We got a few looks as we were escorted into the hall and among the crowd. Nobles watched from the sidelines as request after request was put before Marassa for consideration, but I tuned them—and the curious whispers that followed us—out. Marassa, and Aven sitting beside her, were the ones that mattered now.
We took our place and kept quiet, Kieras clasping her hands behind her back and watching respectfully. I couldn’t take my eyes off the two of them, seated at the head of the room. Marassa looked like she was half-listening to the farmer who had travelled miles to request that some threatened portion of his land be spared, tilting one hand to admire the light flashing on her jeweled rings. Aven watched the man, though his distant noble façade didn’t crack, but he didn’t miss my entrance.
He didn’t look at me—he wouldn’t dare, not now—but I knew the shift in his posture, the way something in his jaw tightened for an instant. He’d seen. Moray bobbed at his shoulder, and it too kept its attention forward.
“I can’t do this,” I breathed to Kieras.
She shook her head. “You can.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Say…say the truth. You want to bargain for the release of yourself and your brother, and see where it takes you.”
“What if it does take me to the executioner after all?”
She looked at me. “I never fought for my freedom. I accepted it and let it happen, and I’m alright with that. I like being what I am. But I think, if I was going to, I’d rather die fighting than sit and wait and hope, wouldn’t you?”
I’d accepted I might die again and again since I’d left home. How was this any different?
I drew a breath and nodded, and turned to the Court.
“Any other business?” Aven asked the room. “Or shall we dismiss?”
Kieras nudged me, and I felt a thousand eyes on me as I stepped forward. My feet felt like stone, but I forced them forward until I was apart from the crowd, and a fresh wave of whispers floated behind me. Aven didn’t speak, but there were a hundred questions and warnings in his eyes.
“I have business with you and our Queen, if you’ll accept it, Lord.”
Marassa was the one to answer. “We have no business to discuss with you. Return to your master.”
“My Lord has given me permission to bring forth my business, if you’ll take it.”
“And I’ve declined to take it. Now go.”
“I think you’ll want to take it, if you’ll let me speak, my Queen.”
“And why do you believe I should let you speak?”
There was a beat of silence as I scraped my mind for an answer, but Moray floated forward before I could find one. I fought off a tentative smile as its eyes landed on me, glittering. “Because she has my favor.”
Aven and Marassa exchanged a glance—a glance I knew everybody in attendance tried to read—and then Aven looked to me. I searched his face for a flash of my Aven, but there was none. Just the Lord sitting before his Court. But that was the way it needed to be, and I wondered if what I would say would crack it. I hoped it did.
I hoped it didn’t.
“Speak,” he said, cool and commanding.
I glanced to Kieras to steady myself. She gave me another nod. “I’ve come to bargain for my release from Lord Tiraethsi’s service,” I said, eliciting a rush of incoherent murmuring through the crowds on either side of me. “And for the release of my brother from yours.”
Marassa straightened slightly, watching me. “Your brother?”
I didn’t know if that helped or hurt me. The second it was out that I was descended from Lenairen as well my chances could be gone forever. I could wind up in the same place as Tobin. Or it might intrigue the Queen enough to play. “Your dear pet, my Queen,” I said, forcing myself to stand as Raeth and Kieras had taught me. Back straight. Shoulders back. Chin up.
Her smile widened, as cold as ice, and she crossed one leg over the other. “How interesting. Did you hear?” she asked the crowd. “We’ve another of Lenairen’s kin among us.” The flood of reaction surged. “And she’d like to bargain for her freedom.” She propped her chin in one hand, stormy eyes narrowing as she looked me up and down. “You have nothing to bargain with but your life, Hania. And I’m afraid I have no interest in trading my pet for that. In fact, I may have to speak with Tiraethsi about his arrangement with you. Such valuable blood you have, after all. It’d be a shame for him to keep it to himself.”
