CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A secluded gloomy alcove sat hidden along the base of the tower, untouched by the glowing lights of the easternmost parts of the kingdom. The night markets were already in full swing, music and laughter carrying up the high hills surrounding the castle grounds.
One of the two guards pulled back a gaggle of ivy to reveal a near-decrepit door that I surely would’ve missed if I’d been on my own. With the turn of a copper key, it groaned on its hinges, opening wide enough for a person to slip through sideways.
Another turn, and I was locked inside the tower once more. The heavy snap of the lock falling back into place sent gooseflesh raising along my arms. Trapped. Until quarter past two, if Maverick was telling the truth.
The corridors were just as dark as before, the sconces lining the walls pitiful as their flames sputtered weakly. But it wasn’t the shadows lining the walls that sent a wave of unease rolling through my stomach.
The layout of the tower had changed.
I’d been able to catch a semblance of bearings before Strength.
Had been able to memorize the pattern of the corridors that allowed Kodhan and I to find the staircase, and our rooms. But even more corridors had been added, veering in complete opposite directions often forking three or even four times.
A single grandfather clock, behemoth in size, sat tall and imposing along one of them, the sole indicator that I wasn’t going in circles.
I picked up my pace while I walked past it, my unease worsening as it leered down at me.
Needle-like hands spun faster than any normal clock’s would, pointing to missing numbers, spinning and spinning into oblivion.
I was nearly running by the time I turned the corner, and almost tripped when I beheld thirteen doors lined neatly along both walls. My jaw fell slack. All of the competitors’ rooms had been moved to the same floor. Everyone’s names were engraved on their doors. Mine included.
For someone so convinced I’d win the Starlight Trials, Maverick did a fantastic job of painting a glaring target on my back.
Every competitor who wanted to get rid of me would know exactly where to do it.
Theia’s room sat right next to mine, barely a reassurance. Brannon and Kodhan’s rooms were only a few doors past hers. If I was lucky, they would hear my screams through the stone walls.
I pressed an ear to Theia’s door. Nothing. Brannon’s room proved even quieter—almost like there wasn’t a room behind the door at all. With a sigh, I strained my ears next to Kodhan’s. It deepened into a groan when muffled words greeted me.
If there was one place I wanted to stay as far away as possible from, it was Kodhan’s room.
Despite myself, I rapped my knuckles twice against his door. I had nowhere else to go. And I couldn’t hate the man if I was dead.
The murmuring stopped.
Kodhan himself filled the threshold as the door swung open, his hard glare sending tiny speckles of heat down my body.
Or perhaps it was his magic, rallied to strike in case of an ambush.
But his eyes softened immediately at the sight of me, and he wordlessly pulled the door open wider for me to pass through.
It barely fell shut behind me before he gripped both my forearms, holding me in place.
“Let go.” I had little energy left to fight him. What I wanted to sound firm instead came out desperate.
He did no such thing, his eyes roving over every inch of me. Searching. “What did he do to you?”
“Nothing,” I replied, meeting his stare in challenge while he studied my face. But no opposition lay there. Only frank assessment.
“The king doesn’t summon someone to his private study in front of the entire kingdom for nothing.”
I glared at him silently.
He looked like he wanted to shake me. And that frank assessment took on a hint of something deadly.
“I will repeat myself only once, Eloise. What did he do?”
The low, menacing timbre of his voice held no room for arguing. Surely, it was the same one he used on those disloyal to the crown before he killed them.
But it was the blatant use of my name that surprised me. It was the first time I’d ever heard him use it.
“He healed my leg,” I admitted, still in awe of yet another facet of Maverick’s magic that proved just how powerful he was.
Brows drawing together, Kodhan took a step back, hands still wrapped firmly around my arms.
“By the stars,” Theia gasped, drawing my attention to where she sat at the foot of a bed identical to the first ones we’d been given.
Brannon’s whistle of amazement followed.
He’d dragged the one small chair closer to the bed and propped an elbow atop the grey sheets.
“Now we know why this was left in her room,” he mused, gesturing with a tilt of his head to the neatly folded pair of competitors’ pants perched near Theia’s lap. A replacement for my own ruined ones.
Kodhan stared at my leg for far too long before sneering, “Good to know that the king isn’t beyond favoritism.” Then he released me, only to begin pacing. Tension lined his broad shoulders.
“You know it’s not her fault, Kodhan,” Theia insisted.
“That doesn’t matter.”
Brannon shifted in his chair. “All that matters is that she is healed.”
“So this should just be overlooked as pure coincidence?” Kodhan laughed bitterly. “He said it himself. Discord is everywhere. He could be trying to prove a point.”
