Page 37 of I Summon the Sea

“Bring the humans!” the telchin cries, lifting his hands again for dramatic effect, and the torches on both islands flicker, the flames swaying.

More parlor tricks. I’m starting to think he’s no telchin at all, just a fae or human disguised as one.

Tru curses softly, stepping closer to me, as the humans are led into the courtyard of the Temple, growling and snarling like rabid dogs, and just as filthy.

Who knows how long the journey through the villages and towns lasted, until Athdara rounded up all of them, and how long the sailing over the flat lagoons and swamps took until I joined them? They are underfed, some almost skeletal, bent, and half-crippled by their stay in the cages.

They are a pitiful sight. Will any of them make it to the end of the first round? It looks doubtful.

Cold grips my chest when Lynn, the girl who’d sat beside me, drops to her knees and starts to shake. “I don’t want to die,” she whispers over and over, her thin body shaking. “I don’t want to die.”

That’s the problem with letting any emotion take over, letting any connection form. I look at her, and I think of my little brother, and…

… and I know in my heart exactly what I have to do.

This is the solution. The only way to keep the number unchanged while entering the trials. Of course.

I will take her place.

Stepping forward, I march right to the front of the human group. There, I grab her arm, pull her to her feet, and shove her sharply to the side.

And I step in her place, pulling my shoulders back and lifting my chin.

See? I am taking her place. The numbers won’t change.

The telchin watches this happen in silence. The humans start to whisper among themselves.

“What are you doing?” one of them hisses at me. “Are you nuts?”

I bang a fist against my chest, keeping my eyes on the priest.Me. Take me.

The clamor among the humans rises, and the fae across the water are stirring, too, pointing and talking among themselves.

Here I am, bringing some excitement to your boring, bloody festival. Rejoice.

Athdara slowly turns around, his dark gaze piercing me. His brows knot together. “What is going on? Tru, she isn’t supposed to be there. Didn’t I tell you to take her away?”

Hetold Tru to take me away? That’s news to me. Its impact is surprisingly heavy, considering the circumstances. And I have no idea how to interpret it.

But Tru doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak a word.

“She is offering herself,” the telchin says. “She has the right.”

“No,” Athdara says, his voice low. “She can’t do that.”

“Why not?” The telchin watches him like a hawk. “Name your reasons, and we shall consider them.”

But Athdara only glares.

Tru looks away.

And the telchin says nothing more.

“Rae.” Athdara comes to stand in front of me, and his proximity is a punch to my chest. I raise my head to meet his gaze because I refuse to be intimidated by his height, and that’s a mistake, because what I see in those dark eyes…

Anger, incredulity… and fear.

Am I misreading him? This can’t be right.

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