My heart sank to the floor. I struggled to keep from dropping with it. I had nothing, and I couldn’t barter with nothing. This had been a suicide mission, not a strategic move.
“Nonsense, Marassa. There’s plenty we could do with her life,” Aven spoke. My head swung to him. Fear and apprehension laced through me, mixing with the tiniest sliver of hope. If he was saying that he had a plan. He had to.
She cast him a curious glance. “What would you suggest?”
“The Trials.”
“The warriors’ Trials?” What might have been a note of interest crept into Marassa’s voice and I worked to keep my expression neutral. The blood and gleaming knives flashed through my mind’s eye. But I trusted Aven with everything I had. He was the only thing keeping me alive right now.
“It’s the season of games. The Court would enjoy watching it.”
“That is true.” Her gaze slid to me, passing over me in a quick, chilling study. My skin crawled. “Well, girl?”
I swallowed and forced the words out. “What would the Trials be? I’m afraid I don’t know the details.”
Aven stood and stepped down from the dais toward me. With every careful step—back to that predatory glide that had once terrified me—my heart struck my chest with the weight of a brick. My hand almost twitched toward him, I curled it into a fist. He stepped before me and his voice, his face, were like ice. But something deep, deep in the blue of his eyes burned and I clung to it.
“Only the finest of warriors pass the Trials,” he said. “Four days, four tests.”
“And if I pass them, my brother is released?” I looked to Marassa for the answer, ignoring the heat I could feel radiating from Aven.
A smile curled her lips. “If you survive and pass them, you may both go. You’ll leave the borders of our Court. What happens to you beyond that is none of our concern.”
I took a long, slow breath and looked from her to Aven. “What are the tests?”
“Cunning, Strength, Loyalty, and Honor. The four qualities of a true warrior. Even our own have broken under them.”
I keep telling myself you’ll break any minute, but you keep proving me wrong. The words whispered to me in a sunny glade what felt like so, so long ago. I met Aven’s eyes, forced myself to look into that cold detachment and find what had been there when he’d said it.
I was no warrior, but he was. I’d travelled with him. I’d helped him. I’d fought beside him. And if he believed I could withstand something that had broken tidespeople, I could.
I nodded once. “When do I start?”
Marassa once again addressed the crowd, glee in every beautifully-spoken syllable. “Shall we celebrate these games?” Applause answered her. “So we shall, then. A special feast for a one-of-a-kind occasion. In two days’ time we will begin with the first Trial.” She waved toward one of the attendants hovering around the dais as she approached Aven and I. “Make the arrangements. And guards,” she added as she stopped before me, tilting my chin with two icy fingers, “escort our guest of honor back to the Nest and ensure she remains there. I’d hate for her to lose her gamble before it begins.”
The Court enjoyed any excuse to celebrate, but I was getting tired of being stuck at endless parties. It didn’t matter that not a single one of them genuinely wanted me to survive the Trials. It was the opposite: they were celebrating my impending death. The chance to watch me be killed in some glorious and terrible way.
Seven warriors had been brought to the Eyes. Out of fifteen who had taken part in the Trials,
seven had survived and passed.
Half.
I sipped my drink and tried not to think about the numbers.
It wasn’t working.
Those people had been trained for it. They’d spent years preparing. I’d had two days shut in the Nest.
My first Trial began in the morning. The sky outside was already dark, lit with stars. I’d have given anything to be in bed, getting what little sleep I could before I was forced to tackle the first task. Not that I believed I’d be getting much sleep. Not with the way my insides were rolling like a stormy ocean. I didn’t quite trust my stomach with the drink, but my mind’s need for it won out.
“You haven’t eaten anything,” Kieras appeared beside me, nibbling on a pastry she must have stolen. We weren’t supposed to be blessed with the same food as the nobles in attendance. “You’ll need to keep your strength up for tomorrow.”
I shook my head. “I’m not hungry.”
“If you say so. But try not to look like you’re about to vomit.”
“I’m not sure I can.”
