Page 52 of Immortal Game

Shea’s route took her on a steady incline up a hill, beneath the cover of hazel and holly trees. As she walked, she listened to the night-songs of insects. Here and there, the snap of a twig or the beating of birds’ wings set her on edge. But nothing happened. Was this really all this trial would be? A little jaunt through Midir’s land?

Wind cut through the trees. Shea cradled the flame closer to her chest, and its steady warmth bathed her face. When the leaves ceased their rustling, the world held its breath. The festival’s music did not reach her. Not even the crickets dared to sing. The only sound was the soft trickling of water.

Shea passed into a clearing—and froze. In front of her was apool, surrounded by bricks of rough-cut stone and fed by the waters of a stream. A woman sat on a moss-covered boulder. Her feet were bare. Her golden hair spilled off her shoulders and pooled in her lap. A sharp pain went through Shea at the sight of her.

“Aideen,” Shea said breathlessly.

Her entire body went slack. Her flame dropped to the earth and sizzled against a puddle. Shea hardly paid it any mind because Aideen washere. It took all her strength not to rush forward and cling to her like they were children again.

Before this tournament, Shea had rehearsed what she’d say when she finally saw Aideen again. She’d come up with a thousand questions and prepared a thousand stories of all the things Aideen missed. She’d done her best to blot out the dread that rose up within her, because what if things weren’t the same? What if Aideen still hadn’t forgiven her? What if their reunion was soured by all the things they never got to say to each other?

When Aideen looked up at her, all of Shea’s doubts fell away. Aideen’s eyes glittered with unshed tears. “Shea.”

Shea took a step closer. Then another, like a sleepwalker stumbling forward. She all but collapsed against Aideen and threw her arms around her. “Is it really you?”

“Yes.” Aideen laughed. “Of course it’s me.”

“I missed you so much,” Shea whispered. She breathed in and caught the familiar stench of saltwater and rot. Shea stiffened in her arms and jerked away from her.

Aideen blinked up at her, pressing a hand to her heart. “What’s the matter?”

Guardedly, Shea asked, “What are you doing out here?”

Aideen looked almost amused. “What do you think I’m doing out here?”

A terrible coldness unfurled through her. “You’re not Aideen.”

This close, Shea could see the flaws in the glamour. The eyes were just a shade of blue too dark, the hair too pale a gold. But the most glaring imperfection was that it was too perfect. This was Aideen’s face, painted by the hand of someone who saw only the surface—or maybe someone who envied her.

“It was you,” Shea said, sounding more shaken than she would’ve liked. “You left that message in my room. You tried to drown Daniil.”

The stranger did not deny it.

Anger tore through her. How stupid and desperate was she to fall for this ruse? Her anger dimmed quickly to fear. All of the competitors had gone in a different direction. No one would hear if she screamed. And even if they did, it wasn’t like a mortal screaming would be anything terribly out of the ordinary.

No one was coming to save her.

Not-Aideen must have seen the understanding dawn on Shea’s face. Her fingers tensed on the back of Shea’s neck, and the sharp points of her nails scraped against Shea’s skin. “I did try to warn you. You should have dropped out while you had the chance.”

Before Shea could blink, not-Aideen rose to her feet. With a flick of her hand, Shea was lifted bodily into the air and thrown against a tree. Her skull cracked against the trunk. White spots exploded over her vision, and the taste of blood filled hermouth. An unseen force pinned her in place; her feet hovered nearly a foot off the ground.

Slowly, predatorily, not-Aideen glided toward her, flexing her fingers at her side. Her nails had blackened and sharpened into talons, which she wrapped around Shea’s throat. This time, they dug in hard enough that pinpricks of blood welled beneath them.

“Humans are so tiresome. I have waited more than a thousand years for this moment. I will not have you ruin it with your shortsighted, foolhardy whims.”

The words washed meaninglessly over her. Blackness creeped in from the corners of her vision. Pain drove into her, deeper and deeper. She couldn’t draw a single breath.

This is it, she thought distantly. This was how she died.

Something solid struck not-Aideen in the temple. She staggered backward and hissed, clutching at the side of her face.

The invisible rope suspending Shea snapped, and she hit the ground. She grunted at the impact, but she was too stunned to feel it. Shea scrabbled backward as quickly as she could, gasping for air. It burned to breathe again. Reflexive tears sprang to her eyes. A hand closed around her upper arm and all but dragged her to her feet.

“Get up,” Daniil snapped.

“Daniil?” she choked out.

Not-Aideen let her hand fall from her face. It revealed her expression: stunned, affronted, enraged. Blood matted her hair and ran down the sharp line of her jaw. Her features shifted and rippled like disturbed water. Her once-gold hair was shot through with strands of deep blue-black, and one blue eye hadchanged to the bright yellow of a wolf’s. Her lips peeled back in a vicious snarl.