Page 106 of The Heart Trials

“My father thinks I’ve declared a true-love match with you as a cover. He thinks I’m still scheming to destroy his tournament. If he sees me visiting with you outside the tournament, he may start to question if you’re in on it. Or if we’ve…if we’ve fallen in love.”

He’s still trying to protect me.

“I was worried…” I say softly. “I hoped…I just wasn’t sure if something happened to you after the reception.”

“I’m alright.” His fingers curl around the door, inching it open even wider, and my heart thuds. I’m supposed to be locked in my room. We’re all supposed to be locked away. His hand flexes, reaching for me. I can’t see his face. I can’t see any of him but his reach toward me. “The plan is still on. We are well positioned to make it to runner-up.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

I barely touch the tips of his fingers with mine. The sliver of contact sends a shiver through me. His fingers bend slightly, inviting mine to do the same. We braid them together.

“We need to break up Rhythe’s alliance,” I say.

I tell him about everything I overheard and saw during the dinner, about Kade and the Skyborn woman, about Rhythe and Ivy knowing each other before the tournament. How Jace and Talia have no idea and are still doing his bidding, planning to get rid of Dorian, to get rid of me. About Kade murdering Lira and Orrick and the Skyborn woman being in on it. And about my visit with his father.

When I finish, he doesn’t say anything for a long moment. “We have to focus on us,” he finally says, his gaze moving to the smoky Heartfiller by my bed. “Don’t trust a word my father says. He is the enemy, Axira.”

“You don’t think I know that?”

He glances at the Heartfiller again. “I hope you do.”

“I do.”

“We also can’t save everyone, Axira,” he says more gently. “If we can break apart Rhythe’s alliance, good. If we can’t, we have to focus on being as strong as we can tomorrow. We have to make it to the end.”

I’m not sure what to say to that. I’ve started growing attachments, not along district lines but heart ones, if there is such a thing. I don’t want Mae or Dorian hurt, and I am not convinced that Ivy is as diabolical as Rhythe. Something about her silence feels timid, not threatening. I can’t put my finger on it.

“Haven’t enough innocent people been killed?” I ask. “How do we do nothing? How do we not care?”

“I didn’t say we couldn’t care. But if it comes down to your life or theirs, it will be you, Axira.”

“I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“The strength trial will be the hardest. I’ve seen mountain transports outside the gates. We’re going to be doing something in the Stonebound district. You won’t be in your element. But you should be stronger than you were before.”

I sit up tall against the door between us.

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“You’ve been off of Heartfillers for some time now. Your head should be clearer. And we…well, I don’t know. You might feel different, maybe, after our time in the tent.”

I recall him holding me, and I slip my hand deeper in his, swallowing as much of his fingers as I can with mine, wanting, wishing I could feel more of what we had in the tent right now.

“Those feelings…” He hesitates. “They can make you stronger. There’s power in strong connections.”

“You’re saying we have a strong connection?” It comes out like a question, but my heart squeezes like it’s a wish.

“We do. You know we do. Do you feel any different?”

Now that he mentions it, I did feel stronger before we left the arena. I have felt weak in other ways: unable to stop thinking of him, crying so much about so much death. But when I think of Caelus, when our hands are like this, I feel ready for whatever the next trial will bring.

“I think I do.” Maybe it’s foolish. Maybe I’m imagining it.

But he’s saying it’s real.

I stare at our hands tangled together, then slide my hand over the curve of his wrist and follow upward. He doesn’t pull away. I trace his strong arm and solid shoulder, imagining even this closeness can strengthen whatever power our connection gives us.