Kilian was giving me a worried look. “I know this is far from ideal, but the weapon… We wouldn’t send you in there if it wasn’t important.”
I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat.
“If you pass the Rite, I swear I’ll explain everything,” Kilian said. “It will all make sense, I promise.”
If we even made it to the Rite.
If the fae or the land itself did not kill us first.
“You just need to trust me until then. Can you trust me?” This wasn’t a question aimed at the others. Kilian was askingme.
I stared up into silver, imploring eyes, trying to quell the panic rising inside my chest. I wanted to trust him. I really did. I wanted to believe that he would not risk my life, the lives of my friends, on a whim. He had advised us on the third Trial and was preparing us for the Rite, but other than that he wasn’t giving me much to hold on to other than his words. And I couldn’t help but feel my days would come to an end before I could give an honest answer to his question.
After all, promises meant nothing if you did not live to see them fulfilled.
CHAPTER 20
A great feast had been spread along each of the tables in the mess hall, but no one ate.
There was a soft scuttling as a rat scurried across the floors. I watched as it wended its way past the legs of the table where Kilian sat beside Septimus.
He looked at me, his face blank. But through the link, gentle sorrow scraped across my mind.
Are you okay?he asked.
Considering the third Trial is in an hour, just dandy.
Eat something.
So I can vomit when I cross the scry? No, thanks.
Right before the feast, Echon had briefed us all on the Trial and announced who we’d be teamed up with. I had the particular joy of entering Cosanus with Caleb, the Grilish alphabet expert.
Lana would enter with Rayna.
Moric with Keila.
And Nox and Mattieu would round up the group.
Food made my stomach churn and my mouth dry. I was nauseous and lightheaded. I stood quickly, and Lana looked up at me.
“I need some air,” I said.
“I’ll come with you.” She set her clean fork on the table.
“Me too,” Moric muttered, pushing his plate away.
I didn’t look at Kilian as I left the mess hall.
I stepped onto the balcony just outside, leaning my arms against the railing for support and looked up at the cold nightsky. Starlight winked bright and blue, scattered in constellations that had always fascinated me.
The door snicked shut as Lana and Moric joined me at the railing.
I pointed up at the sky, at a cluster of stars that looked like a network of veins spiraling from a tight core. “That one’s named after Roriola, the Goddess of the Hunt,” I said to them. “They say she sleeps somewhere far away, imprisoned for betraying one of her own.”
Lana tilted her neck skyward. She carved out a sharp, whiplike curve through the sky. “I know that one. Kadax, the God of Cruelty and Malice. They pray to him on Dorisport, even though he sent plagues and forest fires in the past.”
Moric sighed softly. His hand swept across the northern sphere, where the stars scattered in a straight line, arching near the point to split into two branches like a wishbone. “That one’s Adonitis, God of Luck and Fortune. May he be with us tonight as we cross into Cosanus.”
