Page 117 of Court of Lies and Deceit

The forest we’ve been dropped in is vast, but not all of it is accessible to us. Our playing field is limited to Hana’s pocket reality, which takes the shape of a dome. Walls rise up from the ground and slope inwards to meet in the center up in the sky. The walls look like some kind of thick liquid moving against glass. It’s similar to the wards around the Unseelie Court, but these are less transparent. They distort the landscape outside the walls, letting us only see the general shape of what’s out there. But what I see still takes my breath away.

Beyond the forest is a large city and a magnificent castle. Arches and twisting spires reach for the heavens, and the entire palace appears to be made of some kind of pale reflective stone. Even through the thick walls of Hana’s pocket reality, the massive castle shines when the sun hits it, as if the building itself is radiating sunlight.

The sight of it shocks me. Because the effect is eerily similar to both our Golden Palace in the Seelie Court, which glows golden in the sun, and Orion’s castle in the Unseelie Court, which glows silver in the light. This palace shines more like a never setting sun rather than a precious metal like gold or silver, but still, the similarities are unnerving.

I stare from the castle to the city that spreads out before it while my heart pounds in my chest. Are there fae living here? Are there more of our people living here on this other world or other continent or wherever the hell we are?

“We’re at the edge of the pocket reality,” Draven says.

His voice snaps me out of my stunned thoughts, and I give my head a quick shake to clear it and to refocus on the problemat hand. Finding the only portal out before the Unseelie King traps us in here.

“And Yster said that all teams were dropped at a similar distance from the portal,” he continues. “Which means that the portal should be located somewhere in the middle of the pocket reality.”

Glancing behind us, I find that there is indeed a thick half-translucent wall rising up from the forest a short distance behind us. I shift my gaze back to Draven’s face. “Yes. It’s probably hidden underneath a thick canopy, though. Since Orion knows that you can fly.”

“True.” He clenches his jaw in annoyance. “Well, let’s see what we can find when?—”

Magic shoots towards us.

And arrows.

Draven drops down through the air right before a lightning bolt and a hail of arrows speed past right in the space we used to occupy. I gasp, tightening my arms around his neck at the sudden drop.

A blast of water slams towards us. Draven jerks us sideways, but right as we move, another storm of arrows shoots through the air. He snaps his wings in to protect them.

My stomach lurches as we plummet downwards at incredible speed.

Fire crackles through the air as a torrent of flames streams towards us. It’s followed almost immediately by another massive bolt of lightning. And then another swarm of arrows.

Draven summons his storm magic and narrowly manages to push the torrent of fire aside with a blast of wind while he flares his wings again. Our rapid descent comes to a halt as he steadies us in the air for a second. But more magic and more arrows are already speeding towards us, so he tucks his wings in again and drops us down through the canopy.

We land hard on the grass, the jolt pulsing through his whole body. But his eyes are locked on me, scanning my body for injuries.

“I’m fine,” I assure him.

Footsteps thud against the ground behind us. Draven quickly sets me down on the grass, and we whirl to face our attackers.

Relief crashes into me when we instead find Isera, Galen, Alistair, and Lyra sprinting through the trees towards us.

“What happened?” Galen demands, his eyes wide as he flicks worried glances between us and the sky above.

“We were attacked,” Draven replies.

“Yeah, we could obviously see that too,” Alistair points out as the four of them come to a halt before us. “But by who? The other teams shouldn’t be this close.”

“Or have magic that strong,” Isera adds, her cool eyes sharp as she scans the forest.

“Or have bows and arrows,” Lyra finishes.

Galen shifts his gaze back to Draven. “Did Orion set us up?”

Draven considers the question in silence for a few seconds, storms brewing in his eyes. But all he says is, “Not sure.”

My heart is still pounding fast after the sudden attack, so I draw in a deep breath to compose myself and then summon my magic. If Orion dropped the other teams close to us from the very start, and also gave them bows and arrows to use against us, I should be able to feel their excitement.

I throw my magic across the forest around us, looking for those glittering silver sparks of excitement.

It connects with eleven people. Six of them are moving in a cluster somewhere far across the forest straight ahead, and the other five, also moving together in a group, are somewhere to our left. Neither direction matches where the attacks came from.

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