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None of this made sense.
He straightened his shoulders, not bothering to wipe the blood from his neck, and strolled to the door. Before he left, he paused and said, “Don’t underestimate anyone. Do you understand me?” He tilted his head, towering over me.
I received the message loud and clear. Don’t make the same foolish mistake as last night.
“I do.” I straightened to my full height, refusing to let him intimidate me. “Believe me. I won’t make that mistake again.”
His shoulders relaxed marginally.
“Sire,” Caden insisted again. “You’re going to hold up the trial.”
I watched King Kieran stride through the door. His armor highlighted the muscles I already knew were there, and the view of his ass was worthwhile.
“Ivy.” Maeve sheathed her sword. “What was that about?” Concern oozed from every word.
The last thing I wanted to do was address this with her. Taking a deep breath, I squared my shoulders. “Nothing.”
She lifted a brow, giving me an expression that made me feel like a child.
She’d mommed me.
And worse, it had worked.
Guilt settled heavily over my body like a weighted blanket, and I cracked. “I didn’t realize they were serving spirits last night, and I drank too much, which you already knew. King Kieran escorted me to my room.”
Her jaw dropped, almost comically so. Part of me wondered if I’d have to lift her chin off the floor.
She recovered. “You let him do what?”
“It wasn’t my finest moment, but he didn’t try to trick me.” I exhaled. “Can we please focus on the cave of doom that I’m about to be forced into?” I gestured to the door. “I can’t fly, so how the fuck do I get across?”
“Fuck?” Her brows furrowed. “I don’t know what that is, but I’m more concerned about King Kieran. His being nice and concerned about you means he’s trying to get you to trust him. You can’t.”
I hated that she was right. I didn’t like thinking of King Kieran as my enemy, but now wasn’t the time to focus on that. I needed to survive what happened next before I worried about his strategy.
I was this close to stomping my foot in frustration. Maybe I was her ward after all. “Maeve, please. Help me.” I gestured again at the door to my impending doom.
She huffed. “Fine. All right. If you can’t figure out how to get your wings to work, you’ll have to climb across. Here, give me your bow. It’ll cause problems otherwise.”
I blinked. She had to be kidding me. That was her pearl of wisdom? “Ah, I see. That makes complete sense.”
She sighed. “What do you want me to say? I’d have to do the same if I were in your place.”
That must be what the first test was about. Proving to everyone we were High Fae and could fly our way through there. I shouldn’t think everything was all about me, but I was the only one here without wings.
Caden beamed at me, not bothering to hide that he was listening to our conversation. I didn’t know what it was with these fae, but they loved drama, blood, and death. There was no way I could be one of them.
“Focus on me, Ivy.” Maeve snapped her fingers in front of my face. “You can do this. It won’t be just about flying across—there’ll for sure be something sneaky to overcome. None of these tasks will be easy. They want each person to suffer and show they can think fast, so you’ll have just as much of a chance as anyone with wings in there.”
Trying to squelch the nerves thrumming through my body, I took a deep breath and forced a smile. I needed to put on a brave face, at least for Maeve. She’d done so much for me, so I removed the bow and arrows from around me and said, “Climb across from rock to rock until I make it to the end or whatever the goal is?”
She nodded and took the weapons. “And be sure to keep an eye out for your competitors. Once you enter that arena, they can stab you in the back.”
Focus on climbing so I didn’t fall to my death while keeping my attention on everything around me. Yeah, that sounded super easy. “Got it.”
“Princess Alina.” Caden couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice. “It’s your turn.”
My throat tightened, and acid crept up, burning. This was it.
