Page 101 of The Heart Trials

“And what, soldier? You will follow orders, like you’ve been trained to if you want to get what we discussed. Mess up again and I’ll cut you loose.”

A slow, creeping chill works its way through me, settling in my bones.

The Trial of Strength is going to be a bloodbath.

Kade speaks again, lower this time. “If you must know, that Skyborn’s skirts you didn’t want me under did a favor for us today. You’ll see.” Their voices move closer to the door and I pull away, yanking Orrick into my room next door.

Orrick gives me a look, and I suddenly realize I’m shaking with anger.

“I need to see Lira.” He reaches for my door to leave.

I don’t stop him. I don’t say anything at all. The words lodge in my throat, cutting every time I try to swallow them down. I feel awful. Instead, I pace my room in restless circles until the moon rises over the water outside my window, its reflection trembling across the waves.

At least Orrick was here. At least someone else knows. The pressure to do or say something isn’t just on my shoulders. Maybe that’ll make it easier to move forward. Or maybe that’ll just make it harder to stand still.

I force myself into a long bath and slip into fresh robes, but when I sit on the edge of my bed, I instantly spring back up. If I do nothing, how am I any different from the Skyborn?

I need to talk to Mae. She needs to know what the alliance is planning. Her and Dorian. Then maybe Orrick and I can find a way to bring the Ivy and Rhythe secret to some of the others. Talia and Lira didn’t believe me before, but maybe they will now.

I ease my door open, heart pounding—

When a bloodcurdling shriek splits the night.

The sound burns through the hall like fire. I race toward the scream and find Orrick lying in the doorway of Lira’s room, glassy-eyed and frozen, frothing at the mouth.

Dead.

Lira is on top of him with a blade in her back.

Also not moving.

Also dead.

I stare, unable to move, blinking hard over and over again, waiting for the scene to change, for the blood dripping from Lira’s back to go away.

Talia dashes past me and falls on top of Lira’s body, beating her fists red.

“Wake up! Lira.” She sniffles between gasps for air. “Wake up. You have to get up. The plan. Lira, we have a plan!” Her words crack with pain. She buries her face in her friend’s dress, convulsing with grief. Mercyenforcers rush in, and I still can’t move.

I was just talking to him.

I was just—

Mercyenforcers try to lift Talia off of Lira’s body. She bites one person who touches her and slams her fist into the face of another.

“Talia?” Jace elbows his way through the guards, panicked. “Where is she? Move!” He kneels beside her, resting his face on her back, his arms working around her waist, holding on to her tight.

“No, Jace—” Talia wails. “She can’t be—”

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry.” He strokes her hair, kisses the back of her head, and it makes me feel things, heavy things, near my chest.

“We need to remove the bodies,” a Mercyenforcer says, pulling a stinger out. “Get her out of the way or we will.”

“Don’t call her that! Don’t call her a body! Her name is Lira. Her parents were Pattie and Theodore. She had two brothers and one of them is a Grainlore apprentice, training to be a full master, knowing the best seasons and soils and everything.” Tears gush down her face.

My father was hanged for less. I shift uncomfortably.

She cries louder. “She always said he told her it was really hard. And he is so proud. He is so proud, Jace.” Every word rips from her lips like it’s being torn from her bones. “She has to get home, Jace.”