33
The walls around her rumbled, collapsing with small pops into pieces of iron and stone. They revealed the other competitors, spread around the arena, each standing among their own odd assortment of items the morphi had used to bring a labyrinth into existence. Lop still looked baffled. Graff had his hands on his hips and wore a scowl on his face. He no doubt had thought he was the favorite. Did they perhaps give him a harder maze because he had the benefit of understanding the shift?
“Well done, Eira,” Lumeria said again. “Tomorrow evening, you may select one competitor to join you for the Twilight Festival held in the Warich town square!” She applauded and the rest of the royals joined her. None stepped forward to give individual awards. The spectators seemed to have mixed, mostly subdued reactions. Eira tried to ignore it. This was the fourth of five games, the tournament was soon coming to a close. She would have to endure these games for only a few days more and then she could focus on what was truly important without any further distraction or limitation—Ulvarth.
“There is only one more game of the tournament, and then, on the day following, we shall award the winning team and ratifythe Treaty of Five Kingdoms!” Lumeria received more applause for that. “Please join us once more in two days’ time.”
The next day was filled with mostly waiting. Eira sparred with Noelle behind their house and practiced her magic with Cullen. Alyss kept mostly to herself, hard at work in her journal with story ideas she still had yet to share with any of them. It was as if the events of the other night, of Olivin inviting her to dine with him, had never happened. They were dangerously good at ignoring the problems that surrounded them. It made him feel like an escape—a safe place she could let her guards down and ease her shoulders from carrying the struggles of the world.
It also meant the issues sat neglected and unattended, even when attention should be given to them. If she were being honest with herself, it was what got them into trouble in the first place. Perhaps, when the tournament was over, and the Pillars were gone, she could find the time to talk deeply and openly with Cullen as she should have all along. Be it as friends, lovers, or nothing, they could both process all the ways they succeeded, and every way they failed.
But ignoring the tensions pulling at their edges was impossible forever. Especially when, over dinner, Alyss asked who Eira was taking out of the village.
“Olivin,” she answered, deciding not to mince words.
“Him, again?” Cullen’s question would’ve seemed more curious if not for his tone.
“Will you stop whining and brooding? It’s insufferable.” Noelle glared at him.
Cullen glared back. “I amnotbrooding.”
“That’s all you’ve done. Which is astounding, considering this is a problem of your own making and you have the power to fix it.”
“It doesn’t—”
Work that way, Eira filled in the blanks for him, knowing all too well what was coming next. Yet, he surprised her: Cullen looked her way with renewed vigor.
“Take me with you instead.”
“Cullen, I…” She was too stunned to form words.
He stood and looked for the first time in a long time truly confident in himself. “I want to go with you. I want that time with just you. I don’t care what others think or what consequences it might reap. You are worth it.”
She’d been waiting for him to be half as bold and confident about her for days. And now, when he was finally standing up for her—for them—it was the one time she really couldn’t bring him.
“It’s a start,” Noelle said dryly. “You’ve a long way to go, lover boy.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is exceptional.” Alyss scribbled frantically in her notebook.
“Please…don’t make me a character in your story.” Cullen sighed.
“Cullen, I’m sorry,” Eira said softly, watching his expression sink. She spoke quickly, trying to explain. “I’m taking Olivin because that game was designed for us—him and I—to get out. We’re going to meet up with the Court of Shadows, and he’s a shadow who will likely have received some details on where to go next, so I need to take him with me.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Alyss said with a smile. “It was your victory and your reward.”
“You can choose whomever you like, for whatever reason,” Noelle encouraged.
Cullen sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Eira took no pleasure in seeing him so tortured. “They’re right. Sorry.”
Eira shook her head and forced a smile. “Don’t worry about it. Things are tense right now with the tournament ending. None of us are as tactful as we might otherwise wish we were.”
The conversation ended there and was never mentioned again. Still, Eira felt a twinge of guilt when the attendant arrived and asked who would be joining her and she didn’t name one of them. Her friends had been there from the start of this journey. She would find a way to make it up to them, somehow.
“Thank you again for choosing me,” Olivin said after they collected him from Meru’s house.
“It was only right to, after you chose me for your reward.” Eira allowed her pace to slow to be a few steps behind the attendant who was leading them toward the main doors of the village.
“You still could’ve picked anyone.”
