Page 86 of The Heart Trials

When I wake, Serafina hovers above me, the starry night sky lightening behind her.

“Axira, wake up,” she whispers.

I am dreaming. She is not here. This is not real.

“We have to go!” Her brows arch high, trembling slightly. “They came for me and brought me here. I’m scared.” Her face is a haze. I grind my knuckles into my eyes. She is still there. Her small, dirt-covered hands are white-knuckling on the ties to my tent. Her expression is twisted with desperation, eyes glistening with unshed tears.

I sit up, leaning against my tent where I fell asleep outside of it. I blink again. “Serafina?”

She looks over her shoulder. “Hurry, before they come back.”

The fire has all burned out. The locked transport is still sitting there. My heart thuds, finally catching up with my mind. I stumble up, my limbs heavy with sleep. I slide my shoes on.

“Hurry,” she says.

Once my shoes are on, she runs ahead of me. The grassy field strewn with piles of ashen vegetables may as well be a graveyard. The sun isn’t up and won’t be for a little while longer. Kade must still be sleeping. My footsteps are lead. I stagger behind Serafina. She’s covered in sticks and twigs, her hair mangled. “Are you okay?” I ask. “Where is Miss Omon?”

“I’m okay. They came in the night. They locked me away somewhere in the palace. Then they brought me here this morning, but something went wrong, I don’t know. They turned around to go back to the palace.” She holds up a piece of sharp metal. “But I broke the latch on the transport and slipped out. I ran until I found you asleep beside your tent.”

The hum of a vehicle roars in the distance. I motion for Serafina to follow me deeper into the corn stalks. She sticks to my heels. We duck behind a pallet of produce, then dart toward waist-high grain. My steps are clunky, like I’m moving underwater. Time and motion feel out of balance, the exhaustion of the last day weighing me down.

Serafina presses a finger to her lips, pointing to the wagon as it rolls by. We crouch down, and my heart skips a beat. Did they hurt her? I scan every inch of her exposed skin, but there are no bruises or cuts that I can see. She’s here. I can’t believe she’s here.

This changes everything. I scan for other tents, for Caelus, wondering if I should wake him. I promised to steal for him, and this ruins all that. Even if I could get him, there’s no time. I have to run. I have to run now.

And it makes me ache in a way that’s confusing.

“Axira, come on.” Serafina crouches, urging me to follow her. Then my gaze drops to her chest, which is not glowing with a Heartfiller. She hasn’t coughed. She doesn’t look pale with fever.

“You’re all better?” Caelus just sent the medicine.

She slips out from the cover of the stalks and ducks behind a toppled bin meant for sorting. “Come on, Axira.” She blinks for a beat too long.

“Fina, you did use the medicine, right?” I ask again. How else would she be well? The world is still a haze.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I’m scared. Please.”

My fingers find my chest, two steps ahead of my mind. I pull my collar aside, exposing my skin. It glows. A tiny coral-colored shard of a memory Heartfiller sticks out, its hue dark red, as if singed by a flame.

No.

I back away.

This is not real. Serafina is not really here.

Serafina’s brows slash angrily. “Come with me now! We have to get away!” She grabs a blade from somewhere that I miss. “Traitor! You said you’d protect me. You said you’d teach me how to fish!”

“It’s not you. You’re not real.” The Trial of Loyalty is still underway. I plug my ears. The more I say it aloud, the more I realize it’s true.

“You have to save me. And Miss Omon! You promised.” When I don’t follow her, she paces. “This is why your mother died. This is why your father died! Because you couldn’t save them. You didn’t even try.” She keeps shouting more accusations. My heart feels like it’s going to burst through my ears.

“Stop,” I plead. “Please stop talking!”

“You couldn’t love your parents even if you were allowed to. You can’t save me because you don’t even know how to save yourself.”

I flinch at her words. My gaze drops to the dirt, to something glinting beneath a wilted leaf. A broken handle jutting from the soil. Metal curves from one end, dull edged and rusted. It’s solid, heavy, and sharp. I grab it.

And plunge it into Serafina’s throat.