Just silence.
I swallowed hard. This bond could’ve saved me, strengthened me, and protected me.
But my path lay elsewhere. I had promises to keep, and vengeance to see through. This wasn’t disdain. This was focus, steel over comfort.
I straightened and kept my gaze forward. Let the crowd whisper. I had work to do.
Trew sat forward, both hands gripping his throne, his eyes still fixed on the creature perched on my shoulder. He wasn’t smirking. Wasn’t clapping. Wasn’t showing any of the reactions I would’ve expected from him.
He watched us with an expression I couldn’t begin to read.
I didn’t want to look weak, yet I already had. In front ofhim.
A pang of guilt shot through me as I glanced at the bird. Tiny, brave, and trusting. It deserved better than to be nudged aside by me.
But I couldn’t give it what it wanted.
Not yet.
I had a bigger battle to fight.
22
ISI
The minxpip lifted from my shoulder without a sound. No triumphant screech. No final nudge. Just an unfurling of wings, vibrant and soft and downy, and then it was in the air, darting up through the opening in the stone canopy.
It didn’t look back.
Not once.
Itfledfrom me.
Maybe it had only bonded out of duty. Or worse, out of pity.
I stood on the cold, blood-stained stone floor, my chest still heaving from the raw ache of the bond. My hands hung limp at my sides. I couldn’t breathe right. Couldn’t speak. My pulse thundered in my ears, demanding I dosomething. But I didn’t know where to go. How was I supposed to follow it when it had flown away? Maybe I should wait. It might come back.
It didn’t.
And the longer I stood there, the crowd whispering and hissing around me, the more horror unfurled inside me. I wanted to run.
Cry.
It wasn’t coming back.
A sound from above snapped my attention sideways.
Trew was striding toward the arched exit with Kira at his side. His pace remained easy. He tilted toward her in that casual way people did when they didn’t have to pretend. She said something. He smiled. And I abhorred how watching them together landed like a bruise.
Because I wanted all his smiles to be mine.
He didn’t look back, and a pang jabbed through me, sharp enough to leave me breathless.
I hated that I felt it. Hated that I’d somehow found myself caring.
Shaking off everything—including him—I stiffened my spine, made my quivering muscles obey me, and strode across the arena and through the big open gate.
The moment I stepped into the long hall outside, the arms of my friends smothered me.
