Page 24 of The Heart Trials

9

“What are you thinking, Axira?” The throne room is far behind us as we march through the halls of the palace.

“Hear me out.”

“No. I won’t support you entering the tournament. You’re ruining everything. As a servant here, we could work on getting the Heartfillers before the tournament.” Each of his steps is twice the length of mine. He told the Mercyenforcers he’d escort me to contestant quarters and send for my things. But we are headed back to his room.

“I cannot be stuck here as a servant. I have to get back home.”

He doesn’t respond. I have to make him see that my plan gets him what he wants and helps me. When we are in the privacy of his room, he strides to the window and gazes out. I stand in the doorway. The idea of being alone with him feels different than it did a day ago when I was still hoping to escape. My skin prickles at the weight of our silence. Whatever’s between us has shifted—or is about to.

“I know you want something from that tournament. You said you had to get it. Were you planning to drug the tournament guards so you can sneak into the tournament and steal what you want?” I’m guessing, trying to put together what little he’s given me. I watch him for some indication that I’m right, but Caelus only pulls the fabric over his window. “If that’s your plan, it would never work. It’s always easier to steal from the inside.”

Still he says nothing, his back to me. If he won’t agree to pull me out of that tournament the minute I steal what he wants and put me on a ship, I’ve just ruined any chance I have at a different life for me, Serafina, or any of us at the orphanage. I don’t know much about the tournament other than that there are trials that whittle the contestants down until there is a clear winning true-love match.

There are rumors about what the trials are like, but it’s hard to know what’s true. I can’t end up like Miss Omon’s old helper. I’m not a help to Serafina or anyone dead.

“Once I steal what you want, find a reason to disqualify me, I can become violently ill, you can sneak me out, something.” He’s the Prince of Ethyria. His father listens to him. I’ve seen it. “Then, put me on a ship with a bit of gold.”

Caelus faces me finally with folded arms. “This won’t work.”

“I am the best smuggler on this damned island. Get me a ship and you will have whatever you want to steal from your father.”

“You don’t understand what you’re up against. You’re not—”

“I’m not what?”

“The tournament requires you to love someone, Axira.” He scowls with a disgust I understand in my bones. “You’re clever and fast. But that can only do so much. It’s a competition to find your truest-love match. You can’t even be within arm’s reach of me or anyone without being uncomfortable.”

“I—” My throat is dry. I hadn’t considered how much the love part would play. I just thought about the trials.

“To get what I need, you’d have to survive until the Ascension Ceremony, when the winners are cloaked in Skyborn robes and granted citizenship. You’d have to finish in the top two to be sure you’ll make it to the end. You have the savage instinct, but you don’t have…”

“The heart.”

Our eyes meet in understanding. To survive to the end, I’d need to be in love with someone. I’m not exactly sure what that is like, but if Lucent’s lover being helplessly distraught over him when she saw his body was any indication, I’m not interested. I cross the room and sit down on a chair next to his desk. “How would they know if I’m in love?”

“What do you know about the tournament, Axira?”

“Not much is known.”

“You have to pass three character trials: courage, loyalty, and strength to prove you can be trusted with Skyborn citizenship.” His expression darkens. “The trials are brutal. My father designed them himself, in secret, laboring over every detail for the last decade to make sure they weed out those who cannot be trusted. Allegiance is his goal. Between the trials you’ll have the task of finding your best love connection among the contestants. Bonding. Growing close to each other.”

A tightness creeps into my shoulders, and my arms fold across my chest before I even think to move them.

“See, you’re already uneasy,” he says.

“I can pass the trials. I know I can.”

“The trials prove you’re brave enough, loyal enough, and strong enough to handle the pressures that come with love,” he says.

“Pressures?” I ask.

“Love is power, Axira.”

“I don’t understand.” I say.

“If you’re hanging off the side of a mountain and your foot slips, it will become very clear very quickly who you care about. You can’t fake this. The tests are designed to show where your heart really is.”