Page 288 of The Mortal Trials

I understand his rationale, and to be honest, I’m grateful he didn’t say a word. I’m not sure I could have taken one more thing.

His gaze drops to the necklace. “Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine.”

“I wish you’d trust me,” he says, his throat working. “You can trust me, Callalie. I know I didn’t tell you about the song, but I swear my intentions were –”

“August.” I point heavenward. “You’re not the one I can’t trust, and I’m not upset about the song, or the fact that you never said anything about it, because it was beautiful and honest and I could feel your heart in every word.”

He clasps my hand and we continue to our oikos in silence.

After we each shower away the ash and grime and my prosthesis has been scoured and is fully dry, I sit on the bed and roll my sheath over my limb. August sits next to me, watching my careful movements. “Hey,” he softly says. “You just winced.”

“I’m fine.”

He holds my stare. “Please stop saying that when you don’t mean it.”

I groan. “My leg hurts, okay? When I killed Daedalus, the magic he poured into my prosthesis died, too.”

August’s mouth falls open. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

A shrug. “What good would it do?”

He folds his lean body forward, placing his elbows on his knees and sits like that for several minutes. I can only imagine the thoughts racing through his head, because a thousand of them are tearing through mine, none of them good.

I attach my prosthesis and look over at him. “Are you ready?”

He nods and offers me a hand as I stand, waiting until my thigh fully settles into the device. He keeps hold of my hand as we cross the room, the strip of sand, and the shore, all the way to the palaestra.

All our allies are there. Swimming, talking about the trial, and the strange thing that happened near the end of it.

I remove my prosthesis and slip into the pool. The saltwater is a balm. Warm and soothing. My tight muscles begin to unravel.

I’m wearing a tank top and shorts, as well as Abuela’s necklace. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving it behind. If anyone stole it, she’d be devastated.

August enters the water.

Ulani waves us over. He and Vailea look like our king and queen, holding court in this beautiful, steaming pool.

The sun winks between drifting, billowy clouds. The insects sing. Butterflies and bees drink the wildflowers growing here and there. And you can’t go anywhere on this island without hearing the roar of the sea.

In any other situation, this would be paradise.

Elias swims past, more eel than man. Koda and Niall are chatting on the bench built into the side of the pool. Hazi and Tae have drifted farther into the pool, into deeper water, to have a conversation that’s just theirs. He brushes a piece of hair out of her eyes.

All our friends wear the colors of their pantheons.

Ulani silently consults his wife, who gives him an encouraging nod. “We’ve all reached out to our champions to see if any deity they know will sponsor you. We examined the rules. None of them state that a pantheon can’t champion more than two mortals. While some bloodlines would be restricted from helping you, there are many other options.”

“Thank you,” August rasps. “It means a lot that you’d ask.”

Vailea notices my necklace, tilting her head to better examine it. “That’s beautiful and unique. And new?”

I look down at the stone and metalwork. “It’s my grandmother’s. She sent it for me to wear.”

“Jade?”

I nod.