Page 43 of Immortal Throne

CHAPTERELEVEN

Ilanded face first in a foot of water. Sputtering, I flailed until I managed to grip the slippery surface and pushed my head out of the water.

A dark cavern greeted me, along with a string of Ryker’s cursing.

Oh my, demon boy was pissed.

Getting my feet underneath me, I stood and tried to shake out as much water as possible. My sneakers were ruined.

“What the fuck?” Ryker snarled and stomped over to me, splashing water in his wake. “Too chicken shit to do the trial by yourself?”

“Why don’t you go run and tell the council on me? You’re good at that.”

He grabbed the stringy part of my shirt, hoisted me off the ground, and slammed me against the cave wall. “What’s your deal?”

His face was impossibly close. He seethed with anger, his magic vibrating along my skin. Our breath mingled as we glared at each other, panting.

What was my deal? No clue. I didn’t want to be alone and, apparently, having my enemy with me was better than no one at all. What had come over me?

Apparently, Ryker wasn’t the only one questioning my actions.

I offered an awkward, one-shoulder shrug from my pinned position. “I’m kind of just winging it.”

Ryker cursed again and pushed away from me.

I fell back to the ground and scrambled to my feet to look around. We were in a small, dark cave. Small holes in the ceiling let in shards of silvery light and trickles of rain. Glowing blue algae or fungus of some sort covered one of the walls, but the dim light made it hard to discern details.

A large pillar rose up from the center of the cave to the enclosed roof and though the main portion of the cave was roughly circular, it had a few nooks and crannies along the outer edge. The floor wasn’t an even surface, with ledges rising up from the water. It would make walking around difficult, the entire cave floor a giant tripping hazard.

Ryker now stood a few feet away, raking his hand through his black hair as he also surveyed the situation.

The cave shuddered and water poured in through the holes. The pool of water rose from ankle depth to mid-shin. I searched frantically for an exit.

My skin tingled, my hindsight blaring its alarms.

Yeah, thanks magic. I’m aware of the danger.

“How do we get out?” I asked.

Ryker didn’t answer.

“Ryker?” I spun to find him patting down the walls.

Okay…maybe bringing the village idiot wasn’t the best of my ideas.

“The trials test aspects of leadership,” Ryker growled. “This one must be intelligence. We have to find the way out.”

I blinked at him. The incoming water slowed down in volume, now trickling through the pore-like holes at the roof of the cave.

“Like an escape room?” I shivered and rubbed my bare arms.

“There’s not going to be a neon exit sign, princess. Hurry the fuck up and start looking before the water covers any clues.”

I jolted into action, getting on my hands and knees to pat the covered ground of the cave. My fingers brushed along something hard. I clutched the object and brought it up.

A knife. A sheathed dagger.

Ryker still patted along the walls, his boots sloshing the water and almost managing to drown out his string of curses. He had an impressive vocabulary.

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