Chapter 10 #2
Unfortunately, Kira had noticed his attention. She sent a scowl my way.
“The Rite of Bonds will strip away everything you think you know about yourself,” Malcolm said, though I barely heard him over the roar of blood in my ears. “It will test more than your strength, more than your speed. It will show you who you truly are when death is breathing across your skin.”
Trew’s lips curved before smoothing, as if he knew exactly what kind of person I was when cornered. As if he were looking forward to seeing what I could do.
He could think whatever he wanted. My goal was to make it through. I wouldn’t accept anything less. Then I could search this place from top to bottom and find out what happened to Addie.
“Those who prove themselves worthy will then be given the final, and may I say, most blessed challenge. You may make it through the trial only to be rejected in the end. Yet those who bond with their other half will never be the same again.”
Lexie rocked on her toes and sent me a grin that held both fear and excitement. Derren, on her other side, squeezed her hand.
They were all in.
What exactly was I getting into here? I’d thought this trial was a simple thing and easily completed. Now I was beginning to suspect the “bond” would not only last a lifetime but imprint itself on my soul.
“The trial begins when you reach Fernwood,” Malcolm said. “A magical world in an alternate realm that’s used only for the Rite of Bonds. Your objective is to survive. How you accomplish that is entirely up to you. I remind you that this is no game. You’ll live, or you won’t.”
His gaze drilled into me. “If you’re not willing to take the risk, I suggest you leave now. No one will stop you.”
Absolutely not. If I died, so be it.
But I’d do all I could to live.
Turning away from me, Malcolm studied a man standing off to my left with his fists clenched at his sides, his face ruddy. “Today, you’re recruits. Make it through the trial and the bonding, and you’ll be warriors. No magic use inside the Rite, by the way. Even paltry abilities are blocked.”
I didn’t know how to use mine anyway.
“Magic clouds judgment,” Malcolm said. “We need to see who you are without it, what kind of strength you bring when stripped bare of all power.”
“That’s it?” someone asked behind me. “Live through the Rite and you’ll be called a warrior? No rules, no directions, no… I don’t know. Guidance, maybe?”
I glanced back at Maddox, one of the eight in my group, giving him a nod.
Great question. He stood with his arms crossed on his chest, his sharp eyes scanning the rest of us.
I suspected he was already calculating which of us wouldn’t make it out.
Beside him, his younger brother, Jaxon, rocked on his heels, his crooked grin wide.
Nervous or cocky, I couldn’t tell. I hadn’t spoken to either yet, but I’d watched enough to know they weren’t the type to die easily.
“Of course there are rules and guidance.” There was no mistaking the cunning on Malcolm’s face.
“Eight groups of eight recruits. One Fernwood crossing. A possible reward at the end. The Rite tests who you truly are. You’ll understand soon enough.
That’s enough information, don’t you think, recruit? ”
“Absolutely not,” Bryson said in a stiff voice. “Give us more information, if you please.”
So maybe the guard wasn’t informed of what went on during the Rite.
“Your job is to survive the Rite, then survive bonding,” Malcolm said. “I look forward to calling many of you warriors at the end.”
Whispers hissed around me.
I, for some asinine reason, kept looking at Trew.
Kira pushed off the wall and stalked over to stand with him, sliding her hand up his arm in a caress that screamed possession. She sent me a look that shouted, see? He’s mine.
“I wonder which recruit will break first.” Her gaze found mine. “Some look incredibly fragile.”
“By the fates, who needs to hear something like that?” Lexie shifted closer, her shoulder nudging mine. She tugged on my arm, urging me to the side of the room. “Ignore the fucking bitch.”
Trew disentangled himself from Kira. She shot a glare at his back as he walked straight toward me, cutting through the recruits. Lexie tensed, her hand tightening on my arm.
I couldn’t move, couldn’t seem to make myself do anything but stand there while he directed the timing of our next interaction.
He stopped near enough in front of me that I felt the heat of him through the leather, a warmth that wasn’t welcome or safe, but still made something inside me curl tight. “Try not to die too quickly, minxpip. It’d be such a waste. You’ve only just started looking dangerous.”
“Watching again instead of intervening?” I asked.
“We’re not allowed to intervene.” Something flickered in his gaze. Regret, maybe. But it was gone before I could name it.
He pivoted and strode across the room and through one of the archways.
Kira’s gaze flicked from me to the archway, and she made a slicing gesture across her throat before pointing at me.
I smiled back at her, letting her see exactly how unbothered I was by her threat.
Fragile things break, but the sharpest ones cut on the way down.