Page 22 of Elven Crown

“Initiate!” Bor’s barking voice boomed across the gym as he spread his arms even wider.

Rebecca could have sworn the mere force of his vocal command set the flames in the wall sconces to flickering wildly, as if he’d tried to blow them out from across the room.

“You stand here before us, your witnesses, to enter The Striving of your own free will. To test your strength, cunning, wisdom, and fortitude. To bare yourself within the sacred fire so that you might be marked as one worthy of a new calling. Do you accept?”

His final word echoed far longer than the gym’s acoustics warranted, but he’d modified his voice for that.

A hush fell over the spectators while the question lingered in the air.

Standing casually in the casting circle with his hands hanging carelessly at his sides, Rowan lifted his chin with another small, challenging flicker across his lips. “I accept.”

The amusement in his voice made Rebecca want to call off the whole thing all over again.

They were here now, this was happening, and still, the elf man acted like he’d just walked in on amateur hour.

He had no idea.

“Very well.” Bor acknowledged the reply with a dip of his head before continuing. “Your task is simple. Survive all four stages of The Striving within the allotted time. But break from the spellbound circle around you, and you forfeit your claim. At midnight, the challenge will be complete. Any questions?”

A low chuckle burst from Rowan’s lips to echo around the room before he replied, “Not at present.”

“Then state your name, initiate.”

The surprise behind Rowan’s widening eyes at that question—the request to state his name for all to witness together—made Rebecca’s gut sink.

It sank even lower still, like her insides were trying to spill out onto the floor and bury themselves in the earth, when Rowanlooked up at her and met her gaze for the first time since being ushered into the gym.

Surprise still glistened behind his eyes, joined by an off-putting amusement. Like he’d expected her to have already told the entire task force all about Rowan Blackmoon and how they knew each other and who he’d been to her once upon a time.

Who she’d been tohim.

Like he was challenging her to call out his name instead, just to prove to everyone that she could.

Rebecca held her breath as she stared back at him. She wouldn’t give in.

Then Rowan finally returned his attention to Bor and delivered his answer loudly and clearly, announcing himself in front of everyone, all hints of amusement and light-hearted joking now vanished. “Rowan Blackmoon.”

Oh, sure.Hecould stand up here and give his full name, his true name, out loud to everyone without worrying about the repercussions or what it might bring down on his head afterward. No one was out there in this world looking forhim. No one was chasinghimdown.

As far as Rebecca’s true enemies were concerned, no one even knew who Rowan Blackmoon was.

An alarmingly intense wave of envy surged through when she thought of how long this elf in front of her had been free to come and go as he wished, to do as he wished, as himself, without fear of making the wrong move at the wrong time.

Without striving not to bring whole armies down on his head at any moment.

No, that had only beenherfate, not his. And here they were.

Maybe he’d been thinking something similar. Maybe his mind was elsewhere. Maybe he wasn’t thinking at all. But when Rowan looked back up at her in her makeshift throne and dipped his head—so openly and brazenly in front of everyone, where theycould all see it—he looked so downright smug about the whole thing.

She almost started to feel better about the personal challenge she’d added to that potion flask. The giant surprise waiting for him at the very end.

Then Bor’s booming voice barreled through the room one final time, and Rebecca didn’t know how she felt about any of it anymore.

“Rowan Blackmoon… Your challenge begins!”

As his words echoed through the gym, Rebecca’s chest tightened, the weight of her decision fully settling. There was no turning back now. Not for her, and certainly not for Rowan.

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