Page 46 of Trial By Fire

“Careful, little mage.” Strong arms encircled him, and the guards backed off as Malekith lifted Aric to his feet. “You did well.”

Aric’s heart stuttered in his chest at the rare praise, a fragile bloom of warmth in the icy night air. He leaned into Malekith’s solid frame, his exhaustion suddenly all-encompassing. “I . . . I didn’t break.”

“No. You did not.” Malekith’s breath hot against Aric’s ear. “But you need to rest now.”

Aric nodded, his eyes drifting closed. Malekith’s scent, like dark woods and incense, wrapped around him, anchoring him in the present. He was safe. The illusions, the doubts, they couldn’t touch him here.

“You won’t . . . leave me?” The words slipped out before he could stop them, a raw, aching admission of need.

Malekith’s arms tightened around him, a silent promise. “Never.”

Malekith escorted Aric from the center of the arena, leaving the demon courtiers to their whispered debates and frantic note-taking. Aric tried to ignore the calculating looks they cast his way, the hunger in their eyes, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d only raised more questions than he’d answered.

“You did well, little mage,” Malekith said, his voice low for Aric’s ears alone. “They will be . . . curious to see what you can do.”

Aric’s skin crawled, and not just from the residual magic still humming in the air. “I’m not a sideshow.”

“I know.” Malekith’s thumb stroked the back of Aric’s hand, and he shivered at the touch. “But you have given them a taste of your power. A glimpse of what you are capable of.”

Aric thought of the way the sorcerers had looked at him, their eyes hungry, and a chill ran down his spine. “I don’t like the way they’re looking at me.”

“It is the way of our kind. We are always seeking an advantage, a means of gaining the upper hand.” Malekith’s gaze swept over the demon courtiers, his expression unreadable. “You have upset the balance, and now they will be jockeying for position, trying to align themselves with you or against you.”

“And what about you?” Aric asked, his voice a thin, strained thread. “Which side are you on?”

He immediately regretted the question, but Malekith’s grip on his hand only tightened, his touch a steady anchor.

“I am on your side, Aric. Always.”

“The illusions . . .”

Malekith’s expression softened, his thumb stroking Aric’s cheek. “They are gone. You are safe now.”

Aric nodded, trying to focus past the pounding in his head. “The sorcerers. What happened to them?”

“Nothing that they did not bring upon themselves,” Malekith said with a smirk.

The infirmary was a blur of motion as the demon healers swarmed around him, their hands glowing with dark energy as they assessed his condition. Aric tried to focus on their words, the strange, lilting language that seemed to shimmer in the air,but the world was still spinning, tilting, and he couldn’t find his balance.

Malekith stood back, watching the proceedings with an unreadable expression. Aric tried to catch his eye, to offer some kind of reassurance, but Malekith’s gaze was fixed on the healers, his attention elsewhere.

Aric’s vision swam, and he slumped forward, the cool stone floor rushing up to meet him. Strong arms caught him before he fell, and a low voice rumbled in his ear.

“Rest now, little mage. You have done well.”

Aric wanted to ask a thousand questions that had been burning in the back of his mind, but the darkness was already pulling him under, and he didn’t have the strength to fight it.

As he slipped into unconsciousness, he felt a touch on his forehead, a brush of cool lips, and a promise, unspoken, but understood.

There will be much to discuss.

Aric drifted in and out of consciousness, the world around him a hazy blur. He was vaguely aware of the demon healers tending to his injuries, their dark magic hanging in the air, but their words were a jumble, the strange, lilting cadence of their language dancing just out of reach.

But then, in a rare moment of clarity, he heard them speaking in hushed tones, their voices tinged with a palpable sense of unease.

“. . . anomalies . . . both realms . . .”

Aric’s heart pounded in his ears as he strained to listen.

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