Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
We roll out of the dragon’s mouth, spilling onto the white flagstones. I end up on my back, the breath knocked out of me. The sky stretches over us, a silver dome with hints of gold. It spins slowly, an upside-down bowl that dazes my eyes.
Beautiful.
Being alive is beautiful.
I made it out of the dragon, out of the arena.
I’ve won the first trial.
It was supposed to be that way, that was the plan, and yet it’s unfathomable. Once I realized I had no magic, it had looked as if I’d die there.
The humans around me groan as they try to regain their feet. Beaten up, some of them are bleeding through clothes soaked and torn to shreds. Their eyes are wide in their pale faces.
We are a sorry sight.
The fae aristocrats are standing on balconies and terraces, safe behind ornate iron fences, watching as we crawl and stumble, smearing blood over the pale flagstones.
I resist the urge to give them my little finger in salute.
But when I try to sit up and lift my hand, the noise inside my head intensifies, a buzzing beehive trapped inside my skull.
The fae nobles move; the world slides.
Just a few feet away from me, I see Jai getting up, his dark head bowed, but when I try to do the same, getting onto my knees, my legs go out from under me, and my sight darkens.
The snake venom, I think. Or is it the poison from the mist? I’m still dying. Will the healers help me? Will anyone help me? Did Jai tell the truth about the trials’ aftermath, and will I eventually see the king and fulfill my mission?
The questions buzz inside my head as the darkness lingers. I’m jostled, and my stomach revolts. I puke my guts out, and someone curses. I think of the disgusted faces of the fae nobles watching us, and I almost laugh.
Giving the best first impressions at the fae king’s sacred palace.
Someone yells, and the sound is loud enough to pierce the buzzing in my head. It looks like I’ve annoyed them. These are the people who have organized these games, who have thought up inventive ways to kill us.
I wish I could puke some more on their silken shoes and robes.
But I’m senseless for a long while, or so it feels, the darkness swallowing me, keeping me floating in a place where time stands still.
I rise from the dark a few times to find someone sitting on a stool by the bed, dark hair falling into dark eyes, but the moments of clarity don’t last.
My leg burns.
My arm aches.
My feet throb.
My heart labors.
The ceiling swims and sinks, letting me fall back into the pit of the waves.
Voices echo inside my skull. Laughter. A whisper.
“She’s looking better,” a female voice is saying. “Poor thing. Barely survived the arena and the finnfolk.”
“That venom isn’t finnfolk venom. It’s from earth snakes.”
“I know that. But have you ever wondered if they are walking among us without us knowing? Finnfolk. We’re hanging over the sea, for all the gods’ sakes, close to the Pillar, and finnfolk have their magic. What if they can change their appearance? Pretend to be us?”
“They can shift, but they can’t hide their magic,” the other female says. “Their voice gives them away. Even if they shifted forms to look like us, we’d realize because the dragonbone relics would tell us. And the telchins would definitely know.”
“There is a way for merfolk to hide their magic,” a male voice says, “the only way, and that’s to not let their fishskin touch them, for it contains their soul, as you know. Their sea-soul.”
“No, that’s a sylkie thing,” she scoffs. “Only a great spell can conceal such magic. A layered spell. The Great Queen of the Sea can perform such spells, but at great cost.”
Great cost , I think. That’s right, though they have no idea… No clue how painful it was and how the spell betrayed me, keeping ahold of me when I most needed to shed it.
The voices fade away, and I tumble back into my mind. I see Mars, I see my parents, my brother, I see our home—the forests, the town, the river shore. I see the waves and the hungry maws lurking inside.
Dream or reality?
The more time passes, the more confusion I feel. I’m hot, I’m cold. I feel as if a spike is driving through my head. Something cool rests on my forehead. More blankets are heaped on top of me. Cool, bitter liquid is poured between my lips, and when I choke, I’m turned on my side to cough it out.
My body shudders. My legs burn with pinpricks of pain. My arms throb.
An eternity passes.
When I finally open my eyes and they remain open, when my heart has found a steady rhythm once more and the fire in my leg has abated, there he is.
