Page 109 of Damned and Broken Gods
I stared at him in shock. “You…You want me to cheat?”
“I want you to survive. The Authority is not playing fair, and therefore neither should you.”
There was a part of me that agreed with him. Like, fuck the Authority, but the bigger part, my stupid moral compass wouldn’t allow me to take his offer. I needed to earn this, or it would never be mine.
“No.”
He canted his head. “No?”
“I don’t want to know what to expect. I need to do this myself.”
He pressed his lips together. “There is vital training that is being left out. You will be at a huge disadvantage without the knowledge on how to prepare.”
“Then I’ll be just like everyone else.”
“If you’re worried about your friends, you could share the information with them. I cannot stop you.”
“And turn us all into cheaters?” What was wrong with this guy? “Chandra, this is wrong, and I refuse your offer. I get that you’re trying to help me, but no. Just. No.”
His flat icy gaze warmed, and he looked up to his left. I followed his gaze in time to see the air ripple.
An ankh?
“Take it back to the Authority,” he said.
What the… “You were testing me?”
“Not me. Them. And you passed. Of course you passed.” He smiled slow and beatific. “I have no doubt that you will completethe labyrinth and ascend. And when you do, I will place the crown atop your head myself. Now go, rest. You’ll need it.”
He walked off down the path and vanished between the barracks, leaving me with a weight on my shoulders and dread in my belly—not for the labyrinth or the ascension but for what would come after.
I’d thought I had several more weeks with Araz.
Now we had mere days.
Chapter 40
The Eyes In The Mirror
ARAZ
Cold water goes a little way toward clearing my head. I lift my tunic and study the scar on my abdomen. The wound has healed. The toxin burned out of my system. And yet something lingers. A sense of disconnect that I can’t place.
And the spot at the base of my skull feels odd…as if there’s a knot inside. A pressure that intensifies from time to time. Mainly when I’m with Leela.
It’s disconcerting.
I turn off the tap and look up at my reflection. My eyes flash orange, the pupils lengthening for a beat, and I stagger back, shock rocketing through me.
But when I look again, my eyes are mine once more. The pressure at the back of my skull intensifies, and a moment later, there’s a knock at the bathroom door.
“Araz?” Leela calls. “We need to talk.”
I unlock the door and join her in the main room to find her pacing. “What is it?”
“The labyrinth is in four days.” She shakes her head, hands on hips.
Everything in me stills. “What?”
