Page 163 of Feralheart

I felt Aristus’s satisfaction. His approval of Eradin and his contentment at being near Selira.

Our dragons had chosen each other and I stood, watching Eradin walk away.

Boren approached with servants in tow, ready to set up my tent. I should go with them. I needed to eat, rest, and prepare for tomorrow, which would probably kill us all.

Instead I stood in the grass and watched Eradin help her friends. Exhausted but still moving. Still capable. Still⁠—

Beautiful.

“I’m in so much trouble,” I whispered to Aristus.

His rumble sounded like amusement. He butted his head against my shoulder, pushing me gently toward the elite camp.

I made myself turn and walk in that direction, but I looked back.

Eradin stood with Lyndie and Reece, but her head had turned toward me. The fatigue on her face shifted into something I couldn’t identify but felt in my chest. Then Lyndie said something that made Eradin’s attention snap away. Her mask slid back into place.

But before she fully turned, her fingers touched her throat where the dragon scale rested. A reminder of her bond with Selira.

She’d chosen something impossible and survived.

And I was going to do the same thing.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

ERADIN

Three commons still breathing through the second trial had to be a record.

I dropped my pack near the tent Reece was assembling, another gift from the prince I still didn’t know what to do with, and watched an imp deliver a scroll to Lady Severine across the meadow. Only after the imp had flown away did the lady unroll it. She turned away, facing the outer wall of the cavern.

Then one of the queen’s councilors transported into the cavern to speak with her.

Lord Andra.

Why was he here and why was he speaking with Lady Severine and not Fen, who was the crown prince?

They both turned, their gazes falling on me.

Cold traced down my spine. The queen’s people were here, and they weren’t only watching the crown prince.

They were watching me.

I kept my face blank. Looking scared would only confirm whatever suspicions they had.

Someone had sent men to kill me at the ball.

I ran it backward the way my mother had taught me to read a wound. Not from the surface but from the origin.

Two professionals. They hadn’t been opportunists or men who’d lost money on a bet or made a reckless decision. They’d known I’d left the ball and that I was alone. That kind of information came from inside the fortress, from someone with access to the inside.

I didn’t know what to do with these details, but I would figure it out. I just needed to think about it long enough.

Lyndie, Reece, and I finished setting up camp, a tent for him and one I’d share with Lyndie beside it. We tucked our bedding inside, and Reece started a fire while Lyndie and I collected wood. When we’d finished, I grabbed spare clothes from my pack and found a cluster of bushes far enough from camp to change in private. The clean leather settled against my skin like a small mercy, though it couldn’t wash away what the trial had shown me.

At the stream, I scrubbed bloodstains from my soiled clothes until my knuckles were raw, trying to wash out thoughts that wouldn’t leave. The elite weren’t supposed to do things like send supplies or admit the system was broken. Fen didn’t fit what I’d assumed about him, and I didn’t know what to do with that either.

I dunked the clothes under the water. Spray hit my face, cold enough to sting.