The man sitting by my bed.
I hadn’t dreamed it.
My heart jolts. Jai , I think.
But it’s not him, and I crumble. I don’t understand why I feel crushed to find he isn’t there.
The man sitting beside me is blond, his eyes clear, and the handsome face bared when he looks up reveals him to be Tru.
He’s seated on a stool, all straight and proper. He’s dressed in a different uniform from the one he wore on the barge, black pants and boots, a golden tunic to mid-thigh, a black leather belt, and leather epaulets and gauntlets. His blond hair is caught in a tail at his nape, the long strands hanging over one shoulder, and he has a black spear propped against the wall beside him.
His hazel eyes look very green as he leans slightly forward to look at me. “You’re finally awake.” His sloped ears poke out of his hair, decorated with a few silver hoops—a spartan adornment compared to most fae I’ve met in my life. “The healers feared the worst when you wouldn’t properly return to consciousness. I know,” he lifts a hand, “what you want to ask: it’s been a day and a night since the wyrm disgorged you here at the palace.”
That’s not what I want to ask, I want to ask if Jai was here, but I swallow hard and work on schooling my features into a blank mask.
“As for Athdara,” he goes on, “he was here all night by your side, but he needs to rest, so I took over. He’ll be glad to hear you’re awake.”
Wait, what did he just say? I forget all about blankness, all about my annoyance.
He was? I mouth, because I still don’t have my voice. My heart lodges in my throat. He was here all night?
“Oh, yes.” Tru sounds annoyed. As if reporting an inadequacy on Jai’s part.
Jai had been here.
I should hate him, so why do I feel my eyes prickle with tears?
It’s the venom, I think, the panic of the trial, the near misses, the almost-failure. It’s shaken me.
Just don’t let those tears fall.
Why? I ask Tru. I’m aware of my mouth moving, needing to get all these questions out even if no sound betrays them. Why?
But Tru had a keen eye from the start. A keen eye and a kind heart. “You know the answer.”
Oh, well. Keen eye and kind heart, but obviously shit for brains. I am asking, aren’t I?
I don’t know! I gesture at him. Why? Tell me why.
He’s still watching me. “You should ask him yourself.” He pats an item in his lap. A hat? “I talked to the healers. They’ll release you soon, in time for the king’s banquet, and then the grand ball. I hope you know how to dance.”
A ball. What in the hells? I’m still struggling to keep the tears back, my hands clenching in the covers, and we’re talking about balls? I don’t have anything to wear, I’m not sure I remember how to dance, and this little thing might just end up breaking me. I can’t handle it, not after the trial, after everything I had planned went crashing down.
My panic has to show on my face.
Tru’s pale brows knit together. “Didn’t Athdara tell you about it? Don’t fret. Nobody expects you to arrive at the games with an expensive collection of clothes. According to the festival law, you will be given everything you need for the next three days and until the next trial, including gowns, shoes, and maids to look after your every need.”
So he did tell me the truth about that. I relax a little and lean back against the pillows.
“I should go.” Tru gets up, a conical hat in his hands. So it was a hat, after all. “Lots to prepare for the first trial celebrations.”
I reach for him, my fingers snagging in the soft fabric of his sleeve. Jai… Athdara. Tru’s eyes are on my mouth as I form the words. Where is he?
He doesn’t reply to my question, even though I’m sure he read my lips. “I’ll see you around the palace,” he says, smoothing down his gold and black uniform. He jams the conical hat onto his head. “And, Rae, when you meet our king… be careful.”
What is he warning me about? Of course, I’ll be wary of the king. He’s a fae, a king, and a sorcerer. A cruel, selfish prick of a man who came from another world. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be wary?
In the end, I’m glad when Tru finally leaves, giving me space to compose myself.
This can’t happen again, this weakness, this breaking down.
The plan is on track. I’m here now, inside the palace, and this is when my real work begins. I need to recover and prepare for what comes next, the most important part of this trial.
The part where I get to meet the king and fulfill my fate.