“What?” I gaped at Mother, shocked at the treasonous words she’d spoken. I’d never heard anyone speak about King Aolis that way—he was widely considered a hero, the only monarch to kill off the dragons and put an end to the Dragon-Fae War that had plagued our kingdom for millennia. He’d brought peace to our lands after thousands of years of fighting. “How can you say he’s doing nothing? He’s been recruiting like mad, sending more soldiers to fight the shadow creatures—”
“You mean more lesser fae to die while the King and his pretentious advisors sit in their castles and manors and do nothing,” Mother shot back. She looked like she wanted to keep ranting, but she must have seen the look on my face, so she simply shook her head. “Never you mind, Adara. I’ve already said too much about this. Go on off to bed—I’ll finish up here.”
“All right. Good night, Mother.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek, then headed to bed. Questions chased each other in my head like fairy lights during mating season, but I knew better than to ask. Once Mother ended a discussion, there was no prying anything more out of her.
As I laid down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling, I fingered the protection amulet, tracing the rounded edges of the stone. I wondered if it would provide any protection against the shadow creatures, should they send me out to fight them, or if the military provided us with everbright potion to carry on our patrols.
I wasn’t sure if joining the military was the right choice or not. But I was still going to go to the tryouts, because I would be damned if I let Dune or Mother or anyone else scare me off. I might be magically incompetent, but I knew I had what it took to be a warrior. And tomorrow, I was going to show Dune just how wrong he’d been about me.
4
Adara
“This was a mistake, wasn’t it?”
I swallowed hard as I stared out at the massive crowd that had gathered for the tryouts. There had to be at least a hundred earth fae here with all sorts of talent. Many of them were showing off their skills to one another as they waited in otherwise orderly lines, bending metal or flowers or the earth itself into fantastic shapes. Even the weakest of them had more magic at their beck and call than I ever would, and I felt woefully out of my depth.
“Yes, but that’s irrelevant right now.” Mavlyn jabbed her elbow into my ribcage. We were standing at the top of a knoll overlooking the field, along with the mare we’d borrowed from Mavlyn’s parents. “I didn’t train with you for months, then get up in the middle of the night and ride with you for three hours just for you to chicken out. Get down there and show those soldiers what you’re made of.”
“Yeah. Okay. You’re right.” I squared my shoulders and started down the hillside. A line for the registration desk had formed at the bottom of the hill, and I joined it, hoping that I was prepared enough. I’d borrowed Mavlyn’s father’s short sword for the occasion in case I needed it, but the bow and arrows I carried, and the hunting leathers I wore, were mine. Beyond the desk, and past the orderly lines of waiting candidates, was a massive field where the tryouts were to take place. They’d segmented the field into various sections, and I did my best to guess the purpose of each one. The obstacle course was easy enough to spot—there were two, one set up for the horses that waited nearby, and another that was obviously meant to be done on foot. There was also a tent with rows of desks lined up beneath it, like the ones in the village schoolhouse, an archery range, and a combat ring. Plenty of space for spectators to gather around each arena and watch, too, so Mavlyn would be there to cheer me on.
I scanned the area for Dune as I waited in line, my stomach tightening with dread and determination. Part of me hoped I wouldn’t see him at all, but my ego demanded that I seek him out because I wantedhimto seeme. What was the point in acing these tryouts if I couldn’t rub his face in it?
Better to do this to spite Dune rather than to be with him,I told myself. I knew Mavlyn would approve of that sentiment, even though she disagreed with the whole situation to begin with. Part of me started to wonder if she was right, but I’d been training for this for months. It was too late to back out now. I had to go through with this for my own sake, if no one else’s.
And there he is.My eyes snagged on his tall, broad form, and my stupid heart did a swoop in my chest, betraying me. Why did he have to be so handsome? Gritting my teeth, I envisioned the butterflies in my stomach dying a quick, fiery death, and fanned the imaginary sparks and ashes into a blaze of righteous anger. I didn’t care how handsome he was, how special he’d tried to make me feel, or how sweet and sexy his kisses had been.
