As a dark power takes over Caelynn’s body, pulling Brielle apart at the seams.
At her feet lies a slight female form with raven black hair sprawled everywhere. The girl doesn’t move.
The smell of death fills the quiet arena.
Brielle remains in her frozen state of agony as Caelynn rushes to the limp child. She shakes her shoulders. “No!” she screams, and I shudder. She wails a pained sound that permeates the whole arena, and my heart aches for her.
I don’t know who this girl is. Caelynn never mentioned her. But it is very clear that Brielle was right. Caelynn loves her.
Drake stands, pulling his sword from his sheath and stepping toward the mourning Caelynn. She’s bent over her friend, distracted by her pain. One swing, and it would be over for her too. Brielle breaks free from her spell and scrambles away from the fight.
Oh, hell no.
Determination fills me as I sprint and leap between them to block Drake’s blade just before it contacts my bleary-eyed ally.
“Fight, Cae!” I yell at her as I engage in combat with Drake.
She lifts her head, but her eyes are solid black.
I gasp, barely managing to block another blow from Drake’s sword. He’s ruthless. Unrelenting.
I roar in rage. For everything taken from me. Everything taken from her—the fae I hate and love at the same time. Shadows ripple from Caelynn’s skin as she stands, pure rage on her inhuman expression. The darkness surrounds her, covering her so thoroughly she looks like a wraith.
Drake’s eyes grow wide as another explosion of black power blasts into us, sending Drake flying one way, me the other.
I land on the far side of the arena.
This is that creature’s power. Dark magic no fae should possess. Power that could bring this entire arena to the ground.
For a moment, I believe she’s going to win. No one can defeat her like this.
But no, even Caelynn’s magic has limits. And she’s using so much of it, she’ll dry out quickly. Anyone who weathers this storm will be able to defeat her easily.
I could use her emotions to my advantage. God knows that’s what Drake is planning to do.
Brielle cowers before Caelynn, who’s white hair ripples in dark power. Just feet from me, the nameless child remains wilted.
I crawl to her and brush the pitch-black hair from her face to find her big, beautiful eyes open—lifeless. A quiet sob escapes me for this young, innocent life ended. More useless pain.
I press my hands to her cheeks gently, and the flickering of life sparks against my palm. The girl’s soul hasn’t left her.
I could still stop this.
Behind me Caelynn rages, blasts of black magic thunder from her. Drake conjures a cyclone around him, blocking her magic from reaching him. His wind magic is weak, it can’t protect him for long, but Cae’s focus is still on Brielle, who tries everything she can to defend herself. Red flames blaze at Caelynn, but they’re swallowed whole by darkness before they even get close. Caelynn doesn’t so much as blink at her attempts.
Brielle’s best move now would be leaping off the platform to save her skin. She can’t win. Either way, Brielle has already lost. Which will leave a near magicless Caelynn, Drake, and me.
I run my fingers down the girl’s cold, porcelain skin.
I could save her life. I could restore some of the light to this world. I could save Caelynn from more pain. But it would take up so much of my magic that I’d have next to nothing left to fight with.
Drake would win.
I can save her, a girl I don’t know, by sacrificing any chance at being the savior. By sacrificing any chance of being the heir to the High Court and maybe even my own court. I lift my palm up, glowing with a white light.
Light footsteps sound next to me. “Do it,” Drake says, his lip curling. “Do it, and I win.” He smiles because he knows I’ve already made my choice.
I press my light to the girl’s neck, summoning all of my magic into this one act and picturing Caelynn as I do it. Pulling her soul back to the surface and healing her spine injury at the same time.
I watch as the light returns to her eyes, and she sucks in a breath.
Caelynn
“Cae?” A sweet voice calls, but my focus is on my prey.
The red-headed girl who will pay for what she’s taken from me. She will die, slow and painful. I don’t care what it costs. I don’t care what happens to me after.