She patted my arm, but it didn’t do much to reassure me. “You’ll be fine. You’re strong, Hania. Maybe not in the same way as us, but you are.”
I didn’t have a reply so I kept quiet, and she sighed and looked away. “I’ll help you sneak back to the Nest if you like. If being there would help.”
I stared into my drink. “No, I’m alright. Thank you.”
“If you’re sure.”
We stood in silence as I forced myself to look at the crowd. Not to think of them as the people who would be watching me fight for my life and hoping I lost. Just the same nobles I’d been surrounded by for weeks. The same dangers I’d learned to deal with calmly and efficiently. That was all.
Marassa spoke with a noble advisor whose name I didn’t know. A proud-looking selkie man with graying hair and a scar along his jaw. She’d be rooting for my death more than anybody. I couldn’t give her the satisfaction.
Moray flitted between nobles, passing a few words here and there but clearly not in the mood for small talk. I forced myself to breathe and think about what sharp comments it might be thinking of giving them. Maybe I could find a moment to talk to it.
Raeth lounged in a chair with a drink, looking bored as some noblewoman presented her daughter, who batted her eyelashes and smiled. I moved on. A flash of blue and purple gems and dark hair caught my attention. Aven, with someone I didn’t know.
“Who is that?” I asked under my breath, watching the woman across the room. She reclined against the wall, the exact combination of regal and bored, and watched Aven with hooded, dark eyes. Like most of the tidespeople, she could have been centuries old for all I could tell, but she looked young, petite and pretty. Her hair had been pulled away from her face and twisted at the back of her head, leaving a handful of long waves to spill over her shoulder, but it was the color that held my attention—a startling cerulean, so unnatural but somehow so fitting on her. The candlelight flashed on the translucent fins of merrow women.
Kieras raised one eyebrow as she followed my gaze. “Her?” I nodded. “Ilan, her name is. And you’d do well to stay away from her. Plenty of the pretty faces around here have empty heads behind them. Hers doesn’t.”
“Why is she speaking with Aven?”
“Oh, don’t worry yourself about them. He’s engaged, remember?”
“Don’t remind me,” I muttered, and Kieras grinned.
“She’s the daughter of the Lord of Merrows. A princess before Marassa claimed the throne. I haven’t spoken to her much. She’s not interested in many people who can’t get her something, I don’t think.”
Not much different than most tidespeople, but I didn’t say that. She’d been a princess before. How many people had Marassa uprooted for this Court of hers? And why? Just so she could play Queen?
I was gazing into the distance, stuck on my thoughts, when Kieras dropped into a low curtsey, head bowed, and I lifted my gaze to see Aven approaching. Ilan had wandered back into the crowd; he was alone, regal in white and blue, and looked like a storm about to tear through the room.
“Lord,” Kieras greeted him, the picture of a servant. I fumbled to do the same, but he stopped me.
“Not tonight, Hania. No more plays tonight. Walk with me?”
Kieras looked between us, wide-eyed and silent, and I stared at his outstretched hand and thanked the gods my friend knew the truth. “Aven,” I whispered. “We can’t—”
“You’ve committed yourself to the Trials. As a warrior myself you have the right to request my advice.”
I swallowed hard. “Do I?”
“There’s no rule that says you don’t. Come with me. Please.”
He didn’t have to ask again. I took his hand, my own shaking, and followed him past the crowd and out the door. Nobody protested. Nobody shouted that Aven, Lord of Selkies and future King of the Dragon Court, was escorting a slave out of a feast.
It was like I was nothing, less than one of Raeth’s girls. Invisible. Already dead to them.
I hesitated as the doors closed behind us and we started down the empty hall. “Aven, won’t anybody ask? Won’t Marassa?”
He shook his head, eyes straight ahead and voice tense. “I’m tired of this, Hania. Tired of lying and hiding and sneaking around. Let them spread rumors. Marassa expects you to die in the Trials. She won’t do anything over rumors.”
