Page 78 of The Stone Curse
His gaze flicks over my shoulder again, and this time, he isn’t quick enough to stop me following his gaze to a large shadowy mass on the edge of the water.
“Don’t!” Serath grips my chin and forces me to look at him. “Don’t look at it. Don’t think about it.”
But it is all I can think about now. “What is it?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing.”
But the knots in my gut say otherwise. They tell me that we’re running out of time.
He glances over my head again, nostrils flaring before kissing me hard on the mouth and whispering against my lips, “Promise me, Cameron. I need you to fucking promise me. Don’t let them use me.”
Heat gathers behind my eyes. I want to argue with him, to tell him to stop thinking this way, but I give him what he needs instead. I give him my word. “I promise.”
He kisses me again, hungry, biting, and desperate, sending me spiraling into darkness and into the chaotic world of fragmented dreams and illusion.
Back to the real world where the trial that will determine so many fates waits.
CHAPTER 34
The sun had barely broken the horizon when we gathered by the academy gates to take the port to the location where the trial would take place. The world was gray and dreary, echoing my mood because the dream with Serath lingered like a storm cloud overhead. Dread lurked deep in my belly, worming its way around and leaving me slightly nauseated. I needed this day done. I needed a victory.
Touron and the twins had been up to send us off, Touron with breakfast sandwiches and Palia and Ginia with huge mugs of coffee and words of encouragement and confidence, so despite the pit in my belly, I was more than ready to get this trial over with so I could get my ass into graynite territory.
The port to our location was set into the stone wall beside the main gates of the academy, and a middle-aged man stood beside it, dressed in a woollen coat and a beanie hat. He had the kind of face that smiled easily and eyes that spoke of wisdom and kindness. He didn’t shy away from meeting our eyes.
“My name’s Doran,” he said, offering us a warm smile. “I’m with port management. We’re a small team responsible for managing and testing the ports for council members.”
“You’re not a witch, though,” Curi said. “What are you?”
“Witches aren’t the only beings able to create portals, although they do it with innate talent which, admittedly, is enviable…” He shrugged. “I don’t have that kind of skill, but I can create stable portals given enough time.”
“That did not answer his question,” Derek said.
“No, I suppose not. I’m magi, or part magi.”
The mageri could mostly be found in the domed city, but I’d heard a few lived out here in the rims. “So you created this port?”
“I did. It’s sound. You’ll be met by your test master on the other side.”
“I’ll be waiting for you back at the tower when you’re done,” Orix said.
I looked across at him in surprise. “You’re not coming?”
“The elite trials are a closed event, Cameron. I’ve already taken them.”
And forgotten what they entail, which meant that whoever was testing us also had the skill to make us forget.
“I’ll go first,” Levi said.
Not that it mattered, because if this was a trap, there was no way for him to come back and tell us. Ports were usually one way.
Curi went next, followed by Shar, then I stepped forward with Derek in tow.
The blue light swallowed me and tipped me out onto wooden floors. I stumbled, but Derek steadied me.
We were in a small room with gray walls and a door leading off it. Two windows looked out onto a vast expanse of barren land. There was no furniture. Nothing to make it stand out except the woman with the sleek bob standing by the door.
“Mother?” Levi looked stunned. “What are you doing here?”
