The tygers outside roared in unison, reacting to their riders’ feelings. Their ferocious cries shook the ground.
Rubi!Flame called to me in my mind.What is happening? Are we under attack?
No, not yet. Tell the other tygers to calm.
My heart pounded in my chest, fear and adrenaline warring inside me. The heat from the firens scorched the air, but it was the collective fury radiating throughout the room that made my skin prickle. I could feel the tension tightening like a rope around my throat, ready to snap. One wrong move, one more spark, and this breakfast would descend into an all-out brawl.
Blake’s hand found mine, intertwining our fingers, our palmspressed together—as if he was prepared to lend me a surge of power via our Marks.
The Onyx turned to the rest of the room then.
“My name is Vidor. Remember it when you need to acknowledge our superiority,” he said coolly. He turned to one of their women. “Una, greet our companions.”
The woman named Una raised her arms. Her hair was ink black and straight, falling to her waist with a glassy sheen that caught the light like polished obsidian. Her eyes were an intense blue, and they gleamed with a quiet, unsettling brilliance. A thin silver chain wound through her hair, weaving in and out like a living thread, and at her throat, a pendant shaped like a broken crescent moon rested against her skin, gleaming.
She let out a cry, a sound so chilling it seemed to freeze the air in the room. It was the wail of the dead, the lament of countless lost souls, a sound dredged from the depths of the underworld itself. The air grew thin with an unnatural cold that clawed at my skin.
Her voice reverberated like the mournful howling of forgotten spirits, echoing in the room as if it came from the very bones of the earth. It tugged at something primal inside me, filling me with an icy dread. My heart pounded in my chest as the shadows in the room seemed to deepen, curling like smoke around her figure.
“Enough!” The Diviner’s voice sliced through the tension like a blade.
41
The warring magic dissipated by divine will.
The Diviner floated before us, her crimson robes billowing. Her mask tilted ever so slightly toward the assembled competitors. Her form flickered like a candle caught in a gust of wind.
Lian didn’t sit down. “We do not tolerate insults from lesser beings,” she spat at Vidor, her voice carrying the simmering wrath of her entire dominion.
Vidor, unaffected by the firens’ display, simply smirked and lowered himself to one knee. His translucent eyes gleamed with amusement as he pressed his palm to the ground. To my shock, the stone floor blackened beneath his touch, cracks spreading outward in a widening ring of decay. “We eagerly anticipate teaching all of you a lesson when we repair the Anchor.”
“I said enough,” the Diviner intoned, and the blackened stone was restored, whole beneath Vidor’s hand. “No one dominion will be able to repair the Anchors on their own. The essence of all fourCelestial Guardians was needed to seal the Anchors millennia ago, and all four dominions’ magic will be needed to repair them now. If you hope to survive the Raveling, you must learn to work with one another.”
I looked around the room, taking in the fighting stances of each person here, and thought it might take more than divine will to make that happen.
We assembled hours later in the courtyard for our first day of training. And tension between the dominions had not dissipated.
If anything, it had only grown worse.
I watched as the leaders of each dominion’s team fought over who was in charge.
The Onyx Vidor was the most outspoken, stating that it was beneath him to teach us, but that he should be in charge nonetheless. Auron had made his case, though the other dominions were reluctant to have him lead, as the Red Phoenix fighting style was significantly different from most of the others.
Then Ire stepped forward, massive and gleaming in polished silver armor. “I’m the king’s nephew and heir to the Silver Dominion,” he said. “This team should answer to me.”
Blake didn’t move. His arms stayed crossed, his voice quiet. “But I’m the most powerful.”
Ire stepped up to Blake, looking prepared to fight. Malissa’s bitter words cut in: “You won’t be heir if you’re dead.”
Ire turned on his heel, but I didn’t miss the resentment blazing from his face.
Calla, who’d apparently beaten out Quinn as the elected leader of the Azures, stood with a small smirk on her lips. She looked like she was savoring how her presence irritated Vidor.
“Nice work,” I whispered.
She grinned, then glanced down at my wrist. “Great Nuwa, you’re still wearing my friendship bracelet.”
“Obviously,” I said. “We’re basically sisters.”
