Trial of Three

by Alex Lidell

  “It went fine,” Coal says finally, slicing through the thickening silence. In his usual sleeveless black tunic and matching pants, the warrior wraps darkness around himself so tightly that there is no telling where one ends and the other begins.

  I glare at him.

  Coal raises his chin, challenging me to say anything different. Under his skin, lean muscles shift in movements so familiar that it’s all I can do to evict the sudden memory of his bare, sweat-slicked torso from my thoughts.

  Tye takes a long swig of wine. “Well, Coal is a perpetual optimist, so there is that to consider.”

  Coal drains his wine cup, nothing of what truly happened visible in his eyes. Centuries of experience concealing the truth, even from his quint brothers, pays its dividends in his steady gaze and confident posture. “Right elbow, lower left ribs, left thigh just above the knee,” he says, jerking his chin at me while looking at Shade. “I realize magic isn’t an option, but if you’ve salve, use it.”

  My mouth opens. With my body one giant ache, Coal’s accounting is keener than my own would have been. I left him alone and shaking on the sand, while he kept tabs on my bruises. Stars. Before Coal spoke, I doubted the male had been aware of even landing the strikes, much less which of them left the deepest marks.

  Coal catches my gaze. “I choose my targets, mortal. And I hit what I aim for.” He rises, his plate now empty. “A skill you’d do well to improve upon before next week.” Turning to the table, Coal gives a nod to Kora—his equivalent of a salute for luck—and strides out of the dining hall.

  My hands are shackled, pinned high enough over my head to make my shoulders scream. There is no key. The qoru’s touch makes the metal rust clean through when it’s time to release the hold—until then, there is no escape. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth.

  A dream. This is a dream and I want to wake up. Need to wake up.

  The overseer kicks my legs apart, the smell of blazing metal strong enough to overpower the stench of decay. I know that’s impossible, but fear toys with my senses. Lashes are better than burns. Anything is better than burns. But I know there is no hope. These won’t be the qoru’s usual games, not today.

  Wake up, wake up, wake up. I dig a fingernail into my palm. Wake up. Please.

  The overseer snatches up a white-hot rod. Today is punishment.

  I gasp awake, my body shaking, the bedding around me soaked with sweat. In the aftershocks of the nightmare, dream wraiths of mottled gray skin and round, lipless mouths drink their final fills of my terror. My heart pounds, my breath stretching my lungs.

  A wet lupine tongue laps the inside of my ear, soft, worried yips brushing my soul. Outside, the Citadel bell tolls two hours past midnight. The middle of the night. As if I would dare return to sleep now.

  I push myself up, hissing as my bruised muscles are forced into motion. Not the pleasant type of soreness that follows a heavy workout, but the deep hurt that seizes each motion, despite the salve Shade gently spread over my skin before shifting back into his wolf. All courtesy of the same source as the nightmare.

  The wolf whines softly, prodding me with his snout.

  “I’m all right,” I mutter, trying and failing to shove two hundred pounds of animal away from me. If I’m not careful, Shade will damn the consequences and shift back into fae form just to heal my hurts. To care for me, like all the males do in their own way.

  Like Coal did in the paddock this morning.

  “I left him,” I whisper, my heart squeezing.

  The wolf blinks at me in sleepy confusion and tries to lick my ear again.

  I swallow, wriggling off the bed, my blue nightshirt brushing my thighs. I left Coal shaking on his knees while echoes of his power still raced through my veins. I was unhappy about his tactics, his choices, and so I left. Stars.

  No more. Enough of them doing what’s best for me. It’s time I did what’s best for them. Starting with Coal.

  Ignoring Shade’s indignant whine and the cold air raising tiny bumps across my skin, I stalk into the corridor. The way today has gone thus far, I’ll come out ahead even if Coal decides to tear me fiber from fiber. And if he does . . . I’d rather bear the brunt of Coal’s fury than ever see the male on his knees again.

  My breath stills as I knock on Coal’s door, sweat coating my palms despite the chill. Around me, the sleeping suite mutters its usual nightly sounds of steady breathing and the dull whine of floorboards, the latter coming from our singularly nocturnal upstairs neighbors. Amidst it all, the soft rap of my knuckles against Coal’s door sounds loud as thunder.

