Bylur shook his chains, trying to rip them out of the post, but Ephaltes just bowed his head and took a spot at the front of the line of guards.
“Now, my dear,” the queen’s nasty sweet voice was back. “Instead of accepting your challenge, I’ve decidedto give you a gift.” She gestured at Bylur. “If you can get to him, you can have him.”
A fiery path, maybe fifty feet long and two feet wide, with ten soldiers on each side stretched between us. I could do that. It might take four or five seconds, but I wouldn’t burn to death in that time.
But she would know that. My mouth went dry. “The soldiers,” I said. “They’re not there just to keep me on the fire.” I meant it as a question, but my voice came out flat.
“No,” she said, smiling widely. “They will run you through with their swords.” Swords. Most held one, some held two, already drawn and ready. “You might run past one or two, but there is no way you will get past twenty of them. And a good hit from Ephaltes. And a little fire.”
“And you?” I asked.
Her smile grew impossibly bigger. “I will throw daggers made of ice at you. I will form them from the moisture in the air as you run. It will be a delightful target practice.”
I bit my lip. I could not survive so many sharp blades, even for five seconds, not while I was running on a straight path that she’d marked. Unless—
My heart raced, and my breathing picked up. Bylur shook his head at me, as if he could save me from their blades. But I had Bylur’s magic. His shadows could be as solid as stone. He’d said it himself. I just needed them to work for me.
I would do it. I had to. But I couldn’t let the queen know I had a chance of surviving. I glanced over my shoulder, as if checking for an escape.
She cackled, and I faced her. “If I choose not to, will you let me leave?”
She tipped her head, as if contemplating it, and then smiled. “Of course not. I will have a soldier run you through while these two hold you. But I will enjoy watching Bylur’s expression when you decide not to attempt it.”
I didn’t have to pretend fear. I legitimately trembled. “But if I do it… if I survive your little gauntlet, and make it to him, you will free him?”
She clapped her hands gleefully. “Oh, yes, I will. And I will enjoy watching you die as you scramble to him infinitely more than I will any other option.”
“Swear it,” I panted. “If you’re going to get your entertainment out of my death, at least give me something certain to fight for.”
“Absolutely.” She looked far too happy about this. Was I overlooking something? She would never agree unless she was certain she would win.
Before I could back out, she dropped a hand on my shoulder. “I, Queen Daneira of Kerebos, will release Bylur to you if you can reach him before you die. It is an oath.”
That was actually incredibly optimistic. Even if I got stabbed twenty times, I wouldn’t bleed out in five seconds. Though it would take more than five seconds if I was getting stabbed—
“Are you ready then?” The queen was standing, looking down at me imperiously while my thoughts ran away from me. Would her oath be enough? Dedalus wanted me to get a tattooed bargain, but there was no way she would agree to that. And the oaths I’d seen other fae make had been pretty binding.
I nodded. I didn’t have any other options at this point.
“Wait.” She raised a hand in front of my face. “Take your boots off.”
Of course. My hands trembled as I tugged them off and dropped them behind me.
“And your stockings.”
I ripped them off too, though they stuck a little because I’d been wearing the same pair for three days.
“Nowyou’re ready,” the queen declared. “Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
I looked down the fire at Bylur. He looked more panicked than I felt—and I was so nervous my legs threatened to give out under me. I needed to grip the key to steady my thoughts and convince Bylur’s magic to help me, but if the queen saw it before I started, she would surely take it away. I’d have to take a hit first, and then pull the key out from under my bodice.
Sorry, I mouthed to Bylur. He shook his head again, but I stepped into the fire.
My feet burned instantly. I knew the pain was coming, but it was overwhelming. And I knew what was next. I clenched my teeth and lifted my arms over my head, bracing for the impact from Ephaltes’s club.It slammed into my shoulder. Any hopes I had of him going easy on me because we’d once been on good terms, vanished when the wood bit into my arm. Between the heat from the flames and the pain in my shoulder, I almost collapsed. I hadn’t even made it a whole second.
“Auria!” Bylur yelled my name, snapping my thoughts back together. I staggered as Ephaltes’s club cracked across my back.
The impact pushed me into the flames. I closed my eyes against the heat and smoke and plunged my hand inside my bodice, gripping the key. My heart and mind reached for Bylur and his magic, imagining how a wall of shadows would block another attack. How I wanted Bylur and his magic in my life! How they were precious and sweet and safe—even the shadows I’d once feared.
