Page 128 of Trial of Thorns
“Nope,” Caelynn says in a near squeak. My heart hammers in my chest, and I turn my eyes toward the black orb.This is going to be the worst of anything within these trials,that’s the truth that settles over me.
I want it over with.
If only I had known.
I have to face it, I realize. That’s what this entire challenge wanted to tell me. I must face the truths I’ve been missing. I’ve faced several, but there is one more left.
The worst one of all.
A truth I think I might already know, lies before me. A task that I’ve already completed, yet must do again. I suck in a long breath and step forward.
I hear Caelynn slide to the ground as she watches me walk forward, but I don’t dare turn. I don’t dare to chance I’d see the look in her eyes now.
I step through the rippling dark magic of the orb.
***
MY TEETH CHATTER ASI feel the magic swirl around me and clink into place, but I keep my eyes pressed closed.
Coward,I reprimand myself.
And yet, I still don’t open them.I have to face this. I have to do it.
And I have to do it in front of everyone. My only saving grace is that they won’t see what I see. They won’t know who my mate is.
My stomach twists again, and I force my eyes open.
My eyelids flicker as I focus on her excruciatingly beautiful face. Her expression is sweet, adoring. She wears a soft blue, silk dress that hugs all of her curves. Her silver hair is pinned perfectly, eyes shining brightly.
God, she’s beautiful.
This isn’t the girl I know. She’s lighter. Innocent. Happy.
She’s what she would have been. What we could have been, if she had chosen differently. If she hadn’t been tricked into a bargain long ago.
The Caelynn in front of me doesn’t speak. I close my eyes and consider the truth before me. What does it even mean to be someone’s mate? We treat the distinction as sacred. But we don’t know much about what it means. Somehow, magic or fate has decided we are a good match, and the signs begin to show themselves.
Instincts draw us together, which explains my insane attraction to her and weird desires to protect her, even while wanting to kill her.
Most believe it means, together, you will have a powerful and important child. Brielle, for all she mourns, I know the child she’d have had with Rheagan is what she mourns most.
But what could have been. The future that was taken away.
I grip the dagger in my hand and walk toward the future I hadn’t known was taken from me until this moment.
