16
Isit in a darkened room and face an empty chair. A transparent screen rests between me and the other side of the room. Elise swept both sides and tested the screen to make sure it can’t be broken. The male who sits opposite me won’t be able to get to me.
Still, I carry as many weapons as I can. From now on, the weapons belts will be the first thing I put on in the morning and the last thing I take off at night. I’m wearing a flowing silk dress with multiple folds to hide the bulk underneath. My gloves are tucked into a pocket at the side.
I suppose I look demure, waiting primly in the chair, my hair in a single braid resting across my shoulder.
The Elven Command watches from the side, also behind a transparent screen. Elise sits with them but her seat is moved to the side. They can hear everything but they can’t control the outcome. Each champion will bring his heartstone to this test and after completing it, the Heartstone Chest will either accept his stone back or refuse it. There’s no tricking it.
The only thing the Elven Command can control is the order in which the champions enter the room. The door opens at the side and I hold my breath, waiting to see who’s first.
Jasper Grace strides into the room. He’s leaner than Baelen but has a way of carrying himself that somehow fits with his House. I wouldn’t call it graceful but he carries himself with an efficiency of movement that makes it clear he can move fast if he wants to. He takes a knee beside the empty chair, head bowed. “Princess.”
“Hello, Jasper.”
He sits without hesitation and I have to admire the fact that he didn’t pause. His head shoots up as the magic takes hold, his brown eyes widening ever so slightly at the strange, compelling sensation he’s now feeling.
The compatibility test is as much about truth as personality. The spells cast over the champion’s chair force him to tell the truth and speak his mind even if he doesn’t want to.
It’s also incredibly unfair, because my chair isn’t spellcast at all. I can tell as many lies and ask as many questions as I want.
He speaks first, compelled to say what he’s thinking. “Are you okay?” he asks. “Are you still hurt?”
“I’m fine now, thank you Jasper.”
“I can’t stop seeing the arena, replaying it in my head. I couldn’t get to Commander Rath. I couldn’t get to you. I can still hear you scream.” He grips the handles on the chair, one fist clenched over his heartstone. His jaw flexes and I know he doesn’t want to tell me any of this.
I interrupt him so he doesn’t have to continue. “I have a question for you, Jasper.”
He looks relieved and grateful, but his grip on the heartstone remains strong.
I lean forward and try not to smile. “Did you peek?”
His forehead crinkles, but his frown quickly clears. He remembers the night on the mountains when I had to remove the top of my suit to patch my back.
He says, “No.”
“Good.”Let the Elven Command puzzle over that one.“Do you have any family?”
“I have a sister. Younger.”
I ask him other questions about his family, his favorite things, his childhood. He slowly relaxes. He tells me about his grandmother who used to sing stories to him as a boy. He tells me about his sister who sews roses out of silk for the major Houses. He tells me about military training and meeting my brother there. He doesn’t smile. He never does.
I avoid any questions that really matter. Until the last one. It could be dangerous, but I set my features into a pleasant expression and keep it glued to my face. No matter what he says, I can’t react.
I say, “I’m sorry to push you on this, but I need to know… which story you believed about the night I became the Storm Princess.”
“I don’t want to tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t want to think about it. Not really.”
My composure slips. Somehow this male reads me too well. And all without giving anything about his own emotions away.
I tense. Breathe. Relax. “You’re right. I hate remembering it. But it’s just a story. It can’t hurt me.”
He nods. “Some people say that you deliberately climbed the mountain during the storm because you wanted to be the Princess. Other people say you were in the right place at the right time. Some people say that you climbed the mountain because you intended to jump off and kill yourself but the Storm got to you first.”
