Page 97 of Tempest Blazing
A choked sound escaped my throat—part sob, part growl. Adrenaline, raw and useless, flooded my veins. I reached for my magic, trying to throw something toward Anya, anything to help her—but Selena's spell made it impossible to focus. The familiar warmth flickered weakly around my hands before dissolving into nothing. Every attempt to channel power felt like trying to light a fire underwater.
Valen jerked me back around with enough force to send fresh pain shooting through my shoulders. "Eyes on us," he muttered, his red gaze boring into mine with predatory focus.
What followed was two minutes that felt like hours.
Valen's fist connected with my solar plexus.Pain. Can't breathe.Before I could recover, he shoved me backward into the rough stone wall, scraping skin from my cheek. I tasted copper—blood from where my teeth had cut my lip.Anya… Have to…
Selena's knuckles found the tender spot between my ribs. The pain exploded through my torso, white-hot and nauseating. A sweeping kick took my legs out from under me, my knees cracking against the unforgiving stone.No… no… no…
"Stay down," she said conversationally, her boot slamming down on my shoulder blade. "You look better this way."
The whole time, I could hear Anya's sharp gasps of pain echoing across the courtyard, could see her amulet burning against her skin like a brand in my peripheral vision. The countdown ticked in my head with mechanical precision, each second another nail in the coffin of both our chances.
When my amulet pulsed one final time, locking in the deduction with a soft chime that sounded like a death knell, Selena and Valen finally released me. The chains around my arms dissolved into shadow, and the sticky resistance spell faded from my muscles.
"You're so far beneath us," Selena said, stepping back with that same cruel smile. "We don't even need to finish you."
They melted into the fog, leaving me bruised, breathless, and utterly alone.
I forced myself to stand on shaking legs, every muscle protesting. The scoreboard overhead blazed with fresh updates, and when my penalty flashed across the display, my stomach dropped through the floor.
Ninety points. From 50 to 25 in the span of two minutes.
But that wasn't what made my chest tighten with panic. Anya's score flashed next—from whatever she'd managed to earn down to a devastating low that made my throat close up. She'd been doing well before this. Better than well. And now...
Passing was no longer a sure thing. Hell, passing was barely possible now, even if I managed to capture every remaining flag in the trial.
My Golden Shield flickered faintly around my hands as I tested my magic. Still there, but weaker. Each pulse sent a jolt of pain through my arm—a warning I couldn't ignore. Like the trial itself was sapping my strength along with my points. Like I was being tested on more than just tactics and power—on who I was willing to become. Who I was willing to sacrifice.
This whole time, I'd been telling myself I was playing smart. Strategic. But what kind of future was worth building on broken dreams and betrayed trust? Anya's trust. My trust in myself. All of it shattered in the space of two minutes.
The fog swirled around me, thick and concealing, as I stood in the ruins of my strategy and my certainty. Somewhere out there, Anya was dealing with her own compromised status, her own brutal point loss, her own realization that trying to help me had cost her everything.
I wiped blood from my cheek with a trembling hand and started walking deeper into the ruins, away from where they'd taken Anya. Away from my shame.
???
The hollow swallowed me as my legs gave out, adrenaline crashing. Every breath was agony—Selena's knuckles had found their mark between my ribs, and blood trickled warm down my temple.
I looked up. The hovering scoreboard made my stomach drop through the stone. My name had slid so far down the rankings I had to squint to find it. The numbers blurred. Pain, exhaustion, but the math was simple enough. Even if I captured everyremaining flag, even if I pulled off some miraculous comeback—the deficit was too deep.
Too wide.
Finality settled into my bones like lead.This is it. It's over.
My hands trembled against the stone floor. All those training sessions. All those sleepless nights studying magical theory I'd never truly master. All those moments of pretending I belonged here—for what? To collapse in a hollow while better candidates claimed their victories above?
You'll never last, Tempest. You're not built for this kind of pressure. You'll crack, just like you always do.
Mom's voice. Always at the back of my mind. For one terrible heartbeat, I almost believed her. Almost let that familiar poison seep back into my veins, telling me I'd been foolish to think I could be anything more than what she'd always said I was.
The trial raged around me—distant shouts, the crack of magic against stone, the thunder of combat echoing through the ruins. But through it all came another sound, impossibly clear over the din. A single voice, bright and fierce and utterly unshakeable.
"Tess! Tess, you've got this!"
Pippa. Calling my name from the stands. Not just a cheer. It wasbelief—pure, unwavering faith that cut through the fog of my despair like a blade.
Someone believes in me. Me.The thought hit harder than Selena's punch.In all my messy, broken humanity—someone still thinks I can do this.
