Page 81 of Steel Heart Iron Claws

The sparks, however, sputter. Plates clatter listlessly. A fork moves an inch.

Samaur laughs. “Is that all you’ve got, sister?”

Frustrated, Iyre scowls down at her palms.

Woudix murmurs, “You require a renewal of your power. You shouldn’t have missed yesterday’s offering ceremony in the Garden of Ten Gods. When was the last time you went through your offerings? Or took a sacrifice from an acolyte?”

She snaps her fingers sharply at Paz. “Paz. Get over here.”

Paz, lounging to the side with Arden and Samaur’s twin acolytes, wags a teasing finger. “I adore you, Lady Iyre, but I think you’ll have to accept this loss.”

The other humans chuckle, winking at one another, satisfied to see their gods imperfect for once.

Iyre purses her lips in barely contained humiliation.

“Paz is right, Iyre,” Vale rasps. “Go find yourself a renewal source. Today, you’ve lost. The game is over.”

Paz exclaims, “Wait, wait! Not all the competitors have shown us their talents yet!”

Iyre shoots him a cold look. “What are you talking about?”

“The fae played. Now, let a human.” Mischievous mirth twinkles in his eyes. With one hand holding a sloshing bottle of wine, he points the other at me.

As all eyes turn to me, the blood drains out of my face.

I blurt out, “Me?”

It’s such a silly idea that I could laugh.

Idolaugh, then, and it rolls from a chuckle into a full-on fit as I double over in giggles. Oh. Great—I’ve hadwaytoo much wine. I feel my tipsy thoughts slide into unstable territory. It’s preposterous, really. Not the competition. The fact that I’m here at all. That people are calling me “Highness” when months ago, I was shoveling goat manure. That my father is King of Fae. That half the gods are awake and prancing their pretty faces openly.

The fact that…I don’t hate it.

As my laughter dies, I realize that everyone else watches me in perfect seriousness.

Quickly, I wipe the tears from my eyes. “Wait—you’re serious?”

Paz grins. “You might not be fae, Highness, but youaregodkissed. And it’s time a human shows these gods that they’re not the only ones with dominion over this world.”

Chapter 23

Basten

It takes the horses and me two days to reach the border wall, then one more to find the subterranean tunnel that breaks through the ward spells.

When we emerge into Volkany, I feel a shift in the air. It’s colder here by at least ten degrees, plunged into perpetual twilight by towering pines. All I can think about is the last time I was here.

With Rian.

On that trip, I’d felt a whisper of distrust. A premonition that he would turn on me.

Why the hell didn’t I listen to my instincts?

I dismount Myst to scan the forest, looking for tracks that might indicate an army encampment nearby that we should steer clear of.

A moth with iridescent wings flies by, leaving a trail of glowing dust in its wake. It’s unnerving, sure. But no matter how many times I see the strange fauna of Volkany, I will always feel a little bit awed, too.

The horses, however, merely flick their tails at the magical moth.

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