes wide with pain, chest heaving, broken whispers I didn’t understand.Back in my room, I sit on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing. The room is quiet, but my mind is anything but.I lay down eventually. My body’s tired, but my brain won’t shut up.I close my eyes tightly. I don’t want to think about scars. Or dreams. Or Asher. Especially not Asher.**
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-12The Mate Games An eviction
ALTHEA“Fuck,” Asher mutters, bending forward and clutching himself like I just punched him in the thigh.Which, well… I did.Hard.I take a step back, my chest rising and falling as my breath comes too fast. My hands are still clenched in front of me, and my face is burning with embarrassment and anger and confusion.“What was that for?” he groans, glaring at me.“You were about to kiss me,” I cry out, my voice louder than I mean for it to be.“What?” His voice is sharp, confused.“I said, you—”“No, no, you crazy girl, I heard you the first time.” He straightens up slowly, but he’s still bent at an awkward angle. His eyes narrow. “But why would you think that? I just wanted to tuck a strand of hair that had come loose back into place.”I freeze. The heat in my face spreads like wildfire.Oh goddess. I misunderstood.I want the ground to open up and swallow me whole. I feel like the world is laughing at me and I’m the only one who doesn’t get the joke.“I—” I start, but the words cat
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-13
Pinakabagong kabanata
The Mate Games I’ve never been more afraid
ASHERAlthea is too stubborn to give up, and that’s probably going to be the very thing that undoes her.Even with all the cameras placed around the forest, giving us full access to every moment, my eyes keep going back to her. I don’t care how it looks. I try to act neutral, like I’m just another official watching the games. But I’m not. Not when it comes to her.From the start, there’s been this tight feeling in my chest. Like I’m waiting for something bad to happen. And every time she stumbles or cries out, that feeling gets worse. I sit there, frozen, trying not to let it show on my face. Trying not to feel anything. I’m supposed to be strong. I’m supposed to be cold. The future king, as my father keeps reminding me.But when she fights? Gods, when she fights—it’s like I forget to breathe.She doesn’t attack like the others. She’s not cruel or careless. She watches. She waits. She plans. She moves like she knows she’s losing blood but still refuses to stop. I watch her steal bands
The Mate Games If you die, I’m going to kill you
ALTHEAEvery part of me is breaking.It’s been hours since I last saw Caroline. I thought getting her bands would give me some kind of advantage. And it did. For a while. But the pain hasn’t gone away. My wounds are worse. The blood keeps leaking through the bandages, and I’m running out of clean cloth.Still, I keep going. I hide during the day and move at night, tracking other girls. Most of them are too injured to fight back. One of them, Lena, I found sleeping against a tree. She was pale and shivering, her face scratched, her arm twisted wrong. I took her bands gently. She never even woke up.The second one, Marcy, saw me coming. She tried to run, but she was limping. Her ankle was swollen. I didn’t want to fight her. I told her to just give me the bands, and she laughed like I was joking. So I tackled her. It was fast and ugly. She screamed when I grabbed her wrist, but I yanked the bands off and stumbled away before she could chase me.The third was the hardest. Her name was No
The Mate Games A stream
ALTHEAEvery part of me burns.Burns with pain, thirst, and hunger. My skin is sticky with sweat and grime. My shirt clings to my back like glue. My legs feel like they’re moving through thick mud.If I can just find some water, I can wash off the blood, clean the dirt from my wounds, and maybe—just maybe—think straight again.I hope so.My eyes are barely staying open. Every step feels heavier than the last. I keep walking, dragging my feet across the uneven forest floor, branches scratching at my arms.Then I see it.A soft, orange glow. Flickering between the trees ahead.I blink hard, trying to make sense of it. It’s blurry, like everything else right now. Is it real, or am I imagining it?My hand tightens on my bow, though my grip is shaky. My fingers are slippery with sweat, and I’m not sure I even have the strength to pull the string back if I needed to shoot.Still, I move toward it. Step by slow step.The fire is small. Flickering quietly in the middle of a small clearing. Th
The Mate Games The bands
ALTHEAI nearly swallow a mouthful of sand. My eyes flutter open and I cough into the hard ground beneath me. I roll onto my back, crunching on moss, twigs, and rocks as I blink against the sunlight streaming through looming, tall trees.Goddess, where am I?The chirpings of birds had awoken me from the sleep I finally managed to drift into when I was finally able to settle in bed.Trees crowd the vibrant blue sky above, most of them tall, ominous pines that extend fingers of foliage high into the clouds.I’m in the bloody forest.I stand to my feet, feeling dizzy, drained, and drugged. An odd pressure at my right forearm has me looking down to see a bow and arrow strapped around it, the ends fused together tightly. It would be cutting off blood circulation completely if it were any tighter, leaving my arm utterly useless. The sun beats down on me as I spin slowly in place, scanning my surroundings. There is nothing and no one but trees, rocks, and uneven forest ground beneath me, cag
