Chapter 25
The institute is abuzz, and for once, it doesn’t have anything to do with me or someone winding up dead. At least I hope it doesn’t.
“What’s going on?” I whisper to Kage, whose shoulder brushes against mine as we walk toward combat. If there’s one good thing that came from the snake incident, it’s Kage’s willingness to be closer to me. Sure, he’s covered in fabric from his neck down, including gloves over his hands to make sure there’s no accidental touches, but it’s a start. Now if I could just get him and Ziv to trust that his ability won’t affect me any more than any of the others I’ve been tested against, then we’d really be getting somewhere.
“I don’t know.” He glances down at me. “They seem…excited about something.”
The food I just ate twists in my gut. In my experience, when people get this worked up about something, shit tends to go sideways.
The first indication I was right comes far too soon. Kage tugs open the door to the arena, and the silence is overwhelming. No one is sparring or training, no one is even moving as they stare up at the judges’ tables. Syrinx is front and center, her height and willowy figure standing out, even among the other instructors lined up beside her.
“This can’t be good,” I mutter as a few other novices enter the ring with us, taking up positions in the sand.
I scan the crowd, looking for my fallen, but I don’t see Ziv anywhere—not with the instructors and not on the field. The sick feeling in my stomach intensifies. “Where’s Ziv?” I question out loud, even though I know Kage won’t have the answer. He’s been with me all morning.
“As I’m sure you have all heard, Ivy is set to receive quite an honor.” The smirk on the headmistress’ lips reminds me of a hungry wolf. I suppress the urge to look away when I realize why her smile seems so off. She has way too many teeth, and all the ones on the sides seem to be pointed, like little daggers.
I still have no idea what honor she’s talking about, but anything that makes her this happy can’t be good.
“I expect you all to show our guest your best.” I scan the line of instructors again, but all the faces are familiar, so I’m guessing whoever she’s talking about isn’t here yet. “Let’s get to work.” Syrinx dismisses the crowd, and the excited murmurs pick up again as the novices begin to break apart for training.
I’m tempted to ask someone who is coming, but the need to find Ziv is more important. “I’m going to check the other room.” I hook my thumb over my shoulder to point at the door to the smaller ring.
Kage nods and begins the trek through the sand with me.
“It seems like everyone knows who’s coming but us,” I observe.
“I know. It almost feels intentional,” he agrees.
“Do visitors come here often?”
“Not in the two years I’ve been here.”
“You’ve been here that long?” It’s getting a little easier to walk through the sand, but I’m not at all graceful.
Kage sighs. “As soon as I was old enough.”
“How long do we have to stay?” I ask as he reaches for the door.
“Through one Undertaking. It can be different for everyone.”
“Ziv said they were every five years.” I don’t hide the revulsion in my tone. It disgusts me that we’re pawns for the gods’ games, and they can steal years of our lives for their entertainment.
Kage pushes the door open to the smaller field, revealing what I already suspected. Ziv isn’t here. The tingles of awareness that I’ve come to expect when he’s near are absent. “Where could he be?” I muse as dread begins to fester. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Ziv is absent on the same day that Syrinx announced a guest is coming.
I wonder if he’s with the mysterious visitor. Just as my mind starts to feed me worse-case scenarios, I spin and face the other side of the large arena and spy my massive male stalking into the room. His eyes are locked on mine, but his expression causes concern.
“He’s here,” I tell Kage, then head straight for a very pissed off Ziv to get some answers.
I make it three steps before I realize something is wrong, and yet another before my brain figures out what it is. Ziv is frozen, as is everyone else in the room. It’s as if time has stopped.
My heart thunders against my chest, and I feel like a scared rabbit.
A sweet voice breaks through the silence. “Hello.”
I hold my breath, hoping she’s not speaking to me, but when a female with emerald hair that falls in soft waves halfway down her back steps in front of me, I know it’s pointless. Her eyes are a milky jade color that swirls just like Ziv’s—a god then, but what does she want with me?
“It’s not wise to make me repeat myself.” Her tone, while still honeyed, has hardened considerably.
