The Games were still, but tension brewed like a storm offshore.
Jayden sat alone beneath a glass canopy at dawn. The jungle of Caer Nyx slept, but his mind didn't. Not after last night—not after Samantha.
A name no one knew. A girl no one had seen before.
And yet, when she appeared, every camera adjusted to her presence.
Jayden (thinking): That scent… like burnt vanilla and danger.
---
Samantha had appeared in the servant's quarters, pretending to clean the marble hall of heirs. Slim waist, hourglass figure, her eyes a rare honey-brown—uncommon, even among royalty. She moved like she didn't belong… but owned everything.
Ochieng, watching remotely, turned to Tielen.
Ochieng: "Find her background. I want to know who placed a ghost in a palace."
---
Aurora Quinn wasn't one to get jealous.
She'd seduced billionaires, ruined marriages, and orchestrated company collapses with a single smile. But when she saw Jayden kiss Samantha—the way he paused, the way his hands trembled—she snapped a lipstick in two.
Aurora (to herself): "Who is this temptress? What spell does she wear?"
Behind her, Leo Santorini poured himself a drink.
Leo: "Careful, Quinn. You're starting to feel. That's how people lose this game."
---
Sahar El-Masri, the Egyptian tech prodigy, hacked into the Obsidian Database. Everyone had a record. Even ghosts.
Except Samantha.
All that appeared on the screen was:
NAME: Redacted
AGE: Unknown
NATIONALITY: Unknown
BLOODLINE: Forbidden
CLEARANCE LEVEL: 11 (Higher than all contestants)
Sahar (shocked): "What the hell... Who's above Level 10?!"
Her fingers trembled.
She tried to trace the server.
It bounced—Geneva to Kyoto to Nairobi to a submarine somewhere in Arctic waters.
---
In a secret balcony above the jungle, Samantha watched the heirs train in archery.
She wore a tight black dress that shimmered when moonlight kissed it. A tattoo of an obsidian snake coiled along her back.
To herself, she whispered:
Samantha: "They think this is a game of wealth. But wealth is paper. Power is shadow. I came not to play… I came to destroy legacies."
She turned slowly toward the camera, eyes locking directly into it.
Samantha: "Ochieng. I'm not here for Jayden. I'm here for you."
---
Ochieng stared at the screen. For the first time in years, his pupils contracted sharply.
Tielen: "Should I eliminate her?"
Ochieng (low tone): "No. She was my fiancée. Fifteen years ago."
Tielen froze.
Tielen: "But… she died."
Ochieng: "So did my trust. Yet here she stands. Wearing the perfume I gave her the night she vanished."
---
Jayden found Samantha under the obsidian archway, where heirs weren't allowed.
Jayden: "Tell me who you really are."
She stepped close. Too close.
Samantha: "I'm what your father feared. I'm what your mother denied. And I'm the reason Ochieng became a devil."
She leaned in, kissed him again—and whispered—
Samantha: "Run."
An explosion boomed in the east wing.
Fire. Screams. Betrayal had just begun.
---