Chapter 31
31
D awn was just breaking when I woke. Outside my window, I could see the light blue rays of the morning sun. I started to sit up, and pain lanced through me. I hissed, and looked down to see bandages wrapped around my midsection.
A figure stirred by my bedside, and I saw Callum asleep on an uncomfortable looking chair. Dark circles were underneath his eyes, but he was otherwise unscathed. He had made it through the trial.
I struggled to sit up, feeling the bruises that I had gotten from landing on the hard stone yesterday. A whimper escaped my lips as I tried to breathe through the pain that had been masked by adrenaline yesterday.
“Saffron,” Callum said, and he was awake, jumping to his feet and coming to me, his blond hair disheveled by sleep.
“We made it,” I whispered. “We’re still alive.”
He pulled me into a hug, and I clenched my teeth at the pain from my bruises but held him back all the same. “We did,” he said.
He released me, and his eyes scanned over my body. “I couldn’t find you last night. I heard you were injured and I was running around trying to find you after I got out of the Oracle’s chambers. You were gone when I first came to your room, so it took me time to get back here again and take care of your injuries. Where were you?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” I lied. “How did you make it through the trial?”
Callum shrugged. “I used my shield to hold out against the sphinx until I could think of the answer. But it was a hard one. I’m glad you made it.”
“I almost didn’t. What did you ask the sphinx?”
Callum’s eyes darkened. “I wanted to know who was going to win the trials.”
My hand shot out for his, my stomach churning. “Who? Who does?”
Callum grimaced. “She told me that the fates haven’t decided yet. But that fate isn’t on my side.”
“Callum,” I said, but he just gave me a sad smile.
“I knew I was taking a risk by entering these trials. If the fates have it out for me? Good. Because I’d rather have them wish me ill than turn their attention to you.”
My heart cracked at that, and I reached a hand to caress Callum’s face. “I will fight the fates for you,” I swore.
He leaned down, capturing my lips in a kiss. He pulled back, tears shining on his face. "My wish since you were taken from me was to see you again. And I got that. Whatever the gods take for being able to hold you again is fine by me. I will pay my debts."
My breath hitched. No . I didn’t want him to start talking like this. To accept defeat when we still had so long to go. “The Oracle told me something, too.”
Callum’s eyes widened. “What did she say?”
“You were right—about Tristen. He was never my ally. He was the one who stole my memories.”
Callum rose to his feet, anger clouding his expression. “That bastard—kidnapping you wasn’t enough? He had to take those from you, also? I’ll kill him.”
He looked serious enough to follow through on his threat, but I grabbed his hand, pulling him back down to sit on the bed by my side. “No, Callum. No more killing. I know who he really is. Now, we can focus on what really matters. Us getting out of here. Together .”
Callum nodded, but the fury was still simmering in his gaze.
A knock sounded at the door and he tensed. I held my breath as Callum went to answer it—one of his daggers held behind his back—but as soon as he did, a flash of red hair bounded through the room and tackled me.
I let out a pained giggle as Rachelle hugged me, my bruises screaming.
“YOU’RE ALIVE!” Rachelle shrieked, squeezing me.
“Not… for… long…” I gasped out as she tightened her grip on me.
She pulled back, beaming. “I knew you’d make it, Saffy baby. Three trials down? Three more to go!” Rachelle punched her fist in the air in triumph.
I laughed at her pure joy. “You’re not injured either? Is everyone just better at riddles than me?”
Rachelle tented her fingers, mock seriousness in her expression as she gazed at me. “I cheated.”
“How?” Callum asked, joining us.
Rachelle flipped curls of her red hair over her shoulder. “I asked the Oracle for the question first, before the riddle.”
“That’s allowed?” I asked in awe.
Rachelle grinned. “It sure is. So I asked for the answer to the riddle as my one question.”
“Brilliant,” I said, impressed by her.
“Sorry I didn’t think of it earlier,” Rachelle said, seeing my bandages. “It dawned on me right as I entered the room. And, of course, they kept us from going back to talk to y’all while you were waiting to be called. I was going to try to use my shifting powers, but the sphinx had dampening magic, just like I’d been told.”
Right, the sphinx had nullifying powers. My eyes shifted to Callum—how had he used his magic in the trial?—but there was yet another knock at the door and he went to answer it. He returned moments later with a heaping tray of breakfast, and my mouth watered at the smell of fluffy scrambled eggs and salty bacon.
Rachelle stayed in my room, picking pieces of bacon off my breakfast tray as I ate in bed. We talked about the upcoming trials, who had survived—and who hadn’t. Only about fifteen prisoners were left. Callum disappeared and returned with freshly squeezed orange juice for all of us as we talked.
As I listened to Rachelle gossip about the priestesses, I thought that I should feel content. We had made it through the trial, and likely had a momentary reprieve until the next one.
So why did I feel so uneasy?