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I’d be lucky to make it across.
Eamon stepped next to her, his sky-blue suit contrasting with her dark-purple dress. He said, “To make it to the next trial, you merely need to cross the finish line … alive, where Kaley and Leanna await us.” He pointed right across from us into the darkness.
The fae cheered, their hands lifted in excitement, similar to what I did every time I got mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Some might argue, but I believed my source of enjoyment was healthier. At least I was killing only myself when I enjoyed it.
But that confirmed I had one goal.
To reach the end … with my heart still beating.
“Is everyone ready?” Quinley asked as she bent down and lifted something that resembled a weirdly shaped guitar. It had to be a lute.
The noise of the crowd rose ten decibels.
I was a little disappointed. I wanted to see something magical.
Quinley plucked the strings, and magic shot out of the instrument along with soothing music.
I stood there, transfixed, as the oranges, golds, pinks, and teals mixed together.
Then, something hit me in the back, and I stumbled and teetered on the edge of the platform.
My heart shot into my throat, but I pushed off with my legs and grabbed a stalagmite. I wrapped my legs and arms around it and held on for dear life.
Sickening screams echoed around me.
I glanced up and saw Curry, the two Winter fae women who’d made fun of me, and Catrina flying erratically overhead. Then, a dark mist drifted down from the icy stalactites and engulfed them.
I had no clue what the fuck was going on, but if the fae were struggling, I had little chance of surviving.
Then one of the Summer Fae women who’d been quiet at dinner flew past me, darted below the mist … and didn’t stop.
Chapter Thirteen
My pulse raced so hard that it pounded in my ears. The woman’s saffron eyes widened in horror. Her green wings flapped haphazardly as she darted in all directions.
“No! Please!” she screamed, her voice carrying over the others due to her proximity to me. “Don’t hurt him.”
I searched frantically for the person in question, but all the others were still obscured in the mist and screaming. I had no clue who she was worried about, but she was flying away from him, not toward him.
“Wintery summer, no!” she screamed, tears shrouding her face. “I’ll save you!”
My chest constricted. “Wait!”
Then the unthinkable happened. The woman barreled downward, away from the others and toward two jutting stones with her arms outreached. Her head hit one of them, blood spraying everywhere on impact, and her legs sailed into the other. Her body jolted and dropped, the feathers of her wings rippling in the wind.
This couldn’t be happening. This had to be a trick they were using against me. She’d fly when she reached the bottom and come after me. I had to be ready.
Unsure how to do that while barely holding on to the stone, I watched as her body hit the dirt ground far beneath us … the real arena floor.
The woman lay in a crumpled heap with dark blood seeping from more than her head.
I blinked, wishing this were a mirage, but when the crowd in the frosty section of the arena went wild, I couldn’t deny it any longer.
She’d killed herself.
Winter fae jumped to their feet, shaking their hands in excitement, while the Summer Fae smiled and shook their heads. I wasn’t sure which reaction was creepier.
