THE ROYAL TRIALS: HEIR

by James Tate

  "It should be," Ty replied with a yawn, stretching out on my other side like he was perfectly happy to sleep right there with me. After being my human puppet for the last hour or so, he probably needed it.

  Learning to use the princes’ magic had been shockingly easy. Second nature. But in the process of practicing with it, I'd learned some important rules from each of the guys—the most important being that Zan's mind control didn't work on other strong magic users, unless they allowed it. I would have thought Titus—having no natural magic of his own—would be an exception, but apparently not.

  Now that we knew he was the one draining the land’s magic and upsetting the balance of things, it made sense.

  Still, it would have been crazy convenient if either Zan or I could have just popped into his head and stopped all the madness.

  "What happens afterward?" I asked in a small voice, hardly daring to speak my question aloud.

  Ty shifted onto his side, propping his head up on his hand to peer down at me. "After what? After the ball?"

  I shrugged slightly. "Yeah. After the Trials have ended. After the Golden Ball happens and—if all goes to plan—Titus is removed from power. What happens then?"

  Zan squeezed my fingers, holding onto me just a little bit tighter like he could feel me slipping away. Like he heard the question I was really trying to ask.

  "Well, after all of that goes exactly to plan—because it will—then the next thing is for you to be crowned as queen of Teich and restore peace and order to the land so everyone can live happily ever after." Ty arched a brow at me. "But no pressure."

  I glowered back at him. "Right, no pressure."

  "That's not what you meant, though, is it?" Lee asked.

  I glanced over to him. "Not really."

  "What did you mean, then?" Ty prompted, frowning his confusion.

  Again Zan tightened his grip on my fingers, and I squeezed back.

  "I guess I meant, what happens next... for us?" I bit my lip, totally out of my depth with this conversation but also positive it needed to happen with everyone present. "When Titus is exposed for everything he's doing, I can't imagine the people of Teich being overly enamored by the three of you. Certainly not to the point where they'd jump with joy if I tried to claim three consorts as my first act as queen."

  The second I’d said it aloud, I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment and my stomach drop. "I mean, hypothetically speaking. I didn't... We haven't even discussed... That's not..." I flailed for the right words to cover up my so blunt assumption that they’d all be cool to just keep going how we were going forever.

  Zan still held my fingers tightly, so I just screwed my eyes shut in an attempt to wipe away my words, which seemed to hang in the air.

  "Someone please change the subject," I begged. "I can't believe I just said that."

  "Relax," Ty replied, sounding amused. "Zarina, it's fine. It’s nothing we all haven't been thinking ever since... uh, well I guess, I’ve been thinking it ever since I realized you cared for both of these fuckers just as much as me."

  Lee reached out, stroking a sweaty lock of my hair back from my face and convincing me to open my eyes again. "He's right. I guess it's always been in the back of my mind that I'd rather share you with my brothers than not have you at all. Besides, I think you're going to need all of us in the coming times. I have zero illusions that happily ever after will be achieved soon... or easily."

  "True," Ty agreed with another yawn. "But we'll get there. One day."

  One person in the room hadn't spoken, and his silence was damn near deafening.

  Tilting my head back so I could see my dark-eyed prince, I tugged on his hand. "Zan?" I asked in a quiet voice. "Are you... okay with this?"

  His expression remained closed and unreadable for a long moment—a moment within which I swore my heart stopped beating—until a small smile curved the edges of his lush lips and his dark gaze softened.

  "I told you already, Zarina. Nothing will make me leave you again. Not even having to share your time with these two idiots." He shot his brothers a rueful look, but I saw through him to the underlying reluctance. "At least I can have confidence in how much they care for you."

  It was going to be a process. A journey. But so long as they were all in, then it was a journey we would take together and enjoy every damn second along the way.

  Chapter 25

  Nervous jitters ran through me as I waited with the other remaining girls. Lady Savannah had led us down through a maze of hallways and staircases until I was fairly sure we were right in the heart of the palace... except way underground.

