Page 46 of Once the Skies Fade

She studied me for several breaths. My stomach knotted and icy dread crept up my spine, though I took care to keep my expression relaxed. Oryn’s mention of mitigating risks flashed to mind. Would she suspect me as an assassin, sent to avenge Brennan’s death? Would she deny me entrance to the competition? If that happened, I would need to find another way to learn the truth, but there was no point in worrying about that until I had to.

The general propped her elbows on the desk and rested her chin on her interlaced fingers.

“And your king is willing to lose his best warrior. Why?”

I shrugged as I donned a nonchalant frown. “His Majesty thinks I work too much.” One of the other competitors let out a dry huff of a laugh. “He thinks I need to find love.”

General Isa tilted her head and eyed me curiously. “And do you agree? That you need to find love?”

Scratching at the scruff along my jaw, I pushed back the memories of my talk with the king.

“Why does it matter?” I asked. “I don’t recall you asking the others about their reasons.”

“With all due respect, General Orelian, the others don’t hold such close ties to the dead king you are vying to replace.”

“Fair,” I said, chuckling lightly. “In that case, no, I don’t agree that Ineedto find love. I am quite content with my life as it is; however, I am open to new adventures, and falling in love is one I’ve yet to tackle.”

“And you are ready to denounce your loyalty to the Durand family should you win?”

“I would have walked out already if I wasn’t,” I said, holding her firm gaze.

Again, her dark eyes searched mine as if she would find the truth there. I forced myself to breathe through the long silence, refusing to let her see my slowly fraying nerves.

“Very well, then,” she said finally. She held out her open hand, and without hesitation I placed my hand, face up, in hers. In her other hand she held a simple dagger and brought its sharp tip to hover over my palm. “When you’re ready,” she prompted, and I repeated the words the others had recited earlier.

“Today I, Matthias Orelian, vow to compete honorably for the hand of Calla Vael, queen of Arenysen. Should I prevail in these trials, I pledge my undying loyalty to the queen and all of Arenysen, foregoing allegiances to all others. I understand and acknowledge that this vow and my duty here remains until avictor is named or my heart ceases to beat, whichever may come first.”

As I spoke, Isa pushed the blade’s sharp edge into my hand and sliced it across my calloused palm.

Squeezing my hand closed, I held it over the paper Isa now held out between us. Crimson blood seeped from my fist. I watched the thick drops fall onto the paper as I finished the oath: “With my blood, I bind myself to this tournament, to compete and to serve.”

Isa followed suit, letting two dark beads of blood fall from the vial as she recited the queen’s oath. “With her blood, Her Majesty, Calla Vael, Queen of Arenysen, binds herself to this tournament, to accept your entry and to be loyal to the victor.”

With the vows completed, Isa took the paper—as she had eleven times already—and eased it into the flame.

Chapter 23

Calla

My shadows clung to me so tightly I could almost imagine being cradled by strong arms rather than collapsed on the enchanted forest’s leafy floor. The comforting scent of the woods filled the fresh cracks in my resolve, but there was something more wafting on the air, penetrating my magic’s dark void.

Warm brandy.

Oiled leather.

Sweet hay and apples that reminded me of horses.

Immediately those stars-damned hazel eyes appeared in my mind’s eye.

Unlike Brennan’s, which had been a dull brownish-green like the color of the forest on a cloudy day, these were bright with orange and gold swirling in a pool of deep green. Even in the dim light of my family’s forest, his eyes had shone with an irritating optimism—a carefree mirth I couldn’t help but envy.

Without warning, a forest rushed into focus, but it wasn’t the enchanted trees and vines of my home that surrounded me.

The wet, earthy scent of mud flooded my senses, and I looked up to find feathery boughs lined with lanterns. Faint, familiar voices echoed somewhere in the distance. Something warmslipped into my hand, and I didn’t need to look to know whose hand grasped mine, the contours of his hand and the squeeze of his fingers around mine pulling me back to memories I had tried to lock away.

Tears crowded my eyes, but I could not shut them no matter how hard I tried, as if the very stars demanded I remember this moment. Air refused to fill my lungs. My heart rattled behind my sternum. And then a finger guided my chin around, forcing me to face the male I’d loved and lost.

But Brennan wasn’t there.

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