Page 88 of The Fifth Heir

His gaze paused on Leander’s soaked uniform, Sebastian’s bleeding palm, and the scorch marks along Torren’s sleeves. He looked at my hands last.

“What happened?”

Keeper Malcolm approached from behind him. “The Trial was disrupted when the fifth torc activated the central nexus.”

“Talia was trapped inside,” Torren said.

“We saw that.”

“Then why didn’t you open the gate?”

“The external controls stopped responding.”

“Before or after it pulled us into our paths?”

Malcolm did not answer immediately. “The entrance sealed as soon as the Trial registered all four elemental heirs.”

“Five heirs entered,” Sebastian said.

“Only four paths activated.”

“That is the problem.”

“The problem,” Malcolm said, “is that an unassigned participant interfered with an established Trial.”

Torren moved between us with a low sound that was closer to a dragon’s warning than a man’s.

I stepped around him before he could block me completely.

“I warned them that their paths were connected.”

“You encouraged them to abandon their objectives.”

“Completing the objectives would have injured them.”

“The First Trial is designed to test whether an heir can overcome opposition.”

“Opposition from each other?”

“Yes.”

The answer should not have surprised me. It was carved over the gate.

Four enter. One emerges.

Malcolm looked at the four men. “None of you reached the Crown Gate.”

Leander had.

He could have claimed the victory.

I waited for him to say it.

He took one step forward. “The conditions were not as described.”

Malcolm’s expression tightened. “Your path opened.”

“While my power destroyed Torren’s bridge.”