The Wolf's Game
The other contestants eat in uneasy silence, every bite hesitant.
Silen sits across from me, tearing bread into pieces and feeding crumbs to a pair of doves perched on the window ledge. “You know,” he says, “I almost prefer the chaos. At least when things are trying to kill us, we know where we stand.”
“Maybe this is worse,” I admit. “Waiting for the next Game to start.”
He nods. “Hope is the cruelest trick the castle plays.”
Bubbles hops onto the table, sniffing at a cluster of grapes. The others eye her warily, even Elyra, who pretends she’s not watching. The rabbit stretches, yawns, then settles in front of me like a tiny guard dog.