  "Ladies," she addressed us, her breath fogging in the cool air, "the third trial is the most sacred, and in the opinion of many throughout history, the only one that really counts. I can't predict what you might face in here, only that come morning it will be clear who has won."

  Agatha scoffed under her breath. "Because everyone else will probably be dead."

  Savannah must have heard her anyway because she shot a warning glare in her direction. "Ladies, I know these trials have been a departure from tradition, and I commend your strength and willpower to make it this far. I have every confidence that the next great queen stands among us here." Her gaze landed on me, pausing just a fraction longer than on anyone else, and I squirmed with anticipation.

  The weight of expectations was growing heavier with every passing day, with every new person who found out who I really was. Yet that weight was becoming easier to bear as well.

  The more time I had to wrap my brain around it, the more confidence I gained. Because it wasn't simply a question of who would make a good ruler for Teich. If it was, I would happily hand the job over to any of my three princes and wipe my hands of the whole thing.

  It was so much more than that. It was about balancing the natural order, fixing the damage done by Titus's greed, and restoring towns like Ironforge. Practicing with the borrowed magic inside my amulet had brought stark clarity to me that the job ahead was one I was quite literally made for. I carried the blood of not only our greatest queen, but also the King of the Gods himself. As much as I bucked the notion of fate, this felt awfully damn close to what destiny might look like.

  "So, we all go in there together?" Hazel asked, raising her hand slightly, then tucking it back under her cloak. She was the only one who'd had the forethought to dress warmly, and I now regretted my lack of preparation. Just in the time it'd taken to walk down to the chamber, the temperature had dropped dramatically, to the point where my fingers were stiff from cold.

  Savannah glanced behind herself at the ancient and ornate stone doors. "Yes, but I wouldn't count on each other for help once the door closes."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Sagen demanded, giving Savannah a sharp look, but the older woman just ignored her and glanced down at her pocket watch.

  "It's time," she declared after a moment, and seconds later the huge stone door creaked open entirely of its own accord. "Well? Hurry inside. I have no control over the magic here, and it'd be terribly anticlimactic if the door closed again with none of you on the other side."

  I smothered a laugh at the mental image, then followed Sagen into the chamber. My new friend had a confident swagger to her step, but I couldn't help worrying what might happen to her. As challenging as whatever was coming at us next would be, I had magic on my side. What did she have, other than some badass knife skills and a sarcastic wit that could cut glass?

  Hazel and Agatha entered somewhat more cautiously, peering around the empty room with fascination and confusion.

  "May Sal smile down on you all," Lady Savannah said from the other side of the doorway. She was the only official who'd come to see us locked away in the trial chamber, and it made me worried about what Titus was up to in the meantime.

  Just as the huge stone door creaked and slowly started moving again, I tugged my magical amulet off and looped the long chain over Sagen's head.

  "Ow, what the hell?" she g
rowled as the clasp caught in her hair, and she turned to scowl at me.

  I shrugged, shooting her a reassuring smile. "Think of it as back up," I told her. "In case you find yourself in a bind, think about what Lee, Ty, or Zan might do to get out."

  She frowned again, glancing down at the amulet, then gasped as she looked back up at me. Her expression was equal parts confusion and understanding—because although she had no idea what the amulet actually did, she clearly understood I'd just given her a weapon intended for me.

  But it was too late to argue the matter anymore. The door closed with an echoing boom, and that was that. The chamber plunged into a darkness and silence so thick it couldn't be anything other than magic.

  "Hello?" I called out, already halfway expecting the response I would get.

  Silence.

  I was totally alone.

  Or was I?

  A tapping sound came from somewhere, followed by the clink of metal on stone.

  "Who's there?" I asked, knowing perfectly well it wasn't going to be one of the other girls. We would all be facing this trial on our own. But at least Sagen had a little piece of magic to give her an edge over whatever was in here.