“Hello,” I reply, unsure if there was something more I missed besides the greeting.
She smiles, and her entire face lights up. She’s painfully beautiful. I find it hard to even look at her features for too long, so I focus my gaze over her shoulder, where I can still make out Ziv. I don’t know if it’s wishful thinking, but I swear I see him move the tiniest bit, as if he’s fighting whatever hold she has on him.
“You don’t seem like his type.” She cocks out her hip, and I’m forced to give her my attention again.
“Whose type?” It’s a foolish question, one I know the answer to, but I ask anyway.
“Ziveet’s.” She purses her pouty lips.
“That’s not surprising,” I remark.
“It doesn’t bother you that the only reason he gave you a second glance is because of the Fates’ twisted sense of humor?”
“Nope. In my world, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“A gift horse? I don’t understand.”
“It’s just a saying. It means to be grateful for what you’re given.”
The goddess sniffs haughtily. “I take what I want.” Those words sound like a warning, so I keep my mouth shut.
“He was my lover.” She tilts her head, and I feel her eyes scouring my face and body. We couldn’t be more opposite. The only trait I would say we share is long hair, but hers is a silky curtain, and mine is not. “I can smell him on you.” The planes of her face shift, turning her beauty into something dark.
In my peripheral vision, I see someone move in the farthest corner of the room. It’s just an arm swinging through an exercise, but it’s a start. With any luck, she won’t be able to hold this for much longer.
“Do you think he thinks of me while he’s rutting you?” I dart my eyes to hers. That’s a fucked-up question, but I don’t dare say that. I don’t answer her at all, but I’m certain she wasn’t expecting me to, especially when she continues. “Of course he does. Look at you. He was foolish to ever leave.” She shakes her head ruefully, like Ziv being with me is the worst possible outcome since he fell.
It feels like a knife to my chest, like she’s confirming my fears of not being good enough.
I look past the goddess to Ziv. His mouth is now open in what looks like a silent scream, but I can’t erase the image of them together from my mind. I doubt he would need to train her in anything.
Our eyes connect, and I realize he’s not completely frozen in time, like most of the others around him. His eyes have been swirling this whole time, but he’s still unable to move.
The goddess shivers and lets out a soft moan of pleasure. “I forgot how much I missed his bloodlust.” She’s reacting as if she can feel his anger. Maybe she can, or maybe it’s just another thing I’m lacking since I can’t sense magic.
“We should go, he’s almost free.”
“Go?” I step backward, but the distance doesn’t offer any salvation. In a blink, her long, thin fingers wrap around my wrist like an iron shackle before I even offer any resistance.
“You’ve been traded, child. I’m here to ensure you get to your new home.”
“Traded?” I search her face, but she just hauls me toward one of the huge windows near the edge of the sand.
I see a shadow zooming past the gap well before I see the beast that created it, and my blood goes cold.
Thick, black talons score into the stone wall, breaking away boulder-sized stones that fall to the forest with deafening cracks. I know my mouth is hanging open when I lift my gaze to see a black dragon with a silver belly coiled in front of me. Its onyx eyes, as shiny as a mirror, stare back.
The goddess leans in close enough that her cloying scent of burnt caramel is the only thing I smell right before she delivers a single shove to my back that sends me sprawling toward the beast. “See that she makes it to Windsheer alive, and you can consider your debt paid.” The giant beast snorts a hot plume of smoke from its nostrils in response, singeing my face and neck.
I’m too shocked to do anything as the same vicious claws that crumbled stone reach for me. My brain tries to convince me claws are better than teeth, but that’s before it fists me like a toddler with a breadstick.
My scream of terror splits the air when the dragon pushes off the stone edifice and free-falls forty feet, grazing the treetops with me in its grasp. The sound of its wings snapping open to catch the wind current swallows any other noise I could make. There’s no point in fighting, because if I managed to get free, I would only fall to my death.
My heart breaks as the foggy forest grows more distant with every passing second.
To be continuedin
Bitter Brambles
September 2025