She’s already covered in blood from the small slices I’ve taken. Her eyes are covered in black shadows, seeping deeper and deeper into her mind. Soon, she’ll go insane. I’ll watch with glee as my magic takes over her brain. The moment she lets go, I’ll control her. I’ll own her soul.
“Please!” she cries.
I laugh. “If I had begged for Raven’s life, would you have had mercy?”
“I didn’t know! Please!”
“Didn’t know what?”
I slowly wrap my fingers around her throat, watching closely as her body twitches.
“She’s a child,” Brielle barely gets out, her body slack. She doesn’t fight back.
“She’s the same age I was when my life was taken. Or perhaps what you didn’t know was simply that I was stronger than you?” I lift her into the air. Her throat gurgles pathetically. Legs swinging only slightly.
I smile, even though I know she can’t see it.
Behind me the sound of blade striking blade alerts me that my other opponents are fighting again. It’s time for me to end this, so I can finish them all.
“Cae!” the sweet voice calls again.
I turn, ever so slightly to see a flash of blue-black hair, and my stomach drops. My hand slackens, and Brielle falls, crumpling into a ball at my feet.
My vision clears, eyes focusing on the entire scene before me.
The arena with slack-jawed spectators.
Raven is on her knees in the very corner of the platform, eyes wide in fear. Only feet from her, Rev and Drake twist and turn, blades swinging.
“Raven?” I say, all my rage dissipating, and with it, the fuel for my magic. She scrambles to me, and I meet her halfway, bringing her into my arms. I sob into her hair as she clings tightly to me.
My hands pat her back and neck, uncertain she’s even real.
“Get her out of here, Caelynn!” Rev screams to me.
I pull back. “Go,” I tell Raven, still unsure exactly what happened. I consider going with her, just so I don’t have to release my desperate grip, but no, I still have unfinished business here. “Hop off the edge,” I instruct her. “It’s not a long drop. I’ll be with you soon.”
She nods quickly, her teeth chattering. “He saved me,” she mumbles. “He saved me.”
I kiss her cheek and guide her to edge. She crouches and then hops with a slight squeal, I send a quick black of magic to cushion her fall.
The courts won’t be happy I brought her here or disguised her as a bird, but they also won’t hurt her. It’ll be me who’s punished.
The moment Raven is clear of the platform I turn toward the battle. Brielle is on her hands and knees, the black magic still clinging to her eyes. I don’t know where her mind is, but I don’t care. She’s blind, and she’ll stay that way for a very long time.
Maybe forever.
I rush to retrieve my twin swords before approaching my final opponents. Drake conjures a gust of wind so strong it knocks Rev off his feet. Why isn’t he using magic?
He saved me. I swear, realization hitting me. He drained his magic saving Raven. One more way I’ll owe him.
He leaps up and begins their dance anew.
I find my second sword and grip it tightly, all the while watching as the males twist and swing. Block and shift. The clang of metal against metal and the patter of shifting feet like a beat to which I could create a symphony.
I make haste to join the fray, but Drake sees me coming, and before I reach them, the beat changes. Drake’s wind rushes into Rev’s feet,
knocking him off balance. Rev nearly misses blocking Drake’s flying blade. The clang reverberates through the arena, sharp blade inches from his nose.
“Rev!” I shout. Drake double downs and his hilt slams into Rev’s temple.
I swear. Rev crumples on the edge of the platform, inches from falling into the trenches below.
Before Drake can serve the killing blow, I leap between them, creating a new rhythm. Quicker. Sharper.
I take the aggressive stance and maneuver him away from Rev.
“Brielle!” Drake calls between swings. “Brielle.”
“She’s not coming,” I snap.
“Worthless,” he spits, glancing at the still heaving Brielle clawing at the black ink covering her face. With renewed vigor—or perhaps desperation—Drake leaps at me, his wind twisting and pulling at me, but his magic is weak. He used too much of it defending himself against my attack on Brielle.
