Page 111 of A Trial of the Heart

“That… and so many other reasons,” I said with confidence and excitement shining in my amber-glowing eyes, “is why I love you.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

As we walked along the stone-lined pathway to the entrance of the Ice Gauntlet, my heart raced with excitement or nerves—I honestly couldn’t tell them apart anymore.

Today, I wore black training clothes. I was informed that my gray-silver ones would no longer be necessary. Daxton ordered them made for me the first day I began training with Gunnar, and they were magically already waiting for me when we ventured back upstairs to his—no, excuse me,ourroom.

There were more questions than answers regarding my future, and now, adding Daxton to the mix multiplied them tenfold. But right now, they would all have to wait. Thankfully, when Daxton and I saw the others before leaving for the Gauntlet, they didn’t seem surprised at seeing us together.

Idris was giddily grinning, of course. Adohan gave Daxton a serene smile while Zola nodded with a half-grin at the secret finally being revealed, and Gunnar… Well, he sighed loudly, adding a very sarcastic, “Finally…”

They all had known about the mate bond and were pleased to see us together.

“Ready?” Gunnar asked as he followed close behind Daxton and me.

“Clearly, or else she wouldn’t be here,” Zola said to him with a scoff. She was still in a sour mood since she and Daxton had returned, not keen on hiding it. “I still have a gold coin on her besting your time, and Idris wanted me to remind you of hers…”

Gunnar scowled and rolled his eyes. “I know. Regardless of what Skylar accomplishes up there, I’ll still hold the record for youngest to complete it.” His cocky, smug smile was almost too much.

“There is a wager, huh?” I asked, casually throwing him a glance over my shoulder.

Gunnar grinned, scratching the back of his head. “Possibly.”

“Good to know,” I said before turning toward Daxton. “I go in alone, and I finish this on my own,” I said.

He raised his brows with a pleased, almost proud look. “Giving commands already, I see… How fitting.”

Zola and Gunnar continued bickering about the different wagers they had placed on me. I couldn’t help but overhear that Castor and Adohan had also joined in on this.

Adohan and Idris remained in the Summit. The baby was giving her some trouble this morning and she needed to take precautions and rest.

“I mean it, Dax. I need to do this on my own,” I said as we reached the start of the course.

“Wouldn’t dream otherwise, Spitfire. My mate is strong enough to conquer anything… All you need is the opportunity.” He stepped back, allowing me to face the massive vertical obstacle course on my own. “Get ready,” his deep voice boomed over the rocks along the entrance.

“Ready.” I crouched down, prepared to take off at a sprint and attack the first obstacle.

“Go!”

The hourglass turned, and I sprinted into the course.

I hadn’t noticed the massive gathering that had followed us to the Ice Gauntlet, but the roaring cheers blasted through my focus as I leaped onto the first obstacle of the course, encouraging me to complete it.

Using the balance techniques Daxton had taught me, I glided across quintuple steps before leaping through the air and grasping a long horizontal bar. The metal was ice cold, but I ignored the bite of it against my skin as I traversed the wall. Reaching the end, I crouched down and leaped through the air to the other side, successfully finding my footing and landing on the platform leading to the stone steps that would take me to the next level.

I heard Gunnar cheering below, with other cadets and warriors dressed in black and silver joining him. Zola held a stern look that I would guess to be amusement, and I knew that somehow, even from this distance, Idris and Adohan were cheering as well. Daxton simply gazed at me with pride swelling in his eyes. Gods, that look alone from him was enough to make me scale a thousand gauntlets.

Climbing the massive steps that were obstacles themselves, I prepared myself for the next task. Iced-over logs rolled before me, and I knew that I had to leap across them like a stone skipping over a lake to make it to the other side. From watching Daxton and the other cadets, the trick was not to stop moving your feet. If I stopped my momentum on a log, I would lose my balance and plummet down the side, or I would beforced to grab onto a rope and add time. Neither were options for me.

At the top of the stairs, I lined up with the logs, counted to three in my head, and sprinted as fast as I could to the other side. This obstacle reminded me of the games I used to play along the falls of the river with Rhea and Shaw. Stay too long in one place, and the current would sweep out your feet and take you downstream. I smiled as I took a running leap, gently tapping the top of the logs and scurrying across until landing safely on the other side… exactly like the river rocks.

“Two down, three to go.” I knew my time on these first two would be quick. It was the remaining three that had me nervous.

My legs remained strong and steady despite the dull ache in my quads, but I knew my upper body strength would be tested on the ladder following the balance beam next. The traverse up the stone steps between the different levels challenged my body as much as the obstacles themselves, with large, staggering stairs that pulled at the much-needed strength in my legs.

The climb to the third obstacle was steeper than the last, adding in a falling factor that the previous two hadn’t. I approached the narrow beam that looked far more treacherous from this vantage point than it did on the ground. The slick wood was coated in patches of ice, adding a layer of difficulty I hadn’t anticipated but, in reality, should have expected. Stepping out onto the beam, I outstretched my arms to gain balance, carefully placing one foot in front of the other. The winds swirled with a life of their own at this height, spinning around my arms, but not strong enough to topple me over, thanks to my increased balance and strength training these past months.

Reaching the first inclined bend of the beam, I crouched down to hold onto the ice-cold tip before swinging my feet around and over to the other side. I scoffed, remembering how easy Daxton had made this look. I safely traversed the beam, not in the time I was hoping for, but I figured not falling to my death was a bonus. Passing smoothly over the second, I approached the third bend in the beam, looking ahead at the ladders I would have to climb.

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