Page 63 of Court of Lies and Deceit

We stumble into each other from the force of the shove, and Isera and I go sprawling on the ground as I crash into her from behind. Draven lands on his hands and knees above us, barely managing not to crush us with his body.

For a second, the three of us just stare at each other, trying to process what just happened. Then Draven quickly climbs off us. I toss my hair out of my face as Isera and I disentangle our limbs.

“Assholes,” I growl while shooting a glare up at the audience.

The entire section around us is now laughing and pointing in our direction.

“We need to get back through the wall,” I say as I struggle to my feet. “The others made it into the room and the other team is?—”

“Here,” Draven interrupts, sounding exasperated. “The other team is… here.”

Straightening, I whirl around to stare in the direction he is looking.

My stomach drops.

Just like he said, the team we were tracking is standing there on the sand right in front of us. All six of them are scrambling to their feet as well, casting confused glances at the wall. They must have been shoved into this room from the other room that Galen, Lyra, and Alistair are now waiting in alone.

I whip my head from side to side.

There are no openings inside this room. Only tall walls on all four sides. No way out. And a full team of six Unseelie fae facing us while our team was split in half.

Narrowing my eyes, I stifle another snarl as I shoot a glare at the laughing and whooping audience.Fucking assholes.

The team before us, all dressed in yellow fighting leathers, at last notices us as well and quickly forms up into an attack formation.

“You’re outnumbered,” the leader, a man with dark brown hair, calls in a shockingly loud voice. “How about you crawl up to us and surrender your key, and we’ll consider not maiming you too badly.”

The people waving yellow banners in the audience above us whoop and cheer. And even some people wearing green and red scarves yell and clap as well.

That’s when I realize why the team leader of the Yellow Faction is screaming so loudly even though the room we’re in is not that big. He’s putting on a show. Not for us. Forthem.

Of course. Jocasta’s words yet again echo through my brain. It’s not just about winning. It’s about entertaining the crowd.

Next to me, Draven gives the six Unseelie fae before us an unimpressed look while saying to me and Isera, “Well then, shall we?”

Isera throws a block of ice at them.

Half of them start in surprise at the sudden attack, and I don’t waste a single second. Shoving my magic out, I lock on to those sparks of surprise and fan it into full-blown shock. They gasp, and the unnatural shock that I just forced them to feel makes them just stand there and stare.

The other three throw themselves out of the way and summon their own magic. Fire roars through the air towards Isera’s block of ice, but it only manages to melt part of it. The rest slams into their three stunned companions.

A flash of smug victory pulses through me as they cry out when the ice crashes right into them.

But the other three are already moving.

Water blasts through the air straight towards us.

I dive sideways, cutting off my magic, as I roll across the sand to escape the torrent. Draven did the same, but dove in the other direction, while Isera just raised an ice wall in front of her. The water smacks into it with enough force to send chips of ice flying.

Rolling to my feet, I yank out my dagger. The three people I stunned in the beginning have recovered from both my magic and Isera’s ice, and they are charging towards us.

Draven summons his storm magic, shoving a blast of wind at them long enough for us to get to our feet. I leap back, barely managing to get out of the way before a stream of fire crackles through the air where I used to be. My heart slams against my ribs and blood rushes in my ears.

Dread suddenly curls around my spine.

Yes, our raw magic might be stronger than the average Unseelie fae, but it makes no difference in here. In an open space, where magic needs to reach far and wide, the powerdifference would be vital. But here, in a small cramped room where it doesn’t need to reach too far, their magic is just as deadly as ours.

And we are outnumbered two to one.

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