  No answer.

  I frown, my resolve faltering for a moment before I reclaim it and knock again. Louder.

  Nothing. Not even when I put my ear against the door. Not Coal’s breathing, not the creaking of a mattress, not even the echo of the tolling bell that seems to vibrate through every other wall. Truly nothing is coming from that door. As if something is purposely ensuring silence . . . just in case Coal wakes with a scream.

  My pulse quickens. “Coal?” A final, futile attempt to get an answer.

  I take a breath and let myself in.

  8

  Lera

  Turning the knob, I step inside a large lantern-lit room. An empty lantern-lit room. The four-poster bed, a darker twin to my own, stands vacant and as disheveled as if someone had wrestled atop the covers. Thick curtains are open to the forest and a starlit sky. The scents of leather and steel hang thick enough to hint that Coal has been sharpening knives and oiling armor right in his own bedchamber.

  And yet the room doesn’t feel empty. On the contrary, the very air hums with energy, as if it too is curling its fingers into a fist.

  “Co—” My words die as a large hand grips my neck. Air catches in my lungs then escapes in a strangled croak as my back slams into the wall. The door claps closed, the room shuddering with the impact. I blink, gasping as the confusion and fear seizing me morph into blinding fury.

  Coal. Bare-chested and towering over me. His muscled arms pin me against the wall like a ragdoll. The perfect lines of his face, too beautiful to be anything but immortal, are tense as he glares down at me. His blond hair is down, brushing against his shoulders.

  “Get the hell off me.” I shove Coal’s chest. The thin sheen of sweat coating his skin slicks my palms. My heart thunders, my breath coming in short, hard bursts. I’m going to kill the bastard, and then I’m going to rip off his balls and feed them to the crows. “You knew damn well it was me coming in.”

  Coal releases me, his chest heaving as he plants his hands on the wall just above my ears. Even now, in the middle of the night, strength and violence roll off Coal in waves. The heat of his body, clad only in loose cotton trousers that hang on the wings of his hips, soaks through my thin silk shift and spiders across my skin. Dipping his head down until his face is only inches from mine, Coal finally speaks. “I’m subtly suggesting that barging into my bedchamber uninvited is unwise.”

  Holding myself steady is a struggle. “Noted.”

  Coal’s lips curl, showing his elongated canines, the sheer maleness of him making my thighs clench involuntarily. His eyes, blue ice even in the dim light, radiate power as loudly as his wide stance and spread shoulders. “What do you want, mortal?”

  A fight, apparently. “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “And why, pray tell, should that translate into you not letting me sleep?”

  “Quit the horseshit, Coal. You weren’t sleeping.” Ducking beneath his arm, I wheel on the male, my hands on my hips. “I’m too damn sore and exhausted and sleep deprived to keep pretending that nothing happened this morning. So we are going to talk. Now.”

  “Was I too hard on you, little Leralynn?” Coal purrs. “Are your bruises too deep?” His voice changes, becomes harsh. Cruel. “You walked yourself into that problem when you accepted the Elder Council’s terms and became a Citadel initiate. Go whine to Shade or Tye, and leave me alone.”

  I wait for Co
al’s words to find their mark, but the memory of him kneeling on the sand is so potent that I hear his tossed words for the shield they are, see the breathtakingly brave male bleeding behind them. Straightening my spine, I stride deeper into Coal’s room. Swords and knives with wicked-looking blades line the warrior’s dresser, pieces of leather armor laid out beside them. Vambraces. A half-mended chest guard. A sword belt still shining with cleaning oil.

  “You’ve been busy.” I pick up one of the knives, its blade sharpened to a deadly edge. Resolve pulses through me, holding me up as I summon words I wish I could spare Coal from. “But then again, this is easier, isn’t it? Focus on work. Blame me. Call me out for self-pitying words.” Returning the weapon to its resting spot, I slowly turn toward Coal and find his eyes, the ghost of vulnerability in them tearing through my soul. I’ve always imagined that being on the receiving end of blows is hardest of all. Apparently not. I step toward Coal, mercilessly invading his space. “It is so much easier to shove me away than to face your own bloody darkness. To admit that your damn nightmares shred you to bits. And have been doing as much for three hundred years.”

