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Malkah drank, paled briefly, but did not fall to the ground as Varis had. Instead, she passed the cup on to the next challenger.
“Selwyn,” Odessa murmured, as a towering man gripped the cup. He possessed stormy silver eyes. Majestic antlers sprouted from his temples.
“There are few like Selwyn,” Odessa decreed. “He’ll be hard to beat.”
A woman with chestnut brown hair in a long braid and clever hazel eyes was next. Her hands ended in sharp bird-of-prey talons which she was extending and withdrawing over and over as if anxious.
“Vespera,” Odessa whispered reliably.
I nodded, beginning to lose track.
“Zephrae.” Another woman, her skin bronzed like burnished copper and her hair a vivid auburn. Delicate prismatic feathers covered her shoulders and stretched down to the tips of her fingers.
“Erion.”
Erion’s hair was a messy blond nest of waves, while every inch of the rest of his face and body were covered with reptilian scales like the ones Avriel had on his arms. I stared in fascination.
But by the time the cup reached the last contestant, I was leaning forward again, watching as a strikingly lovely young woman with flowing, pale-white hair and sky-blue eyes received the chalice with a graceful nod of her head.
“Celeste,” Odessa whispered. “Her sister, Pearl, died in a training accident a few days ago or she would have been a competitor, too.”
A training “accident”? Was that what they were calling it? There had been nothing accidental about the way Avriel had crushed the breath from Pearl’s body.
Worse, based on what I had overheard, he had been within the rules of this sick game in doing what he did.
Celeste raised the chalice but not to her lips. She held it high over her head.
“What is she doing?” Odessa muttered.
“This court has no true authority.” Celeste’s voice was shrill and high-pitched, but as she went on her voice grew stronger. “The Court of Umbral Flames is a corruption. A foul perversion. We can never recover from the great sin that was perpetrated against our Valtain brethren. You all know this!” Her arm swept out, encompassing all of the Siabra in her claim of guilt.
“I decree the use of this chalice a sin of the highest order and declare our Queen Regent a pretender. All of you–” She gestured to her fellow challengers. “All of you are pretenders to a throne that should not even exist. The Siabra have no right to exist. Not anymore. Not while the true High King lives!”
There was a commotion by the doors, as if guards were trying to enter but had found the way barred.
I shot Odessa a started look. Her face was grim.
Celeste’s lovely face wore a pious smile. Her arm was still raised high in the air, holding the chalice like a lifeline. “We must rejoin our brethren. We must be made anew. Join me, brothers! Join me, sisters! Here, tonight. Or I swear, you will die for your betrayal.”
Her other hand shot up into the air and I heard a crackling spark as if of lightning.
There were gasps from the crowd and not a few people began to stand up.
“Oh, shit,” Odessa muttered.
“Stop her!” The Queen Regent’s voice called out. “Stop her this instant!”
But it was too late.
“If we die, we die because we had no right to live at all,” Celeste screamed direly.
And then a portal opened over her head.
I had never seen such a thing before. The portal shimmered with an eerie, pulsating light, its edges swirling with a dark mist that seemed to defy gravity.
There were sounds coming from the other side. At first, they were faint. Shuffling footsteps. Scratching nails.
But as I realized what they meant, my entire body began to tremble with memory.