  No one answered me, but the ominous scraping of metal on stone sounded closer.

  "Okay, very good," I commented, letting the sound of my own voice comfort me. "Very scary. Is that all this is? A test of nerves? Because if so, I think I've got this won."

  I was all talk. Despite my perfectly crafted game face, I was quivering inside. Even as a kid in the Pond, the ghost stories told by older thieves around open fires would haunt me, keeping me awake all night jumping at shadows. It wasn't something I made common knowledge, but deep down I was a big old scaredy-cat.

  The tapping sounded from another direction, and I swallowed a gasp of fright. This time it sounded more like fingernails or claws scraping over a hard surface, and I resisted the urge to lash out. There was more power in waiting than there was in attacking.

  Still, the anticipation was killing me, so I yawned dramatically while looking around, searching for something, anything that might clue me into what would happen next.

  The darkness seemed to mock me, smothering any hint of light away and leaving me devoid of sight—which made the tapping all the more ominous for my heightened hearing.

  When nothing more happened and the tapping faded out, I was at a loss.

  Time passed, I had no idea how much, and eventually I sat down on the cold floor to conserve energy. My body ached with cold, and I no longer had Lee's magic to heal the lingering strain in my muscles that I'd missed magically healing earlier.

  Soon, I tucked my legs up, huddling into a ball to stay warm while resting my head on my knees. If nothing else was going to happen, I needed to at least try not to die of hypothermia.

  "Excuse me?" a voice called out softly, but in the vacuum of sound and light it reached my ears like the loudest sound imaginable. I shot up from my huddled ball and turned my face in the direction the voice had come from.

  "Who's there?" I called back, feeling the fog of my breath in the cold air even though I couldn't see it. "Who said that?"

  For the longest time, there was no reply, and I began to think it had been inside my head.

  But then...

  "Excuse me, Miss?" the little voice came again, sounding closer. "Can you help me? I think I'm lost."

  Sudden light flared, illuminating the whole chamber. It blinded me for a moment and made me throw a hand up in front of my eyes. When the initial shock faded, I lowered my hand and swallowed a small scream.

  Right in front of me, close enough to reach out and touch, a small girl stood there with inky black tears running down her face from obsidian pits where her eyes should have been.

  "Please help me?" the girl pleaded. Her little hands clutched a tattered bear with only one eye to her chest, and her dress looked like something dug up from a graveyard.

  Heart racing, I pinched my own side to help focus my thoughts and not get carried away with fear. "Who are you?" I asked the girl, staring at the weeping black craters that had taken the place of her eyes. "How did you end up here?"

  "I don't know," the girl responded, her voice hitching, "I don't know where I am. I can't see anything."

  Unsurprising, given the state of her face. Thick, inky fluid dripped from her cheeks, staining her filthy dress and seeping onto her teddy bear.

  "What's your name?" I tried, licking my lips. "Do you know your name?"

  The little girl hesitated a fraction of a second before shaking her head. "No, I don't know my name. Maybe I never had one?"

  Stranger things had happened, I was sure.

  "Okay, well, my name's Zarina. Maybe we can find our way out of here together." I forced a happy lilt to my voice, trying to calm and reassure the little girl—despite the fact that I was quite sure she was no normal child.

  A small, innocent smile touched her lips. "That's a pretty name."

  "Thank you," I replied in a whisper.

  "I can't leave," the child continued, shaking her head. "Not yet. Not until..." She trailed off, her brow furrowing. "I have something important to do here, but I can't remember what it is." She paused, screwing her button nose up with frustration. "Something's wrong with me. Something bad."

  I nodded, my eyes wide. "Yeah, honey, I think so too." And not just because of her eyes. Because of where we were... and what that could mean for the kid. Had she been collateral damage from whatever fucked up test Titus had rigged in here? Or was she the test herself?

