by Everly Frost
“The fire will eat the wind,” he says with a wink. “And then I will swallow both.”
With an earsplitting roar, he exhales again and this time when he inhales, he pulls the flame and wind toward him. It rushes in a stream of ruby and white as he drags fire and air into his body, his chest puffing up with the force of nature he swallowed.
Silence grows around us as the howling wind streams into the dragon’s body. Up in the stalls, the watching fae cling to each other, but they slowly open their eyes, their hair and clothing mussed up and wild after the raging storm that ripped through the stadium.
Up on the podium, the Queen grips the white railing, her dress settling against her body as the wind dies. The poppies she’d placed so carefully in her hair have scattered, her tresses a wild mess around her face. She grips a handful of poppies in her hand against the railing, sending a thick stream of crimson sap down the white barrier. Even from this distance, I can see that her chest is heaving and her eyes are wide, but she doesn’t speak.
Around her, a group of Frost fae, including Evander, lower their arms. Evander looks for me first, his shoulders relaxing when he sees me.
“Aura, please tell me that you’re okay?” he whispers on the wind.
“I’m okay, but please stay back.” His magic catches my words and whisks them away.
The Queen leans toward him and he speaks to her for a moment, no doubt telling her what I said.
The dragon throws back its head with a grin, demanding my attention as a shiver runs the length of his body from his head to the sharp tip of his tail. “Ah, the old magic tastes sweet.”
His voice grows in volume, telling me that the magic he swallowed is giving him more power.
“The Law of Champions has been invoked,” he roars. “I have come to bind the champions and seal the Law.” He lowers his head to us. “Aura and Nathaniel, face each other and clasp each other’s forearms. As soon as you touch, you will be bound and then I will seal the Law.”
I swallow my fear. If I glow, the watching fae will think it’s part of the ritual, a consequence of the old magic, not some weird reaction I can’t control. Well, not that I can control anything to do with the old magic.
The air is warm around the dragon and Nathaniel stopped shivering as soon as he arrived. I slip off the fleece, placing it carefully on the ground before I turn to face Nathaniel and step up to close the gap.
He holds out his hand, turning his palm up, waiting for me to take his hand.
I reach out. My fingertips slide along his skin before I curve my palm around his forearm. His fingers close around my arm, anchoring me as we stand face to face.
The glow from our connected arms is gentle. White. The same as it has been all day.
The watching fae lean forward in the stalls, a thousand pairs of eyes on us, a murmur building among them. It’s an intense relief not to have to hide this glow anymore. What a strange feeling. I should be anxious right now, but just like Nathaniel is a contradiction of mysteries to me, I find myself relaxing in the glow, my lips rising into a small smile as I meet his eyes.
The deep, dark of his gaze draws me in, his hand gentle around my arm, his calloused palm making me feel alert. It’s like drowning except that I’m not fighting it.
The dragon leans toward me. “Aura?”
I raise my eyes to his. “Yes?”
Ferocity grows in his eyes and his voice lowers so much that I have trouble hearing him. “This shouldn’t be possible. The Law must be satisfied in the right order, but…”
“What is it?” I whisper.
The glow in the dragon’s eyes deepens and I have trouble deciphering his expression. Is he afraid? He can’t be. Surely. The Vanem Dragon is never afraid.
He growls. “You and Nathaniel were already bound.”
Chapter 11
I try not to react, but it’s impossible to stay still. My eyes widen and I nearly let go of Nathaniel’s arm, but he holds on.
“How?” I demand.
The dragon glances from Nathaniel to me—and back again.
Nathaniel has become my focus too. What shocks me most is that he doesn’t look surprised by this news.
“You knew,” I whisper as a gentle breeze brushes my face. I’ve gone from boiling to freezing and back to hot, but this time the heat is born from panic.
The breeze at my face is seeking, telling me that Frost fae all around the arena are pulling at my words, listening to everything we say no matter how softly we speak.
“It’s okay,” Nathaniel says. His thumb brushes across my arm as if he’s trying to soothe me. “It happened this morning. When we fought at the border and you…”
He pauses. It’s a long pause, long enough to tell me he’s skipping over describing the events. The strong snatch of wind around us tells me that our conversation is being carried all the way back to the podium. This time, the way the Queen’s hands move across the railing tells me that she has chosen to use her own power to hear us. Her frost power isn’t quite as strong as her other powers, but she won’t want to miss any of the details in translation.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
I remember what I screamed at Nathaniel before I used my power on him: I am the Queen’s champion. I will fight you with my whole heart until one of us is dead.
“You invoked the Law without knowing what you were doing,” he says. “I tried to stop you, but…”
I remember his hand landing on my chest, the way he’d tried to push me away a split second before I touched him and let my power loose.
I’d used my power and bound us to my words.
“You invoked the Law and bound us,” he says. “After that, I had to carry through. I had to come here. You’d already sealed our fates.”
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to feel. I’m numb mostly. Incapable of reacting. “I did this. Not you. Me.”
