My throat tried to swallow again, the dryness resembling sandpaper.
Or maybe it was my dream?I wondered, recalling the icy plane I’d escaped to after running from the intense light.
I rubbed my chest, recalling the bizarre sensation.Incredibly bright heat followed by icy cold.
My insides clenched in confusion, that odd feeling returning as though I’d conjured it.
Fire and ice.
One resembled darkness and sin—the life I lived now.
While the other made me think of my previous world, all light and innocent.
Except, no, that wasn’t quite right. Nothing about my past was light or innocent.
I shook my head, dizzy from the weird thoughts.I’m losing my mind.
Maybe because of the heat. Or perhaps it was just my way of giving the nightmare meaning. Because I swore my bones were soaking up the warmth to dispel the cold even now.
However, it was probably just Ajax’s spell still playing with my body temperature.
And my mind reacting to the fall through the portal.
Regardless, I needed to focus. All this debating was a waste of time. I should be paying attention to my surroundings and the other candidates. I suspected that many of them were as much of a danger to me as the landscape or the monsters, based on my experience with the knife-creating candidate—Feyre of the House of Iron.
Fortunately, I didn’t see her anywhere near me.
But she was obviously here somewhere.
Because we were all here—all six hundred and sixty-six of us. A realization that had my gaze narrowing and a hint of fire flickering to life in my veins.
I knew the score. I knew why we were here. But something about seeing everyone sprawled out on this dangerous landscape drove the point home.
And it infuriated me.
We were all here because of some bogus deals.
Bullshit.
I’d lost sight of finding a way out and had played into Lucifer’s hands instead. He’d been right in front of me. Why hadn’t I tried to deal with him?
Because I’d been a bit lost in his dark stare.
And a little terrified of the power swirling around him.
But damn it, I should have said something.
This was so much different than being lined up in pretty dresses and marching into an amphitheater for entertainment. We’d just entered some sort of death match here. A field… many of us would not survive.
I could see that realization etched into the expressions of others, their grim features likely matching my own.
This isn’t going to end well.
While there should have been a sense of camaraderie between us, I knew that wasn’t how this would work. We all wanted to live.
And a desire to make it to the end could make even the gentlest person cruel.
I didn’t see any friendly looks from those closest to me. Many of them gave me a raised brow because I was still wearing my dress from last night’s ceremony.
