I forced breath through my mouth and into my lungs, fightingagainst a flurry of panic. What if the second trial wasn’t over? What if I still hadn’t passed?
I couldn’t trust anything. Not even what was right in front of me. Not even my ownmind.
“Rose, you’re awake! Where are you going?”
I twisted at the sound of Horace’s voice, holding my blade in front of me. I didn’t know what to believe. If this wasn’t real, if he was part of the trial…
He held his hands in the air. “C’mon, girl, I’m supposed to get you to Lark?—”
“Stay away from me!” I snarled, backing up to the nearest stairwell. A sudden shout came from down the hall and I flinched, picturing enemy soldiers barreling through the narrow path—but it was simply laughter from passing guests. When Horace saw my fear, he turned around to search for a potential threat.
I took my chance. Bounding down the stairs, I ignored Horace’s shout and the bewildered looks of guests as I sprinted to the first floor. The corridor seemed to darken and lengthen, and I couldn’t tell if it was a figment of my imagination or some magic from the second trial. It felt like every shadow was stretching toward me, whispers and glares shooting at me like daggers from the Mysthelm army. My chest tightened; it was hard to draw breath, hard to see past the haze clouding my thoughts. I had to get to them, to my family…
Bursting through the infirmary door, I collided with a nurse, her tray of bandages and glass vials flying into the air.
She was alive, at least. That was a good sign.
I stammered an apology and kept moving past bedsides with warm, smiling faces—but then I blinked, and I saw slit throats and swaying limbs. Rubbing at my eyes, I felt something wet.
Blood or tears?
I didn’t know. It was all the same.
Ragnar, Morgana, Beau…Ragnar, Morgana, Beau…
I skidded to a stop. Familiar wide hips and dark tresses leaned over a bed, with a tall, skinny figureon the other side.
“Beau,” I whimpered, fumbling across the floor, almost falling when I saw Ragnar’s body beneath the sheets.
Whole and unharmed. Still motionless and under the grip of the curse, but no wound marred his flesh. No red stained the bed sheets or pillow. He was alive.
“Rose! You’re awake!” Morgana exclaimed, her features alight with relief. She rushed to me, clutching my shoulders tightly. “It’s been almost three days, sweetheart. We were so worried. They said you would be fine, but?—”
Three days?
I ripped myself from her grasp. “Are you alright, Rose? What’s wrong?” she asked, taking a cautious step toward me as if I was an animal that would spook at the slightest sound.
Now that I knew they were alright, it felt like the walls of this forsaken palace were closing in on me, claws readying to sink into me and shred me to pieces.
I needed to feel safe. I needed toget away.
“I can’t—I have to go,” I gasped. “I can’t be here.”
Tearing back in the direction I’d come from, my mind replayed the same motions from the dream, how I’d stepped over broken furniture and lifeless bodies, moans and screams echoing around me. I squeezed my eyes shut for a split second to try and banish the memory, but it wouldn’t leave.
I had to get out of here.
40
Leo
“It’s been overtwo days, Rissa. Shouldn’t someone check on her?”
My sister gave me an exasperated look. “You know what Lark said a couple hours ago. Only one of the challengers has even woken up—the Shifter, I think. You have to give her time. Lark mentioned it wouldn’t be unusual for this trial to take days, with the way they designed it.”
My stomach roiled. When Lark had told us what this trial entailed, I’d been shocked she had agreed to such a thing, much lessdevelopedit. Although I knew she was simply following Gayl’s instructions.
At the dinner three nights previous, all the challengers had ingested a potion with their final toast that induced a dream-like state for them to complete the second trial. A dreamscape, Lark had called it. Even she seemed hesitant to tell us of what they would each be experiencing, as if she felt ashamed at what she had subjected them to. Or, what Gayl made her subject them to.
