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His words didn't make any sense. “Why would the trials end if I died?”
“It must be so blissful to not remember what you did or who you are. You destroy everything you touch!” His eyes flashed with a burning hot rage. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly as if trying to reign himself in.
“Riven, whatever the prophet said can be changed. If the prophet predicted I would do something bad, then I can choose to stop it, but I don’t know what it said.”
“None of us can ever trust you. You proved that the last time we gave you a chance and you used it to disappear with all your disgusting elitist friends.”
With every small bit of information he told me the more confused I became. I was running out of time. He knew more about me than I did, and I had no argument against anything he was saying.
“Riven, I’m not evil.”
“Liar!”
Nothing I said would change his mind about me. I lifted my hand up, but he saw my move coming and without moving a muscle his dagger staked my hand to the wall of the maze. A loud sob ricocheted around us as I turned to remove the dagger, but he used that moment to drive a different blade into my stomach. The dagger I had pulled from my hand fell to the ground as I slid down the maze wall.
My body was in shock, and I couldn’t do anything for a few long moments. When I tried to take a deep breath, the blade cut deeper into me, forcing shallow breaths. I went to grab Sybil’s healing amulet, but he stepped forward ripping it from my neck, and put it in his pocket.
Even though I didn't need the amulet, I still couldn't feel her healing magic. My eyes stared up into the blackness above us.
This was it. I was dying and so would everyone in Exile. Blood filled my lungs, making me cough it out. Cassius was going to see me die today.
The dagger in my stomach was sinking almost all the way through me. I couldn’t even feel my fire magic trying to surface to try and help, which only increased my panic.
Wasn't death supposed to be peaceful? This was a nightmare. Pain seeped into every part of my body as I sat against the maze wall bleeding out slowly.
“Looks like you’ll fail this tournament just like you did in all the others. Let’s hope you won’t be back to try again.”
He turned his head to the side at the sound of others moving in our direction before chuckling softly.
“I hope you have a painful death, Thea.” Then, he set off towards the red light. Thankfully, Haden’s team was the one coming around the corner.
“Thea?” Haden kneeled down. Conflicting emotions flickered across his face. “You guys go ahead. I’m going to stay with Thea,” he demanded of his teammates. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to find something to help move you to the stone so you’ll be pulled.” He turned and hurried around the corner. I didn’t understand what I did to deserve this. Kace’s small mouse-like form was headed straight for me. Kace was bloodied when he transformed back to his fae form.
“Thea, what happened?”
“Riven,” I whispered. “You need to get to the red stone and win this.”
“Can you heal yourself?” he asked. I shook my head no. He glanced at Haden’s team closing in on the stone. “There's no way I’d be able to outrun them or outfight them.”
He was right, but I needed to get out of here and the only way that would happen was if we finished the maze. Dying in the dark hellhole was not an option. Kace looked defeated.
“Help me up,” I demanded. I had a plan.
“You shouldn’t move.”
“I’m dying anyways, but, damn it I’m not dying in this fucking maze.” He stared at me like I was crazy. “Shift. I’m going to throw you towards the stone. When you're close, shift back and grab it. If you get to it first, we’ll be pulled from the maze, and you won't have to fight. Even if you don’t get the stone, we’ll be pulled because you made it to the end.”
“Okay,” Kace agreed as he shifted into my hand. He was small, but I didn’t know how far I could get him to the stone.
“You got this Kace.” It was the only encouragement he got before as I threw him as hard as I could. Pain sliced through me at the movement. His small body disappeared into the darkness once he left my hand. My eyes never strayed from the red stone, watching Haden’s team closing in on it.
Please work, I whispered to the gods. Kace shifted into his fae form and knocked into Haden’s teammate. The two knocked the stone over and both went after it.
I could only make out silhouettes of them, but I couldn’t make sense of who was who. My eyes became hazy the longer I stood there. One of them lifted the stone into the air and a rush of dizziness passed over me as I was pulled into the bright light of the colosseum. My eyes focused on Haden’s teammate who held the red stone.
We hadn’t won.
But it didn’t matter because I was dying. Riven was standing off to the side, but he made a beeline for me. Kace was close by him, bloodied.
