A murderous Unseelie Prince on my only way out? Checked.
Is some unknown horror from above heading my way? Checked.
Can it get any worse?
Atos take me; here I did it again. Challenged Seuta. And she loves proving to us, mortals, THAT IT COULD ALWAYS GET WORSE.
A tall, lithe male figure stands in the arched doorway. Completely still, I try to breathe as quietly as possible and lower my lashes to obscure the whites of my eyes.
The steps slow down when he reaches the square of moonlight in the center of the room.
“Talysse, praised be the Elders; it’s really you!”
Those unruly brown curls, the firm jawline, the glimmer of massive golden earrings—“Gale?” I breathe and want to punch myself immediately; it came out too loud. “How did you get past the murderous bastard downstairs? Or were you hiding upstairs?”
“There’s another way in, Talysse. Upstairs. Wait, what did you say? You walked past Aeidas, and he let you live?” His forehead scrunches a bit as if he’s struggling to believe it.
“Yes, he was playing that cursed flute, and then there was that spell…don’t come any closer; I am armed,” the lie glides effortlessly off my tongue. “What do you want from me?”
“Really, Talysse? What do I want from you?” He spreads his arms, showing me his empty hands. “I am unarmed. And unlike the other one,” his finger points downstairs, “sitting at the exit of this tower and slaying everyone who comes around, I have no deadly magic that can fry you in an instant.”
“What do you want?” I insist, my voice hoarse with tension.
“I think we’ve been through that during dinner, Talysse.” He takes another step toward me, the moonlight sharpening his handsome features. His ever-smiling eyes glow like amber. “We’re both humans. Cattle among predators. We can use each other’s help.” He takes another step, that disarming smile tugging the corner of his lip up. His too-perfect teeth flash in a not-so-human way in the moonlight.
“I’ll cast a spell, Gale. Stay where you are.” My magic is weak, and my chances against a man of his size are laughable. But to trust anyone in these Trials, where only one can emerge victorious, is plain stupid.
“Look, Talysse, Shadowfeeders are gathering outside as we speak, and there is a murderous Unseelie downstairs. Are you really having any doubts about whom to trust?”
An explosion thunders somewhere in the city, shaking the old tower. The floorboards beneath our feet screech and twist. The cracking of beams reverberates through the old structure long after the echo of the explosion has died out.
Tall blue flames consume the pentagonal building outside. It seems that the two contestants have found each other, or someone triggered a magical trap. And to make matters worse, the shadows in the ruins stretch and deepen. Tendrils of darkness feel their way around the ancient stones.
More Sahdowfeeders.
When I look back at Gale, it is already too late. He is at me. His fingers capture my wrists, and he pulls me in against his hard body, pressing a palm against my mouth, silencing a scream and a spell. There’s something in the way he holds me—he’s strong enough to crush me, yet he keeps himself in check. He restrains me firmly but tenderly like a mother holding an angry child.
“If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already,” he whispers. Well, he has a point. The slow, steady beating of his heart and his embrace calm my wiggling, and I surrender.
He’s the only human in these Trials that I’d trust. Maybe having someone around is not that bad—
“Look, Talysse, we are surrounded,” Gale says in my ear, so close that his hot breath brushes the strands that escaped my braid. “And you have a decision to make. Trust me now, or go down these stairs into the monster who’s killing everyone who enters. Find out for yourself if he’d let you pass…again. Or leave with me. You have my word that I will not harm you.”
With these words, he releases me, and I stumble backward, my body protesting against the night chill. It’s been a while since a man has held me like this. Gale stands in the square of moonlight, tall and broad-shouldered, his whole posture holding the promise of safety. There’s something else in his gold-sprinkled amber eyes; something flashes and disappears like the back fins of a sea monster briefly rising above the surface and disappearing into the unknown depths.
Atos’s warty backside. I hate choosing the lesser evil.
“Think fast, Talysse.” His voice is hoarse, rushed. The white of his eyes flashes as he looks at the thickening shadows in the ruins beyond the filigree window.
Funny. He’s worried about the Shadowfeeders outside but not about that cold-blooded murderer downstairs, who has just ended someone? For a brief moment, I wonder if he’d be able to stand against the Unseelie Prince. They’re both huge men, roughly at the same height, their bodies honed by years of rigorous training. And there’s something ruthless and rugged about Gale, something elusive, that doesn’t fit the narrative of a Free Cities mage who’s tempted by money and fame. There’s more to this story, and I take a mental note to find out about it.
Tucking loose hairs into my braid, I straighten my doublet and take a deep breath.
“Where is that other way out you mentioned, Gale?”
When fate forces you to make impossible decisions, always go with your gut feeling.
Gale nods and peeks into the moon-silvered ruins outside.
