We moved at dawn, though I had no way of knowing the time. The darkness remained unchanged. Something had shifted within me after feeling Kaelric’s wolf curled protectively around me all night to keep me safe from the darkness, from wind, from foe. I trusted him, but that trust was at war with what I’d heard that night in the train car.
‘I overheard you that night in the train car. Your fellow wolfkin said they would take a traitor mark. That they would do anything to get Valkaryn for you,’Isuddenly said. If Kaelric wanted my full trust, he needed to explain what I heard.
Kaelric didn’t bristle or show any sign that he was bothered by my admission.
‘I figured you followed me. I smelled you in the hallway, and then your heart rate was high.’
That’s it? I admit to finding some secret meeting where his wolfkin are talking about taking traitor marks, and he wasn’t bothered?
I stopped walking, and his wolf stopped too, leaning into my side.
‘Are you going to betray me? I know you will do whatever it takes to make Valkaryn yours,’Ideclared boldly.
Of course he will, the darkness whispered to me, and I spun in a circle.
‘If my goal is to win Valkaryn, how would betraying you help me?’he asked. ‘The only way I can rightfully win her is to make sure you win the Arcane Trials. Which I plan to do.’
He was making a lot of sense, but I still felt uneasy. Not everything added up.
I was going to say as much when Kaelric was alert again, tense and pushing into my side.
‘I see the exit.’His voice wasn’t hopeful, though. It was filled with dread.
That’s when the attack came.
A gust of air warned me too late. Kaelric snarled and slammed into me, nearly knocking me to the ground as a blast of heat shot past my head.
A voice rang out, cool and sharp.
“She’s not meant to make it, Morvain. Step aside,” a male snapped.
Morvain?I’d forgotten Kaelric’s last name until now.
Kaelric growled, low and feral.
“Your trial ends here, magicless,” someone breathed behind my neck.
Then the battle erupted.
I felt Kaelric leap away from me, the clash of bodies echoing in the dark as I scrambled backward, clutching Valkaryn.
Something pulsed on my chest.
The sponsor mark.
It burned.
I cried out, my hand going to the searing pain, then sight returned to me in a burst of silver. The darkness peeled back, and for a heartbeat I saw.
Kaelric was in wolf form, bleeding from the shoulder, but unyielding. A tall Elite from the House of Liraeth with red fire in his palms sneered as he sent another bolt toward me.
Kaelric leapt in front of it, taking the hit, and went down with a yelp.
I screamed, rushing forward with Valkaryn outstretched.
Then the Elite’s wolfkin, a rust-colored femalewolf with scarred fur, turned on him. She lunged and ripped into his throat with a savage cry.
He dropped into the grass, the glow in his hands fading, and darkness slammed back into me.
