“Like the wyrms. But something else might have come through and is just living out here. We’re not in any more danger near the rip than we are further away, not much, anyway.”
“What a lovely thought.”
“You’re safe,” he reminded me. “If anything were to happen, you can just drop down and throw the cloak over your head. The monster won’t be able to see you.”
“I don’t like the idea of playing hide and seek with monsters.”
“I feel I’ve been doing that all my life,” he said, and I wanted to ask a follow-up question but he was moving on as if there was nothing else to say. “I’ll show you how the trap works. You’ll be the only mortal in the village who knows.”
“Well, that will be useful if, Gods forbid…”
“Cara. Don’t worry. Any monster that comes through is transported to the cells below the arena for the Trials. They can’t escape. You and Lidi should never see another monster again.”
I let out a shudder despite his promises. “Why not just kill them?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Dairen asked with a roguish smile as he passed us.
He was joining Maura, who was setting up near us, the two of them working together to chisel runes onto stones that they were laying to set the trap. Magic sparked beneath their blades.
“I don’t understand why we have these Trials, why we have these games, if shifters die during them. Weneedyou?—”
I cut myself off, because Fieran began to smile at my admission that we needed the shifters.
Maura smirked. “So people can believe that we have our dragonsunder control. And more importantly, they can prove they haveusunder control.” She drew her knife, lightning fast, and tossed it up in the air, catching the blade as if she were about to throw it.
I jerked back. I couldn’t help it. She looked so threatening.
Her gaze met mine, frank and scornful. “See? No matter what we do to protect you, you’re afraid. But you get to cheer us on while we die, so then you have the power.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t find the right words to argue with her, but I hated that she had just grouped me in with mortals who watched them fight in the Dragon Trials. “I don’t want to see anyone hurt.”
“Then you’ll be very happy in the Fae world, where everything is rainbows and butterflies and you can be sure to serve those who are safe and kind,” Maura told me.
I felt jolted by the realization that she had been able to overhear me when I talked to Fieran, when I made my request. It seemed so far away, but of course, they had their heightened senses. I never really had privacy with Fieran. I’d been stupid to think I had. He had known, but he hadn’t said anything.
My cheeks were hot.
“Maura,” Fieran warned.
“What’s it like being mortal, anyway?” she asked. “We’ll be here together long after your whisper of a life. I can’t?—”
Fieran stepped between us. “Not another word.”
I couldn’t see anything but his broad shoulders. I stepped out to one side and caught a glimpse of her face, scrawled over with jealousy, and the burn of hurt I felt faded.
She turned to storm away, but then she paused. Theyallpaused, stopping the way people do when they’re listening for something.
I froze, too, not wanting to distract them. My breathing, and my breathing alone, seemed too loud in the clearing. Was Ipanting? The more I tried to breathe quietly, the more it felt as if I were gasping for air.
“This isn’t the only rip,” Fieran said calmly. “Something’s coming.”
I made myself stay rooted where I was, when every instinct was to throw myself behind the dragon shifter.
I had no idea what was coming, but the very thought of it—thisunimaginable thing—terrified me anyway. Fieran, on the other hand, looked as relaxed and casual as he had at the dinner table.
“I’ll take Cara with me to finish the trap,” he told the others. “We’ll get it closed. You deal with whatever came through the rip, and we’ll head back for dessert.”
Maura scoffed. “Keeping the little mortal safe at your side? Even if that means sending us into danger without you? Aren’t we more valuable than a sentient broom?”
