Page 10 of Trial of Three
“The council can send fully ordained quints to bulk up Blaze’s border. KlarissawantsSlait’s army; she doesn’tneedit.”
Autumn toyed with the tips of her braids. “There are only so many quints. The Citadel was never meant to protect the courts, just the neutral lands between.” She held up a hand, warding off River’s retort. “The point isn’t how or whether the council should interfere in defending Blaze. The point is that you’d rather face Emperor Jawrar himself than go anywhere near Slait’s throne, and Leralynn deserves to know that. And the reason why.”
A pinecone that River hadn’t realized he’d picked up now broke in his hand. Autumn knew all the tiniest imperfections of his soul, and she aimed for each weakness with an archer’s precision. It made him want to shove her off the bloody cliff. “And she will,” he said. “When the time is right, not when bloody Klarissa decides to play us like dancing string puppets.” He shook his head. “Klarissa doesn’t care about protecting Karnish as much as she cares about lighting a fire under me to go against King Griorgi. As she has always wanted. Tugging heartstrings to drum up motivation is a damn old trick, and I’m not letting her play it on Leralynn.” He paused, finding Autumn’s eyes, his mouth suddenly dry with the need to hear his little sister’s approval. “Now do you see why I need Leralynn to pass the trials and get the hell out of here?”
“Don’t take my head off,” Autumn said finally. “But would putting you on Slait’s throne be such a bad thing?”
Ice and fire rushed through River’s blood, bringing him to his feet. He opened his mouth to tell his sister exactly what she could do with that notion, but it wasn’t even worth the breath it would take. “Yes, it would,” he said coldly, turning on his heels back toward the dormitories. “And Autumn, Leralynn’s life depends on obeying my orders, not on liking me. Interfere, and it will be the last time you and I speak.”
7
Lera
“Are you limping, Lilac Girl?” Tye inquires, watching me suspiciously as I navigate my plate from the meat and fruit platters toward the table that the males commandeered for the midday meal. After this morning’s argument with River, and Coal’s idiotic training notion, I’d have refused to share a meal with them altogether except that Kora and her quint are leaving for their third trial after this and the gathering is a bit of a sendoff.
Not that I have a prayer of being good company with the image of Coal’s shaking body haunting my every breath, the wrongness of our connection this morning like a layer of vile grease smearing my soul. There has to be a better way. Certainly, there’s no further to go in the other direction.
“Lass?” Tye prompts.
I set my plate of watermelon and grilled lamb on the table, pretending to hold the dish with both hands. In reality, my right arm throbs from Coal’s opening volley and can’t hold a pen, much less a plate. As for limping... I frown at my leg. I might be. With all the other parts of my body screaming their displeasure, it’s hard to tell what I’m favoring when. My stomach turns at the sight of food. “I’m just hungry.”
“Oh, aye,” Tye says slowly. “That explains it. Of course.”
The dining hall is its usual echoing din, the voices of hungry warriors bouncing off the peaked ceiling two stories above. As always, the occasional head swivels toward me for a quick look, curious about the tiny mortal training alongside the most formidable quint ever to come out of this place. I’ve grown reasonably good at ignoring it. Thankfully, Malikai and his quint are now keeping their distance, content to glare silently from the far side of the hall.
I glance toward Coal and find the warrior coldly unwilling to meet my eyes, so I choose a seat beside Shade instead. The shifter, in his fae form for the occasion—over Autumn’s loud objections—gives me a too-worried look.
I quickly turn to Kora, conjuring a smile. “So, how are you feeling?”
The tall female smiles a bit shyly, so at odds with her usual commanding aura. “Rather excited, to be honest. The runes will allow up to three days to complete the trial, but the council elders told me they expect us back in one, which is encouraging.”
Autumn’s jaw tightens. “Promise me you’ll go for safety over glory, Kora.”
Kora’s cheeks flush a light pink, her long fingers brushing Autumn’s in the first open display of affection I’ve seen between them. “We will share the evening meal tomorrow. How about I promise you that?”
While Kora wears her quint’s usual green tunic, her short brown hair neat and no-nonsense, Autumn looks like she’s dressed up for the occasion—or dressed up for Kora. In a silvery green skirt that nips in at her waist and swishes around her legs like water and a matching bandeau top that highlights every inch of her delicate curves, she looks even more like a mischievous wood imp than usual. Her long blond braids are swept back in a high ponytail, showing off the stunning silver hoops shimmering at her ears.
Seeing Autumn’s gaze fatally caught on Kora’s hand, I take up the reins of the conversation. “Tell me more about the third trial,” I say, making my voice light. Festive. “I know the quint is separated and must reunite and find its way back. Is there more to it?”
“I imagine Prince River would be better to ask than I,” Kora says, clearly unaware of just how little I want to askPrince Riverabout the latrines, much less the trials.
“That is the essence of it,” River says smoothly, his voice betraying nothing of our morning argument. Perhaps it was a nonevent to him. My chest tightens. Coal, Tye, and Shade accept the quint’s hierarchy without question, and River appears to expect the same of me. Just another subordinate for a male used to having a whole court bend a knee. River turns slightly, encompassing both Kora and me with his words while the rest of Kora’s quint leans in to listen.
I shift my gaze to him, quietly hoping the male will drop a juicy piece of lamb right onto his crisply tailored navy-blue tunic.
“The Field Trial simulates capture and escape,” River says. “An elder will blindfold you and take you through the Gloom to your ‘capture’ location, triggering a rune to make you sleep before he leaves. You will be out for under a minute but it will feel longer when you wake. You will be disoriented. As if you’d truly been captured. Your priority will be to find each other, orient yourselves, and return to the Citadel—likely by finding folds in the Gloom to speed your travel. I recommend that, before the trial, you decide whether your meeting point will be in the Light or the Gloom. And while you don’t know the landscape of your trial, you could name a relative meeting spot. The base of the tallest tree in sight, for example. Alternatively, if you have a shifter with an appropriate form, you could agree for everyone to stay put while the animal rounds up the group.”
“Celia shifts to a hawk,” Kora says, nodding to a dark-haired warrior whose long nose makes me think of a bird’s beak. “We plan to gather where the hawk can find us. The Gloom first, and then, if after twelve hours anyone is still alone, we will move into the Light. It will change the distances but create a new avenue of approach.”
River nods approvingly and moves on to a discussion of marker placement and strategy that I tune out. The third trial is a ways off for us—anything beyond next week’s test is—and for the moment, I’ve more than enough to occupy my mind.
Including Shade’s hand, which I realize has been stroking my hair for some time now.
“Hello, cub,” the male purrs, his high cheekbones and full lips only inches from me when I turn to face him. “And here I thought I might need to bite you before you’d grant me attention.”
“By the smell of ye, Shade,” Tye drawls, “you’ve had plenty of the lass’s attention.”
My cheeks flame but Shade’s beautiful face only settles into a contented smile as he draws me closer to him. “By the smell of you, you haven’t.”