The Mate Games A clandestine affair
ALTHEAThe walk back to the palace is quiet.Not the awkward kind of quiet. It’s something else. Heavy, but not uncomfortable. Like we’ve said everything that needed to be said, and now we’re both just… thinking. Processing.We don’t speak at all. Not even when the gates come into view or when we make our way through the secret passageways. Not until we’re safely in his room.As I make to leave through the door, Asher pauses with his hand on the handle. His eyes sweep over me, lingering a little too long, like he’s memorizing something.Then, with a nod, he says, “Good luck tomorrow, Gray.”I roll my eyes, but the smile breaks through anyway. “Well, with the selection of girls you have to pick from, you might need it more.”He laughs. The sound is low and warm, and it sneaks down my spine like it has no right to. Then, slowly, he closes the door behind him.And I’m alone again.Without him to distract me, the noise in my head comes rushing back. It’s hot and angry, but I barely acknow
The Mate Games Falling
ASHERWhat has this girl done to me?The moment her hands touched me, something shifted. My pulse jumped—fast and hard—like I’d just been thrown into a fight. But this isn’t adrenaline. It’s something worse. Something deeper.Something I don’t know how to fight off.Being near her, under this moonlit sky, with her hands on me, her voice soft and her eyes calm… it makes everything feel lighter. Like the weight on my chest has finally loosened. Like I can breathe for the first time in weeks.But the second she says the word mother, it’s like the world slams back into place. The spell shatters. My body locks up, rigid. I take a step back, then another. I don’t look at her—I look at the sky, at the stars that don’t care what I am or what I’ve done.The silence between us stretches. Tight. Loud.Then she says it—softly. Like my name is something fragile. “Asher.”I close my eyes. Her voice does something to me. She says my name like it matters. Like I matter.I don’t deserve that.“Are you
The Mate Games In the cover of the night
ALTHEAThere’s a stone in my shoe. The same one that’s been there for the past ten minutes, but my legs are too busy running for me to be able to stop to do anything about it. We finally stop running once we’re a safe distance from the bar and seem to have lost our pursuers. We collapse against a tree and Asher finally lets go of my hand. My body protests against the loss of contact, and I wrap my arms around my body to keep my hands occupied. I look at Asher, finding his eyes already trained on me so intently that I swallow before asking. “So what now?”His expression is blank. “The palace.”“Well, that was…” I sputter trying to find the right word.“Stupid?”“Fascinating.” I finish instead.He heaves a sigh before muttering, “You’re always making things difficult for me, aren’t you?”I don’t answer, as I finally pull off my shoe and shake off the offending stone. I can feel Asher’s eyes on me as I slip my shoe back on. When he sees I have no intention of giving him a response, he
The Mate Games Bar fight
ASHERA fist skims past my face, barely brushing my cheek. I duck just in time, feeling the air stir against my skin as another swing comes for me. My muscles move before I think. Quick. Sharp. I step sideways, dodging the blow with ease.I can’t help the smirk tugging at my lips. Finally—an opponent who’s not a complete joke.Bouncing lightly on my feet, I watch him throw another punch. Sloppy. Too much power, not enough control. My blood thrums under my skin, the familiar rush of adrenaline flooding through me. This is what I live for. Not the politics. Not the endless, fake smiles. This.I catch his wrist mid-air, twisting it. He grunts in pain. Before he can recover, I slam my fist into his stomach. Hard.He stumbles back, gasping, but I don’t give him time to breathe. I move fast, colliding into him with my shoulder. We crash to the ground, a heavy thud echoing through the open pit.The crowd roars around us, but I barely hear them. My knee presses into his ribs as I pin him down
The Mate Games A secret passageway
ALTHEAThere are eight of us left now.Only eight.And still, I feel like I’m unraveling.I sit on the edge of my bed, fingers tangled in the thick blanket, staring at nothing. Before we were dismissed to our rooms, I and the other girls had been in the grand hall, whispering about who made it and who didn’t. Now alone, I’m somewhere else.Back in the maze.Back in front of that mirror, where my father looked up at me with eyes that weren’t his—cold, sharp, disappointed. You betrayed us. The words echo, even though he never said them aloud. Even though it was just an illusion.But it didn’t feel like a lie.What if he’s right?What if I have betrayed them—my family, my people, myself?By being here?By surviving?By letting the king turn me into one of his toys?I tell myself I don’t want the crown. I don’t want power. That I’m here to survive. To find out the truth. To stay alive long enough to make something right.But the mirror didn’t lie. It showed me things I never wanted to adm
