Page 16 of The Beautiful Blade

"I was just practicing with him, Mother." Her voicewas cold, each word clipped and perfect. "I didn’t want to go to Prince Adom inexperienced, as I know how worldly he is. I wanted to ensure I was the perfect wife in all ways. The human was convenient. He keeps his mouth shut and does as he’s told. I’m done with him now."

I knew, deep down, there wasn’t a parsec of truth in her words. They grated because they should’ve been true. A fairy princess shouldn’t care for a human stable boy.

Queen Indira’s lips curved into a matronly smile. It sent a chill down my spine because she'd never done a maternal thing in all the years I'd been here. "Excellent. Now that you’re done with him, I’ll discard him for you."

Charlotte’s mask cracked, a fine fissure above her brow as her fingers curled at her sides. "You’re going to fire him? We do still have need of him."

"No, I’m not going to fire him. I’m going to send him to the Convergence Games the two of you love to watch so much."

"The Games?" Charlotte's mask shattered entirely.

She didn’t need to say anything else. I was stronger, due to all the jobs I'd taken on around the failing manor. But we both knew I wouldn’t survive five minutes in the Games. I was barely able to hold my own against the rigors of stable work and all my addedduties, let alone face warriors and beasts bred for bloodshed.

"He’ll be fodder for the games. A fitting end for a human who dared to overstep."

Charlotte dropped all pretense. She lunged forward, her hand reaching for mine. Her grip was fierce, desperate, as though her touch alone could anchor me to safety. "No. You can’t. I won’t let you.”

The guards moved between us, their armor clanking as they wrenched us apart. Charlotte did not let go of my hand. So I held on to hers.

"I'll survive, Charlotte. And then I'll find you."

I knew there was no way we'd come out of this night together, but I would get back to her. If they sent me to the games, I'd kill anyone, anything, to claw my way back to her. If I was killed, I'd become a ghost and haunt the halls of wherever she lived. As long as she wanted me, I would always find my way to her.

I didn't register the pain immediately. Not until I saw her hand jerk away from mine. And then my hand fell from my body.

Charlotte screamed, a sound so raw it echoed in my skull. I looked down, and for a brief, disoriented moment, I didn’t understand what I was seeing.

My hand—my hand was no longer attached to my arm.

The pain came then, sharp and blinding. It rippedthrough every nerve in my body. I heard Charlotte cry out again. Her voice broke into sobs. And then the world tilted.

The stables, the guards, even the stars above, blurred into nothingness. And then everything went black.

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHARLOTTE

Iwoke with a start, my head pounding, the taste of copper in my mouth. Blinking hard, I sat up and took in my surroundings. A single lantern hung from a crooked beam, casting flickering light over the bare stone walls. The floor was rough beneath me, scattered with straw that smelled of bodily fluids. Wooden bunks lined one side of the room, their mattresses little more than sagging heaps of cloth.

I knew this place. The low, oppressive ceiling, the cracked stone, the faint hum of wards in the air—I’d seen it before. On the crystals.

This was the warrior room of the Convergence Games tournament. Specifically, the fresh meat quarters. These were the rooms for those who had been thrown into the Games without a prayer of surviving. A place for bodies meant to fall in the first round, to sate the crowd’s bloodlust before the real competitors took the stage.

Jorge had been here.

Three years ago, I’d watched him fight on the same crystal viewer I'd once held between us. I’d seen the dirt on his face in my pristine screen. The weakness in his body as he struggled against opponents who outmatched him in strength and ferocity.

He hadn’t died.

But he hadn’t won, either.

He'd simply disappeared.

I knew in my heart he still lived. Because my heart still beat. The moment his stopped, mine would too.

So he had to be here somewhere. Or if not, someone knew where he'd gone or been taken to. If I could survive this—if I could endure the gauntlet of fire, shadow, and teeth that awaited me—maybe I’d find out what happened to him. Maybe I’d find him.

The thought steadied me, even as my surroundings pressed in on me. I pushed myself to my feet. My hand brushed the wall for support, the rough stone cold against my fingertips.

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