Page 67 of Trial of Thorns
Lovely.
Brielle smirks over her shoulder at me.
Apparently their hatred of me was renewed with the last challenge.
I cross my arms and soak in the bitter hatred. This is who I am. This is who I will forever be.
Tyadin examines me. “You enjoy this?”
“People wanting me dead? No,” I say honestly, still smiling bitterly. “But I may as well accept it. I may as well let it be my strength, instead of my weakness.”
He purses his lips.
“By the way. I’ve been meaning to warn you, with this new change on killing—”
“They’re going to come for me. I know.”
I step closer, but my whisper is easily veiled under the barrage of hatred. “There is a plan for an ambush outside the first clue.” I cast my eyes down at his armor. “I suggest using your weakness as your strength, at least for today.”
He narrows his eyes, trying to dissect my clue. “It was a mistake, wasn’t it? Refusing you as an ally.” His words are soft, but his expression is schooled into a scowl. From the outside, our conversation probably looks like classic goading. The others are doing the same.
I wink at him. “Tomorrow, things may be very different.”
He takes in a long breath. “I won’t turn on you, unless you attack first or the trial openly demands it.”
I fully anticipate direct hand-to-hand combat at some point during the trials. Typically, that was done as the last trial, the final decider. But there’s no telling what we’ll be made to do out there.
“That much I promise,” he says.
Well, that’s more than I can say for my actual allies.
“Same.”
Rev
Rook stands betweenBrielle and I. He doesn’t look me in the eye, which causes more discomfort to stir in my gut, but the cheering, the taunting of the crowd for us to kill the betrayer, has brought Brielle alive again. She’s practically glowing.
