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Cassius’s eyes were the lightest shade of gold I had ever seen in this moment. That damned tugging started in my chest when I looked at Cassius. I wanted to pull him close to me and not let him leave, but I also fucking hated him. My shields went right back up. He must have been feeling it, too, because he just stared at me for a long moment before he smoothed my braid over my shoulder.
“Your safety is all I care about. We need you to win the trials, Thea.”
"Why don't you just tell me what's going on? You're obviously keeping secrets."
Instead of giving me the answers I so desperately wanted, he leaned forward to give me a chaste kiss before walking away from me and leaving without a glance back. I stood frozen for a long moment, the warmth disappearing when I couldn't see him anymore.
Sitting back on my cloak there was an odd sense of discomfort as Cassius’s words returned to me. I wondered why so many fae seemed to be keeping things from me. Dark clouds moved in and took away the sunshine. Rain started pouring down so violently that it was hard not to admire its dark wrath. My chest relaxed to the sound of the rain pelting the glass roof. The castle began shaking and crumbling around me, letting me know the third trial was beginning.
The bright light didn’t bother me as much as it had previously. Instead, my focus was drawn to the riotous cheering and hollering from the crowd. The colosseum was packed with spectators this time. My eyes immediately found Cassius, but I clenched my jaw and turned away from him.
I scanned over the other contestants. We were in a small group this time. Nev stood by me as we waited for the king to announce what was going on. The king stood from his throne and walked to the edge of the balcony.
“Welcome to trial number three!” The crowd boomed with applause. My eyes focused on Cassius as he watched the king give his address.
“This trial is group-based. You have all been assigned to a team consisting of five participants. Your goal is to get through the maze.”
As soon as the king spoke about it, the maze’s mammoth black walls tore up through the ground beneath us.
“Each team will start at a different section of the maze. The first team to get to the center and grab the stone will win the trial. The next team to enter the center will get second and so on and so forth. Only one teammate is required to make it to the center because some of you will not leave this maze alive. Magic is allowed and you may do whatever is necessary to win.”
The crowd roared at the announcement. They loved a good fight.
“Lavtan will announce the teams and you will have two minutes to discuss a plan with them before your time starts. A word of caution: the maze is dangerous, and traps are everywhere. Things are not always as they seem.”
Lavtan stood and his eyes stared right at me with a smug look on his face.
“The teams have been selected and they are as listed!”
Everyone looked up where he pointed in the sky and our names all shuffled into six groups of five. I found my name and glared at Lavtan. He had me placed with no one in the top ten. My eyes drifted over the other groups. Haden’s team had four of the top ten on his. Nev had a decent team as well. Mine was definitely the weakest. I sighed but gathered my team quickly.
“What magic does everyone have?” I asked.
“I can shift,” said a man named Kace. His hair was dark, and he had pretty dark blue eyes that seemed impossibly bright against his dark skin.
“Great. Can you shift into anything you want?” I asked.
“No.” He sighed and shifted into the smallest looking animal I had ever seen. It was the size of a mouse. I wasn’t sure how that could help us, but I wasn’t about to make him feel bad.
“Ok, that could be helpful. Everyone has seen my healing and fire magic.”
“I don’t have magic,” A man named Zade answered. He was tall and appeared strong. “I’m a guardsman though and can fight.”
Useful.
“I have this.” The smallest guy on our team lifted his hands and everything metal lifted into the air. His light brown hair was long and shaggy, and he was at least a foot shorter than me. “The name’s Riven.”
“I have water magic,” Adrel said.
“We have a lot of different magics that will be helpful,” I said, trying to find the positives.
“We have the shittiest team. All of us are low ranking,” Riven scoffed. “Well, except you.”
“That doesn’t matter. Only one of us needs to make it to the center and we all win. How should we do this? We can all split up to cover more ground, but it will make us more vulnerable to other teams. Or do we all go together?”
“Let's split into two groups to cover more ground but not leave us completely defenseless against the other teams we will run into,” Kace suggested.
“I’m fine with that. Is everyone else?”
