The chiming of the bells becomes a din
Yet whether you’re on inner ring or outer
We all turn to ash in the end.”
-Poet Iris of House Chasina, 812 Age of Sanctum
Our plan worked for a time.
Three weeks after our success in the sixth Trial, Cosmo hadn’t mentioned the ultimatum he’d given Dante or the bargain we’d struck. He was far too busy parading about the First Ring and throwing gaudy celebrations in our honor. I hadn’t visited my family either, nor had I spoken to them since I’d stormed out of their home nearly two months earlier.
Dante and I threw ourselves back into our training, neither of us wanting to focus too long on the uncomfortable issues plaguing us.
Dante had determined it was likely that, at some point in the near future, we’d face a Trial which tested us in each of the blessings we’d been given as a result of our previous successes. I was inclined to agree with his theory, especially considering we’d been given blessings which hardly served any real purpose within Sanctuary itself. He speculated that would be what the tenth Trial involved, but since we had no way of knowing which one would test us, it was best if we became more familiar with our capabilities quickly.
For the first few days, we’d focused on our enhanced strength and the speed we’d most recently been given after our success with the sixth Trial. We timed ourselves as we ran from one end of the courtyard to the other within seconds, tested our endurance by seeing how long it took us to tire of running around the whole estate at the speed of sound, and experimented with our reaction time by having one of us drop a feather at one end of the yard to see if the other could catch it before it hit the ground, starting at the other end of the yard. For strength, we lifted the marble statues of Prima littered throughout the garden, rearranged heavy furniture at the behest of the maids, and tried our hand at bending the iron of the House gates, much to Cosmo’s annoyance.
After that, we spent a few days training entirely underwater. We were in the pool for hours every day at the Mitte, rarely surfacing. We sat cross-legged on the bottom of the pool, communicating telepathically as we drew air from the water around us. We became accustomed to the intense pressure of being underwater and basked in the weightlessness of the experience. We combined our speed with our swimming and found that sometimes our legs moved too fast for our arms to keep up and combining our blessings would require more work.
We then focused on healing. I’d told Dante everything I knew about the experience after using the gift myself for days on endto regrow his arm. After, he’d heard there was a sick boy down on the Deck close to death and had gone down there himself to heal him. That was how we discovered that our gift of healing only extended to the two of us. The boy died two days later. As crushing of a blow as that discovery had been, I felt some solace in the fact that I wouldn’t have been able to heal Cyrus that day, even if Dahlia hadn’t taken matters into her own hands.
Next, we worked on our mental communication and tested the bounds of our enhanced senses. Smelling something far away or seeing something at a distance took a great deal more focus than we’d thought. The mental communication, however, was nearly effortless now. Still, Dante was intent on studying it. He never said as much, but perhaps he wished to examine it closer to determine whether there was any true way of blocking me out.
Still, after three weeks of even more rigorous training, we believed we were ready for our seventh Trial. Milo and Myrine both had combed through every inch of text available to them. They’d even enlisted Bria’s help and the assistance of an acolyte from House Lynx, but there wasn’t a shred of information about what the seventh Trial pertained to, not even an inkling.
For the first time, we were utterly in the dark. But as terrifying as that was, there was no sense in waiting any longer.
Dante informed his grandfather we’d be competing in the seventh Trial at week’s end, and by the night before, a party had been planned and all of Sanctuary had been informed.
I stood like a fool in the foyer of House Viper, smiling and nodding to entering guests, shaking hands and accepting hearty congratulations and tenuous well wishes despite my brother’s words swirling like a drowning vortex in my mind.
One of them, one of them, one of them…
One of who?Dante asked.
I blinked, cursing at the fact that he’d heard my thoughts so clearly. I’d been making more of an effort to block him out lately,as he’d requested. But somehow, it had been getting harder rather than easier. Perhaps this mental communication practice was having the opposite effect he desired. Maybe it was opening us up to one another rather than closing us off.
Nothing. Olympia is here.
Don’t remind me. We’re not on speaking terms, remember?
Shortly after Olympia had pleaded with Nascha to bring her proposal forward and Cosmo had presented his grandson with the choice we’d avoided since, Dante had overheard her speaking with some friends about how the Trials must be broken if someone like me could get through them thus far. He’d confronted her and, according to Milo, the resulting argument had been heard throughout House Avus. Even though I was touched by how Dante had defended me against the girl he’d known all his life, the girl who might still one day become his wife, I sensed he didn’t want to talk about it, so I never mentioned it before. And I wouldn’t talk about it now.
Did Bria send the invitation I requested?I asked.
She went to the Second Ring yesterday. She’ll be here, Adrian. I’m sure she will.
I walked away from my place in the welcoming committee, allowing another member of House Viper to fill it as I moved through the crowd toward the refreshments at the back.
A few days ago, I’d asked Bria to invite my mother to this equal parts celebration and send-off party Cosmo was hosting in honor of myself and Dante. I’d been sure she would attend if I extended the invitation, but the festivities were well into their second hour, and I hadn’t seen any sign of her. It shouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t need my mother around to indicate either pride or approval. And yet…
“Quite the turnout.” Milo smiled beside me, resplendent in the sky blue of House Avus.
I grinned and embraced him. “Must be, indeed, if it’s managed to drag you out of your den of books.”
“The dust and I are becoming rather inseparable, I fear.” He raised his glass and took a sip. “I decided to give my eyes a break. It seems I’m at risk of having them permanently crossed.”
I snorted into my own drink.
