Page 89 of Blooms of Darkness

Blood flowed profusely from his nose, and he frantically tried to wipe it away, soaking the sleeve of his tunic.

Frederich rolled over, facing us and reaching toward the dais. Blood dripped from his ears. His panicked expression frightened me.

“Help,” he screamed toward us. “Help me!”

With glazed eyes, Edmund stared at Frederich, waving his arms wildly, as more and more blood flowed from every part of Frederich’s face.

Ian stopped running and his gaze flicked toward me. I stared at him in horror, gesturing behind him, shaking my head, not knowing how to communicate something was very wrong. He stopped and turned to see what everyone was looking at.

Another scream sounded.

With a few motions of his arms, Edmund appeared to be sucking the very life out of Frederich. The portly man clutched his neck, gasping for air. “Help,” he tried to scream again, but it came out garbled.

Frederich had backed himself into a tree, stopping any further retreat. He clawed at his throat as Edmund continued toward him.

“We need to stop him,” I whispered, so stunned by what happened in the arena, I had trouble steadying my breath.

With one last gasp of air, Frederich’s eyes bulged even further from their sockets, his head fell to the side. Edmund drew a sword and sliced forward, stabbing the already-dead Frederich.

Blood. So much blood. I clutched my stomach, wrapping my arms around me to steady my shaking. Although Frederich’s lifeless body slumped over, his blood continued to trickle around the tree he was propped against.

Screams echoed amongst the audience, some Fae standing, searching for an escape route.

Before I could even comprehend the catastrophe, Ian screamed, “Kade!”

No, not him, too.

Kade stopped just prior to the final climbing wall and turned to find Ian frantically waving at him to come back.

What were they doing?

As they ran in the opposite direction of the finish line, I knew. They were too damned honorable. We all had come to the same conclusion.

Edmund had been overtaken by the darkness.

Now every contender was in danger. And so was everyone else if he escaped the arena. Ian wouldn’t let it stand, and I knew Kade wouldn’t, either.

They’d put themselves in harm’s way to protect the people of Brookmere, instead of finishing the trial. Which meant this couldn’t go on.

I turned to my parents. “Stop the trials! Another contender is dead, you have to stop this!”

Andras answered as the color drained from my father’s face. “The trials stop for nothing. Not even death.” A sly smile formed across his face as my breathing stopped.

A dark thought clicked inside of me. The excitement on his face, the joy. He knew. Somehow, heknewthis was going to happen. Or at the very least, he didn’t care.

Just as the childhood version of me knew this man was evil then, I wondered how much more evil he had become since those years in the dungeons. I wondered if Edmund wasn't the only person who had darkness inside of him.

Chapter 25

Iturned to my father and mother again, begging them to see reason. “Please, this has to stop. We are condemning these contenders to death!”

“Oh, Lana, my heart.” My father coughed so much he stopped talking for a moment. Andras rested a hand on my father’s shoulder. “Every once in a while, there is a rogue contender, who takes things just a little too far. All will be fine.”

“Rogue contender? Father, it seems like far more than a rogue contender. HekilledFrederich in cold blood!”

The king’s eyes narrowed. “The trial continues, Illiana, now sit down.”

I looked at my mother for some sort of validation, but clearly, she sided with my father, regardless of how she truly felt. Her face, cold and neutral, as her rigid fingers grasped the edge of her throne, whitening the longer they held on. The other royal advisers were all whispering about the disaster on the field.

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