  “Stop flattering yourself.” Coal’s voice is low, dangerous. “The only thing I feel just now is annoyed.”

  I snatch hold of Coal’s wrist, the sores on it healing slowly after centuries of damage. I take a quick fortifying breath and torque the skin viciously. “Good thing this little bothers you,” I say, holding his eyes through the pain and fury flashing in his gaze. “I’d hate for you to start whining.”

  Beneath my grip, Coal’s pulse pounds against my skin. His lack of retort is as loud as a clap of thunder.

  Too far. I’ve sliced too far, too quickly. Brought us too close to an abyss. My heart pounds, ice and fire crackling down my spine. I can feel Coal’s bottled terror stretching the bounds of his control, and I know that one wrong breath will topple us both into a deadly chasm.

  So I might as well jump. “Tell me, Coal,” I say quietly, aiming my blow to shatter what’s left of his shell and bare the male beneath. “What did the qoru do once they had your arms trapped and grew tired of whips and brands? I think I’d enjoy learning how one puts a fae warrior through his . . . paces.”

  Coal’s eyes darken, his breath coming faster. “What do you want from me, Lera?”

  “You.” I swallow. “I want the true you, not the cleaned-up, gelded version that you pass off as truth to the world.”

  Something infinitesimal shifts in his face, all the warning I have before Coal jerks free of my hold. Gripping my hips with steel hands, he launches me backward.

  My breath catches as my feet leave the ground, my body flying through the air. A moment later, the backs of my thighs strike Coal’s bed, my upper body falling atop the mattress. I struggle to push myself upright, but Coal pounces before I can move.

  My heart gallops, my mouth drying as Coal’s powerful legs wrap around mine like grapevines. Forearms braced against the mattress, the warrior looms over me, the thick muscles along his arms coiled with tension, the air between us hot from fury and sweat. “You don’t want the true me,” he growls, his canines flashing in the starlight. “You’d little like it. If you even survived it.”

  Panic bubbles inside me even as . . . as a jolt of absurd need flashes through my core. I draw a shuddering breath, anchoring myself to reality.

  “I suggest you stop prying, mortal.” Coal’s voice is a soft rumble, his body, his essence, filling the entire chamber. Taking all of the room’s air for itself. As if the male I thought I knew was but a mask concealing a power too grand to contend with. “You know nothing of what lurks in my thoughts. Of what my instincts will do to you if I let them loose.” Coal pauses, arching his hips such that the grapevine hold his legs have on mine extends me painfully. His hardness presses down into my mound. “Believe me when I say it will be nothing like your games with Shade.”

  I shudder, my terror slamming against an equal force of sudden, erratic desire, the resulting explosion leaving me dazed. Wrong. Everything about this is wrong. Especially the flames consuming my body, the wetness all but streaming down my thighs.

  This isn’t what I came here for. Isn’t something I should like. Isn’t right.

  “I will count to three.” Coal swallows, his arms now trembling with the effort of holding rock-still above me. “And by the time I’m done, you are going to be out of this room. If you are not . . . then I imagine you will be a great deal more sore in the morning. Because I am a breath away from showing you exactly what happens when my control falters. And we both know that is not what you want.”

  Stars. What do I want? I can’t think. Can barely breathe. I should get out of this room, run as fast as I can. Never look back. My body pulses, the throbbing in my chest sliding lower with each dizzying breath. My thighs quiver. My body defying my mind, as I defy Coal’s words.

  “One,” Coal says.

  I draw a breath, my gaze skittering across him. Large and powerful and dark. Raw.

  “In case you’ve not worked it out, my room is warded to contain sound. No one will hear your screams.” Coal’s words are cold and hard.

  My sex aches. My mind searches for escape. I brace my hands on the bed—the path to the door is wide open to me. Not for long, but for now.

  Coal follows my gaze, nodding approvingly. Yes, his flashing eyes tell me. Yes, go. Leave. RUN. “Two.”

  9

  Coal

  “Two,” Coal said, his body trembling. Keeping himself up on his forearms, he glared at the mortal trapped beneath him. The part of him that could still think begged her to run. The rest of him stared in breath-halting disbelief at the female he’d wanted since they first shared a saddle, now lying splayed open upon his bed.

