‘There’s food, and it’s better than the rubbish they’ve been feeding us,’ I say with a shrug, tamping down my frustration. ‘Keep your wits about you, though. We don’t know how competitive these other champions will be.’
Kell narrows his gaze as he casts it over the ballroom, a sudden peal of high-pitched laughter spearing the air like an arrow. ‘Agreed. Although they’d be pretty foolish to poison someone in another court …’
‘Depends how desperate they are,’ I say gruffly. Picturing Agnes, I know how desperateIam. And, although we both know the rules of the Trials, we have little knowledge of this side of them. Perhaps the moments in between are just as important as the challenges themselves. I learned long ago that where there is money, there is purpose. And the ruling councilhave not scrimped on this spread, which means there is a reason for this assembly. Perhaps it is just to display the wealth and superiority of Arnhem, but maybe the members of these other courts will use this gathering to their advantage. I wish we had an ally here.
The tables along one wall are laden with food and drinks, platters piled high with produce from across the continent. The extravagance leaves me cold as I step over to the tables, loading up a plate and picking my way through it. There’s fish, meat, vegetables in pickled slivers, delicate piles of leaf and sauce, and the puddings are all towering confections in bright colours. It’s a disgusting display of greed and wealth, a feast that would feed the whole of Rosevear for a week. The ruling council is wasting no time or resources in showing their might. But is it a display to unnerve the visiting members of the other courts, or are they trying to impress?
When we reach the drinks table, Kell makes a snort of disgust. ‘Frost-flower syrup. Subtle.’
‘What do you mean?’ I pick up one of the pearlescent coupe glasses, swirling the pink, fizzing drink within.
‘Frost flowers grow in the north. It’s the first place the ruling council conquered, or so I’ve heard tell from people passing through. They were a symbol of freedom, of the mountains and the wilds.’ He sniffs at the drink and frowns. ‘The ruling council has tamed the wild north, and they want everyone here to bear that in mind.’
I shudder, placing the glass back down, and reach for a goblet of honey-hued wine instead, knocking it back. ‘You never told me why they brought you here. What are you able to do?’ I ask Kell quietly.
He scrunches up his nose, then checks to see there are no eyes lingering on us. He holds out his right palm, and a pale smouldering flame uncoils from his skin. I whistle, skimming my fingertips over it, and quickly snatch them back. It’s real. This boy can create actual fire. ‘But you’re human. You’re a boy …’
‘Magic is changing,’ Kell says, closing his fingers into a fist and snuffing out the flame. ‘Evolving. I don’t know if there are others like me, but I’m hoping that here, maybe another competitor …’ He trails off, swallows. ‘And what the guards say about you is true? You are half human, half creature?’
I nod. ‘And though the ruling council believe me to be some huge threat, or a weapon they can use, I’m only just uncovering what it means. What I can do. And … how to control my powers.’
He tosses back his drink and wipes his mouth. ‘We’ll figure it out. Together. But right now keep your secrets close. There’s someone over there taking a keen interest in you.’
When I look round, I find a pair of eyes watching me with a sneer I know all too well. Captain Spencer Leggan. He saunters over, bedecked in his watch uniform, and my fingers stiffen round the glass I’m holding. The man who was going to hang my father andwould have happily seen me swing from his gallows as well. I plant my feet, the anger coiling inside me even tighter, and I wonder if I can get away with murdering him right here and now.
‘Mira Boscawen of Rosevear,’ he says, that sneer threaded through each syllable. ‘I hear you’ve gone up in the world. Subservience suits you.’
‘And you remain down with the dregs,’ I snap.
He chuckles. ‘Now, now. We’re all on the same side here. Both representing Arnhem, both with skin in the game, so to speak.’
‘What?’
‘Well, the Trials aren’t easy, are they? Not only do you have to stay alive, you also have to beat all the other contenders to the top spot and impress the right people,’ he says, then leans closer. ‘If you want your little island-wrecker friend to make it out of this court alive.’
Impress the right people?
I grit my teeth, exhaling slowly, then I smile sweetly up at him. ‘If there weren’t so many witnesses, I’d ram this glass into your throat.’
He takes a step back, the sneer dropping from his features. ‘Murderous little thing, aren’t you? Shame you’ll probably die in the Trials. I’d have taken great joy in hanging you myself.’
Gripping the stem of the glass, I squeeze too tight, snapping it in two. His eyes trail to it then lift back to meet mine as I murmur. ‘Even a splinter, or as you put it, athorn in your sidecan end a life, captain.’
He blinks quickly, fear plain on his features before he can hide it, then walks away. I watch his back grimly as he greets people as he goes, before he’s swallowed by the crowd.
‘Who was that?’ Kell hisses.
I shove the broken glass on the table and turn to appraise the ballroom. ‘A man I would very much like to drown.’ Then I turn to Kell and smile. ‘But he made a good point. We need an edge, and we don’t know who the other contenders are yet. We need more information.’
‘True.’
‘How’s your footwork?’
Within minutes, we’re clumsily spinning across the ballroom dance floor, eyeing the crowd. It works, because as soon as the song has finished, we’re both approached by other partners who want to rub shoulders with a competitor. The young man who asks me to dance has a shock of ginger hair that sticks straight up from his forehead, and wolfish teeth. He takes the lead, and all I have to do is try not to step on his feet as the band strikes up.
‘Are you a contender?’ I ask as we step sideways to the left, swaying to the side before continuing the same pattern to the right.
He laughs. ‘No, my territory wouldn’t sendme. I’ve no special talent, cunning or brute strength. I’m an ambassador.’
