Chapter 51
51
G oing through the threadwell was like being catapulted through a riptide. Water tore at me as it thrust me through a dark tunnel, and I tumbled through its grip. Finally, the twisting underwater tunnel seemed to start to shoot upward, and a glow could be seen from above. I was shoved above the surface where I gasped for air, emerging into chaos.
It was dawn in front of the Stone Coliseum, and I was dragged out of the threadwell pool by guards. All around me, confetti and streamers floated in the early rays of the morning light. Courtiers from Luminaria and from kingdoms far and wide surrounded the threadwell pool, the Stone Coliseum stretching up behind us.
As I got to dry land, the courtiers grew quiet as King West stepped forward. He grabbed my wet hand and yanked it into the sky with his. “My favored lives to see the final trial!”
Cheers erupted all around us, and I caught sight of a dripping wet Callum and a pale-faced Rachelle standing beside the other guards. It looked like we were the only ones to survive the fifth trial.
I looked back at the pool. Tristen?—
“Now, we celebrate!” King West said, and suddenly I was pushed and prodded into a loud parade, two guards by my side. No iron bands were placed on my hands as I was forced forward.
“Tristen, he—” I said to one of the guards.
“Get moving, missy,” one of the guards said to me. “We have to get you washed up before the celebrations tonight. The King has quite a night planned for all of you. Be on your best behavior now that you’re freed from your iron bands—one wrong move and you’re done for.” The other guard snickered.
I swiveled my head, looking behind me, past the priestesses and courtiers following us in the procession.
The threadwell pool remained placid and calm. Tristen did not emerge from it.
The guards returned me to the same chambers in the Saltspire Palace that I had resided in previously. Leah was tending to the roaring hearth when I closed the door behind me.
She turned. “You’re back. Is Rachelle?—”
“She’s safe.”
Leah’s stoic demeanor crumbled, and she rushed to me, throwing her arms around me in a rare display of affection. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least I could do—thank you for everything you did to help us.”
A knock at the door had me pulling away from Leah, and I went to answer it. As I opened the door, Zara slipped inside—as soft and quiet as the whispering fabric of her skirts. She closed the door behind her, her white scribe’s robes flowing around her.
She fixed those odd gray eyes of hers on me. “I need to speak with you. Alone.”
I shook my head. “I trust Leah. You can say what you need to in front of her.”
Zara took a look at Leah as if assessing her, and then turned to me and nodded. “As you may have guessed, I am no scribe. I am a spy in service of an ally of yours.”
“An ally of mine? Who?”
“I cannot say,” Zara said. “But I’m here to get you out. Tonight.”
“How?”
Zarah raised her hand, holding it in front of her…
…and then her arm up to her elbow disappeared, going invisible.
“My power is useful for stealth, and I can shield two people at one time. Pick who you would like to come with you and I can be sure they are safe and out of reach of the island and the forces who control it by this evening.”
Two people. I turned to Leah, whose eyes had gone wide. “Take my sister. Please .”
The choice was obvious, and I didn’t have to think about my answer as I faced Zara once more. “Don’t take me. Take Rachelle and Leah,” I said, gesturing to Rachelle’s sister. “Callum and I will find our own way out.”
Leah’s hands flew to her mouth to cover a gasp.
Zara quirked her head. “You would give up your freedom? For two strangers whom you’ve met in these trials?”
“They aren’t strangers. They’re my friends. And they’ve given up more for me than I could put into words.”
A smile slipped across Zara’s lips. “You truly are everything they say you are.”
“What do you mean?”
But Zara was already in motion, heading to the door as she glanced at Leah. “I’ll meet you back here at midnight, Leah. Pack light and don’t be late.”
Zara had disappeared from the room just as Leah burst into tears. I went to her, pulling her into another hug.
“Why?” Leah asked me as her sobs subsided, finally pulling away.
“Because my greatest fear—and my greatest weakness—is losing those I care about,” I admitted. “If you and Rachelle are safe, that means Callum and I can focus on escaping the final trial alive. Plus, I don’t want the King to retaliate against anyone else if I’m found missing tomorrow morning.”
Leah nodded, wiping at her tear-stained face. “Speaking of the King, I need to get you ready for tonight. Here, let me start on your hair.”
Leah put me in a gold and ivory dress with a tight square bodice and a voluminous gown that trailed on the floor. My hair was swept up in a delicate updo, just a few curls spiraling down to frame the angles of my face.
I was whisked away to the ballroom, where the most raucous party I had seen yet was underway. King West was roaring drunk, parading me around to the other kingdoms like I was a prized mare. Rachelle, who had been seen by the healers, sat beside Callum at the far end of the table as endless wine and food were served. I kept my distance from Rachelle as to not arise suspicion—and I could barely escape the King and his court despite my disdain for them.
My gaze kept sliding to the doors of the throne room.
Doors that Tristen did not enter.
The night continued in a blur as the festivities reached a fever pitch.
I couldn’t take it anymore, and as soon as King West was distracted, I slipped from the ballroom.
Silence awaited me in my chambers. My guards were missing—likely drunk with the rest of them in the main ballroom, the revelry overflowing like the cups of everyone in the palace.
I stepped inside on wobbly legs.
Tristen had been alone and drained of his power when those shadows had emerged before he had pushed me through the threadwell. He hadn’t come back through the pool. He must be… he couldn’t be…
I felt tears burning behind my eyes, and I sunk down on the lush carpet of my room, feeling the weight of the trials bearing down on me.
Everything was too much. How was I supposed to show up to the sixth trial and kill Callum? How was I supposed to come to terms with the fact that Tristen had likely died, alone in the dark dunes of The Eternal Sands? There had been so many dark figures that had emerged from the shadows—surely too many for him to fight off himself.
Tears flowed faster now, and I felt a sob make its way up my throat.
“I can’t,” I whispered to myself in my cavernous room. “I can’t accept this.”
Behind me, I heard the door of my room open and close.
My heart fluttered, hope coming alive as I turned?—
—but as Callum entered, I swallowed my disappointment.
“Callum,” I said, and he helped me to my feet.
“Figured that I’d check on you and let you know that they just announced the last trial is tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” I said, still feeling in a state of shock as his hands took mine. “That’s so soon.”
“I know,” Callum said, squeezing my hands. “I got away as soon as I could. Everyone’s distracted. I wanted to… see if you wanted to spend the night together. In case it’s our last.”
My heart was squeezing, threatening to explode. “It can’t be our last,” I said, my voice sounding so small. Unbidden, the memory of everyone I cared for being murdered in the underwater palace came back to me, and fresh tears rolled down my face. “I can’t have this. I can’t keep saying goodbye to the only people I know in the entire world. I can’t keep wondering what small joy in my life will be extinguished next. I can’t… I can’t win these trials and keep my soul, too.”
I looked up at him, and he reached up and brushed away my tears. “Don’t think about all that. Just be here. With me.”
He leaned down and kissed me then, but for some reason his touch felt wrong.
Callum felt wrong.
Something under my skin tugged. As Callum’s mouth moved with mine, I felt the pull again.
Let me free , it seemed to say.
So I did.
And Tristen’s stolen power fizzled through me, opening Callum’s mind to me with a
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