Page 71 of The Ninth Element

“Was everyone paired with the same partners from the second trial?” I wonder.

Faelas responds, “No. We were left with anyone who fought beside us in the arena if such an ally existed. That’s why you two were together, and Bahador and I were paired since we fought a group of Maravanians together.”

In response to my shocked face, Bahador says, “It seems these trials are testing our ability to forge relationships, and the connections become an advantage.”

“How do you know? Did that happen to others as well?”

Bahador nods. “Some participants ended up alone in the mountains, while others were grouped into teams of two or more if they had fought together in the arena. Guess who Lila was left with?”

I think for a moment before my eyes widen. “Zanyar?”

Bahador chuckles. “She said he didn’t say a word to her the whole time. And didn’t let her eat, sleep, or stop walking. But she got nine points, thanks to him. She was the first to get back with a gaggle of sorcerers, shortly before Faelas and me.”

“Is she all right?”

“Yes. She’s been sleeping for a day like you.”

Faelas suddenly leans forward slightly and changes the topic. “I was thinking, maybe we could try the plan we discussed last time. Tonight. An attempt on the Martyshyar wing.”

TheStar, the Daevas, our scheme to infiltrate the Martyshyar wing… so much has happened in the past three days that it all feels like a distant memory.

Before I can respond, Darian shakes his head once. “No. We first need to find a different plan.”

“What different plan?” Faelas asks.

“One that doesn’t require sorcery,” Darian says firmly. Then, he looks directly into my eyes with an open but serious expression, and his gaze isheavy, unblinking, unyielding. “I cannot ask you to endanger yourself, not after we almost got caught last time.”

I feel a chill creeping into my heart as I realize the implications of his words. My stunned gaze shifts to Bahador and Faelas, who look equally shocked.

“How else can you enter the wing without sorcery?” I ask, blinking in confusion.

But Darian’s resolve seems unshaken. “We’ll find a way. This is not your fight, Arien. Your focus should be on the trials. Capture can lead to disqualification or, worse, imprisonment and interrogation. We should never have burdened you in the first place. It was a mistake I won’t allow to repeat.”

Faelas opens his mouth to object, but Darian’s stern gaze silences him immediately. “My decision is final.”

His voice carries the weight of the mountains. There’s no hint of anger or threat in it, just a resolute command that Faelas accepts without a word.

Darian then turns to me, and his eyes soften again. “We’re still allies in the trials, Arien. But the tasks that lie beyond this game are ours to face alone.”

His smile is warm, and genuine kindness dances in his eyes, but it doesn’t reach the growing chill that’s creeping through my heart. As I imagine a wall separating me from them, my fingers tighten around my cup, seeking a warmth that isn’t there.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“What in the nine hells is this lunacy?” Pippin whines, his ginger hair practically staging a revolt. “The man’s gone completely daft, I tell you. The last trial nearly had me swapping spit with the forest floor.”

He pokes his cauldron with the zest of a sloth on the run, his hands quivering with anger. We’re brewing potions to prepare for whatever wild challenge awaits us next. However, Pippin’s potion looks like a murky swamp, which clearly means he skipped an important step.

Poor guy seems to be running on fumes; his eyes are heavy with dark circles, and his skin is as pale as a ghost’s bedsheet.

“Did he offer any explanation?” I ask, my voice laced with concern as I eye his potion, now turning a worrying shade of sludge.

“The fool is as tight-lipped as a maiden on her wedding night,” Pippin grumbles. “All he said was we need to win again as if it is as simple as winning a pissing contest. I nearly became a monster’s midnight feast in that godforsaken wilderness. If not thrown away in the wild with Kameel and Maleed, I’d be contributing to the local flora by now. In the last two trials, using sorcery and losing consciousness was almost as dangerous as staying in the game. Next time, though, I’ll unleash my sorcery immediately to get disqualified.”

Zanyar has given him and the rest of the Ahiras a strict order: stay in the competition. I empathize with Pippin’s frustration. This is sheer madness.It’s too much to ask from someone who doesn’t want to win. To suffer this long. And risk this much.

Based on what we overheard in the tavern, Zanyar is here on a mission. He’s a Fire Eye, which means he is aware of most of Firelands’s secrets. Maybe he is on a mission to seek knowledge of the Star, but who knows? All we know is that he is playing the long game with the patience of a priest. But of course, I can’t share that knowledge with Pippin.

But why is he keeping the other Ahiras with him? The only logical reason that comes to mind is that he needs allies for the trials so he can continue to stay a contestant, giving him time to fulfill whatever order he was given.

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