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“So, that’s what you reduced me to? Ahumanwith no skills, so I have to be babysat?”
Nylah shook her head. “You don’t need a babysitter. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“What?” I ran to the door, ready to take her out, too.
She mumbled a few words, and I felt a breath of magic.
When she turned and left with the guards at her side, I ran to the door to follow them. I wouldn’t stay put, no matter how much Nylah trusted me to stay in my room! I didn’t care what any of them said. I wanted to be there. I wanted to fight. I wanted to do what I’d trained to do.
I slammed into something hard. It was like a magical force field, keeping me from leaving my room.
I tried again, ran at the door and tried to force my way through the magic. But I couldn’t get out.
When I rushed to my windows, they had the same magic keeping me from getting out of it. I was trapped in my room. No matter how well I could block magic, I couldn’t make it go away—especially when it didn’t come at me.
I let out a frustrated cry before I sank to the floor and leaned my head against the door.
Nylah hadn’t left a babysitter with me because, with her magic, she didn’t have to worry about anything. I couldn’t get through. She was the High Priestess who moved in the Second Realm, close to the Goddess Terra.
Terra wouldn’t help me escape from my room, either. I didn’t even have to ask to know that.
I sat on the floor, furious. Then, my anger gave way to fear. I started getting worried about Ren. If the power had been that strong in the arena, what could this Conjurite do to him? Ren was powerful, but this was a different magic.
It was laced with death.
And it was terrifying.
I wanted to be there to help. I wanted to be there to protect him.
What if he didn’t come back?
No, I couldn’t think like that. I had to be sure that Ren was strong enough to win. And that Nylah would help him. Who was I kidding? I was just a human. I couldn’t do enough to save either of them, no matter how much it bruised my ego.
I was small and useless, and I hated it.
I’d chosen to stay here and found there was more to life than just being alive. And now, after it all, I still wasn’t enough to make a difference. I was worth no more here than I’d been as a barmaid. At least there, no one had had to look out for me. Here, I distracted Ren, Nylah, and Dex from doing their jobs because they were trying to protect me.
It was all backward.
The darkness pulsed around me, the strength renewed, and it poked and prodded the fear I barely had under control, threatening to break its restraints and set my fear free.
23
The sunlight fell through my open curtains, painting a line of fire on the carpet and shining in my eyes. I blinked them open and rolled onto my side before I pushed myself up.
My body was stiff. I’d slept on the floor. I’d fallen asleep in front of the door, waiting for someone to come get me out of the prison they’d created for me. I remembered trying to fight off the fear, trying to stand up against a power that didn’t have to be right next to me to get to me.
When I stretched, my aching muscles complained, and my bones popped. I rolled my shoulders and walked to the bathroom. I showered and got dressed in fresh clothes before I tried to leave my room again.
This time, the magic was gone. I could leave my room without struggling.
I looked up and down the hallway that led to the warriors’ rooms. No one was in sight. I’d overslept the time I usually had to train, and no one had fetched me.
Dex hadn’t pulled me out of bed—or from the floor—by my feet and told me what a disappointment I was.
When I stepped into the mess hall, it was quiet. I picked up a piece of toast from a platter that had been left behind and nibbled on it as I walked through the palace.
Everything was quiet. Too quiet. I couldn’t see a single servant, and it seemed like the palace was a shell, hiding secrets.