He was still ugly on the inside, and he didn’t deserve me.
“Name?”
A gruff voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I jumped. Somehow, I’d made it to the front of the line without realizing! My cheeks heated with embarrassment as the officer behind the desk raised his eyebrow. His mahogany-colored skin and moss green hair marked him as an earth fae, just like all the other soldiers here. I stuck out like a sore thumb with my lavender-blue hair and pale skin, and we both knew it.
“Adara Greenwood,” I said.
He wrote that down on his clipboard. “Greenwood?” he repeated, raising an eyebrow. “That’s an earth fae name. Were you born here in the earth realm?”
“Yes,” I answered, though truthfully I didn’t know where exactly I was born. I only knew my mother had brought me to Fenwood shortly after my birth, and I’d lived there all my life. “My mother is an earth fae, and she raised me in Fenwood, not Lochanlee, so I took her name.”
He grunted. “Do you have any earth element abilities, or just water?"
“Umm.” I scratched the back of my neck, not sure how to answer the question. “Just water, but I can’t really use that very well either. You should just mark me down as a dud.”
The soldier frowned, as though he disapproved of the use of that term. “Fair enough. I’ll automatically mark you down as a level one then. You won’t need to do any of the magical trials. But I’ll warn you, your combat skills had better be top-notch. General Slaugh wants useful candidates, not cannon fodder, so if you’re trying to commit suicide by military, I’d suggest you throw yourself on your sword and save yourself the trouble.”
My cheeks flamed, and I lifted my chin. “I’m here to prove my worth, sir,” I said stiffly. “I want to serve Ediria with mylife. There’s no honor in a pointless death.”
The soldier gave me another once over, and something that looked a little like respect crossed his features. “If you really mean that, you’ll do just fine,” he said.
I blinked at the unexpected encouragement, and the knot of dread in my stomach loosened a little.Maybe this won’t be so bad,I thought as I joined the other candidates. I deliberately picked the line next to Dune’s—he was at the front of his line while I was at the back, so he didn’t see me, but I wanted to make sure we ended up in the same sections together so I could beat him in every challenge.
“Candidates!” A gravely voice boomed from the front. We all jerked to attention, our collective gazes swinging to the front of the field. The officers stood in a row, and in front of them was a fae who looked like he’d walked straight out of a nightmare. Over six feet tall, clad in black armor that seemed to absorb the sun rather than reflect it, he was a hulking figure who had obviously once been handsome. But terrible burns marred the left side of his skull, forming a landscape of trauma that was hard to look at directly. His hair and the cartilage of his ear were completely burned away on that side, leaving nothing but warped, angry, melted skin, and a black eyepatch covered the area where his left eye should have been. Even the left side of his mouth was mutilated, the once-soft flesh twisted into an eternal grimace.
In contrast, the other half of his face was almost perfect. Wavy red hair covered the right side of his scalp, framing that side of his face nicely. The burns had been kind enough to leave him a side part that started from the left side of his head instead of straight down the middle so that he could grow it long enough to cover most of his scalp, and if not for the scarred flesh I would have assumed he’d chosen the hairstyle on purpose, as unconventional as it was. His remaining eye was a gorgeous, emerald green, his umber skin was smooth, his cheekbones were high and wide, and his triangular jaw looked like it could cut through even the thickest panes of glass.
I knew him in an instant, though I’d never seen him in person. This was General Slaugh, King Aolis’s right-hand man. Leader of the Shadow Guard, and second in command of the Edirian military. He’d fought in the Dragon-Fae War, and it was dragon fire that had disfigured his face, and supposedly the left side of his body, though his armor covered that up well enough.
Giant’s teeth,I thought as I stared at him. I hadn’t realized the general was overseeing these tryouts personally. The pressure to perform settled heavily on my shoulders, and I stood up straighter, determined not to be intimidated.
