Page 125 of Empire of Flame and Thorns

For one second, I swear I can almost see a flicker of anger in Rin’s black eyes. But when she speaks, there is no change in her tone. Her voice is as smooth and calm as before.

“Of course,” she replies.

Alistair lets out a strangled noise of relief as she begins healing the vicious claw marks across his skin. My ankle and hand throb in pain, and I glance longingly towards Rin as I wait for my turn.

“What about the other contestants?” Fenriel suddenly asks from across the grass. He casts a worried look towards the woods. “Trevor and I only came back here because we had to drop out because of our injuries. But what about the ones who are still in the forest. How will they know that the trial is already over?”

Emperor Bane shrugs, making his silver wings rustle behind his broad shoulders. “They’ll figure it out eventually.”

“What if they don’t?”

“Who cares?” He shoots Fenriel a sharp look. “If they don’t return, it means they weren’t worthy of living anyway.”

All five of us contestants, even Alistair, jerk back a little at his cruel words. Fenriel opens his mouth, and it looks like he’s about to argue, but then Bane flares his wings slightly.

The subtle threat is loud and clear.

Dropping his gaze, Fenriel bows his head and takes a half step back.

“I’m bored, Bane,” Jessina announces. “And I’m tired of breathing the same air as these uncivilized people. It’s high time we leave this filthy court and return to the Ice Palace.”

There is a malicious smile on Bane’s lips as he sweeps his gaze over us. I squeeze my uninjured hand into a fist and clench my jaw, but I remain on my knees with my chin lowered.

“Agreed,” Bane says. “Let’s go.”

Spinning on their heels, they start striding farther out onto the field. Sunlight gleams in their silver clothes and wings.

Jessina casts a glance over her shoulder. “Draven, come.”

For a few moments, Draven’s gaze lingers on me. There is an unreadable expression on his face now. And for some reason, that is almost worse than his previous anger.

Then, without a word, he tears his gaze from me and strides after his monarchs.

Black smoke explodes across the grass as all three of them shift into dragons.

The grass trembles as strong winds whoosh down over it when the three dragons beat their wings and take flight. Still on my knees, I sit there on the grass and wait for my turn to be healed.

Jessina and Bane let out loud roars that make the woods shake in fear. Then the two of them soar upwards and towards their Ice Palace somewhere far up north.

Draven, in his massive black dragon form, hovers over the field for a few seconds.

His eyes sweep over me one last time.

Then he too flies away.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

After Rin Tanaka healed my broken and exhausted body, I headed straight back to the city. There was nothing for me to pick up from my room at the Golden Palace. I’m already wearing everything that I brought with me. Everything that’s mine. So while the seven clan leaders shifted into dragons and flew off, I walked straight to the Golden Gate. Isera and Alistair did the same.

And now, as I walk through the city, everything suddenly feels different. It has only been a few weeks since the Atonement Trials started, but it feels as if years have passed. Everything that I’ve been through, everything that I’ve done, has somehow changed me. But I’m not sure exactly how.

The streets I walk through now feel smaller. And the buildings somehow look more impersonal. But worst of all, the city and the people in it suddenly feel distant. I feel as if I’m a stranger walking through town, and not someone who has lived here her whole life.

The feeling is so jarring that I almost miss the tavern I was heading for. Stumbling to a halt, I take a step back and reach for the door.

Inside, miserable-looking people are drinking their sorrows away while there is far too little food on far too few tables. A soft murmur hangs in the air and a fire burns in the hearth to my right.

In here, life simply… goes on. As if the Atonement Trials never happened. As if my life hasn’t been utterly changed.

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