Chapter 36
The sound of carnyx horns rouses me from a deep sleep, and for a moment, utter panic grips me. First, I’m terrified that I’ve lost my parents, then that Auberon is waking me to run in a wintry forest at night.
Then I remember where I am. I’m thirty-five, my parents are long dead, and I’m in the Veiled Court.
Outside, the first golden rays of dawn stain the sky with honey.
Yawning, I rub my eyes.
Tristan is already up, pouring tea at the table. I asked him to stay with me last night—just for comfort. He slept on the sofa.
I’m still blinking in bed while he sets out breakfast. “How did you wake so easily?”
“Easy. I didn’t actually sleep at all.” He’s already dressed in dark clothes that hug his broad frame.
“What kept you up?” I ask.
His metallic green gaze flicks up to meet mine, and heat sweeps down to my belly. “Torments of all sorts. Get dressed.”
I blink. “I take it the horns mean the next trial is starting soon.”
“Yes. They slipped an invitation under the door. They’re calling you to the Arthmail entrance, near the standing stones. They also left some supplies just outside your door—a sword, a scabbard, and dragon-scale armor.”
I force myself out of bed and cross to the wardrobe. “A sword. Thank the gods. At least it’s something I’m good at.”
“But you need to move quickly, Syn. Dress. Eat something. You have half an hour to get there before they shut the Arthmail entrance. Anyone late will be dismissed from the trials.”
I fling the wardrobe doors open and pull off my nightgown. I slip into leather trousers, a dark shirt. When I’m dressed, I cross to the table and grab a roll with butter and strawberry jam. I eat quickly, washing it down with the strong tea.
I glance out the window at the glittering, sun-dappled ocean, and magic tingles over my skin. Goose bumps rise on my arms. Outside, the sky shimmers and darkens, and my stomach swoops with a strange sensation, like I’m falling.
I brace myself, trying to find my footing. For a moment, I can’t tell which way is up or down, if I’m in my body or floating outside it.
When the steadiness returns, the landscape outside has changed entirely. Instead of the sea, I’m staring out at a vast, rocky valley, where the jagged land sheers off to a ravine with a winding river hundreds of feet below.
This desolate, rugged landscape will be today’s reaping grounds.
Now, the carnyx horns blare louder, making my stomach clench. And with the sound, a thick mist roils over the landscape outside, churning like a potion in a cauldron.
“Syn.” Tristan’s deep voice pulls me from my reverie, and his hand rests on the small of my back, warming my skin through my shirt. His thumb brushes up and down slowly, and I want to fold myself into him.
“Come back alive,” he murmurs. “So I don’t have to rip the rest of the court to pieces tonight and bury every last one of them.”
* * *
From the Arthmail entrance, Aneirin, Elizabeth, and I climb down a worn set of stone stairs lit by flickering torches. There’s a stream of contenders walking in silence, either terrified or still half asleep.
Fey aristocrats normally slumber through the morning.
Next to me, Elizabeth rubs her eyes. “Where the fuck are we going? I was only asleep for an hour. This is all very rude. I don’t suppose they’re going to serve us a lavish breakfast?”
“The weapons they gave us suggest otherwise,” Aneirin says. I can hear the panic in his voice. “But no one knows what the trial is. Did you see the castle move this morning?”
“No.” Elizabeth blinks. “I was in a blind panic trying to get ready in time. Feel like I’m in a nightmare. I haven’t even eaten yet.”
“Where were you yesterday evening, Alis?” Aneirin asks.
“We knocked on your door around dinner. There was a party in the Aether Tower. It wasn’t really sanctioned by Niniane, because she’s upset about Cador, I think.
But it just sort of happened. Everyone was shagging.
Well, except Elizabeth and me, but not for lack of trying on my part. ”
I don’t really want to lie to them, so I stay as close to the truth as I can. “I was being boring. Just hanging out in the library drinking tea, looking at books.”
