Page 370 of Never Kiss a Fae
“He can’t be your observer,” Exos interjected. “He’s too biased.”
“You’re right. He’ll say I failed,” Cyrus replied. “He can observe Titus.”
Kalt grunted. “You realize I know nothing about caring for an object?”
“All you need to do is take notes and say how the object was treated,” Vox murmured. “If Titus lights it on fire, add the observation to the notes.”
Titus scoffed at that. “I’m not going to light it on fire.”
“We’ll see, won’t we?” Vox replied, his lips curling.
My fire mate just rolled his eyes before saying, “Lance can be another judge.”
“River, too,” Exos suggested. “He’s at the Academy, so it makes sense.”
“We can also get Ophelia and Mortus to help,” Cyrus said. “That gives us five observers for the nurturing trial. They can also confirm we didn’t fall asleep for thirty hours. And afterward, everyone will join us for dinner.”
“It’s settled, then,” Exos agreed, clasping his hands together. “So let’s eat, then we’ll head back and find our items.”
I smiled around my mug of hot chocolate.
This was going to be amusing as hell.
Good luck, boys,I thought at them all, then lost myself to breakfast.
Because bacon was almost as good as sex.
“What is that?” I asked, eyeing the translucent sphere in Cyrus’s hand. It resembled a glass orb with ice crystals etched along the outside.
“It’s an ice relic from the Winter Fae realm,” Cyrus replied, using his water magic to keep it frozen. “I asked Kalt to bring me one.”
“It’s beautiful,” Claire said, her element stroking the item tenderly. “What did you find, Titus?”
I cleared my throat, suddenly nervous. Why did Cyrus have to go show me up with a relic from another realm? Dick. Not all of us had access to foreign objects. At least mine was elemental related. I gently unrolled my pouch to present my fragile item for Claire.
“It’s a Firebird egg,” I said. “An infertile one, so it’s technically edible.” I hadn’t wanted to risk a life in this trial. Perhaps that was counterproductive to the nurturing part of the test, but Firebirds were beautiful and rare and very protective of their unborn young.
“I love Firebirds.” Claire’s eyes took on a dreamy quality, her mind picturing one of the stunning fiery creatures. They reminded me of phoenixes, only smaller.
Vox, Sol, and Exos all went next, displaying their items for Claire in a similar fashion.
Vox had a feather.
Sol had a peach from Claire’s favorite tree at the Academy.
And Exos held an enchanted hand mirror, one that could function as a portal key to peek into other realms. He demonstrated by showing her a picture of her home in Ohio, which earned him the biggest grin of all.
“Oh, I miss it there.” Our mate sounded so wistful, which only further confirmed that our plans for her were the right ones. “The pumpkin patch and corn mazes were always so fun.” We watched a kid run through one of the mazes she mentioned, cheering him along until the end, then Exos stowed the mirror.
“You can have this when the trial is done,” he promised her.
“I would love that,” she admitted.
He kissed her on the cheek, then faced us. “All right. Thirty hours. We have our observers,” he waved to the five fae who had agreed to help.
Well, maybe not all of them had agreed.
My brooding brother stood on the sidelines with his arms folded, his expression bored. He would much rather be off playing in another powerless duel. The prick had a penchant for shattering all my records. It was like he’d made it his life’s mission to destroy my legacy and replace it with his own.
