Page 85 of Empire of Flame and Thorns

My mouth drops open in surprise.

Clothes rustle as we all turn to stare at Isera.

She is gripping her knife and fork so hard that I’m surprised the metal hasn’t started to bend. A muscle flickers in her jaw as she grinds her teeth before forcing out, “How did you know that?”

“I competed in the last Atonement Trials too, remember? I knew your mother. We were friendly. Or at least until she beat me in the final trial and took the last spot as the third winner.”

Isera’s chest rises and falls with uncontrolled breaths, but she says nothing. Without reading her emotions, I can’t tell if she’s angry or hurt or maybe panicked. Eventually, she forces out a long breath and relaxes her grip on the utensils.

“Yes,” she says at last. “If I win, I would try to find my mother.” Pain flickers in her silver and blue eyes for a second. “She said that she was going to come back for me and take me with her. She never did.” She works her jaw. “I was ten.” Bitterness crawls into her tone as she adds, “I don’t need her. I raised myself. But yes, if I win, I would track her down and confront her lying ass about why she broke her promise.”

My heart aches as I watch her.

Silence hangs over the dining room. It’s so loud that I almost hear it ringing in my ears. I know that we’ve all had a shitty life in different ways. After all, there is not much happiness to be found in a conquered court. But Goddess above, has Isera really been on her own since she was ten?

“Satisfied?” Isera demands, her voice suddenly as sharp as her ice magic, when she realizes that we’re all staring at her. “You wanted an answer. Now you have it.”

Then she snatches up her knife and fork and promptly goes back to eating while ignoring the rest of the room.

Fenriel clears his throat. Loudly. And a tad awkwardly. He casts his gaze around the room, seemingly looking for some inspiration on how to smoothly change the topic. Apparently, he doesn’t find it, because he just ends up blurting out, “What about you, Lavendera? What would your life look like if you won?”

For a few seconds, Lavendera just continues staring at the wall. Then she blinks, gives her head a short shake, and shifts her gaze to Fenriel. He watches her with hopeful eyes.

“It would probably be filled with lots of pain,” she announces.

And then she goes back to staring at the wall.

Fenriel lets out a groan from the back of his throat and rubs his forehead while the rest of us stare at the incredibly beautiful but very strange fae woman. Lavendera just continues watching the pale stones for things we can’t see.

“I would settle down in a nice cottage in the woods,” someone calls from my left.

“There!” Fenriel exclaims, and sits forward excitedly while pointing towards the guy who said it. “That’s another great life goal, right there.”

Laughter sweeps through the room, and the tension that had begun to settle again evaporates once more.

I continue eating and drinking while several other contestants share their dreams for what they would do if they won. When Fenriel asks me, I just make up a generic dream since I can’t very well announce publicly that I’m planning to kickstart the fae resistance.

Torchlight glitters in Fenriel’s eyes as he lifts his glass.

“Well then,” he begins. “Cheers to great life goals!”

“Cheers!” most of us reply.

Only Isera, Alistair, and Lavendera don’t join in.

The rest of us empty our glasses.

While setting down his now empty glass, Fenriel turns towards Alistair and gives him a mischievous grin. “You didn’t poison this one, did you?”

Alistair blinks in surprise, looking genuinely stunned.

Fenriel just grins wider while amusement sparkles in his eyes. “Too soon?”

For the briefest of moments, the ghost of a smile steals across Alistair’s lips. I stare at him in shock. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile at a joke before. At least not a joke that wasn’t somehow cruel. But he looks genuinely amused by Fenriel’s playful jab.

“Hey, you never told us what you would do if you won,” Trevor calls.

That fraction of a smile vanishes from Alistair’s face in a flash. A ruthless expression slams back down over his features as he cuts a scathing glare at Trevor. “Why would I ever tell you lot anything? All you need to know about me is that I’m going to win tomorrow. And if any of you dare to stand in my way, Iwillfucking kill you.”

---