Page 54 of Empire of Flame and Thorns

Shards of glass stare back at me.

My mind spins with disbelief.

He gave me a broken egg. Draven Ryat gave me an egg that is already shattered.

Son of a bitch.

Snapping the box shut again, I look up towards where the shifters are standing on the grass a short distance from theentrance. My gaze locks immediately on Draven. He flashes me a wicked smirk.

If I go back there and try to convince them that the egg was already broken, they probably won’t believe me. It will only serve to get me eliminated.

I shoot a vicious glare at Draven, who just grins wider.

Asshole. Fucking asshole.

Shoving the box into my clothes, I whirl around and sprint after the others. Alright, so the egg is already broken. But I have the entire maze to figure out how to solve that.

I catch up to the rest of the group, but I remain at the back as we run between the tall hedges. No one has started attacking others yet. But I keep my distance anyway, just in case someone else figures out that it’s possible to limit the number of people who make it through this trial by deliberately shattering their glass eggs.

Booming wings suddenly echo through the cool morning air. I cast a glance over my shoulder to see two massive silver dragons climbing into the sky. My heart lurches as they fly after us.

Cries of alarm rise from the contestants in front of me, and everyone picks up speed.

The Icehearts draw closer at an alarming rate.

Gasps and ragged breathing rip through the air as we all sprint as fast as we can with the two dragons chasing us.

A low rumbling comes from behind.

I cast a panicked glance over my shoulder. Jessina, the slightly smaller of the two dragons, opens her massive jaws. Her sharp teeth glint in the gray light, and a pale shimmering begins at the back of her throat.

My stomach drops.

Oh Goddess above, is she actually going to kill us?

A roaring, rushing, crackling sound echoes through the maze.

I throw myself sideways, crashing into the hedge to my left, right before ice flames explode through the air.

Cries of terror rip from several contestants.

Thuds ring out as everyone throws themselves sideways or flat down on the ground.

Ice streams past above and before us. The crackling ice flames are so cold that they rip the air from my lungs when they pass by me. Pressing myself hard against the hedge wall, I gasp in desperate breaths.

The clinking and crackling sound of hardening ice fills the air.

With my heart pounding in my chest, I stare at the hedge corridor in front of me. The way forward is now blocked by a massive ice wall. It’s so tall that it reaches all the way up to the top of the hedges.

On the ground, the other contestants raise their heads to stare at it as well. None of us were hit by Jessina’s flames. But we are all trapped on this side of the wall now.

Wings boom from above as the two silver dragons circle above us, eagerly waiting to see how we are going to solve this problem.

I stagger to my feet. The others do the same.

For a few seconds, no one moves.

Then Isera starts sprinting towards the wall. Without breaking stride, she channels her magic and pulls the ice of the wall towards her, creating steps from it. They disappear after she has stepped on them so that no one else can follow.

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