Page 49 of I Summon the Sea

They nod at us as they approach.

“Athdara.” One of the men bows his head. “If you hadn’t pulled us up with those shadows of yours… I doubt any of us would have made it.”

“We thank you,” a woman says, strangely formal. Or maybe it isn’t strange at all, given that he’s still the Royal Commander, the Lord of Dragons, the King’s Sword.

The other two also bow their head, nodding their agreement.

He helped them all? I carefully avoid looking at him as the other humans join us in gazing at the grove. Perhaps he joined the game to save everyone, not just me.

He doesn’t make any sense.

“We have to reach that tower,” Athdara says.

I’d figured out as much. What might be in it, though? What do I know about the world the fae left behind, and what sort of towers did they have?

“Towers were temples,” Athdara says as if reading my thoughts.

He doesn’t have to be a mind-reader, though. I bet we’re all thinking the same thing, coming to the same inevitable conclusion.

“It has to contain something we need to win this trial,” he goes on.

What?I gesture and don’t expect him to reply, but he shrugs those broad shoulders, pulling my gaze to his chest again. The chest I slapped.

Heat rises to my face.

“I don’t know the details,” he says. “I was never involved in the games. But everything in this arena is here for a reason.”

Is it true that he doesn’t know more? Is he lying to us?

But why would he save us and then lie?

Temples. What lives inside them can’t be good or safe. Remnants of old gods, objects infused with power, curses, and keys.

It doesn’t matter. Nothing about these games is good or safe. I have to make it to this central platform, to the grove and the tower.

I step away from the group gathered around Athdara and approach the edge, only to find that the people on the other platforms had the same idea, came to the same conclusion. They are all crouched at the edges of their platforms, contemplating the distance between them and the grove.

I crouch down, too, feeling more stable like this and less likely to fall off as the floor under my feet sways. Could the platform be a sort of boat? A raft? Is there a spell or mechanical way to float it over to the palace, untether it somehow, and use it?

But first of all, how to cross?

The waves send the platforms rocking harder, knocking against one another with great booms.

I could jump over. When the moment is right…

Before I try, a man attempts it. The moment his platform crashes against the central one, he jumps—and falls between the platforms, his cry cut short.

Shit…

It doesn’t matter. I just have to do it better. If only I had magic… but one thing is for sure: I’m not waiting for Athdara to save me again.

By now, my group has come to stand behind me, and I keep glancing at them over my shoulder. They may be grateful to Athdara, but that doesn’t exclude treason, and they certainly aren’t grateful tome. Nothing stops them from throwing me off the side.

It surprises me they haven’t tried to jump yet, but I need to focus. Holding onto the edge with one hand, the other arm stretched to the side for balance, I observe the platforms rocking again, thumping together.

Where is Athdara? Why hasn’t he joined us? I don’t dare look for him and get distracted all over again. This is ridiculous.

Focus. Ready.

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