Page 54 of A Trial of the Heart

“Then don’t waste any more time. Say your goodbyes and enter.” Her venomous words struck me with force, but I refused to flinch against them. “Daxton,” Minaeve said as she tilted her head in his direction, “stand by my side.” Daxton nodded and moved to hover near the queen’s shoulder, joining Adohan and Seamus.

Anger churned in my middle, my animal sending flickers of our own power throughout my limbs.

“Good,” Castor murmured. “You’re going to need every ounce of that.”

I tilted my head toward him. “Meaning?”

“Anger … rather than fear. I would remove the latter before entering.”

I knew from training with Magnus that fear led to panic, and in the labyrinth, if I panicked, I was dead. “Anger it is then,” I said, allowing my hatred for the queen to fuel me.

“Come here,” Castor said as he wrapped his arms around me. Ruse or not, I felt the sincerity in his embrace. This was real. “Do me a favor, will you?” he whispered so only I could hear.

“Aren’t I already doing you and everyone in Valdor a favor?”

“It’s a small one, I promise,” he teased as he squeezed me tighter, placing a gentle kiss on my cheek. “Don’t. Die.”

“No pressure.”

“I only ask of my students what I know they can achieve. Nothing more, nothing less,” he said as he moved to kiss my other cheek.

“Again, no pressure.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“You’re not getting any premonitions of my impending death, are you?”

He grinned. “None! You’re in luck for once, it seems.”

“Don’t jinx it,” I countered. Castor swiped his fingers in front of his lips, silencing any additional comment he planned to make.

I released Castor’s hands and boldly turned to the alluring fog that shimmered against the fae lights. I couldn’t make out any details of the labyrinth, only a dense blanket of midnight clouds. As I stepped closer to the entrance, tendrils of the mist bent and twisted around my outstretched hand. I could feel the thrum of magic caressing my skin, searching out my identity as it encircled my body.

Well, that is my cue, then.

I picked up one foot and then the other, slowly entering the fog and walking toward the entrance of the first trial.

I dared a glance backward just for a second before the world I knew disappeared. The only thing I longed to see was already staring directly back at me.

Gray eyes that mimicked the storms over the mountain peaks softened, flooding me with unspoken support he never failed to give me.

Daxton’s face was the last thing I saw before the fog encased me in the world of the labyrinth. It was an image I would never forget, and one I would carry with me as I entered the first trial ofthe Heart of Valdor.

Chapter Twelve

This place was cold as if death lingered in the cracks along the gray stone walls. It was desolate, isolated, and, above all else, petrifying. The hairs on my neck stood on end, with my animal spirit restlessly stirring inside me. She was warning me. Not to run but to keep my guard up, to see what my eyes alone couldn’t. Nothing was as it seemed in here. Our minds would be tested in this place, and if I had any hope of surviving, I knew I had to rely on her primal instincts and my own.

The same stone that encased the staircase on our descent from the palace adorned the walls along with the spiked vines of some kind of ivy-looking plant.

There was no ceiling above my head, only a haunting abyss of endless night that I could not see through, despite my keen eyesight. I knew the labyrinth was underground, and it would be dark here, but this was something else. The air surrounding me smelled foul and putrid, doing little to settle my pounding heart and shaking nerves.

A singular path stretched out before me with only one direction to wander. I squared my shoulders, swallowed my reservations, and turned to take my firststep on the broken cobblestone path. My animal’s presence surged inside my middle, reminding me that regardless of the terrors that lay before me, I was not alone in this fight. I smiled to myself, knowing I always had her with me, a gift inherited from my father that never ceased to amaze me.

As I took my first step forward, a flash of bright light blinded me from above, forcing me to shield my eyes and turn away.

Why, hello there.

What was that? I spun around frantically, looking for the source of the voice I heard. “Who’s there?” I said. Was there someone else in here with me? I thought only the champion bearing this mark could enter the first trial.

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