I smile. I can beat him, even with little magic left.
His strength was in manipulation. He can fight, but it’s not his strength, and he’s already tiring. We cross the arena, my twin blades flying, striking swift and true. Drake’s face is red with fury.
A tingle of magic swirls in my chest. It’s small, just an inkling of what I had minutes ago. But he thinks I’m drained entirely. Another wind gust blasts me from behind, but I watch his eyes and duck just before he swings at my head.
“Dammit!” he screams.
Our dance approaches Brielle, sobbing into the stone as she scoots from the skirmish, only stopping when she reaches the edge. She has nowhere else to go, but she’s too petrified to fight.
I leap back, close to the edge, readying my moment. Brielle is just at his back.
“Out of the way!” he yells at Brielle, turning away from me. He shoves his boot into her side, and she topples over the edge with a pathetic scream.
“She wasn’t even a threat,” I yell. She’s my enemy, and I still wouldn’t have treated her that way unnecessarily.
“But she still had to go over.”
I shake my head. What a damned fool.
I leap at him, flying back into the pattern of our fight. I step and move, let him think he has control. Let him think I have nothing left to give.
His blade slices into my thigh just before I move away. I cry out but keep fighting. The wound is shallow but the sight of bright red blood seems to fuel him. Anger fills me again, and I throw it into my swings. He smiles, his eyes lighting.
He thinks he’s won.
“Think again,” I tell him just before releasing my very last blast of magic, my last shot at this. His eyes grow wide as the inky black magic slams into his chest and sends him flying toward the edge—right where Brielle had just been.
Maybe she’d have stopped him from toppling over, had he not already pushed her off.
He screams, scrambling for a grip on the edge of the platform, his fingers dig into the loose dirt, but he can’t hold his whole weight. He slides off the edge of the platform and out of the Trial of Thorns.
Caelynn
My chest heaves, air struggling to enter my lungs. Holy crap.
I beat Drake. I destroyed Brielle.
The crowd rumbles around me but nothing changes. There’s no announcement. No shift in the arena.
I roll my shoulders and realize it’s not over yet.
There is still one opponent left.
Rev.
With a long deep breath, I find him on his knees on the far end of the arena. His face is pale, his arm twisted awkwardly, his magic drained. His presence in the arena is a technicality. The crowd is already celebrating my win.
A roar of boos and a symphony of cheers compete around me. They love me. They hate me.
Rev’s eyes are dim as he meets my stare. “You did it,” he says with a sad smile. “You won.”
I swallow. “Did I?”
His eyebrows pull down in confusion.
“You saved her.”
He nods slowly.
“You used all of your magic to save Raven’s life.” I shake my head, still trying to understand. “You don’t even know who she is.”
He shrugs. “She was a human girl. Young. Innocent. And you love her. What else did I need to know?”
My knees buckle, and I slide to the ground, muscles losing their will to fight. “You gave it up, all of it. For me.”
He looks down at his hands. “I made a choice.”
My teeth chatter. “So have I.”
My resolve firms in my mind, and I force strength back into my legs, enough to stand, jaw tight as I face the crowd that has quieted to a dull cheer and scattered chattering—they’re wondering what we’re saying.
“Attention courts!” I scream. “Today, someone has proven themselves your rightful champion!”
The crowd screams.
“Today, a terrible crime was committed before you all. An innocent life taken for no reason but petty revenge. But luckily for all of us, there was a hero here.”
I pause, taking in long breaths. “Brielle of the Flicker Court took an innocent child’s life right in front of you. And Reveln of the Luminescent Court saved that child’s life at great cost to himself—with you all as witnesses. He used all of his magic to bring her back.” For me, I leave out.
“Isn’t that what a champion is?” I cry louder than before. Tears sting my eyes. I believe what I’m saying. I believe it with everything inside of me.
The crowd hushes at that.
“Caelynn,” Rev warns. “What are you doing? You won.”
