Page 69 of The Heart Trials

Voices rise—Mae tries to mediate, Talia says something about poking a bear, Lira says Orrick isn’t taking this seriously, Ivy is laughing like all this is a joke. My brain scrambles. Dreth backs away from the firepit. He and Kade share a glance, but I miss what it could mean. Rhythe and I meet eyes; his dazzle with mirth, as if I’ve amused him. I see red. Angry, hot, burning red.

Orrick’s jaw is mean, his leg tapping more furiously.

Callie still doesn’t move, frozen at the prospect of picking someone to be disqualified, which for all we know means be trapped here and maybe never see home again.

That’s when I see it, a slight blue haze rising from the flames, almost imperceptible. On the stone edge of the pit there is an empty jar.

Prototype Scent—Rage

I stumble forward from the line, trying to get closer. The Benevolent. He’s trying to turn us on each other like wild dogs.

“Everyone, stop,” I say. But no one hears me. I reach for the jar, but Kade grabs my wrist, tight.

“Easier to climb over bodies than people,” he says, wafting the fumes toward the others. I drop the jar and snatch my arm away. A chill runs through me. He and the Mercyenforcers must know each other. From his time in their ranks. He did this.

“Come to think of it, we’d all be higher on the list if he wasn’t here.” Finn blinks long, inhaling before locking eyes on Caelus.

“Leave me out of this,” Caelus says, not moving from my side.

“Maybe I won’t.” Finn closes the distance between us in two strides. “Let’s see if the prince is as merciful as his father,” he says.

I’ve spotted Orrick, walking around the pit with clenched fists.

Several things happen at once.

Caelus shoves me back as Finn’s fist comes up fast, driving into his ribs. Quick and clean with the precision of a fishing spear. Caelus grunts but barrels forward, grabbing Finn by his adorned hair and slamming him into the stone pit with an audible crack. Caelus blocks the first punch, takes the second to the jaw, then plows a sharp blow to the back of Finn’s head.

The prince shoves Finn off him, to the ground, to an audience of wide eyes.

Caelus backs away, panting with a madness glinting in his eyes. If Finn charges him again, Caelus might kill him. “Leave me.”

“You even fight like a prince.” Finn spits blood.

I charge toward Caelus and Finn. If anything happens to him, I am trapped here. Serafina and I will never be free. But I reach them too late.

A fire poker tears through Finn’s chest with Orrick on the other end.

Finn collapses, and the light leaves his eyes.

A gasp rings from the shadows, then screams thunder around the arena like a hurricane.

I can’t move. Orrick trembles, gaping at what he’s just done.

“Monsters!” The voice comes from nowhere, and my heart speeds up. I peer harder into the shaded audience area of the arena, and for the first time, I see eyes there. Faces. Skyborn. They’re watching us from the stands.

Like this is a performance.

Our misery and anger, entertainment.

But when everybody flees to the tents, it snatches me back to the present. Finn lies on the ground bleeding, as still as death. Orrick finally drops the poker, gaping. People claw their way past one another. Except Kade. He sits by the fire and slips the rage Scent into his pocket.

Kade.

I pick Kade for my truest-love match.

I want to betray him most of all.

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