“And what, exactly, would he be trying to prove?” I cut in, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Do not act as if you don’t already know,” Kodhan replied, but there was a certain edge to his voice.
I fought hard to keep my face neutral. Maverick did as he pleased and shared little of his plans in similar fashion. All I knew was that a high number of traitors to the crown were set within this year’s trials. But Kodhan didn’t need to know that.
“Every direction is pointing towards the fact that I should kill you where you stand. Leave you in a pile of ashes so that the rest of us have a fighting chance.”
Fire suddenly erupted at my feet, close enough for the heat to caress the exposed, newly healed skin of my leg.
My sharp intake of breath rebounded across all four walls. “If you kill me now, you won’t have any clue as to which trial comes next.” The words were rushed. Slightly higher in pitch.
“He gave you another hint?” Brannon leaned forward in his seat, ignoring the fire at my feet entirely.
I glanced downwards pointedly. “He told me what it was.”
“It’s worse than we thought,” Kodhan murmured under his breath.
“Enough.” Theia shot up from the bed. Gave him a long, icy look that promised the kind of violence that even I tried to shy away from.
For a few moments, they glared at each other, a silent conversation passing between the two of them.
Was I missing something? I searched for possible answers in Brannon’s expression, who only shook his head subtly.
A clear reminder that I did not know these people. My faith in them could only go so far.
Finally, the fire at my feet receded.
Theia didn’t move an inch, settling her stare onto me instead—though it lost most of its chill. It didn’t stop a shiver from creeping down arms.
“Go ahead,” she encouraged, words still stiff with anger. “Tell us what the next trial is.”
“Courage.” Weariness settled heavily over my bones, its added weight drawing my shoulders forward. I glanced sideways at Kodhan, who’d wordlessly begun pacing again. Of course, he wouldn’t apologize. “And we have less than a day before it begins.”
“Two trials so close together is unheard of,” Brannon protested.
The bed behind him beckoned. I was ready to sleep for weeks. “They are his words, not mine.”
“He’s using the Starlight Trials as a punishment of some sort.
That must be the reason for such grueling changes.
” The certainty behind Kodhan’s words seemed to fuel him like a physical power source.
“What I still can’t seem grasp is why you,” he emphasized with a lazy hand flung in my direction, “are the only one who seems to be exempt from his ire.”
All my loose edges were frayed. And all my patience was spent.
“I will take it upon myself to remind you very clearly, as it seems you have forgotten.” There was that firm resolve I’d been looking for.
That steel. It coated my words naturally as I moved to block his path.
He attempted to walk around me, but I jammed my palm into his chest so hard his next breath stuttered.
His head slowly tilted until his eyes met mine, processing what I’d just done. I didn’t allow myself the same courtesy.
“I am the only woman in this gods-damned kingdom to possess not even a lick of magic. I have been called a waste of space, an abomination—I have been the receptor of every insult under the stars. The gods saw fit that I be punished every fucking day, just for being born.” I slammed my palm into his chest again, as if the rage bubbling underneath my skin would somehow worm itself out from my fingertips and sink into him instead.
I wished he would choke on it, just to know what it felt like, even for just one second.
A traitorous quiver threatened to overtake my voice. “Of course my closeness to the king isn’t fair to the rest of you. But my entire life has been ten times more unfair than anything you will ever experience, Son of the Second.”
There were many chances I’d just hammered a nail into my own coffin. But I was exhausted. My hatred for him was the only thing keeping me on my feet. Regardless of what he’d done to save my life, and what I’d done to save his, he deserved a taste of it.
“Complaining won’t keep you alive. The hints I get from Maverick will. You can keep acting like a child, or be a man smart enough to use every tool in your arsenal. And right now, as the woman without any magic, I am the best tool you could ever get your hands on.”
“She’s right,” Theia cut in, a knowing smile playing on her lips. “She did save your sorry ass, after all.”
“He’s just too far up there to admit it.” Brannon laughed. “Quite a spectacular save, too.”
Without waiting for Kodhan’s response, I snatched the folded pair of pants off the bed, ramming my shoulder into his arm for good measure, and crossed the short distance to the door.
My hand had only just brushed the handle when Theia said, “Wait. It’s not wise for you to be on your own.” My scrawled name across my own door was still a beacon to the other competitors.
“Thank you for your concern, but I’ll be just fine,” I replied without looking over my shoulder.
“You’re welcome to sleep in mine or Brannon’s room instead. Others will be less inclined to enter.”
Despite my anger and fatigue, and despite our circumstances, my heart swelled enough to hurt. It felt nice to be considered. For her to care. To bother offering at all.
It wouldn’t last.
“Alright.”
I left without another word.
And grit my teeth against the ghost of Kodhan’s hands, still wound soundly around my arms.