Page 64 of A Trial of the Heart

I scoffed. “What happens once I step through?” I asked in quiet fury, my patience now non-existent.

Tick tock… Tick tock.

“Shit,” I cursed, realizing that I was running out of time to complete the trial.

I don’t believe you have time to dawdle. My fog is encroaching behind you, and your air supply is practically gone.

“You don’t say?” I countered. “I was wondering why my chest was burning, and I was beginning to see stars.”

Eternity will never be dull with you around.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Well, here goes nothing.”

Throwing caution to the wind, I turned on my heels and took off at a sprint, deciding that a runningstart would be the best solution for crossing the threshold. The distance to the center of the labyrinth was in sight, only twenty or thirty yards at the most. I pushed my legs to move forward as I rapidly pumped my arms to keep pace. Leaping between the barriers, a pulse of magic tore a hole through the center of my body.

“Nooo!” I roared with a blood-curdling scream as I collapsed onto the ground. I screamed so loudly I swore the cobblestone walls and floor shook beneath me, as my very soul was ripped from my center.

I would have gladly broken every bone in my body, felt the iron tips of the whips tearing pieces of my flesh, or even the fiery pain of Seamus’s magic rip through my mind—anything but this. Everything inside of me was silenced. My animal’s spirit was gone.

This is indeed the best trick I have!Blissful pleasure and enjoyment rang through the labyrinth’s voice, but I was too numb and torn to even think of a reply.

All I could do was scream.

I screamed until I had no air left in my lungs. Until my voice cracked and then disappeared. Until all rational thought was torn from me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even think.

My animal spirit was gone. She was gone, and I became an empty vessel. A story without an ending, a song without a melody.

What better way to test the confines of a shifter’s mind than to strip away a piece of them while keep them physically whole?I rolled over onto my side, clutching my knees to my chest as I roared into the emptiness of the labyrinth.

They can hear you outside my walls of stone.I ignored his taunting as I struggled to catch my breath.Just as the other before you. He made it this far… only to fall exactly where you landed.

I frantically looked around, trying to regain control of my mind as I succumbed to the emptiness of my animal’s absence. She was absent, and there was no trace of her left inside me. It shattered everything I was.

I could feel nothing…She’s gone,I repeated to myself.She’s gone.The world around me faded away.

Such promise, hybrid.The voice shifted once again, no longer belonging to Blade but to the original cold, inhuman labyrinth itself. You had such promise.

Hybrid …

I gritted my teeth, focusing on that one word echoing inside the confines of my mind. I wasn’t just ashifter. I wasmore.

I sucked in a breath, refusing to allow yet another scream to erupt from my torn throat. I pried open my eyes to see the end of the labyrinth only a handful of body lengths ahead. Near the edge of the crimson carpet, a glowing orb of bright red and orange light hung above a golden glimmering sun-and-moon-shaped key.

Your animal’s spirit is now bonded to the key. If you would’ve succeeded, both could have been yours. But now you will die without either. Pity. I always thought you shifters were stronger-willed than this.

If I were just a shifter, this would’ve been my undoing. The loss I experienced from my animal’s absence was blinding, but I knew I had to fight through it. There was no other option. My soul and the fate of all souls of Valdor were counting on me.

“Sorry to disappoint you—” I sneered as I crawled my way across the red carpet.

Fog curled around my feet, warning me of my impending doom. I dug my fingernails in the threading, causing my nails to crack as I dragged myself forward. Every muscle in my being shook with relentlesssuffering. I knew I would not survive long with my animal’s spirit stripped from my own. The loss was proving too much to bear. I could feel the pull of death calling for me. Ahead, I could sense my animal, her essence swirled around the key that dangled on the edge of the carpet, begging me to reach them.

Power thrummed inside me. Not the strength of my animal, but one of a different kind altogether. The strength of my human heart and stubborn will carried me forward inch by inch.

This… This is not possible!

I wanted to tell the labyrinth to fuck off, but I couldn’t spare the effort it took to speak. I had to focus all my energy on crawling across the crimson floor.

No—

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