Elizabeth nods. “Oh, gods, you know what? I’m jealous. If I’d done that, I wouldn’t have this brutal headache. I feel like I want to throw up.”
“Do you think this will be an all-day thing?” Aneirin asks. “I’m starving.”
I can’t tell them what I know about the trial, but at least I can provide snacks.
“Here.” I reach into the small bag I carry over my shoulder, and I pull out buttered rolls for each of them. “I already ate.”
Elizabeth’s eyes go wide. “You are a goddess, Alis. This should soak up some of the mead.”
Aneirin takes the roll from me. “Brilliant. Thank you.”
I glance at the aged stone walls on either side, where someone has chipped and hammered away to deface the carvings.
I assume it’s because one monarch was trying to erase a previous one—until I spot one image that the vandals missed.
It looks like a king wearing a crown. He’s on his knees, and a knight stands next to him, with a sword at his throat.
“You’re in the way, Alis!” Igraine hisses from behind me. “Move.”
I don’t even bother to shoot her a dirty look. I just keep walking—but a little slower, since I know it annoys her. My sword’s scabbard scrapes against the wall as I descend.
Up ahead, dim daylight illuminates the gloom of the stairwell, and it opens to the outside world. Mist drifts through the air around us, and I step onto a craggy, uneven path of rocks. Out here, the wind whips at us, carrying a biting chill and howling across a ravine.
I can’t see much through the fog, but I try to reconstruct the view from memory as I glimpsed it from my room.
If I remember correctly, it looked like a great valley carved through the rocks, with a river flowing beneath.
The path I’m on now traces the side of the cliff, then veers down to the river, and one side sheers off hundreds of feet to the water.
On the other side of the valley, I think the slope is slightly less steep—forested and thick with greenery. I didn’t see anything like a bridge of swords or a flaming pit. But in the far distance, on the other side of the river, I think there was a cave.
Moths flutter through the fog, strange bronze and silver creatures. I stare at one of them as it flies around me, trying to figure out what it might be, until I realize it’s not a real insect at all.
I lean closer to Elizabeth and whisper, “I think that’s how the nobles will be spying on us. The moths.”
“Well spotted,” she whispers.
I smooth out the raven emblem over my dragon-scale armor and flash a smile at the little metal spy.
“Alis? Elizabeth?” Aneirin says from behind us. “I can hardly see a fucking thing.”
“There’s a steep cliff to your right,” I say. “Careful. We’re hundreds of feet above a river, and the path just sort of falls away on one side.”
“This is not the way to start a morning,” he mutters.
The mist starts to thin a little, and I turn to see a few people gathering around Niniane on a windswept hillside to my left. I loop arms with Elizabeth and Aneirin, and we walk on the uneven, grassy earth.
The royal contenders cluster around as we wait for the rest to come out the castle doors. Out here, the air smells rich and earthy, and the strong wind carries the scent of pines.
Wrapped in fog, Rion stalks slowly up to the group in his dragon-scale armor—iridescent, dark scales. His antler-tip necklace hangs down to his waist. The breeze toys with his silver hair, and his tattoos gleam with gold as if reflecting the sun.
Sometime today, I’ll need to fake being obsessed with him.
“Noble contenders!” Niniane’s voice calls out, echoing off stone. “The time is up. Anyone not already with us is out of the trials. A monarch must always be ready to fight for the Fey, even when exhaustion calls you back to your bed.”
Her blue robes glitter with silver stars and moons. Today, she looks tired and tense.
“My knights are still searching for Lord Cador. He is not only my closest assistant, but, as some of you know, he has been my lover for decades. It was Cador’s job to find traitors among you, and I can only assume that he did.”
My stomach tightens. Oh, fuck.
Niniane takes a step forward, her gaze raking over us. “And when I learn who hurt him, I will nail you to the door of the Veiled Court library, and I will slowly pull out your entrails. I will hunt and kill anyone you love. That’s a promise.”