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“Do I have to?” It took a lot of concentration to speak through our minds, and I just didn’t have the energy for it.
He gave me a look. I would have to learn the expressions of Spirit horses because I couldn’t read him.
“Fine,” I grumbled through the bond. “Are you my Spirit animal? Match? Friend? Don’t you have a special name for what you are?”
“Fylgjur is what we are called.”
My lips pursed, “Felgej—I can’t even think it let alone say it. Is there a translation?”
He huffed, “Guardian of the Worthy.”
The Worthy female and her SpiritGuardianmade to leave the temple and I realized that, even though I could see the wolf, I couldn’t feel it through my terbis. I couldn’t feel Odarum either. I found that curious and I saved that bit of information to ask Odarum later.
The female turned her head to look at me and raised her chin in acknowledgment. I returned the gesture. No matter where we came from before, we had both gone through the Trial and were deemed Worthy. A title deserving of respect.
When the doors opened, I could see a glimpse of the Sages lining the top of the steps outside, facing the temple where two other returned contestants stood before them. Both withSpirit animals. A slight breeze entered the temple and with it, an intoxicating but faint scent of cedar, bergamot, and something else that nearly had my eyes rolling into the back of my head. I rapidly blinked away the intrusive thoughts.
Odarum bobbed his head and nudged me toward the doors, ruffling his feathers as we exited Odes’s Temple and stepped up with the others. I stood next to the female with the wolf. Next to her were two males, one with a Spirit that had a lion’s body and a bird’s head and wings, and the other with a large snake, bigger than I had ever seen, with fangs so long that they rested outside its mouth and past its jaw. I shuddered. These creatures were the things of nightmares.
One of the male Sages, the same one who spoke upon the dais inside just days ago, stepped forward. He made a long look up and down the line of the four contestants who had returned and were all in some way battered and beaten. When his gaze landed on me, his eyes widened and flicked between Odarum and I before turning forward again.
“Returned Worthy.” He bowed his head quickly. “You have completed the Trial of the Gods. We give thanks to—”
“Where is everyone else? The others who completed the Trial?” I said to Odarum through the bond, not paying attention to the Sage. I quite liked speaking through my mind without anyone else hearing.
“They were brought back once the Gods refused them. Plus one other.”
A failed contestant.
“—only three of you will challenge, being that one of you has been chosen byKleio.” The male Sage, as well as everyone else, looked directly at me, followed by whispered murmurs from the Sages and the Worthy alike. One Sage in particular, a female with white hair, glared at me with malice in her eyes. I ignored her.
“Worthy Kya,” the male continued. “You have no challenger, as your God has never before chosen. You and your Spirit are free to go.” He turned away from me and addressed the other Worthy. “As for the rest of you, your challenges will take place immediately. Please make your way to the rings along the edge of the Rip. The sitting Worthy are waiting for you.”
In one swift motion, all of the Sages turned on their heels and made their way down the steps with the Worthy following behind. I hesitantly walked down the marble steps, making to head to my tent and retrieve my horse to go home. Odarum walked beside me.
When I reached the bottom and stepped onto the grass, some of the Sages gathered around me. They crowded and bombarded me with questions I had no answers to.
“What was Kleio like?”
“Did she say why she chose you?”
“Was she magnificent?”
“What gifts did she grant you?”
“Did she speak or is she actually silent?”
The sound of all their voices rose to a dull roar and blended together. My breathing quickened. I didn’t like the attention. I didn’t like being in the spotlight when I was so used to staying in the shadows. Is this what the rest of my life would be like as a Worthy? Never again invisible to the world as I had grown so accustomed to?
“Enough,” the male Sage that had spoken before commanded. The Sages reluctantly dispersed back with the others up ahead. Once they all left, he offered a tight-lipped smile before turning and joining them. The sorrowful expression on his face left me confused and uneasy.
I released a shaky breath, grateful to be left alone, then continued to my tent. Their questions bounced in my head. Kleios’ gifts. I would need to work on discovering what they were andtrain in order to master them. I had a feeling I would need all the help I could get to complete the Goddess’s task.
Everyone stopped in their tracks as a female around the side of the temple began to scream. Running around frantically, her fingers were pulling at the roots of her hair. Her skin was completely covered in marks, even her face. It was the mark of a failure of the Trial—one of the Gods’ punishments. Most of her screaming was incoherent but I could make out one phrase she repeatedly shrieked at the top of her lungs.
“MAKE IT STOP.”
I recognized that voice. It was the Torx female who had strung up that male to the tree. The one who tried to kill Njall and I. I had thought she died.
