Page 40 of Mistake of Magic
Nothing.
No gong. No thickened air. No disembodied voice. As if no one heard.
“Say it again,” Malikai says, circling me with his blade out. “The wards will pick up the word. Say it again.”
“I surrender!” I yell, throwing my head back and squinting at the sun.
Nothing. My heart quickens, my eyes finding Malikai’s equally confused stare. I throw my sword down and hold up my hands, shouting as loud as my burning lungs will allow. “I surrender! End the trial! I yield!”
Malikai’s jaw tightens. “It appears surrender isn’t an option in this trial today. My apologies, human, but death it will have to be.”
“You can win without killing me,” I protest, moving away from Malikai, my hands raised in the air. “Knock me down, draw blood, whatever it is that tells the arena the battle is over.”
Malikai shakes his head. “I’d love to help you, I truly would. But not with those four immortals looking down at us like wolves who smell blood. The only way I am walking out of the Citadel alive is if their quint is so broken, they have no energy to spare for the likes of me. My life against yours. There isn’t much question as to which option I choose.”
25
Coal
Coal crouched at the top of the bowl that was the arena, looking at Malikai and Lera circling each other below. Her slim, precious form against Malikai’s towering muscle. Strands of auburn hair that had fallen loose from her braid whipped about her face in the arena’s preternatural wind.
Coal’s jaw tightened. The mortal was faltering, her movements too tentative and exploratory for true combat. Once Lera made it out of this tangle in one piece, Coal would have some lengthy conversation with her about when exactly the fight starts.
At least Malikai was true to his word. With his trained eye, Coal could see the male’s show, the game he was putting on for the Citadel. No one truly expected the girl to do much, and the cat-and-mouse game he was leading her on was as good a diversion as any.
Coal’s breath halted for a moment as Malikai lowered his guard and Lera missed her chance—didn’t make the kill strike like he’d told her to. It was too late to worry on that score, though, as Malikai was already moving and holding the blade to her throat. And then—
Silence. There was nothing more coming from the bowl than there’d been earlier.
Lera threw back her head.
Nothing. Coal twisted to River, whose own eyes were a wide, stormy gray.
Down below, the mortal had tossed down her weapon, holding up her hands.
“Leralynn surrenders,” River bellowed across the arena, his voice reaching to the stars themselves. “Stop the trial.”
“You can’t surrender on her behalf,” Autumn said gently, her voice hitching. “The Arena won’t allow it. It’s the ward. Someone tampered with the ward to keep it from triggering.”
Light flashed beside Coal and suddenly Shade was in his wolf form, growling his defiance to the world. The wolf’s golden eyes fixed on the girl below, his body shifting his weight to his hind legs as—
“Shade, no!” Coal bellowed, but it was too late.
The animal leapt into the air, whichlookedto be the only obstacle between them and the trial below. But that was an illusion. It wasn’t air between them and Lera at all. It was magic. A fierce, violent magic, as old as time itself.
Coal’s breath stopped as Shade’s paws hit the invisible shield that those magical wards had erected to keep away interference. A sound like a mosquito sizzling against a lantern sounded for a heartbeat, and then a flood of magic rushed over the wolf’s body.
Shade’s howl pierced the air, his body twitching uncontrollably.
Gritting his teeth, Coal extended himself over the arena’s invisible ceiling to haul Shade back onto the viewing platform. Pain exploded along Coal’s arms, the magic extracting its punishment for daring to interfere with the proceedings. The shocks ran through his spine, searing his muscles, arching his already bleeding back.
Down below, Lera’s body spasmed too, her back arching so oddly and suddenly that even Malikai seemed taken aback.
Hauling the unconscious wolf onto the platform, Coal crouched, his breath heaving as he watched the horror unfolding below. He rarely felt true fear anymore, not when he was awake. But now, seeing Lera a hairbreadth from losing her life, Coal’s heart raced so quickly, he could barely think.
Down below, the mortal’s left arm twitched.
Coal’s gaze cut to his own limb. The elbow that had been in direct contact with the wards the longest was still spasming like a deranged snake.