I asked him why he wanted to kill me. He told me he didn’t. Before that… I’d asked him why he’d been ignoring the way I healed that little girl. He told me that fate couldn’t be that cruel.
I might have the power to heal the illness that plagues his people, but I’ve forced us into a fight to the death. If he trusted me to help them… If he thought I might get past all the history between our people and help the humans… then he might choose to die so that I can live…
He’s right: Fate is too cruel. But it’s a fate of my own creation.
“Very well,” the Vanem Dragon says. “The Law has been invoked. The champions have been bound.”
He lowers his head with a glint in his eyes. “Don’t react. You won’t be burned, but I must seal the Law now.”
Fire builds in his mouth as he opens his jaws above our arms.
Burning isn’t all I’m afraid of. It looks like he’s going to bite our arms right off.
I grip Nathaniel’s arm tighter, satisfied to see that he also appears alarmed. He drops his weight as if he’s going to pull us both away from the dragon if he has to.
The dragon purses his lips and the air around his mouth turns crimson. A soft tentacle of ruby-red smoke drifts from his mouth and wafts toward our connected arms to form a circle around them.
“The Law was invoked at dawn this morning,” the dragon says. “It is now sealed. The Law must be satisfied before dawn on the third day.” He lowers his head to murmur, “You have nearly used up a day. That leaves you three full nights and two full days before you must fight. Use your time wisely.”
He raises his head with another roar, towering over us again, but this time, he appears like a guard, a sentinel daring anyone to disobey him.
“The rules of the Law are clear: First, no fae may spill a drop of Nathaniel’s blood. Likewise, no Fell may spill Aura’s blood. Second, Nathaniel may not harm another fae, just as Aura may not harm a Fell. Contravening either of those rules will lead to the offender’s immediate death.
“From now on, Aura and Nathaniel will walk side by side, never out of each other’s sight.
They will eat, sleep, and breathe together. Aura will teach Nathaniel about the fae. Nathaniel will teach Aura about the humans. By the time they fight, they will have walked a thousand miles in each other’s shoes. They will understand each other’s hearts. They will know the other better than they know themselves. That is the curse of the Law of Champions.”
He lowers his head one last time while the air continues to pluck around us. Many fae are listening to every word we say now. All of the Frost fae scattered through the stadium are pulling our words through the air and feeding them back to those who aren’t close enough to hear. Evander will have heard everything, but he doesn’t send any messages back to me.
What was said here will be repeated over and over among the fae, spreading like a vine. It will either carry seeds of new understanding or grow thorns of resentment and anger. Only the next two days will reveal how my people will react.
“You chose a difficult path when you engaged each other in battle this morning,” the dragon says, backing away from us. “By the time you’re forced to fight again… neither of you will want to.”
With a sweep of his wings, he takes to the sky, a magnificent blood-red beast. The thunderbirds crack their wings, spearing the air with lightning as they soar upward with him. Treble drops lower, circling around us twice before following the other birds. He knows I’ll call him when I need him.
The stadium is silent.
My people aren’t cheering my name now.
I did this. I risked the entire Queendom.
I look to the Queen, waiting for her verdict, bracing for her reaction. I promised her that I would never betray her. My only purpose is to protect her, but now I’ve risked everything…
She grips the railing, speaking softly. “My people. We have faced revelations today. Events we never expected. But the unexpected can only make us stronger.”
She breaks into a confident smile. Broken poppies rise from the seats around her, reforming into perfect flowers as she lifts her arms.
“Aura captured the Fell champion,” she says, her voice swelling. “She already fought him and beat him. In three nights she will fight again. She will win!”
The sky opens up as her power streaks from her fingertips. Frosty winter air sweeps across the combat area and snowflakes begin to fall around us. Perfect. Silver. Glittering.
The mood within the arena changes. The tension eases, the wary looks stop. The fae focus on their Queen, who calls out, “My people! Rise up and celebrate! We have never had this chance before. Aura has given us what we need. We are the brightest to walk this earth and soon we will control Fell country. We will drive away the darkness that sickens the land and put an end to their wickedness and destruction.”
She tips her head back and shouts, “Aura will win and we will prevail!”
The arena erupts. Fae jump to their feet. My name is screamed so loudly by so many voices that my ears hurt.
Imatra could have crucified me. Instead, she has given me a very clear order: I will win. At all costs. After that, the Fell will be annihilated.
Nathaniel’s hand slips from mine. He remains standing tall, his shoulders back, steady in the face of so many fae screaming for his blood. Snowflakes land on his naked shoulders, melting against his chest.
The sounds of the roaring fae fade into the background. They aren’t cheering for me. They’re cheering for what they think I am.
A killer of humans.
Chapter 12
I don’t wait for the cheering to die down.
I move past Nathaniel, slowing to brush my arm against his. I’m finished with ordering him around, but I need him to know it’s time for us to leave. The Queen will want all eyes on her when she descends from the podium. The longer we stay, the more attention we take from her.
Talsa and Evander wait for us at the entrance to the underpass. Talsa is juggling both our fleece coats and a flask of water, but Evander steps between us before she can pass them to us.
