I noticed Adrianna’s nails punch upwards and scrape beneath her palms. She folded her arms quickly, perhaps to hide the evidence. “You haven’t invited my mother, have you?”
Goldwyn’s face softened in sympathy and understanding. “Hilda felt she had to. I don’t know if she accepted or not.”
Adrianna’s expression clouded over as she scanned the sky.
Liora was already voicing comfort from her side. “Block it out. We’re fighting for one another now. That’s all that matters.”
The fury lining Adrianna’s body went nowhere, but she did manage a curt nod.
Soon, the guests began to appear. Since nearly all the fae were flying in, I found myself sky gazing. Minutes ticked by, and a cyclone of nerves continued to spin within. All the wrong sensations claimed my body.
Thirsty. Sweaty. Shaky.
Then I saw someone fly into the stands who made my insides petrify.
Hunter.
He sat somewhere in the middle tier, and I lost him in the crowd.
I wobbled precariously.
“Careful.” Frazer gripped my elbow, steadying me.
“Sorry.” It was a ghost of a whisper that passed my lips.
“Are you all right, Serena?” Goldwyn asked from beside us.
I looked over to find my pack and instructor staring. “I’ve just seen someone I know.”
“Oh,” Goldwyn said, sounding a touch surprised.
The pressure on my arm increased as Frazer squeezed. Who?
Hunter.
“It wouldn’t be that male fae waving at you, would it?” Goldwyn queried, squinting up at the seats.
My gaze flew back to the stands. Oh gods, he was waving at me. I raised my hand and forced it into a small jerking motion.
Adrianna snorted, mostly scornful and a touch amused. “Some member of the Wild Hunt. Aren’t they meant to be terrifying?”
Goldwyn moved to my side and offered me a quirky smile. “You do seem to have rather a lot of fae admirers, don’t you?”
“He’s just a friend,” I replied too quickly.
Goldwyn’s eyes flickered to Frazer’s grip on my arm. He let go immediately.
“I see,” Goldwyn answered pointedly.
“So, she came,” Adrianna murmured.
Distracted from my Hunter drama, I tracked Adrianna’s line of sight. Even without the sharp eyesight of the fae, Diana Lakeshie wasn’t hard to spot with her copper skin and giant pale-blue wings. She flew in to the stands with four male fae at her side.
Adrianna was radiating pain and rage. “Why now? She hasn’t bothered with me in years.”
I hadn’t missed the vulnerability—the tremor in her voice.
I searched for the right words, for something to comfort her with, when the bond shook; my attention got pulled to Frazer like a piece of iron to a lodestone. His eyes burned with a dark fire, and his jaw had glued together in a sign of aggression. I grabbed his wrist reflexively. Keep it together.
He wavered. Then gave me a nod, albeit reluctantly. I released his arm, but not before Dimitri saw. I didn’t know where he’d come from. He’d been behind our pack and now he was parallel, staring right at us. The look on his face made me queasy, but I blinked, and he was gone, trailing back to his pack. I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Beside me, Goldwyn announced, “I can hear Hilda by the gate, so this is where I leave you. She’ll give you your sparring partner and explain the rules.” Looking us each in the eye, she added, “Don’t pull your punches. Be savage and win.”
She left for the stands, swiftly followed by Cecile, Mikael, and Dimitri.
Time to find out if all that training had been worth it.
I whirled toward the huge double doors to the arena.
Wilder walked through with Hilda. He was wearing his usual sidearms and instructor’s garb. All leather armor and rough cloth. The only new addition was a full-length black cloak tied around his throat that made his shoulders look impressively wide—foreboding even. Hilda held her own beside him with that striking height and tawny coloring, complemented by brown leathers, a gray fur cloak, and a wicked assortment of blades. She looked every bit the huntress and warrior.
Intimidating as fuck.
“Here we go,” Adrianna breathed next to me.
Wilder and Hilda neared. My brother’s thoughts rushed through our bond, low and hurried. Remember, you might not be strong, but you are fast and tall. Your reach is better than most. Try to keep the bout as short as possible. Avoid getting locked into parrying, but when you cross swords, use the blow’s momentum and sweep it away from your body. Don’t let them close in on you.
I’d heard that advice a hundred thousand times before, but I still nodded and repeated his points over and over in a panicked mantra, hoping they’d seep into my muscles and become second nature.
Hilda reeled off a speech that sounded tried and old. She welcomed the packs and congratulated us on getting this far. It was all just empty noise until she began explaining the rules. “As you’ve all no doubt heard from your instructors, you are to fight another recruit. Although, you might be pleased to hear that we’re sparing you from being teamed with a member of your own pack.”
Relief, swift and sublime, found me then.
Hilda continued. “Now, once your match starts, it won’t end until someone lands three blows to their opponent. Your weapons have been dulled, but they can still break bones if used with enough force. Any fae matched with a human would do well to remember that.” She swept the crowd with a grim expression, adding, “We’re not going to be impressed by berserkers aiming to cause undue pain. Also, please note that magic is forbidden during this trial. As is flight.”
Her warning hung in the air. So did the mounting tension.
I felt my hands tremble.
“We’ve split the class in to two groups, so you won’t all be fighting at once. But, before we do this, we must make a cut.” Hilda went on grimly. “Unfortunately, we’ve got an odd number of recruits. At this point in the trials, we must let someone go. After much discussion, we’ve reached a decision.”
Loaded whispers swept through the arena. Like a hive buzzing. Fear gripped my heart and squeezed. I couldn’t breathe properly.
It was me. It had to be.
My mouth went bone-dry as my eyes roamed the stands, frantically, wildly. Was that why Hunter was here? He’d come back to reclaim a slave?
Hilda kept on rambling as I was losing my mind. Something about how the person had showed promise, blah, blah, blah. Then, the ‘but’ came. “Even though this person is being asked to leave, you won’t be destitute. There’s a member of the Wild Hunt in the stands who’ll help you find a new position.”
Liar. I hated her in that moment. I hated Hunter.
And many of the fae recruits visibly relaxed, laughing it off. The outcast was clearly human; what did they care who left? I even noticed a few curious and cruel eyes sweeping, finding possible targets. Quite a few stares settled on me.
Of course they thought it was me.
Over my dead body, Frazer growled down the bond.
Alarm and terror peeled through me. If Hilda called my name …
I’ll rip her wings off for suggesting it. And then kill that faithless worm you called a friend.
He wasn’t exaggerating, and if he did that, they’d execute him.
No. No.
I’d do anything to stop that. Begging, bargaining, fighting; I was preparing to do all three, but Hilda stopped me by saying, “Cassandra Hart, can you come here?”
A girl detached herself from Cecile’s group. She looked terrified. It was the expression that I should be wearing right now. But it wasn’t me.
It wasn’t me.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the other recruits in our sparring sessions. At first, because of a certain distracting fae. Then, our pack had become totally engrossed in each other and our mission. From the brief glimpses I’d seen of her, she was a decent fighter—better than me, anyway.
Frazer grunted softly beside me. No, she wasn’t, siska.
Oh.