Page 25 of Court of Twisted Angels

Kyrie freezes mid-step, her eyes going wide. The tension through her body puts me on edge, but this is not a battle I can fight for her.

"Mother?" Her whisper carries through the magical link, raw with emotion.

The illusion of her mother reaches out with trembling fingers. "My sweet girl... I'm so cold."

Kyrie takes a half-step forward before catching herself. Her fists clench at her sides, knuckles white with strain. "You're not real."

"Please..." The phantom woman's breath rattles in her chest. "It hurts so much. Just stay with me until..."

Blood trickles down Kyrie's palm where her nails break skin. She shakes her head, auburn hair whipping around her face. "No. My mother is alive. She's waiting for me."

The illusion twists, her mother's face contorting in agony. "You abandoned me for these trials. Left me to die alone."

"Stop it." Kyrie's voice cracks, but her spine straightens. "I'm herebecauseof her. To save her."

Pride burns in my chest as she forces herself to turn away. The phantom woman wails, the sound piercing enough to make lesser contestants fall to their knees. But my little bird keepswalking, each step precise and measured despite the tears streaming down her face.

The illusion reaches for her with grasping hands, the cottage melting and reforming around her like a cage of memory and guilt. Yet Kyrie pushes through, her determination burning brighter than the forest's dark magic.

"I'm coming home, Mother," she whispers. "With real medicine this time. I promise."

The cottage dissolves into mist behind her, but I catch the ghost of a smile through her tears. She's passed this test, though the cost shows in every line of her body.

She's finally made it nearly to the end when I see her stop by an ancient tree - its bark gleams obsidian in the ethereal light, branches stretching toward a blood-red sky. She studies it, and then she moves closer.

If I wasn't watching her so well, I wouldn't notice that flash of magic on her palm, the way her hand pushes through the park. But I do. And I see the flare of red - the signature of a gemstone - just before she closes her fist around it.

My head whips around, but no one else seems to have noticed. Probably because no one else is watching her like I am.

When I turn back, Kyrie is moving forward, rushing through the last few obstacles to the exit of the forest. Her hands are fisted as she starts to run, and I know that she is probably trying to get the magic signature out of the forest before someone else - or something else - realizes she has it.

Suddenly, another contestant leaps out in front of her. She nearly goes colliding into him, and the cruel smile on his face makes my blood boil. He’s taunting her, edging her back toward the mist that I redirect from her to keep her from getting burned.

But he’s too busy being cocky to notice when Kyrie sweeps his feet out from under him. She quickly leaps over him, notwasting time with a fight, and finishes the last distance to the end.

Triumph surges through me as she bursts out of the trees. "You've done it," I murmur. She's actually done it.

Then reality crashes back like a physical blow. The gemstone. One of the few that I need to break my family's curse. And there it sits, in the hands of the one person I can't bring myself to harm.

The curse whispers through my blood, demanding action. My family's salvation lies within her grasp. I just have to have her find the last few and then she will turn the gemstones over to me.

That thought gives me both hope and guilt. She doesn't know what she possesses, what I intend to take from her. But she doesn't need to. She can still have what she's after anyway.

I turn, heading down to the arena floor through the tunnels. It doesn't take me long before I catch up to where Kyrie is. She doesn't notice my approach, turned away as she tries to look at the stone and block anyone else from seeing it with her body.

"Well done, little bird." My voice comes out rougher than intended.

She startles, nearly dropping the gem. Those green eyes lock onto mine, bright with triumph despite her fatigue. "I did it." A breathless laugh escapes her. "I actually did it."

The stone's power calls to my blood, an ancient song of salvation and redemption. A part of me wants to take it now, to see if one gemstone will be enough. But I know that it won't - even if I want to try.

But then she smiles, and something in my chest twists painfully.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She holds the stone up, letting its light dance across her features. "I've never seen anything like it."

I force my hands to remain at my sides. "It is. But remember, there are many out there after these stones. Keep them hidden."

She nods, closing her fist around it. "I'll do whatever it takes to get out of here alive."

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