Page 66 of A Trial of the Heart

Magic coiled around me, and all the voices underground suddenly turned into silence. “No one approaches her!” Queen Minaeve’s unmistakable voice bellowed, causing me to shudder.

Great, another test, I thought to myself.

“She holds the key!” a female voice exclaimed in protest. “The trial is complete!” It sounded like Idris, but I wasn’t holding my breath for any luck to start turning my way.

“But at what cost?” Minaeve rebutted. “She is to win the trial of the mind only to return to us with a broken one. No one is permitted to approach her until I assess what state the shifter is in.”

Let me out.

All I wanted was to escape this prison and feel the brush of nature caress my skin.

“Skylar?” There it was again—the voice I had dreamt of in the labyrinth—the voice that belonged to the one being in this world that I would give everything to protect. “Let me make sure she’s all right. Let me assess her.” His voice sounded strained, like he was fighting to reach me.

“No one, steps—closer,” Minaeve sneered, followed by groans of pain as her magic flared.

At the sound of knees colliding with the stone, I finally forced myself to open my eyes to find Daxton only an arm’s length away from reaching me. Spirals of black mist forced him down as Minaeve stood over him, her hand outstretched, hovering over the crown of his head.

“It’s unlike you to defy me like this, Daxton,” she said in a low venomous voice.

“Let me out,” I repeated aloud this time.

“I’ve sworn a vow to protect the champion as my ward. I’m simply striving to uphold that promise.” Daxton’s words were laced with half-truths.

Minaeve didn’t seem convinced, but then Castor tried to inch closer. Her attention snapped toward him. “And your brother—he’s quite driven to do the same, but for another reason, it seems.”

“She holds the key!” Castor tried to appeal to logic as he fought against Minaeve’s magic. “She’s completed the first trial! You cannot hold her as aprisoner. She’s a gods-damned savior!”

The air was different. It was less putrid compared to inside the labyrinth, but it still did not feel real.

“Let—me—out,” I said in a low, firm whisper laced with fury.

The high queen turned her turquoise gaze to me. “What was that, shifter?”

“Let me out!” I roared. My rasped voice was torn to pieces, but still, I managed to speak without a drop of fear. Fuck. I just defeated the labyrinth. What more could this false queen do to me? I guarantee the labyrinth did far worse.

“I’ll release you when I’m certain you’re not a threat.”

I bent my head down and released a low maddening laugh. “Threat toyoursubjects? Now that’s a joke.”

All the rage I held before entering the trial came rushing back. It filled my lungs like fresh air and swam through my veins like a gushing river, granting me access to a deep-seated power I knew was thrumming in my core. I called upon my animal spirit to help fuel my intention as I turned my amber-glowing eyes toward the high queen of the fae.

“Let me the fuck out!” I commanded with my animal’s power pumping through each word I spoke. The ground beneath my knees shook, and the walls surrounding the entrance to the labyrinth started to crumble behind the swell of power I was sending out through my command.

My alpha command.

Minaeve stumbled back a step as her magic faltered, releasing its hold on me and the others who were trying to make their way toward me. Castor, whowas the closest, reached me first, followed immediately by Daxton.

“Get us out of here, Dax!” Castor cursed, grasping my shoulders as Daxton slid to his knees before me and reached for my clutched hands. In a silver flash, we were gone.

I shut my eyes tightly as we materialized somewhere far away from the underground chamber that held the labyrinth. I remained utterly still, refusing to move or even breathe in fear of what was real and what wasn’t. My mind had been bent and twisted. My deepest desires turned against me, along with my greatest fears. As much as I hated to agree with the queen, maybe she was right. I didn’t know if I was sane anymore. Was I free of the labyrinth or merely locked in yet another test within the confines of my mind?

Is this real?

Castor’s hands released my shoulders, stepping away from my side, but Daxton, my Dax, remained.

“You did it, Skylar.” The steadiness of his voice was identical to the imaginary figure conjured inside the labyrinth. It twisted my heart, and I hated myself a little for being so foolish to believe the imposter I faced in the trial was him.

“No,” I admitted in denial. “It’s just another trick. Another test. You won’t fool me this time.” His hands tightened around mine, the one that still clutched the golden key. I refused to breathe. I was afraid to inhale the stench of death and decay that followed my every step inside the trial of the mind.

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