Page 21 of Fae Trials

After what felt like an hour of riding in the back of the velvet carriage, the winged horses descended and landed with a soft bounce. Gladiolus clapped his hands together. “The roads on the four highest rungs of the Mound are magically cushioned, so you’ll always have a soft landing.”

“Uh-huh?” I could barely take in his words because of the view.

A floating bridge stretching several hundred feet led to a huge, white gatehouse wider than Doolish town square with towers at each side that stretched eight stories tall. It reminded me of a grander, more sparkly version of the Tower of London.

The horses pulled the carriage through a twenty-foot-tall, stone archway, bringing with it a sensation like invisible needles piercing my skin.

I flinched. “What’s that?”

“Just the gatehouse wards.” Gladiolus smoothed down the front of his silk robes. “They’re assessing your worth. None but those aligned with the royal and noble houses may enter through these gates.”

My stomach clenched. What if the wards worked out I was an unworthy human? “But I’m not a—”

“Enough,” he said, impatience sharpening his voice. “The sooner you accept your status, the sooner you can start your new, independent life.”

The carriage stopped in the middle of the archway, and the wards continued to attack. Now, instead of pin-pricks, it felt like I’d fallen into a cloud of giant hornets with stingers the size of a man’s fingers.

Pain lanced through to my muscles, my bones, my very organs, not stopping, never giving me pause, not even when a scream tore from my throat, and I fell off the seat onto my hands and knees.

“Stop,” I cried out, but the wards redoubled their attack. Now it felt like being impaled by sharp knives.

Sweat poured down my brow. My insides shook with a mix of desperation, nausea and terror. Maybe this was what the dark faerie meant when he cursed me with his dying breath. The wretched monster had wanted me to suffer the way he had during his last moments.

“Unity!” Gladiolus shook my forearm. “Please be seated.”

The relentless stabbing continued. The contents of my stomach hurled onto the carriage floor, only to sink into the velvet, leaving it once again pristine.

I wanted to die, to put an end to this suffering. Right now, if someone offered me the chance to serve as a slave in the mount for ninety-nine years just to end this torment, I would accept. Nothing could be worse than the feeling of being kept alive while the wards ripped me apart.

Tears streamed from my eyes, snot streamed from my nose. I continued sobbing as the magic dragged me to the depths of agony.

Gladiolus placed a hand in the space between my wings, and the attack stopped. His cool magic soothed my overworked nerves like a balm.

“Wonderful,” he said in the kind of voice people reserved for appreciating a fine brew of Earl Grey tea. “It is just as I hoped.”

Despite the relief of no longer being in pain, exhaustion weighed down my limbs. I slumped onto my side, resting my head on the carriage floor. “What do you mean?”

“Not only did you pass the entrance exam, but your fated mate is nigh.”

The pounding in my skull was so loud, I must have misheard him. “Huh?”

“The tips of your wings are glowing.” Gladiolus clapped his hands together. “Someone at the academy is fated to become your mate.”

Chapter 7

The soft tread of the velvet carpet caressed my face, but it did nothing to soothe the memory of the ward’s brutality. Neither did the knowledge that a mate was waiting for me at the Royal Fae Academy. I squeezed my eyes shut, letting Gladiolus’ words wash over me. Who cared about mates when the wards of the academy wanted me dead?

The carriage continued down the floating bridge, and my thoughts drifted to Sicily. I hoped the four dark faeries didn’t blame her for their brothers’ death, and I sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that she wasn’t suffering the same plight as me.

Gladiolus clucked his tongue. “Your first glimpse of the Royal Fae Academy should be from a seat, not from the floor. Never forget that regardless of your human parentage, you are of noble, fae blood.”

Still breathing hard, I raised my head. A pristine, white castle loomed in the distance, its tall windows glinting in the morning sun. The building consisted of more turrets and towers than I could count, some topped by cone-shaped roofs that glinted like polished jet. Beyond the castle lay a series of mountains that stretched out into the horizon.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Gladiolus exclaimed.

“Yeah.”

Under normal circumstances, I would have gasped, exclaimed something embarrassing, and said that the castle was like nothing I had seen on my precious DVDs, but after being tortured by the castle’s wards, I really didn’t give a shit.