Page 55 of The Heart Trials

“And you’re sure you haven’t seen him since then?” I ask, following.

“I’m sure.” He lugs the gasping man from the waves.

The knot in my chest deepens as I help the other Stonebound crawling to shore. I pull them from the water, rolling them onto their backs and pressing on their chests until they cough up water, trying to remind myself that I am not here to make friends.

Every reflex to stand aside and not care feels foreign. The way Jace is helping the others, showing concern, he must feel the same way. I wonder if he stopped using Heartfillers a long time ago too. But he rushes past me to help another before I can whisper the question.

Mercyenforcers shove past us suddenly, marching over to break up two Stonebound who have frantically wrapped their arms around one another, kissing one another on the face. Not like a first touch. Like two people who know each other well. As they’re dragged away, they’re assaulted with questions about when they met and how.

“I’m surprised so many of you made it,” I tell the Stonebound whose arm is hooked around my neck as I drag them to shore. Living so far from the sea, learning to swim wouldn’t have been impossible, but it also couldn’t have been easy. I set them down and count all Stonebound with one hand. Much less than before.

When I turn back toward the waves, Talia has washed up. She pushes up on her elbows, dazed. When Jace offers her a hand, she glares at it. His hand lingers patiently until she takes it, pulling herself up.

I rejoin Finn, who is still at the water’s edge with his arms crossed tight.

More Saltbloods make it back, crawling toward Rhythe before collapsing on the sand. He doesn’t move to meet them. Doesn’t even look. Some alliance. Ronan is still not here. But Kade made it, stomping up the shore alone, not offering a hand or accepting one. Ivy follows soon after, climbing out of the waves like the sea wraith she is. Just behind her is Lira. A long stretch of time passes and no one else emerges from the ocean.

The later it gets, the quieter the people on the shore get.

After a while I realize, that’s it.

No one else is coming.

Caelus and I meet eyes across the beach as he wrings out his shirt before putting it back on. The glimpse of his bare skin catches me off guard, a warm pull low in my stomach. I force my gaze to his face. His stare is haunted with exhaustion, his complexion drained of color, blending with his hair.

One down, I mouth, two to go.

We did it. We are one trial closer.

I should be thrilled, but I feel sick.

When the sun begins its descent, we’re summoned to get back into the transports. It took a caravan of six to get us here. Two are returning completely empty.

“Finn, I think we have to go now,” I tell him.

He doesn’t move.

Ronan didn’t deserve this.

He, like Mae, should have made it. The words twist my insides. People are dying. This isn’t a game with more than two winners.

“Finn, I’m sorry.”

“I told her that if I won this, I would find a way to bring her here,” he says.

Her. Her who? But he goes on, and I recognize that look in his eye, the way Dorian looked at me before the tournament. Finn has someone back home.

“I promised that whatever happened, it would never replace how special she is to me.” He chuckles darkly, eyes to the sea. “I’m talking like a dead man.”

I glance over my shoulder. Mercyenforcers are gaining on us. They’d get rid of him if they knew he plans to sneak a lowborn into Skyhaven if he wins.

“Ronan knew. He understood. He told me if he got sent home and I stayed, he’d make sure she knew no one had replaced her. That I am just playing the game and would send for her soon. She’s taking care of Teddy.” He turns to face me. “Don’t you see? He can’t be dead. He wouldn’t give up on Teddy.”

I blink away the forbidden sting in my eyes.

“He is out there, somewhere. I have to just wait for him.”

My throat is thick as I think of Serafina, how memories of her pulled me through those waves. Guards reach us.