Page 116 of The Trials of Ophelia

He shook his head.

“Not Angelblood, then,” Jezebel said, rubbing her hands together over the fire.

“Or not active Angelblood,” Cypherion corrected. “You said the earth erupted when you touched the statue?”

Malakai nodded, and Cyph and I exchanged a grim nod. It sounded similar to how the one platform in Seawatcher Territory had exploded when I set foot on the top expanse of the island.

“Why, though?” I asked, turning the emblem over in my hand. “Why was this hidden in the first place? The nature of the test makes sense with what we’ve hypothesized after Gaveny’s. Each is tailored to its Angel. But why?”

The gilded petal winked in the mystlight as an uncertain silence thickened.

Spirits, my head was spinning again. Tugging the blanket tighter around me and clutching the new emblem, I leaned back against the wall. Letting my eyes fall closed, I breathed in deeply. Listened to the crackling fire and massaged the rough fur beneath my fingers.

Four. We had four emblems now and still were no closer to figuring out why we needed them or what they did.

“If we’re safe in Mindshaper Territory,” I finally said, cracking my eyes open, “who does the Labyrinth belong to?”

“The rebel Mindshaper group who is not under Kakias’s influence,” Tolek responded immediately.

“What?” I blinked at him.

“I’ll let them explain the intricacies of their power,” Tol continued, a guarded edge to his voice, “but there is a faction of Mindshapers who are not affected by the power the queen is manipulating over her army.”

“A rather large faction,” Cyph added. His eyes brightened, and I could see his mind whirling with curiosity. That was the brain of my Second at work—once he grew into the idea of accepting the role. But there were more important things than pushing him right now.

“They have this network of tunnels beneath the land that they use to travel and communicate.” Jezebel tilted her head. “It’s rather impressive.”

I tried to brush off the shock, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that if not all the Mindshapers were loyal to the queen, if some would fight on our side, this could turn the tide of the war.

“And how did we find them?”

The cavern fell quiet at my question, everyone shifting, not looking at me. Malakai’s and Cypherion’s eyes flitted to Tolek, who sighed. “Leave,” he clipped, and the four of them filed out, Santorina shooting him a narrowed glare on her way.

“Tol?” I hedged, my pulse pounding faster as he came to sit beside me. For the first time in a while, he didn’t reach out to touch me in some way.

“Let me explain myself before you get angry, okay?”

My stomach bottomed out. “I don’t like how this is beginning.”

He breathed a sad laugh. “You remember the deal you made with that fae when you came to rescue me during the summer?”

I nodded. Of course I remembered it, but—“You didn’t.”

“I made my own bargain,” he confirmed, reaching into his pocket. He removed a thick silver ring and slid it onto the middle finger of his right hand. Engravings around the metal caught the light.

A symbol of a fae bargain. My hand went to my own around my neck.

“When the charm fell from your necklace while traveling through Bodymelder Territory last week, it was because I took it. I summoned Lancaster—who was furious to learn it was not you invoking his help—and convinced him to make a bargain with me in order to ensure we safely survived the confrontation with the queen. I dropped the token on the ground in our camp afterwards, intending to find it in the morning, but Vale beat me to that.”

The more he spoke, the tighter my chest got, but I let him continue. “Lancaster is still gathering information on fae magic, and in the process he discovered the rebel faction. He told me how to find them if we needed an escape and arranged for them to aid us. I had this contingency plan in case something went wrong.”

He retained that calm demeanor and forced my gaze to hold his, but his fingers drummed against his knee as he awaited my response.

Tolek made a deal with a fae in order to save me.

The exact thing I’d done last summer without a second thought. I couldn’t be angry about that, and I didn’t want to be.

“You didn’t tell me,” I finally forced out.

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