“Now, show me what you can do, human. I can’t be certain how much time we have before the others return.”
When I simply kneel there, his shadows reach through the bars again, and this time when they touch me, I scream.
My mind is wrenched back to the present, and I realize Thane is whisper-shouting in my ears. I’m still clinging to the wall, and my whole body shakes as I start moving upward again. I want to tell my mates what I just saw, but fear has me keeping my mouth shut. I remember Knox theorizing that I was a spy when I first came to the academy. And now I can’t help wondering…what if he was right?
Chapter Forty-Two
~ Shade ~
I’m not far from the top, when a menacing growl fills the air. Above me, Ian’s large puma animali comes into view at the top of the wall. It clings to the stone, its black wings stretched out wide to help it balance, and it stares at me with piercing red eyes. Ian sits on its back, and he lifts his arms, drawing cheers from the crowd. Then he turns his attention to me.
“Fuck,”Raith curses.
“I thought Ian had finished the course?”I say, still struggling to keep my mind in the present.
“He did,”Thane replies.
“Yes, but it appears Ian is hoping to win points with the queen by putting on a performance,”Galen says.“He also didn’t look too pleased that you saved Satine after he tried to get rid of her.”
“What?”I eye the distance between myself and Ian.
“He’s going to try and kill you,”Knox says coldly.“We’ve seen this kind of behavior before. You need to take him out first.”
“No, I can’t do that,”I blurt.“I’m barely hanging on as it is.”
“Sorry, sunshine,”Faith rumbles.“But you don’t have a choice.”
Ian moves from his animali’s back, and I’m horrified when he begins climbing down the wall toward me, with a dagger clenched between his teeth.
You have got to be kidding me.
The crowd goes wild, loving this unexpected turn of events. Ian wants to be the champion, and he thinks spilling my blood will help him become the queen’s favorite. He’s probably right, too.
I peer at the pit of spikes below me, contemplating my next move. Even if I climbed down, without the space for a run up, there’s no way I would be able to jump back to the platform that’s a short distance from the wall. Not to mention, if I managed to somehow escape Ian, I’d have to climb all the way back up here again. No, as much as I might want to, there’s no running from this.
A wicked gleam flashes in Ian’s eyes as he comes for me, and my mates are all whispering in my ears at once, trying to give me advice and encouragement. But despite the danger Ian poses, I still can’t stop thinking about the memory of the cloaked figure, and the fact that I could be a spy after all. What if I really am the one who’s going to make us lose the war? Ian might be a dick, but at least he’s planning to fight against the Xalgrith, not let them win and destroy the realms.
“You have to fight, mate,”Thane says desperately in my ears.
My lips are trembling when I reply,“But what if this is for the best?”
“What are you talkin’ about?”Raith asks.
“The prophecy,”I say.“What if I am the only one who can destroy you all?”
Knox doesn’t hesitate to reply.“Then we will happily burn, as long as you are by our side, my love. Now, take care of this human.”
“Wow. Have you always been such a romantic?”I mumble, not sure why having him talk about our deaths is really doing it for me.
Ian moves closer, and I fumble for one of my knives as my mates stand in the ceremonial box. The queen is glaring at them, but they don’t seem to care.
Giving me a wolfish grin, Ian pulls the dagger from his mouth, and he drops to my side.
I try to remember my training and strike him with my knife first, but he bats the blade out of my hand, and it falls to the pit below. My shadows try to restrain him, but his shadows are stronger, and they easily keep mine away.
Above us, his animali paces the wall, watching with its keen red eyes.
I shout, trying to push back as Ian crowds me, pinning me against the wall, but I stop struggling when he presses his blade to a spot below my ear.Crap.
