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Explaining to him in gasping breaths the small creature that bit me he cursed softly. He rubbed my hair gently from my face as the pain coursed through me. Sweat formed a layer over my entire body as I shook more violently.
“Their bites are poisonous. You need to heal yourself before it kills you.”
“I c-can’t.”
“You can,” he said confidently. “Close your eyes and feel for the energy you need to heal yourself.” I tried, but it was futile. When I opened my eyes, Cassius leaned down next to my ear. “Take it from me if you have to. Don’t be scared. You won’t hurt me.”
My eyes found his when he leaned back. Did he know what lived inside of me? He reached forward grabbing my hand tightly in his and nodded. So, I closed my eyes tightly and sensed his powerful shadows surging around him, so I pulled on it, tugging it into me to fuel my own magic. His shadows swarmed in my chest with so much energy my magic expanded. Cassius’ hand squeezed mine as I opened my eyes.
“Good girl,” he whispered as he dropped my hand and left the room. I combined the new magic with Sybil’s magic, not making a show of grabbing the amulet because I didn’t need it. The darkness inside me hummed at the new shadow magic I now held inside of my chest.
Another magic I collected inside of me.
I had only discovered I could take other’s magic as my own a few years ago when I almost died in the Forbidden Wood. A creature had been lurking close by the boundary and I hadn’t noticed it until it was too late. As I had laid on the forest floor bleeding out, the darkness in my chest had crossed into Exile and stole Sybil’s magic to heal myself. When I realized what I could do, I was too horrified to tell anyone. Whatever the darkness in me was, it wanted more. It practically whispered into my mind to take it all from them, to drain magic from everyone.
I was a monster, and I knew it, but Cassius seemed to know too, which had me worried that I would be killed as soon as I stood up and left the room. How could he possibly have known, though? This ability went beyond elite magic. This was something that should never have been possible.
It was disgusting.
Evil.
I sat up on the table and rolled my shoulder to test it. It felt good. The window in the room caught my attention and I wondered if I should just jump out and try to escape before they killed me. Surely Cassius would tell the king they had an elite magic holder. The king would execute me in front of his Kingdom as a spectacle. Before I could decide to flee or not the door burst open, and the king strolled inside alone.
“I'm glad to see you didn’t die, but I need to know what happened because you did not come back when the trial ended, and you should have.”
His dark eyes stared at me with no disgust or malice in them. I wondered if he was just biding his time until the guards would come and take me away. Sighing heavily, I let him know what Leer had done and how I couldn’t use magic because of the powder he threw at me. The king frowned slightly.
“Very well. I’m going to assume whatever Leer threw at you prevented magic from pulling you from the trial.” The sad smile didn’t comfort me. “Let’s go.” His crown tilted towards the door. Adrenaline spread like fire in my veins. The darkness called to my mind telling me to just kill them all before they turned on me. My eyes scanned the group of contestants waiting with Cassius.
Before I processed what was happening the bright light of the colosseum blinded me. The cheering of the crowd boomed so violently that I couldn’t hear the darkness in my own mind. As I opened my eyes the light dimmed so I could see how many fae were gathered.
They were going to execute me in front of all of them.
The king took his place on the balcony, smiling broadly at the loud cheers.
“Thea lives!” The king exclaimed and the crowd roared to life again. Confusion spread through me at their gestures. They were happy. “But, unfortunately, we are left with a new issue. One contestant must be eliminated, so we will allow a challenge for the final spot in the top thirty.
“I’ll challenge!” Leer's voice was easy to recognize.
The crowd quieted down as his voice bellowed around us.
“Leer, I thought you might.” The King gave him a pointed look. “Who would you like to challenge?”
“Thea,” he smirked at me. The other contestants watched each other oddly like they didn’t understand something.
The King nodded ever so slightly before turning to Cassius whispering something. Cassius’s eyes found mine before his jaw clenched tightly.
“Then you have a fight. Take your stances.”
A small white circle appeared in front of us on the ground. We both stepped in and waited from opposite sides of it.
“You will go until one of you cannot fight anymore, dies, or forfeits.” Cassius was the one to speak this rule.
“Oh, you may use magic if you wish.” The King tossed it out there. Leer sneered at the King and then at me. My darkness swarmed through me at the news. It wanted me to take from Leer, kill him, crush him with our power. No one had seen my fire magic though, and I didn’t want to use it if I didn’t need to.
“Begin.”
Leer ran at me, but I quickly dodged his advances. Rage filled his eyes when I kicked the back of his leg, knocking him over. Leer’s eyes changed to a bright green as he stood. He lifted his arms as if summoning something. Vines materialized out of nowhere and snaked over the circle we fought in. They wrapped around my feet as I tried to move, but I couldn’t leave the circle. The vines held me in place. Nature magic again.
