Page 62 of Court of Lies and Deceit

Once Isera has reached the real floor as well, she dismisses the thick sheet of ice she used to save us all.

From the stands above, the audience boos loudly, as if they’re disappointed that we didn’t get impaled, while another smaller group laughs and points at us. Cold fury burns in Isera’s eyes as she stares up at them.

Alistair clicks his tongue and nods to the group who were laughing. “How much you wanna bet that those assholes up in the audience are the ones who control the walls and the floor?”

Jocasta’s words echo in my mind again.During this first game, members of the crowd can… affect the course of the game.

“Fuck,” Draven growls, and rakes a hand through his hair.

I blow out a sigh. “They’re going to do everything they can to screw us over.”

“Yeah.”

The sound of grinding stone fills the corridor as the floor slides back out from where it had disappeared into the wall earlier. It moves until there is once more solid ground, topped with a layer of sand, filling the entire corridor.

Tearing my gaze from it, I turn to Isera but find her still staring daggers at the audience. Or, not the audience. A specificperson. Following her gaze, I realize who she has been glaring at this whole time.

Orion Nightbane is sitting on a throne in a private section in the middle of the arena. The silver details on his black and blue clothes gleam in the bright sunlight, and his long midnight blue hair falls perfectly down over his shoulders to rest on his toned chest. His head is turned in our direction, as if he was watching us struggle earlier. And even from this distance, I swear I can see a smirk on his lips.

“Selena,” Galen begins. “Where’s the team we were tracking?”

My heart leaps into my throat.

Shit. When the floor disappeared, I lost the grip on my magic and the connection to the other players.

Scrambling to get it back, I summon my magic and throw it out across the arena towards those glittering silver sparks of excitement.

Alarm crackles down my spine and I whip my head towards the next opening up ahead.

“They’re here,” I blurt out. “They’re right around the corner.”

“Fuck,” Draven curses. Lurching into motion, he grabs Galen and Lyra and practically throws them towards the opening up ahead. “We need to make it into the next room before they do. Otherwise, we’ll be trapped between them and the floor that those assholes up there can remove at any time.”

Alistair leaps into action as well, sprinting after the two dragon shifters. Isera, Draven, and I follow them.

Our boots pound against the sand as we hurtle through the corridor and towards the next opening. Draven is right, if they make it to the opening before we do, we will be trapped. We have to make it there first. We have to.

My pulse thrums in my ears as I sprint down the corridor.

The opening gets closer.

And so do the people whose emotions I can still feel.

Please, Mabona, I beg in my mind.Come on. Please.

Galen, Lyra, and Alistair reach the opening.

Yes!

Just a few more steps. A few more, and then we will also?—

The wall next to us flips.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Stone slams out in front of us as the wall to our right spins as if it has been secured to a pole in the middle of it. It makes the section ahead of us rotate into our corridor while the section behind moves in through the space on the other side. And it happens so fast that it crashes into us, shoving us with it as it whirls half a turn before slamming back to a halt.

The maneuver pushes us out of the corridor we were in and deposits us in the room that was on the other side of the wall.

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