Page 67 of Fae Trials

Everyone oohed, and I straightened, casting the Fated a glance. Those four pampered butterflies had probably never run a day in their lives. But what were the chances of the princes choosing a challenge I could win? Considering that Prince Rory was the only one of the four dissatisfied with his mate, I calculated the odds at twenty-five percent.

The crowd quietened, and Prince August spoke again.

“The last girl to return with a nugget of pyre stone from the Calf of Fae will suffer a forfeit chosen by the victors.”

My mouth dropped open. What the fuck was that?

“We’re going to ask for Unity’s slow and painful death,” shouted Lady Aster.

“Funny, because I was thinking the same about you,” I shot back.

The faeries around me chuckled. It was the kind of laugh people made when they heard someone say they would achieve the impossible. Like how some drunkards tumbling out of the taverns before curfew boasted they could swim across the Irish Sea and climb the UN’s off-shore rigs.

It was amusing, not because of the humans and their machine guns, but because of the hundreds of human-eating monsters that lurked beneath the waves. The princes might as well have asked me to climb the off-shore rig because there was a half-mile stretch of sea between the Isle of Fae and the Calf of Fae.

“Are you ready, ladies?” shouted Prince August.

“Yes,” they chorused.

“No,” I shouted.

The floating throne swept down, and Prince August peered at me down his perfect nose. “Whatever is the matter?”

I glanced at Prince Rory for a sign that he might help, but he remained stony-faced. My throat dried. What could I say? That he had already briefed the others on what to do? That this was a set up designed to have me killed?

Confronting them would probably get me into even more trouble, so I said, “I need more information.”

“What do you need to know?” Prince August folded his arms across his chest. This was my first conversation with the blond heir to the Summer Court, and so far, he seemed even more unpleasant than his brothers.

“What’s pyre stone?”

Everyone chuckled as though I was a toddler asking if the little people in the television set could come out to play.

“It’s a serious question,” I shouted over the laughter. “How am I supposed to find something I can’t recognize?”

Prince August sighed, acting weary from my incessant questions. “I understand your faerie past was replaced with human memories, but even the lowliest of creatures can recognize fool’s gold.”

On his left, Prince Caulden floated a lump of pale gold covered in angular lumps.

“Not if you call it something wanky like pyre stone,” I snapped.

“Run along now.” Prince August shooed me away with his elegant fingers. “Before you give your superiors even more of a head start.”

When I turned around, the Fated were gone. In the distance, four faeries flew toward the horizon. The princes’ amplified laughter filled my ears.

“Shit!” I spun on my heel and ran after them, but the crowd closed in around me. “Out of my way.”

I shoved and tried squirming through the gaps, but the students wouldn’t budge. My fingers itched to burn them with my iron knuckles, but I couldn’t bring myself to hurt anyone who hadn’t attacked me first.

The crowd stayed in place, laughing and jeering until a cool wind blew them apart. I turned around to find Prince Rory on the far right of the throne with his hands cupped around his face. To his left, all three of his brothers glared at him as though he was a betrayer.

Sending him a grateful smile, I raced through the gap in the crowd, bolstered by his wind. It swept beneath my wings and lifted me off my feet, making my stomach lurch. I stared ahead at the disappearing dots on the horizon, not daring to look down at the crowd, not daring to turn around and ask Prince Rory what on earth he thought he was doing.

Silence stretched out beneath me. I didn’t care that the crowd of students were probably waiting for me to fall flat on my face. The Fated wanted me dead, and I couldn’t afford to be last to reach the Calf of Fae.

My wings, which had up until now only been good for glowing at the sight of the princes, sliced through the air and propelled me forward. My heart soared along with my altitude.

This was it. I was flying!