Page 96 of Once the Skies Fade

Shrugging, I pulled my mouth into a frown. “Maybe to make up for not believing you about the vestigli-whatever-it-is.”

“Vestiliaga,” he corrected.

“Right, that’s what I said. We can watch each other’s backs out there.” As I fastened my own gauntlet into place, I shifted my attention back to the water to see Graham dive beneath the surface. Beck and Korben were nowhere to be seen.

“Alright,” Phillip finally replied.

With our boots and outer garments discarded in the grass, we silently made our way into the water. Surprisingly enough, Phillip didn’t hesitate, keeping stride with me all the way out to the buoy.

“Ready?” I asked Phillip, whose eyes constantly scanned the clear water below him and all around. He said nothing, but nodded shakily. “Remember. We dive, get a rock, then swim out.”

Catching Phillip’s eyes, I took a couple deep breaths before signaling to descend. Thankfully, I didn’t have to hold his hand the whole way down; he stayed beside me as we dove toward the lake’s rocky bottom. We didn’t have many lakes back home, and the couple we did have were murky, not like the crystalline water here. Sunlight streamed in easily, and while it did get darker, the bottom was visible already. Off to the right I spotted Beck and Korben each hovering upside down, kicking their feet to stay low enough to choose a stone.

Phillip hit my arm a couple times and pointed off ahead of us to where Seb appeared to be swimming upwards, but in the entirely wrong direction, away from the shore where Isa waited with the carriages. I shrugged to Phillip and pointed back down to the stones, but his eyes went wide. I spun my head around in time to see Seb being whisked away, as if an invisible hand had snatched him up and dragged him off, leaving nothing but clear, open water where he had once been.

Before I could stop him, Phillip was madly kicking for the surface.

Stars-damned fool of a male.

I took off after him. I’d already let down Oryn by not sharing the vial in the first trial. I wasn’t about to go back on my word to Phillip that we would do this trial together.

Perhaps I was the fool.

When I broke the surface, Phillip was gasping and wheezing for air, barely keeping his head above the water as his limbs fatigued. Reaching a hand out, I helped lift him up enough for him to catch his breath.

“What was that?” he asked, fresh panic in his eyes.

“A current, I imagine. Isn’t that where the river starts?”

“A current in a fucking lake?” He sputtered out the question.

I wrinkled my nose. “Or it’s an invisible vestiga.”

“Vestiliaga,” he whispered, as if the name of the supposed monster actually mattered in this moment. “And thanks for that. As if I needed more reasons to fear the beast.”

“Use that fear then,” I suggested. He lifted a brow, his expression twisting with confusion. “Let the fear spur you on, keep you moving, push you to finish. If we wait much longer, we’re not going to have enough strength left to swim back to shore.”

Nodding silently, Phillip took several steadying breaths before drawing in one big one and flipping himself back under. I lifted a hand to block the splashes of water from his feet, and then froze. On the surface about fifty meters away, a dark shape slithered. It wasn’t coming toward me, but rather it was swimming off to my left where Graham had just surfaced, facing the opposite direction.

Cupping my hands to my mouth, I shouted, “Graham! Behind you!”

The male spun around quickly just as the darkness reached him, and with a jerk, he disappeared into the water.

Chapter 42

Calla

The castle’s silence grated my nerves as I walked along the paths among the trees in the courtyard. With the competitors off the grounds for the second trial, my staff had a much-needed day off from tending to our guests. Most seemed to be spending that time locked in their rooms. Maybe they preferred the quiet, but a large part of me suspected their fear of me drove them into hiding.

Not that I could blame them. I’d likely behave the same way in their shoes—serving a queen with a temper and the power to rip out throats without lifting a finger. My shadows stirred, as though awakened by my thoughts, and—after glancing around to ensure I was truly alone—I called them out.

They swirled around my palms, weaving through my fingers and spiraling up my arms. I was about to let them loose to dance over the stones at my feet when a voice, bold with a wary quake at its edges, rang out.

“Your Majesty, the carriage is here.”

My shadows perked up. Like a snake spooked by an encroaching danger, they swept around me and reared back, pointing in the direction of the speaker.

Hilde tensed, her eyes locked on the dark wisps surrounding me.

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