Page 52 of Bonded to the Fallen Shadow King

He was staring at me, arms crossed, and I felt the pull toward him again.Too much. I couldn’t think about him now. I couldn’t think about anything but surviving.

Vyraetos studied all of us in silence for a moment longer. Then he lifted his arms. “Once again, you will enter the labyrinth in a random order. This has been confirmed. The first to enter are Kaylen, Calla Lily, Myantha, and Briar. Step onto the Shadow Beast Sigil, please.”

Of course I’d be stuck withher.

Trying to keep my eyes from rolling, I strode to the center of the room. I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin, ignoring the way the discs pulled on my wrists.

Kaylen’s lips curled into smirk as she stepped into place beside me.

“This should be fun.” She stood confidently, tossing her white-blonde hair over her shoulder. “I hope you don’t strain your arms.”

Calla Lily and Myantha joined us. Myantha trembled as she took her place, her honey-gold locs falling over her face. She looked at me, and I wanted to reassure her. But I couldn’t. This was going to be hell, and all we could do was fight our way through it. And if I couldn’t protect her any better than I’d protected Aelir, then she’d be dead.

Black mist spiraled around us, and we vanished. My feet scraped on smooth cold stone, and an ungodly stench assaulted my nostrils.

I opened my eyes and pushed myself up, and when I saw the labyrinth stretching before me, all I could say was, “Fuck.”

ChapterSeventeen

Briar

The fae bastards had dropped us into hell. I blinked, hoping this was some sort of sick illusion.

The stench—thick rot, stagnant water, and the sharp bite of mold and metal—hit hard enough that my eyes watered and bile churned in my stomach. It clung to the back of my throat, coating my tongue until all I could taste was decay.

My shoes were on slick black stone, solid but damp beneath the soles, and I stepped forward onto the platform with the others. The air here didn’t move. Not a whisper. Just thick, sour stillness.

Myantha gasped, as did Calla Lily.

Kaylen simply stared.

The labyrinth stretched out ahead of us, suspended in air like some deranged spiderweb. Dozens of narrow wooden paths jutted out across the expanse, most no wider than my hips, some barely more than planks lashed together and covered with dry lichen. They intersected at random black platforms, and some stretched into nothingness. The wood sagged with age, worn pale at the edges and darker in the middle, with spots that reminded me of old rot or blood. No rails. No support above, and only a handful of stone columns crumbling beneath them like afterthoughts. We could easily slip and die.

My thoughts turned to Aelir.

A tall, gray tower cracked with age rose in the center like the bones of some ancient god. It had no windows, just deep grooves and shadows carved into its rock like forgotten symbols, and a large arched doorway on each side. The top was where we were headed.

Hundreds of clicking sounds echoed in the air, soft and staccato, like chitin on wood, and beneath them thudded something slower. A deeper cadence. Heavier. Mechanical. Like a massive clock ticking toward something none of us wanted.

Kaylen walked past me without a glance, heading toward the north edge of the platform. She halted and stared out at the maze, arms loose at her sides, gaze flicking over the paths. No quip. No glare. Her silence didn’t comfort me. It stretched too long, and that quiet calculation in her eyes said she was already three moves ahead of the rest of us.

I didn’t trust her.

Calla Lily let out a sharp breath. “How in the scaffing void are we supposed to survive this?”

“I don’t know,” Myantha said, her voice smaller than usual, “but Briar will protect us.”

A spike of tension twisted under my skin as Thalira, Velessa, the brown-haired fae who had been with Calla Lily, and Malnon appeared in the center of the square black platform. The expectation wrapped around my spine like a heavier weight than what was strapped to my wrists. I stepped forward, the toe of my shoe brushing the edge of the stone. It looked solid at least, and a wall rose up along the back, giving a little protection.

Rhielle, Quen, Ceana, and the lilac-haired fae appeared next.

I braced my hands at my waist, the discs swinging lightly at my sides. “I’ll stay and defend anyone who wants to stay here, as long as they fight as best they can and swear they won’t hurt anyone.” Heavy gray clouds obscured the sky, blocking out the sun. I couldn’t see anything threatening overhead, but that meant nothing. The Hall of Ruthlessness had been just as quiet before the manticores dropped in like Fate-damned thunder.

Rhielle moved past me without a word, yanking up her sleeves and heading for the southern edge of the platform. She crouched low, fingers brushing the stone, then pressed her foot against one of the connecting planks. It groaned under her weight, the wood dry and strained, but it didn’t break.

Yet.

She drew back, scowling. “I’m going.”

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