“Aura,” he says, striding toward me. “This is my fault. If I’d protected you this morning, you wouldn’t have had to—”
“It was my responsibility,” I say, stopping him. “I invoked the Law without knowing what I was doing, but it was my choice, not yours. It wasn’t your fault.”
My brother exhales, his chest deflating, his fists clenching, but the look he gives Nathaniel could flay the skin off him. “I guess I know what you needed to tell me.”
He squeezes my shoulder and I read into the gesture everything he’s not saying aloud. He already lost his mother. He doesn’t want to lose me too. At the same time… he’s angry with me because I created this situation.
“Be careful, Aura,” he says, drawing upright to cover his emotions. “Your life is about to get very complicated, but above all, do not die on me. Promise me.”
I can’t promise him. Can’t voice what I know could be a lie, but I nod, unable to speak.
Evander swings away from me, but he pauses beside Talsa, dragging her into his arms, flask and fleece and all. She tips her head back, murmuring quietly and nodding before he presses a kiss against her temple and walks away.
I’m left surprised. My brother is an intensely private person, but the affection he just showed Talsa speaks to a connection that must have been growing for a while. I want to ask her about it, but I hold my tongue as she passes us the coats. I have to trust her to talk to me when she’s ready.
She ushers us into my preparation room. It’s cold and silent inside—both of which I welcome after the panicky heat and deafening noise of the arena.
Nathaniel pulls on his coat and takes up position leaning against the wall on the left-hand side of the room while I slump into one of the chairs at the table.
Talsa hands me the flask, but I push it gently away. “Nathaniel first.”
She frowns at me. “You’re dehydrated—”
“So is he.” I drop my head into my hands, rubbing my forehead, my mood swinging like a stone tied to a string. The truth is I don’t think I can swallow anything without throwing it right back up. It’s better to appear grumpy than sick to my stomach. The first can be confused with strength; the second will look like weakness.
Nathaniel speaks from the side of the room, directing his question at Talsa. “What should I call you?”
Talsa stiffens, still gripping the flask. “You may address me as ‘Talsa of the Dusk.’”
He peels himself off the wall and closes the gap, reaching for the flask. “May I? Talsa of the Dusk?”
With a huff, she hands over the jug and relocates to the side of the room. He pulls up the other chair and takes a seat opposite me. Then he sets the flask quietly onto the table and nudges it toward me.
“Small sips,” he says. “Or you’ll bring it back up.”
I stop rubbing my forehead to glare at him, but he returns my scowl with an unwavering stare.
“Okay, then,” he says when I don’t reply. “We’ll go one for one. I’ll start. That way I’ll throw up first. Deal?”
I blow out an exhale. “Fine.”
He takes a small sip from the flask before he pushes it across the table. The aftereffects of fighting are kicking in and my hands shake as I raise the flask to my lips, sloshing water across my mouth. I manage to swallow a tiny amount.
Pushing the bottle back to him, I say, “Explain something to me: you can’t hurt a fae. That means you can’t hurt them in any way, doesn’t it?”
His eyebrows draw down in a wary frown. “It’s possible that even bruising a fae could be fatal for me. I’m not completely sure about that, but I’m not about to test it.”
“But a fae can hurt you—as long as they don’t spill your blood or kill you, is that correct?”
He sighs. “It is.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
He wraps his fingers around the bottle, but his focus remains on me. “The Law of Champions is old law. Nothing in the old law is fair. It’s designed to
make the next three days the hardest we’ve ever faced. A champion who wants to win a country for their monarch has to live long enough to fight the final battle.”
I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment. I had no intention of conquering Fell country when I fought Nathaniel this morning. “What now?”
“Now, we rest,” he says. “We both need sleep this afternoon. You’re normally awake at night, yes?”
I nod.
“Then I’ll follow your routine.”
I snort. “My routine involves a few hours of sleep and many hours watching the Queen.”
He grimaces. “She’s going to love having me around.” Then he gives me a quizzical look. “What exactly are you guarding her from? I didn’t see angry mobs at the palace gates.”
I sigh. “Civil unrest among my people is far from obvious.” I’m not afraid of talking like this in front of Talsa. I trust her not to repeat our conversation. “Fae are quiet about their intentions. The Queen has been challenged on a political level more times than I can count. Most challenges come from the Solstice fae. Calida’s family is always stirring up some kind of trouble, but as long as the Queen controls an army of guards—and has me—all they do is talk.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed. It all seems so peaceful.”
“Don’t judge by appearances,” I say, arching an eyebrow at him. I reach for the flask and take a longer sip. The liquid slides down my throat and soothes my nerves. I take another long drink before I return the remaining half to him. “The rest is yours.”
As soon as he finishes the bottle, he stands and hands it back to Talsa. She gives him a scowl, but her glare comes slower this time.
By the time we leave the room, the roar of the crowd has abated. The Queen will have left and every other fae will be returning to their homes.
I spin as a figure moves in the darkness of the corridor. I’m immediately on my guard until I recognize the woman who strides toward us through the shadows.