Page 120 of A City of Flames

I grab onto the railings and tremble as the shifter hurtles from the walls to Darius. Again, I let myself feel what I normally avoid: fear.

And for the first few seconds, I can’t see Darius, the shifter’s whole weight covers him. People question whether it’s over, but the shifter soon enough raises its head and shrieks, crumpling to the ground beside a still-alive Darius. Tendrils of fire spark from his fingertips, he’s panting as the shifter reverts to his human form—chest red and raw from burns.

It’s not long before they both regain some strength and the shifter quarrels with him. As humans with fists in the air, one on top of the other. The shifter lands the first few punches until Darius clenches the shifter’s other hand within his grip. The audience wince out loud as Darius smacks his head against the shifter, startling him.

My head pounds wildly almost as if I’d received the hit. Darius reacts quick as he glances to his side and takes the long chain by his foot, wrapping it around the shifter’s neck. A struggle ensues as Darius doesn’t ease on his hold and the shifter turns every color in the world.

He sputters until his hands fall limp to the side and he falls unconscious. I think I stop breathing as the chain drops and Darius steps back to examine. It goes eerily quiet for seconds, minutes, the moment lasts a lifetime and then... the cheers break through.

Copper coins rain in the air, and glancing over at Sarilyn, I see her grip the arms of her throne despite her calm composure as he stares up at her. He then turns toward the crowd, bowing at the waist with a mocking smile. He goes around as everyone whistles before he stops to do it to someone in the crowd. My eyes travel along with his until I notice Lorcan above.

His lips are pulled into a tight line and from where I’m standing, I can see his anger convulsing out of him, like that one smile from Darius was the last straw. Every part of me grows heavy with emotion. Had the death of Lorcan’s father made that hatred so strong? Blood or not I could never hate my brothers.

Lorcan shakes his head, his brows narrowing before he shoulders past someone and walks out of the stands, never turning back.

Prying my eyes away as he disappears, I whirl my head to Darius. He’s still bowing when he freezes halfway, straightening up as his gaze connects with mine from the stands. It’s the first he’s seen me since that night, and it’s the first time since the fight ended that his winning smile disappears.

I can’t tell if my expression is solemn, but I can feel it in the way my brows pucker, my throat closes and how my heart squeezes until there shouldn’t be anything left except remnants of what it once was.

Someone says my name, but I clutch my cloak as Darius and I stare at each other. He slowly rises to his full height, powerful even through a fight and his eyes never drift away from mine as venators yank him back to the dungeons. Even as he looks over his shoulder at me and the gates close, he doesn’t stop. It’s as if he is memorizing my features, whole.

“Nara!” Freya shakes my arm and I realize it was her calling for me. I glance at Sarilyn, her eyes on me in the same way she’d looked at me on the night of the Noctura ball, knowing I was with Darius.

Freya shakes me again and this time I face her and Link, my mind elsewhere and my chest tight. “I—need to get him out I—”

People start descending from he steps as Link and Freya share a troubled look before he says, “Nara, it’s not so simple, you know that.”

I do.

“Now more than ever the queen will likely think you’ll try and get him out,” Freya adds. “Meaning more patrols and less chance of you succeeding.”

She keeps her hand wrapped around my arm and I lower my head knowing she is right, but it doesn’t make me want to not try, at least.

“If I don’t get him out, they’ll kill him—”

“If they wanted to kill him,” Freya lowers her voice. “They would have done it by now. They wanted answers from him, didn’t they?”

I nod but how much torture can he withstand before telling them everything they want to know?

Freya sighs, looking at Link as if she’s thinking of what to do next. “Three days, Nara,” she says. “Give it three days and I will find out where exactly they’re keeping him and gather enough resources to help you.”

Three days... a lifetime in my eyes at this moment. I slide my hand down to hers and squeeze it. “But what about you? Your father—”

“Is a horrible example of a human being,” she cuts me off. “And if I think about it, I’m letting him win.” She looks skyward, biting her lip and I watch her throat ripple as she swallows before focusing on me. “My mother died... he killed her, he treated me like I was dirt and when I came back after two years, he already had everything set up for me because he believed I wouldn’t succeed in anything else. He may be my father and I hate that—” A single tear slides down her cheek. She wipes it away within a second “—I hate that I still love him, but I also can’t let him think he’s winning again, because I’m tired of feeling weak by his side and I’m tired of always trying to make him love me when that should come natural to a father.”

No matter the circumstances, Freya has stood beside me for anything. She has just learned she’s a witch, and that her father killed her mother, but she still finds courage to help when she shouldn’t have to at all. “You might share his blood but you’re nothing like him,” my words are soft enough to nurture her. “Remember that.”

She puts on a brave smile, her eyes squinting like she wants to cry as she nods and drops her head on Link’s shoulder beside her.

“Three days.” I calm myself with a deep exhale.

“Three days,” she repeats it with a whisper, and I look back to the pit, the marks on the ground and then the queen and general gone from their thrones.

After the three days, I will only have four more until the trials. I pray those do take a lifetime.

* * *

My hair peeks through the hood of my cloak as I keep my head low and make it past the cells. It’d turned nightfall by the time I left my chambers. Freya had made sure that for the three days I waited to come down here, she’d figure out where Darius was being kept. We realized it was where the queen had held the Ardenti dragon. Be it some twisted joke on her part or not, it didn’t deter me, and according to Rydan, fewer venators would be patrolling the dungeons tonight.

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