Page 77 of Fae Champion

She smiled amiably and I cringed inside. “Larissa will be well cared for, and your friends can become your generals.”

“And Elowyn?”

“She’ll be free.” But the queen said it too quickly, too easily—because she believed Rush would kill me before the day was out.

She took a step toward him. “There will never be a crown prince better than my Saturn, but you’ll be a fine second choice. Now,prove it to me.”

She placed a hand on his shoulder.

I tensed; Rush stiffened.

Suddenly alarmed, she looked between the two of us, examining us from top to bottom, scanning even our immediate surroundings. The eyes, ears, and mouths raced out of her sight, as if the intensity of her scrutiny were too great.

“What is it that I’m sensing?” she asked intently.

“Your Majesty?” asked Rush, all innocence.

I willed myself not to so much as think of the man I’d shared my bed with. Not to remember the feel of him on my skin, inside me…

The queen stared at me with such ferocity that my flesh heated as if it might peel off my bones. I dragged in a ragged breath and waited.

“There’s something … different about you both,” she finally said, considering him.

I sucked in a deep breath, surreptitiously pattingmy cheeks, relieved to find them still smooth and unaffected by the queen’s vehemence.

“I’m nervous,” I blurted.

But the queen was searching for her answer now only with Rush.

“Could it perhaps be the magic of the Gladius Probatio?” Rush suggested. “We’re in the finals now. It could have done something to us.”

“That’s not supposed to happen.”

“But the Fae Heir Trials haven’t been held since the mirror world was created. There’s no one still alive who would be sure.”

“I suppose that’s true…”

“The magic of the probatio might think we already should be fighting, drawing us together to do so.”

“Hmm, yes, perhaps that.” Finally, she searched the stands and the thousands of fae, with heads still bowed in deference to their monarch, watching on as best they could.

“Very well.” To Rush alone, “May your ancestors cheer you on from the Etherlands, and may you draw first blood.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Without another glimpse at me, as if I were no longer a problem for her to concern herself with, the queen stalked off, her guards scurrying after her. Her bloody spies hovered in a vast circle around Rush and me as if they didn’t want to get caught in the action.

As soon as she was out of earshot, I whispered to Rush, “What was she feeling?”

His eyes shimmied like silver flames. “Our bond.”

“Our bond?”

But in answer, all he said was, “I’m so sorry, El.”

He drew his sword with a loudshiiiingthat sent Azariah trotting farther away, calling as he went, “Well, ladies and gents, beasts of all sorts and sizes, it appears our contestants can’t wait to get started.”

Azariah was still speaking when Rush charged me.

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