  Lera was on her back, the thin blue silk of her nightgown clinging to her round breasts, smooth abdomen, and tight, perfectly curved hips. Worse still, with Coal’s legs pinning hers in a grapevine vice, the fabric of Lera’s shift had ridden up her thighs. Up her hips. Wisps of the female’s hair—coiled tufts the same fiery brown color as their counterparts on her head—peeked from beneath the dislodged hem. Between the lantern, the stars, and his own immortal sight, Coal could see beads of moisture hanging on those tufts, like droplets on the side of a sweating glass of wine.

  Stars.

  Coal shuddered, the scent of Lera’s arousal waking his senses. A fanciful, misguided arousal that somehow failed to understand the monster only inches away from it. Coal’s pulse thumped against his ribs, an echo to the one stretching his balls.

  Lera squirmed beneath him. Too small, too mortal, too damn breakable for what Coal’s cock screamed to do.

  He needed for Lera to leave. No, not just leave. Run. To never, ever return to his bedchamber, especially not alone and clad in little more than feisty darkness. Coal smelled it on her, the spice of fight and grit that spiked her lilac scent and made his head swim with need. Made his cock harden so fiercely that pain shot from it through his thighs.

  Lera’s liquid brown gaze darted toward the door as she finally, finally understood the need for escape. It’d certainly taken her long enough. Stars, one would think that after what he’d done to the female that morning, she’d be giving him a wide berth for a year.

  Plainly, Lera was no normal being.

  Coal nodded, the final count harsh on his lips. “Three.”

  Lera shoved Coal away. His body screamed its protest as he yielded, his muscles hating to release their prey but—thank the stars—obeying. For a moment, all Coal could do was kneel on the bed and focus on his breath, on keeping himself from grabbing Lera’s hair and dragging her right back to him. He wanted to yell that she move faster, that his restraint was thinning to nothing, but even that would take too much concentration.

  Breathe. He needed to breathe. He—

  Lera pounced on him. Shoved Coal onto his back and straddled his chest with her wickedly moist thighs. She pinned his shoulders with her hands, her nails digging into his naked
flesh, sending a bolt of pain and desire through him. Igniting his magic like a match thrown into a pile of dry hay.

  Coal’s body quivered with panting breaths, his hands digging into the covers as Lera loomed over him, her auburn hair brushing his shoulders. Her eyes aflame.

  “Is this the part where I was supposed to run?” she whispered into his ear. “Just so I know.”

  Coal’s need exploded. Stars speckling his vision, he grabbed Lera’s hips and threw her off him so hard that the female was airborne for the instant it took him to recapture her body. To propel her off the bed and toward the wall.

  Coal twisted to take the crash of impact himself as their bodies hit the hard stone, then twisted again to pin Lera’s back to the wall. The throb, throb, throb of his cock driving all thoughts into a dark abyss, Coal clamped his hand over Lera’s wrists and forced them up high above her head.

  Lera opened her mouth. To moan or to scream, Coal didn’t know. Didn’t care. He’d wanted her from the moment her soft backside first pressed against his cock on Czar’s back, but he’d needed her from the moment she first sparred with him, taking his blows with defiance, meeting his darkness with brilliant fire. And by the stars, he’d have her now.

  Capturing Lera’s open lips, Coal drove his mouth over hers, swallowing her gasp. His tongue pierced the opening between her teeth and stroked her mouth as hard as his cock throbbed. As hard as the burn of waking magic that scorched his nerves.

  All the times Coal had dreamt of tasting the mortal—and there had been many—he’d imagined her to taste sweet, innocent. But he’d been wrong. Lera tasted of power. Power and violence and steel. Lera tasted of Coal’s own magic.

  Impossible. Illogical. Undeniable.

  Coal’s breath caught then painfully filled his lungs.

  The female pulled against his grip, struggling to free herself from his living restraints. Not a mortal’s feeble jerk, but one filled with the same preternatural strength that they’d shared in the second trial. No. Not the same. Stronger. So, so much stronger. Power hummed under Lera’s skin, radiating from each of her muscles. And that was after just one kiss. Coal’s heart stuttered.