Page 38 of Fae Crown

Octavia shook her head, the curled end of her rose-blush braid brushing her bare shoulder. “I don’t knowmuch about any of them.” She dipped her head toward me and whispered, “Don’t really want to know any of them, to be honest. They scare me.”

“With good reason.”

“I don’t know what magic they have. As you know, no one tells anyone of their magic unless they have no choice.”

Which was exactly why the queen had spread news of Rush’s, Hiroshi’s, Ryder’s, and West’s abilities. To disempower them. Rob them of the advantage of surprise.

The queen had, however, left the females in this room armed, most likely to use them as weapons she’d point in whichever direction she chose.

“You must’ve heard something,” I pressed, refusing to let hope wither and die.

“No, nothing concrete. Nothing trustworthy. And any rumors Octavio and I heard could’ve been purposeful misguidance.”

She met my eyes. Hers glistened with fright. “I don’t think we’re going to survive this, Elowyn. Short of not sleeping the whole time, I don’t know how to protect myself. And even then, how could I stop whatever monster tore off Eliana’s head?”

Itsked. “We can’t just not sleep. This trial could last weeks with how the queen’s already drawing it out. We’ve been in here for, like, half an hour and she’s not even here yet.”

She gulped. “We won’t make it.”

“Like hell we won’t. What’s your magic, then?”When she hesitated, I added, “I’ll tell you what I know about mine, though it’s not much. Certainly, it’s not enough.”

“I’ve seen yours. In the arena.” She stepped closer so our arms were touching and lowered her voice to barely an exhale. “You’re connected to the land. That’s unheard of.”

Reverence, I realized. This time it wasn’t fear that had her whispering.

Though I still felt like an imposter, like this was all a crazy mistake, like I probably shouldn’t be in Embermere at all, I made myself meet her stare head-on. “Yes.”

“Why?” she eventually asked. “How are you able to connect to the land?”

“I’ll tell you if you’ll tell me.”

Again, she hesitated.

“Look, Octavia Lily Rose…”

“Just Octavia’s fine. Our parents liked a mouthful.”

I nodded my understanding and quickly moved on. “We have to be able to trust someone in here, or you’re right, we won’t make it out of this alive.”

“I have only ever trusted Octavio.”

“I get it, really I do. But he’s not here now. I am.”

She stared at me for so long I wondered what she saw, realizing I’d misinterpreted her earlier distraction for drunkenness when the woman appeared all there now. Perhaps her innocence concealed a sharp shrewdness I hadn’t suspected.

Maybe she was dangerous. Everyone at court seemed to wear masks of carefully crafted personas.

With a jarring jolt, I realized I couldn’t trust anyone at all—save Rush, who’d forgotten me, and my friends, who were cut off from me.

When I was a second from stepping away from her and going over to Rush to see if I could extract more than monosyllabic conversation from him, she finally said, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Aye, okay. But you can’t breathe a word of it to anyone.”

“I promise I won’t.”

Her perfectly curved eyebrows arched. “You …promise?”

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