“Isn’t that what a savior is?” I scream again, emotion breaking my voice. I take in another deep breath. “To all the courts—ruling and non—I tell you today that your world is in good hands.” I pause for a quiet sob before focusing every ounce of strength I have left. “I give you the winner of the Trial of Thorns!” I scream. “I give you Reveln of the Luminescent Court—your savior.”
I meet Rev’s gaze one more time, then hop off the platform, leaving him alone with the raging crowd.
Rev
My mouth falls open as Caelynn leaps out of the arena, forfeiting her chance to be the champion.
She tore apart Brielle’s mind while I fought Drake—and lost. And she beat him.
But then she gave the victory to me.
The crowd thunders around me, so loud I can barely think. She could have just pushed me over. Shit, she could have just told me to jump—I would have. I almost did before she started shouting to the crowd. The victory belonged to her.
Will the High Court even accept this result? A contestant choosing to let me win?
Based on the crowd’s response, they’re happy with the result. I was the favorite to win from the start. I’m who many hope and expect to be their next ruler, so they’re pleased to see me crowned as champion.
But am I even deserving? Is Caelynn right?
She knew I’d given up the chance to win to save the girl, and she found a way to give it back to me.
The ground shudders beneath me as the outsides of the arena raise back into place. I’m alone in the massive arena for several minutes while the crowd continues their cheering. They chant my name over and over.
“Courts!” a voice booms over the crowd, magically amplified. “I give you your savior—Reveln of the Luminescent Court!”
Caelynn
Raven trembles in my arms as I listen to the crowd chanting Rev’s name. As the queen announces him as the winner.
Good, they accepted my speech then.
“What happens now?” she whispers to me.
“We go home,” I say, hoping it’s the truth.
I don’t know how the High Court will react to Raven or treat me now that I gave up my chance to be their champion and hand it over to Reveln. No one dares come near me in the moments after the trials. The worker fae scuttle around me but move out of the way as I guide Raven from the arena.
No one stops me as I take her all the way up to my room and close the doo
r. I hold her tightly, exhausted beyond all reason.
“I’m so sorry, Raven. I love you. I do. I want you with me always, but I swear, I’m going to do what’s best for you from now on. I don’t care what it costs me. I don’t care if it hurts you.”
“I know,” she says soothingly. “I know.”
Together, we fall into bed, curled up in each other’s arms and fall into a deep sleep.
Caelynn
A soft knock on my door rouses me from a fitful sleep.
I groan and shift but Raven pulls me closer. “No,” she begs, grabbing my upper arms in a tight grip.
I kiss her forehead and chuckle. “Someone is at the door. We should probably get it.”
She sits up as I crawl out of bed and cross the room. Her eyes are wide in fear.
“I’ll protect you,” I whisper, then open the door.
A centaur stands there, his head and eyebrows high. “Miss Caelynn. Your presence has been requested by the High Queen.”
I swallow. That’s not unexpected but unnerving all the same.
He looks down at my ragged clothing. I’m still wearing my fighting leathers from the trials last night. “Do you wish to change?”
I look down at the ripped and frayed clothing. “No. I’m fine.”
“Very well. Come along.”
I begin to follow him, but he pauses. “Bring the girl.”
My eyes grow wide. “Why?”
“This pertains to her as well.”
I purse my lips but I nod. Nothing I can do about it. They’ll find her eventually. “Raven?” I hold my hand out to her.
She scrambles out of bed and grips my hand tightly in hers. Together, we follow the centaur hand in hand.
We reach the great hall, where I assume the queen is waiting. The double doors open wide for Raven and I to step through. I keep my head high, but Raven dips hers, nearly cowering.
We stand at the top of the stairs beside the centaur. “Your Highness, may I present Caelynn of the Shadow Court and her raven,” he calls.
“Come down,” the queen says.
Trial of Thorns (Wicked Fae Book 1) Page 25
