But that didn’t happen.
Because just as it seemed like this strange confrontation might spiral into something worse, Cedric’s voice cut through the air, calm but firm. “Everything okay back here?”
Both Elyria and Nox turned to face him. The knight stood a few feet away, his hand resting lightly on his sword hilt, his expression unreadable.
Nox took a step back, their shadowy aura receding. “But of course, Sir Thorne,” they said, sketching a bow that Elyria felt was undoubtedly mocking, but either Cedric didn’t notice, or he didn’t care. Not as Nox stepped back and let their shadow swallow them, reemerging farther down the tunnel where the rest of the group had continued walking, seemingly oblivious to what just occurred.
Elyria shook her head, her annoyance with the nocterrian warring with her fascination of seeing their nightwielding magic in action. She’d heard of the practice of shadowstepping, of course. Knew about it in theory. But prior to today, even in her two centuries of life, had never seen it herself. She wondered if that was something her own shadows could do.
“Making new friends all over the place, aren’t we?” Cedric said before she had a chance to follow that thought further.
The tension in Elyria’s shoulders eased—just slightly—as the two of them started walking again. “I don’t know what their problem with me is.”
“I’m sure I could come up with a few ideas.”
“Har, har, very funny.”
“I thought so.”
Elyria had a jibe on the tip of her tongue, but a cry of surprise slipped out instead. Cedric had stopped short, and she’d had to quickly brace her hands in front of her to prevent her entire torso from colliding with his back.
What this meant, however, was that Elyria was now standing with her two hands attached to Cedric’s unarmored back...and the hard muscles that lay there.
She quickly retrieved her hands, face reddening, but Cedric barely seemed to register the touch. He stared into the distance, his fist rubbing idle circles on his chest.
“What in the four hells are you looking at?”
He didn’t answer. Didn’t need to. Not as Elyria realized that mild embarrassment wasn’t the only thing causing her face to turn red.
The heat hit her in a slow wave—putrid and blistering. The scent of sulfur and smoke settled on her skin. Sweat immediately began beading on her brow as she and Cedric shuffled forward, squinting their eyes against the increasing brightness coming from ahead.
Elyria thought she might have heard Kit calling for her, not in a panicked, worrisome manner, but in a “hurry the fuck up, would you?” way. It was hard to know for sure though, when for a searing moment, all Elyria could see was the labyrinth’s latest obstacle.
And what an obstacle it was.
Kit, Cyren, Gael, Zephyr, Thraigg, and Nox were lined up at the end of the tunnel they’d been traversing, open air stretching overhead as if the group had finally emerged from the underground maze. Only, it wasn’t grass and blue skies and green trees that greeted them like at the beginning of the trial.
It was a lake, at least three hundred feet across and of a seemingly infinite width.
And it was on fire.
Elyria twisted her neck from side to side, trying to discern what they were supposed to do, how they were supposed to cross. There was no pathway. No bridge. Just an ocean of roiling flame.
And on the opposite side?
“Noctis take me,” Elyria said with a groan. “Another fucking gate.”
34
OBSIDIAN
ELYRIA
“Well,at least we can feel relatively confident we’ve made it to the end of the trial.” Kit flourished her hands at the gate laying across the fiery lake. Heat rose in tangible ripples, melding into the darkening sky overhead. The ground beneath their feet sloped down, a rocky shore that met the molten fire. Flames leapt and danced over the lake’s surface, swirling around what looked like a small island of glossy black stone roughly halfway across.
“Figures we go through all of that”—Cyren waved an arm back toward the labyrinth tunnel—“only to find yet another stars-damned gate instead of an actual prize.” He dabbed at the beads of sweat running down the sides of his face, then swept long strands of cobalt hair off his neck and fixed it in a bun high atop his head.
“Maybethe crown is just beyond?” Kit suggested.