  Dropping her teddy bear to the ground, the child clapped both her hands to the sides of her head and began to wail. The sound was chilling, utterly terrifying in the way it reached down deep inside me and raked razor sharp claws through my soul until I almost wanted to scream along with her.

  For lack of any better ideas, and so desperately needing to stop the sound coming from the little girls mouth, I reached forward and wrapped her in a tight hug.

  The sound broke off as suddenly as it had begun, but the child continued to shake with silent sobs while I crouched there with my arms around her tiny, frail body.

  "Shhh," I breathed, rubbing circles on her back and feeling every bone protruding from a severely malnourished body. "Shhh, sweetie, it's okay. It'll be okay. We can get through this."

  The child didn't reply but continued to cry against my shirt until the fabric became soaked with the sticky black substance of her tears.

  Without warning, something shifted.

  The child stiffened in my embrace, and my mark blazed a burning hot warning through me. I released her and stumbled back a few paces.

  Not a moment too soon, as well, as the girl opened her mouth, and her teeth elongated into deadly points.

  "Who dares lay their hands on my sacred form?" the girl demanded in a voice totally removed from that of a child. Instead, her pitch was that of a much older woman, and moments later her form twisted and morphed into a body to match.

  Now the being I spoke to was an adult woman, totally naked and dripping with that black goo all over—so much so that her waist-length black hair seemed to blend together with it in an inky swirl over her skin.

  "You." She seemed to stare right through me, despite her lack of eyes. "You dared touch this scared vessel? Tainting it with your unworthy hands? Such offense must be punished."

  There was no more warning. The creature pounced at me, her jaws wide and gleaming, knife-sharp teeth aimed directly at my throat. Had I not seen the trajectory of her leap and rolled out of the way, that would have been the very tragic end to my story.

  "Holy shit," I gasped as I rolled back to my feet, my eyes sharp as I watched her scramble to recover. It wasn't the fact that she'd attacked me that had me in such shock, but more the fact that I'd seen her attack in enough time to counter— skill that Ty had drilled into me repeatedly all morning while I was using the amulet loaded with his magic.

  But how was that even possible? How was
I able to use his magic without the vessel?

  The being leapt for me again, this time with claws extended, and I needed to act fast, ducking and rolling to evade being skewered. Her claws hit the stone floor with a jarring, teeth clenching noise, and I quickly regained my feet.

  Reaching under my shirt, I pulled out the dagger I'd tucked into my waistband. There had been no specific rule to come unarmed, but I'd hidden the weapon just in case.

  And thank goodness I had, too.

  "I don't want to fight you," I told the woman, circling away and keeping her at arm’s length. "I want to help you. That's what you want, isn't it? You told me you were lost and wanted my help."

  My voice was low and calm. Coaxing. Maybe if I was smart about my strategy, this clawed, fanged thing would melt back into that scared little girl who’d sobbed into my shirt.

  To my disappointment, the naked woman just threw her head back and laughed. "Help? Why would I ever need help from you? I created this world. I'm more powerful than each of your pathetic gods stuck together. You couldn't help me if you tried." Her laughter was harsh, edged with madness, and a sick feeling pooled in my gut.

  "My mistake," I breathed, keeping my feet moving and my senses sharp. For whatever reason, I was tapped into Ty’s battle magic, and with every shift of the creature’s muscles, every shift of her weight, the magic highlighted her likeliest next move. "I apologize for any offence caused." I cast my mind back to those early days with Zan as my etiquette tutor, searching for some way I might be able to avoid killing this deranged being. "Please forgive my indiscretions; I only sought to offer a place at my hearth for a wayward child."

  It was an odd turn of phrase, but one that had stuck out to me in one of the history books. In ancient Teich, it was considered powerfully bad luck to deny a child the warmth of a hearth. If this being was as old as she seemed, maybe this would give her pause.

  When the woman froze, her face tilted toward me with curiosity, I held my breath and reached for another thread of magic. Maybe, just maybe, I could get inside the being’s head and—