Page 16 of Mistake of Magic
The moment ends and I tear my gaze back to the arena. The three warriors are only ten yards away now. The first trial isn’t supposed to end in death, but those standards are based on immortal bodies, not fragile human flesh. The fae’s blades might be dulled, but their magic isn’t. What would be a survivable wound for fae would kill me outright. And the gleam in Malikai’s eyes says he knows it.
Is counting on it.
My palms dampen with sweat.
Three fae warriors against one.
Except I’m not blind. Not deaf. I can see the fury in the males’ eyes, feel the power of River’s magic slide. I reach for my dagger, the small weapon Coal insisted I carry. The blade is so insignificant that Malikai—now just a few paces away—laughs, the harsh sound vibrating through me. My body begs me to defend it.
Something inside me rises to answer the plea, the sensation so native that I know thesomethinginside me is mine—and yet I’m just as certain that I’ve never felt it before. Don’t even know whatitis.
The sand and wind pelt my face, and I bite my lip to keep from begging River to strengthen the shield. He is moving forward now, shifting to offense, and he needs that shield flexible to mount his own assault.
My heart pounds at being left alone. Even as River’s blade becomes a whirlwind between me and Malikai, as Coal and Shade rush to our aid, their respective sword and teeth already pointed and ready to strike. Even as I trust the males to protect me, my need to protect myself roars.
Thesomethinginside me pulses in answer. Grows hot. Shoves against its tether and demands release. I recognize the sensation now—it’s like what happened in the Gloom, when the quint connected and the magic pulled through me.
Malikai takes one more step. He’s close enough that one lucky lunge past River’s blade will have him at my throat. His pale eyes gleam in the harsh sunlight, his tan face pulled back in a victory grimace.
The terror inside me snaps the tether blindly, and the ground beneath us explodes in a column of sand and rock. Relief floods my body, making every nerve stand on end.
River spins, his eyes meeting mine with a flash of the one thing I’ve yet to see in the commander—panic. With the next breath, he turns back toward the shaken attackers, who are already reclaiming their blades. River’s arms come out before him, as if it were he, not I, who just made the earth tremble. “We surrender!” he bellows to the sky, his voice echoing through the arena. “Stop the trial. Now.”
The air around us thickens at once, holding everyone in place to stop the fight.
10
Lera
My world roars around me, the exploding earth and River’s bellow of surrender ringing in my ears as the males herd me from the arena into the preparation room that we left a short eternity ago. The well of power I felt pulsing inside me is nothing but a phantom memory now, so nonexistent that I wonder if it wasn’t River who exposed the earth after all.
A fine tremble vibrates my body. Malikai and his quint wanted to kill me. Would have killed me.Stars.
River, who has yet to release my arm, now pulls me in front of him, running his hands up my arms and shoulders and neck until coming to rest on my cheeks. His broad, rough palms cupping my face, River peers into my eyes with an intensity that robs my breath, searching for something.
Answers, probably. Ones that I don’t have.
The raw emotion, a mix of fear and awe and something I can’t identify, turns the warrior’s face from beautiful to stunning. The rarity of seeing anything but command in River’s features—now twice in only minutes—makes my heart falter.
“What the hell happened out there?” Tye asks, his green eyes still tinged with a feral freedom. His chest heaves, his fiery hair falling in sweat-soaked locks over his face as he paces in front of us. No, not paces—circles. Chasing a nonexistent tail. “What did I miss?”
“A soon-to-be-dead third trial named Malikai went after our mortal.” Coal’s voice is low and cold, absent of emotion. Mimi once told me to fear a quiet dog over a growling one, because the former has already decided to attack and feels no need to warn you off. Watching Coal now, I understand what she meant. Coal crosses his arms, his dark eyes boring into River. “But that little explains the surrender, River. The bastards would have all been dead long before laying a finger on Lera. You know that.”
“Yes, but Leralynn didn’t.” River rubs his face, his confident expression faltering for a weary moment. “Yourmortal, Coal, discovered she had magic and took her safety into her own hands. I thought it best we not let the whole damn Citadel know about it.”
For the first time since walking from the arena, I find my voice. “I... It wasn’t on purpose. I don’t even know what I did.”
“You wielded magic, Leralynn.” River turns to face me again. “Earth magic. Same as what I have an affinity for, fortunately. It all happened so quickly that I’m confident the burst, crude as it was, will be dismissed as mine.”
Shade comes up behind me as he did before the trial, oozing need and possession as he wraps a muscled arm around my waist, his other hand resting just above my elbow. Shade’s breath on my hair is warm and quick. He nuzzles his nose into the space behind my ear, his hair brushing my collarbone. The cocoon of safety envelops me at once, and it’s all I can do not to close my eyes and sink into the male’s hard shoulder, letting myself imagine that nothing but his earthy scent fills the world.
“I’m all right,” I murmur to the male behind me.
“I’m not,” Shade answers, inhaling my scent, his hold tightening.
Tye stops his turning and drapes himself across a chair instead, one leg hooked over the armrest. “And why, might I inquire, do we not want the whole damn Citadel to know about Lilac Girl’s power? I, for one, am looking forward to seeing the look on Klarissa’s face when she finds out.”
“Because of the Individual Trial,” Coal says, nodding his understanding to River. “We suffer a bit of humiliation now for the sake of preserving the mortal’s element of surprise for the one-on-one test. Which also means that we must either delay retaking the Quint Trial until after the Individual, or somehow ensure that Lera can manage tonotcome to our rescue next time.”