“Are you sure?”
When he looked at me, I saw his mask had cracked. My Aven shone through, tired and ragged. I could feel the storm crawling under his skin when his fingers tightened around mine. “I’m sure. I promise.”
“Where are we going?”
His answer was to pull me into a side corridor, a darkened dead end, and kiss me. Kiss me more desperately than he ever had before, again and again until I was lightheaded and all I heard was my heartbeat. A kind of kiss that made me tug at his shirt and want to demand more, because I wasn’t convinced I was going to survive to the next night.
When we were both breathless, we stood there, tangled together. I ran my fingers through his hair, listened to the rhythm of his breath. How long could we stay like this? Not long enough.
It would never be long enough.
“I’m sorry I left you with him,” he whispered. “I tried. I tried everything to get you out. Every law, every loophole, every privilege I have. Just smelling him on you when you walked into court the other day…”
My heart pounded for a very different reason. My voice shook. “Aven, I—”
He shushed me. “It’s alright. Whatever happened, it helped you. I have to be grateful to him for that.”
The tears were coming back. This wasn’t what I wanted. This was my last chance with him and I didn’t want it to be about this. But I couldn’t stop it. “They killed her—all of them. And I couldn’t stop it, and…and…” He wiped my tears away. “It did something to me. You keep saying I can’t break but I think I did. He was the one there to put me back together and…”
“Hania. Hania, it’s alright.” He pulled me closer to him, and I closed my eyes and clung to him, trying to pretend it was alright. But nothing was. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I choked out, pushing down the last of my tears. I was done with them. There was no more room for them. “And I’m scared.”
“You’ll be fine. I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t believe you could win. You can, Hania. You will.”
“You did them, didn’t you?” He tensed and nodded. “Are they as terrible as I imagine?”
“They’ll try their hardest yet to beat you. Don’t let them. Be smart, and fast. I know you can be. Come back to me.”
“Kieras said if I win I’ll prove myself. I can challenge your contract with Marassa.”
“The engagement? If you win it would show the Court you’re more than another human, yes. Some might even warm up to you.” He laughed, quiet and unsteady but it made me relax a fraction. “But gods, Hania
, do you believe you’d have to challenge it? That I wouldn’t break it the instant you and your brother were safe?”
Of course he would. But that brought up a whole host of questions I didn’t want to think about, so I asked instead, “What happened to your Court?” There was a long, taut silence, and I almost changed the subject. “Raeth told me. Were you King, like he was?”
He took another moment to answer, and something had shut down in his voice. “No. Our royal family was killed. But I was born noble.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You had enough to worry about.”
“Do you miss it?”
His arms around me tightened. “Every day.”
“I want to kill her for what she’s done. To you, and Raeth, and Tobin.”
“Don’t think about that now. Focus on the Trials. Win for me.”
I lifted my head. “Can I win, really?”
His answer was to kiss me again, feather-soft. It pulled the doubt from my head, and he broke it only to speak, his lips brushing mine. “You can do anything.”
“How touching.”
I jumped and jerked away from Aven, heart leaping into my throat. Raeth was in the entrance to the corridor, leaning against the wall like he’d been there for hours. His glare was fixed on Aven, but he spoke to both of us. “The two of you are going to get yourselves, me, and half the Court killed with these idiotic meetings of yours. You do grasp that, yes?”
Aven tensed again, cool mask in place. “Always a pleasure, Raeth. What do you want?”
He kicked off the wall and strode toward us. “I’d like to speak with my servant, who you so rudely whisked away, given she’ll be starting the Trials tomorrow. And I believe you should be returning before your intended misses you, don’t you agree?”
I wanted to shout at both of them to stop, to explain what this icy rivalry was about and to drop it for all our sakes, but the words wouldn’t come. There was only so long Aven could stay away before his absence was noticed. We’d pushed that boundary enough. “Go,” I said. “I’ll be alright.”
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