Page 37 of Iris of the Crowned Flame

I felt helpless. My mind raced, going through so many scenarios. Could he have more than the ability to shock people? Did he have a magical ability to control how people move? Was that even something that could happen? Maybe he was getting in their minds. What if he could make the soldier hit harder than intended? Amyra’s hand reached for mine. Her touch brought me back to my body, and I realized that the dirt in the box was dancing along the ground. I took a deep breath, and then another. I tightened my grasp around Amyra’s hand, signaling a thank you to her. She replied with her hand squeeze for ‘I love you.’ I focused on my lips to hold back the smile that always came with that squeeze and squeezed ‘I love you’ back to her.

I turned my focus back to Frederick to watch his sparring. He was much better at this, thankfully. He deflected more blows and stayed strong the whole time. I watched Egan throughout the fight and realized he wasn’t as focused as he was with Spencer. He likely thought that he had the win in the bag. I wondered if he picked Spencer for a personal reason. Could Egan and Frederick have already known that Spencer would be selected after this tournament?

Frederick’s round ended, and he was the clear winner,looking like he had just stepped into the ring while his opponent looked like he went through the ringer. Egan and his opponent prepared for their round. I stared into the arena, zoning out, almost dissociating. There would be a break of thirty minutes when Egan’s round was done, and I was hoping to find any of the priestesses. I couldn’t visit Spencer without being seen, but I hoped a priestess would give me information.

The signal to begin Egan’s round trumpeted. I watched him intently. Just before his first move, he turned to my box and mimed removing a hat while bowing to me. He deliberately waited for the signal before doing this, even though he risked being hit for leaving his guard down. When he rose, he had a grin not just for me, but for everyone. After turning to the crowd, eating up their applause at his antics, he turned back to his opponent to start the fight.

The crowd stayed wild for it, while Ivy and Amyra squeezed each of my hands, a show of support and strength for me. I worked to keep my face as neutral as I can, but inside, my emotions were swirling and skidding around. I couldn’t afford to lose control of my powers, but I was angry. That he pulled off that stunt had my blood boiling. His opponent shouldn’t have allowed that to happen. Did that soldier allow that as a favor to allow Egan to flirt with the future queen, or was that a brazen statement designed to make me question Egan’s military connections?

I watched as Egan has the perfect fight. He only allowed the soldier to hit him twice. Both times were barely a graze across his arm, almost like he was off by half an inch in their practiced movements. The soldier took a good beating and would be sore for days, maybe even a week.

They called the match and declared Egan the winner. Spencer was the only one to lose. I breathed deeply, then again, once more. I stood up, turning away from the journalists that surely wanted to read into my every micro expression, to just be confronted with a courtier, holding a paper and pen to write my choices down. Spencer was ranked first, then Frederick, then Egan. I didn’t want to think about straying from the plan,even if the Generals had no way to score him high enough to make it.

After sealing the vote, Amyra and Ivy stood on either side while we made our way to my family’s designated break space. As soon as I entered the room, I saw Father already there, and heard Ethan behind us, quickly closing the door behind him.

CHAPTER 24

“What the hell was that?”

I couldn’t help myself. That was the first time Father had ever heard me curse. “How did he find out who he’s paired with to throw that round so perfectly? And what did he do to get to Spencer’s opponent?”

I started pacing the room. Father poured drinks for all of us. Amyra took my glass and waited until I slow down to offer it to me.

“I found Juniper, and she said she would investigate and make sure a priestess comes here to speak to us. Her initial guess is that someone was wielding magic of some type, but she wanted to confirm.” Ivy offered.

“And that look he gave me once his match started. His opponent should have knocked him off his feet. I can’t believe that. He’s trying to become a crowd favorite so that the city turns on me when I don’t choose him.” I reached for my forehead, rubbing it in confusion and frustration.

“Lyla, please, if you’re going to fret, at least keep your hands away from your hair. We don’t have time to fix that.” Amyra offered. “Could you sit and maybe drink some of this?”

I nodded and sat, taking the glass. I didn’t want to drink anything and risk nausea, but the glass would give my hands a job to do to keep them from my hair.

A knock sounded, and Ethan checked. “Juniper, please, come in. We are hopeful you can shed some light.”

I turned to her, but she had a grim look. I would not like what I’m about to hear.

“I can. Before I do, I need to check, Lyla. You are so new with your powers, we normally don’t recommend such emotionally charged situations at this stage. Are you holding it together? One of my priestesses can help you with maintaining your control if you need it.”

A moment of relief hit me, and I nodded gratefully. “I’ll need that for this next round. If Egan gets into that ring, I don’t care if it’s Frederick or Spencer. I don’t think I’ll keep the panic down.”

Juniper nodded, pulled out a small square of paper and a pen, wrote the request down, and the letter disappeared. I could never tire of seeing such an act. The novelty helped to cool my temper, too.

“Emberly will be here soon. Now, for what I found out. I got confirmation that he was using powers to throw Spencer’s fight. Nothing happened in Egan’s fight, and they also ignored Frederick’s fight. But one priestess confirms that she sensed power surging the moment that Spencer started getting hit. We got a priestess in with him at the medical bay to help speed up with healing.”

“Wait, some of you can heal?” Amyra wondered out loud.

Juniper looked amused. “Yes. If you gain powers, you could be a healer as well. It’s part of mastering your connection with water.”

Juniper turned her attention back to me. She moved a chair directly in front of me and sat so we were eye to eye. “Lyla, please, look at me.”

I lifted my head to look into her eyes. She reached for my chin and held my head still while she moved around. “The natural light in this room is a bit too dark. Does anyone have light?”

Father carried a candle over and lit the wick.

She held it up to my face. “Your eyes, they’re red,“ Juniper nearly whispered, mostly in awe.

“I told you that Mother told me that all the time. What does that matter?”

“Your eyes are swirling with red right now. They have been since Spencer’s sparring. If I didn’t know better, I’d have guessed that they were red, not brown.” Amyra leaned in to look and nodded.

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