The idea soothed her. Terrified her.
“After we get out?” Elyria said.
Cedric smirked. “After I win the crown.”
That spark in her core fizzled out with the reminder of where they were, why he was here. Why she was. “Right. The crown. Because it’s all about the crown.”
“No, that’s not what I?—”
“I should leave.”
“Why?”
She released a singular sharp laugh. “Why?We are on opposite sides here, Sir Thorne.”
For a second, she thought he might have winced at her use of his formal name. She ignored it.
“You’ve trained for this your whole life, remember? Far be it from me to prevent you from fulfilling your duty.” She hesitated. Bit her bottom lip. “Only...Iwillbe preventing you. Because Kit is determined to win the crown to bring her brother peace, and I’ll be damned to the fourth quarter if I let anyone get in her way.”
She turned to go.
“Please.” In a heartbeat, he closed the distance between them, his hand latching around her upper arm. His eyes searched hers. “Don’t go yet.”
Their proximity was suddenly overwhelming. Elyria’s heart pounded in her chest, a wild, erratic rhythm. She should pull away. Should put distance between them.
But she didn’t move.
Neither did he.
Instead, they both leaned toward each other, some invisible force drawing them closer. Her eyes lowered to his mouth, lingering on the scar cutting through the right side of his upper lip.
Thetugin Elyria’s chest throbbed.
Her breath hitched as her lips parted, the world narrowing to nothing but him and her and their unbearable closeness and the warmth of his body against hers.
“Don’t run,” he whispered. The skin on her arm felt hot under his touch.
“Don’t run from yourself. You don’t have to hide.”Evander’s words pealed in her head like a warning bell.
It broke the spell.
She yanked herself back, her skin prickling like she’d been doused in ice. “This was a mistake.”
Without another word, she fled, leaving Cedric standing alone in a pool of moonlight.
27
AN UNLIKELY PAIRING
CEDRIC
All signsof the winding corridors Cedric found himself wandering last night disappeared with the rising sun.
As did Elyria.
She did not come out of her room the next morning. Not when the other champions slowly began emerging, looking more exhausted than they had when they’d gone to bed the night before. Not when Kit poked her silvery-hued head out of their room in search of breakfast. Not even when Thraigg stumbled out and immediately collided with one of the small tables now dotting the Sanctum’s main chamber, sending platters of bacon and fruit flying with a deafening crash.
The Arbiter had given them two days to recover from the Trial of Spirit, and that, apparently, was what Elyria haddecided to do. Alone.
