Chapter 14
14
A pplause . They were clapping.
So cold. I felt so?—
Wait. I felt . That meant that I was alive.
I sat up, gasping, clutching my throat, my body. I was greeted by clapping royals and courtiers. They were watching me unsteadily climb to my feet, and everything was unchanged from when I had passed out, save for the darkened sky visible outside of the windows and the glow of torches now tossing light around the room.
I looked down, and my dress was pristine. Untouched. I touched my body, feeling for the gashes…
…that weren’t there.
Callum approached me, relief in his features. “Saffron Vale, you have survived the second trial,” he said. “May I escort you back?”
I looked around in shock. Rachelle and Tristen weren’t there, but there were still other prisoners convulsing on the floor… including Ajax.
“What—” I started.
“We can discuss any questions you have on the way back,” Callum said, interrupting me.
As Callum offered me his arm, I took it, but I couldn’t wrench my gaze from the unconscious prisoners still on the floor of the ballroom. There were a few who were so clearly dead—blood having pooled from their eyes and mouth—and servants were currently dragging a few bodies out of the throne room. My stomach felt sick, but it did another turn as I caught several royals exchanging gold coins as they watched me leave.
They were betting on us. On who would win.
As Callum led me out, I caught the gaze of a woman in white robes with dark skin. She was adorned with jewels—clearly one of the royalty—but she seemed separate from the rest of the group. She watched me with odd gray eyes that stood out against her dark complexion. Her beauty was that of a panther—silent yet deadly—and her gaze followed me until Callum and I left the throne room.
The doors closed behind us, and we were alone.
Callum pulled me into a narrow hallway, and suddenly, I was wrapped up in his strong arms.
“Callum,” I breathed, but I couldn’t stop the sobs that started wracking my body as he held me. I clutched at his arms that were corded in muscle. He held me until my shaking subsided.
Slowly, I raised my head and gazed up at him. With a gentle gesture, he reached down and brushed away the hair from my face.
“You can’t be seen with me like this,” I said, suddenly looking down the empty hallway as if we were moments away from being discovered.
Callum chuckled. “It was definitely not your double that made it back if you’re worried for my safety.”
I glared and elbowed him, and he put his hands up. “Don’t fight me—this isn’t a trial. You’re safe,” he said.
My expression went soft as I took in his words.
You’re safe.
“It was all so real,” I said.
“The liquid you drank came from the island itself. It’s a kind of hallucinogen that brings everyone into the Mirror Realm together. Not much is known about the Mirror Realm—but if you die there, you die here.”
I felt my throat bob. “How many others came back? Rachelle? Tristen?”
Callum narrowed his eyes. “Rachelle is alive. Along with something like thirty others so far, but there are still more trapped within the Mirror Realm. And yes, the Assassin lived.”
“He helped me. Again.”
Anger flashed across Callum’s face. “I don't know how many times you need to hear this, but maybe this time it will sink in. You. Can't. Trust. Him. You almost died. You know how scared I was? Seeing you convulse on the floor, knowing you were being destroyed in your mind? I wished I was in there with you. Wished I could be the one protecting you.”
I mulled his words over. “You weren’t, though. In the trial?”
Callum’s eyebrow raised. “No. Why?”
“Because… your shield saved me.”
Callum frowned. “What do you mean?”
I hesitated. “I… I was about to lose. Against my double. And I reached within myself… and called your shield.”
“You’re a shielder?” Callum asked, and suddenly was pulling me down the hallway. “Let’s get outside. I want you to show me.”
“I don’t know how I?—”
But Callum was already hurrying down the vast hall of the Saltspire Palace, and I rushed after him, the ghosts of my injuries still playing tricks on me as I winced and felt wisps of pain of what had been sustained in the Mirror Realm.
Callum led me out a side entrance to the palace, to a small pocket garden wreathed in hedges to hide us from prying eyes.
“Try,” Callum insisted, facing me. “Bring up your shield.”
I hesitated. I slid to the ground, kneeling. I raised both hands over me in a crossed position, just like I’d seen him do—just like I’d done in the second trial.
…but felt nothing.
I blew out a breath, lowering my arms. “It’s not there.”
Callum held out a hand and pulled me up back to standing. “Are you sure you wielded a shield power? That one of the other prisoners didn’t help you?”
I thought back to those final moments of the second trial. My memory was so fuzzy. My blood loss had made me so dizzy…
“Maybe it was,” I admitted, but even as I said it, it felt wrong. That burst of power… it had come from within me.
But Callum was already nodding. “I know being powerless is… tough. But you’ve made it this far. You’re holding your own. I’m proud of you.”
He brought me to him, and I tried to find comfort in his embrace, but a nagging feeling kept my thoughts racing.
The question I had asked myself when I first arrived here came to me once more.
Who am I?