Page 99 of The Heart Trials

In front of me, Dorian’s hands are clasped like he’s wringing a confession out of them. He keeps glancing toward Mae, whispering and worrying. She nestles closer to him as they walk. She is so happy. Dorian’s decent. Not my kind of decent, but hers. Not that I have a kind of decent. A light and frantic flutter takes off in my stomach.

“What are you thinking about?” Caelus asks. His gaze hits me like a spark. He is beside me. Now that we’ve officially declared each other as matches, we don’t have to hide talking. It’s nice.

“How much we need to discuss,” I say. “Privately.”

We walk the length of the next stairwell in silence. The flickering lights buzz softly, casting shadows across the tense faces of the other contestants. Everyone is pretending not to be worried that the end is so near. We’re all wondering not just who will win, but who will get away with their lives. Who will lose but at least make it home? Will anyone?

When we reach our floor, the Mercyenforcers turn on their heels and disappear down the stairs, boots echoing until there’s nothing left but quiet. We’re left standing in the long sterile corridor. No one moves. No one wants to be the first to turn their back. I can feel the way we’re all calculating, wondering if we’ve made the right choice now that the other options have been taken away from us. The silence stretches; the corridor feels longer than it is.

Eventually, Lira rises on her toes and kisses Orrick on the cheek stiffly. His entire face turns red. He doesn’t look at her, only down at a folded paper, trying hard not to smile. It’s awful that she’s loyal to the alliance. Is she even serious about him?

“I need to get some sleep,” she says, reaching for her doorknob. Then Rhythe slips into his room, Jace into his. But Talia lingers until Jace has disappeared and pads to Rhythe’s room, glaring at me before stepping inside. Ivy follows at a distance.

An alliance meeting. I don’t move. Not yet.

Caelus’s chin hovers just above his chest. His lip is deep purple at the corner and split at the bottom.

“Does it hurt?” I ask softly. My hand rises, almost without thinking, reaching toward his face—but I stop myself short, fingers retreating on instinct. I shove my hand in the pocket of my dress instead.

“It’ll heal,” he mutters. He won’t look at me.

“What did they do to you?” I ask.

He finally lifts his eyes. They’re not the soft, calm kind of blue today, but rather a storm that rages. There’s a rawness in them like the color has been scraped thin by too much thinking, too much regret.

“Caelus?” I say, more softly.

“I’ve made it worse.”

“What do you—”

“Stick to the plan,” he says under his breath. “I’ll come again when I can.” Cold air shifts beside me as he walks away toward the stairs.

“Caelus?”

He doesn’t turn around, and it feels like standing in the eye of a storm all by myself. I unclench my tight fists and stride toward my door when I notice Orrick is lingering in the hall, still turning that paper in his hands. His blush from Lira’s kiss has faded. Lira, who I am sure will be sneaking down to Rhythe’s room the minute Orrick’s off to bed.

“What is that?” I ask.

“Aria brought it,” he says.

“Aria?”

“My mother. She prefers we use her first name. Makes it easier to keep a distance, you know?” He hands me the paper. I unfold it, and there is a beautiful drawing of a face I know—Ronan. The one who entered for his baby brother, and drowned in the first trial.

“Your mother drew this?” I ask.

“No. Someone Ronan knew gave it to my mother when she received the harvest delivery yesterday. Word’s starting to spread to the districts of who hasn’t made it. She asked Aria to ask me to give it to Finn. But that news hasn’t reached them yet…”

Silence passes between us, and I can see Orrick grabbing the poker to impale Finn all over again.

“And I feel horrible,” he goes on, gulping.

“No. You were under their influence. They fed you rage.”

Kade. Kade fed him rage.

“That’s what Lira says.”