Page 67 of A Trial of the Heart

Daxton, being the ever watchful and observant creature he was, noticed my reaction and released his grasp on my hands.

Cupping my face, he whispered one single command, “Breathe.”

In theory, it wassosimple.

“Breathe, Spitfire,” Daxton said once more, pressing his brow to mine. “Together, with me.” I listened to him inhale a deep, steadying breath and desperately wanted to follow his lead. My hands trembled as my chest burned from the lack of air in my lungs. “Please,mySpitfire, just breathe with me.”

My animal surged in my chest, pushing me to follow him.Wait—She’s alert, I thought in a panic. When I encountered the imposter Daxton inside the stone walls, she was silent. But not now.

I parted my lips and inhaled a short, shuddered breath. “Yes, that’s it.” Daxton sighed with relief. “Now again. Fuller this time.” I followed his instruction, allowing a grounding breath to fill my lungs as I tilted my head back and opened my eyes to the skyline above.

The sky. Gods above, it was the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen in my entire life. The purple, pink, and orange colors of the setting sun danced across the horizon like wisps of paint from the canvas of a masterpiece. Colors decorated the different edges of the never-ending sky, spanning outward amongst the cageless openness from above. The phase of the new moon was a whispered outline yet still ever watchful and present with the sun lowering below the western horizon.

“Is—Is this real?” I asked as a lone silver droplet formed at the corner of my eye.

“More than you know,” Daxton said as his barrier lifted, and I was overwhelmed with his scent of fresh pine and cold mountain air. “You did it.” He smiled softly, kissing my cheek where a tear had fallen.

In the labyrinth, I could only detect the scent of death, but not here. Gorgeous fresh air filled my lungs and caressed my fevered skin. The sky opened andthen… Then, therehewas. A dormant piece of me recognized this, recognized Daxton, as something safe. I dropped my magical barrier, allowing the feel of him to swallow me whole.

“You’re … You’re real,” I gasped. Dax gave me a puzzling look, and I remembered that he had no idea what I was talking about. “I’ll tell you later,” I breathed.

His brows pressed together with obvious concern as Daxton moved to wrap an arm around me. “As real as you are.” He reached up to stroke my face with a kind of tenderness only a lover could achieve. “You did it, Skylar,” he repeated.

I tilted my head to the side so I could look at him. A hope-filled sense of joy beamed inside the stone-gray eyes of the male who unknowingly held my heart. And for a moment, I wondered if I wasn’t alone in how I felt. I smiled at him, still shaky and confused, but in his eyes, I found the strength to fight against my wavering fears. “You … You were there,” I said in a hushed confession.

“Where?”

“Inside the labyrinth… I—You—” I didn’t know exactly how to tell him everything that had happened. My throat instantly dried, my breath stilling in my lungs. The rapid fluttering of my heart was now fueled by the fear of his rejection of the affections I could no longer deny.

“If it’s too difficult, you don’t have to tell me. It’s all right.”

“No,” I said with a surge of emotion bursting through my chest. “I want to tell you.” I wanted to tell him, shit, well,everything. Gods above, I didn’t want to waste another second of this life pretending.

“Then I’m here to listen.”

There it was again. The imaginary tether pulled me closer to him like a moth fluttering toward a flame. How could I have been so blind not to see this coming or foolish enough to allow myself to feel this way about him? Perhaps this was all just a false hope—a silly fantasy clinging to something pure in the face of so much hardship.

I sighed heavily, realizing I couldn’t even think about confessing my feelings—not now, at least. I needed to keep a clear mind and focus on the remaining trials. I glanced down at my clutched hands and slowly uncoiled my fingers. Daxton’s eyes never left my face. Even with the first key to the Heart of Valdor on display before him, his attention was solely on me.

Fuck, this was going to be harder than I thought.

“Later,” I whispered. He nodded, never questioning and somehow understanding my reasons without ever having to speak them aloud. “This is it.” He finally looked down at the key in my hands, but he didn’t seem interested. “What is it?” I asked him. “Isn’t this what we came here for?”

Dax seemed to shudder, and without warning, he wrapped both arms around me and held me close to his chest. “Not many things in this life have truly caused fear to enter my heart, Spitfire.” He stilled, holding me tighter and inhaling a deep breath of my scent. “But when I heard your screams … a piece of my soul shattered at the sound of your pain.”

“Could you hear everything I was saying when I was inside?” A memory of what the labyrinth said flashed inside my mind.They can hear you.

“No,” Daxton said. “Only at the end, just like the other champion before you. I imagine your voice echoed outward when you reached the center.”

I wrapped my arms around his middle and clutched him tighter, desperate to be closer to him. Desperate to ease his concern just as much as my own. When I thought Daxton was in danger inside the labyrinth, I knew I would do anything to save him.

“Please promise me,” I said as Daxton held me tightly, “there are no red carpets anywhere in Silver Meadows.”

“Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?”

“Kind of—but also a legitimate request,” I said with a forced hint of a grin.

“There are no red carpets in Silver Meadows,” he said in a soft tone. “And if there are, I will destroy them before you set eyes on them.”

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