I looked up to where Azurill sat watching, narrowing my eyes at him in irritation. His lips twitched, like he was about to smile, but he managed to get his expression under control before I was forced to accelerate my plans for murder.
Smart man.
Considering my next move, I was forced to admit that the lion was much too fast for me to get across the easier platforms I’d planned on using without getting mauled in the process. I also wasn’t about to attempt the ones spaced so far apart that I would need giant running leaps to make it across, if it was even possible at all. I had no wish to fall into whatever pit was waiting below.
Ula had taught me that it was always better to conserve your energy and use your brain to defeat your opponent when you could. Which left me with only one option.
Outsmarting the beast.
I shifted from foot to foot, like I might take off at any moment, and the lion bristled, its fur standing on end as it slunk low into a position that wouldeasily allow it to pounce at the slightest wrong move. Massive teeth were exposed as it snarled at me, its tail flicking menacingly back and forth from high up in the air.
What I really needed was to get to the platform positioned directly behind the lion, but it was determined to block me from it, guarding its territory fiercely. It watched me closely, its whiskers twitching with the snarling movement of its upper lip, looking much too satisfied as I shivered in instinctual fear at the predator before me.
“Here, kitty kitty,” I cooed at it, and its tail stilled for a moment before starting to swish faster, drawing my eye to it. It had a tuft at the end that was tipped in emerald with sapphire at its base, the colors bleeding into one another. The rest of its long rope of a tail was made up of a shimmery silver and black swirl.
Those colors were a representation of its magic. Emerald for protection, sapphire for wisdom, diamond for power, and onyx to manipulate the body, creating its form. It had plenty of power, surely, and the wisdom in its eyes gave it enough insight to be a problem, but more than anything, it was built to protect this spot, and it wouldn’t be swayed. It would prevent me from reaching that rock wall, or it would die trying.
Which meant if I went in the opposite direction, I might stand a chance of confusing it, making it think I’d given up on trying to get to the wall. It was worth a shot, at least. I needed to dosomethingto get this moving when every second counted towards my standing in the competition.
Bouncing on the balls of my feet, I looked into the lion’s eyes and then spun around, running in the opposite direction. A confused rumble came from behind me, and I looked back to see its head tilted to the side like a bewildered puppy before it huffed and lay its head down on its paws.
Satisfied that it had scared me off.
A slow smirk grew on my face at the thought.
Chapter Sixteen
Azurill
The obstacle course was one of the more physically demanding tasks we had planned for the ladies over the course of the competition, but it would also tell me a lot about each of them. I wanted to ensure it was done early on, so I could see what each of them could potentially bring to the role of queen.
Each obstacle within the challenge would reveal much, not only about their problem-solving capabilities and their physical endurance, but also their cunning and willpower. All qualities that would be needed in the role.
This trial had been a bit of a team effort, with the original idea coming from Balthazar initially before being expanded upon by Arianell. They had first recommended this course as a way to test that the ladies were both intelligent and physically capable, but we’d adapted it to include challenges that would tell us much more. I was quite fond of Emrys’s addition; he’d had the idea for the illusions. If the ladies could face their fears and resist their desires to find the right way out, it would prove their fortitude and willpower to fight through base emotions and focus on finding the correct path forward.
That wasessentialwhen it came to ruling…and to me. I wanted more than anything to find someone who could be more than a piece of eye candy or a womb to breed heirs. I wanted apartner. Like my mother had been to my father.
When Faiza began running the course, I was curious to see if she would throw the whole thing right away. I’d had to practically beg her to join this farce to begin with, since it required having someone from Diamond included. Thankfully, however, she made a convincing show of trying, and I let out a sigh of relief as she made it through the obstacle course.
Though it was not without issues. We knew some would struggle mightily, had intended for it even, which is why we’d insisted on blindfolds so that none of the ladies could watch the others go through the course. Faiza had gotten especially tripped up on the illusion tunnel. She’d followed the illusions out of the wrong exit twice before she figured out that she needed to look past them, forcing her to have to redo the course from the beginning each time she got the wrong one.
I had no idea what fear or desire had led her in there, since we couldn’t see what illusions the ladies experienced. We thought that was only fair since the magic was pulling out such deeply personal information. We didn’t have the right to see their deepest fears or desires, nor did the crowd of thousands.
Faiza wasn’t a very active person in her day-to-day, so she’d struggled through much of the course. She did find a workaround for the tightrope, using her hands to swing through it like the bars on the prior obstacle, which also meant that she managed to avoid the swinging beams entirely.
But it was with the lion Ruri had masterfully created to guard the path to the rock wall that she’d surprised me the most. Faiza had always been the sweetest of the noble ladies at court, which is why I viewed her as something like a surrogate sister, and her actions today not only proved that but were also incredibly amusing. She somehow managed to charm the lion, sitting down and letting it sniff her, getting it acclimated to her until she had its giant head in her lap.
When she had the fierce supposed protector as docile as a kitten, she merely waited for it to drift off and then snuck out from under it, crossing the rest of the platforms to the rock wall.
I knew from the start that Jacinth would be very different. I tried my hardest not to show any special interest in her, not as a potential spy or as a potentialanything else. Yet somehow, my eagerness to see her run the course must have been more obvious than I’d thought.
“My cousin will prove herself most adept with this task, I assure you, Your Majesty.” Lord Carnelian announced boldly, smirking from where he sat a few chairs down.
“I suppose we’ll see,” I replied, giving him a nod and keeping my face as controlled as possible. His smug superiority was grating, and I preferred to deal with him as little as possible. On the other hand, Ruri’s suspicions were clearly at the forefront of his mind, making him more than willing to jump in.
“And what makes you so sure, my Lord?” Ruri asked, raising a dubious eyebrow at Carnelian as he leaned around me to face him.
“Jacinth is, as you’ve seen, quite lithe and agile,” he responded without hesitation, condescension dripping from every word. “I have no doubt she will manage the physical aspects with aplomb.”
