Dimitri had to have the last say, barking, “And if any of you are brave enough to go after the devos sprites, rest assured that when the time comes, the instructors will be happy to recommend those individuals for the best placements.”
From Dimitri, it didn’t seem like a helpful tip. More like a push to do something stupid and get ourselves killed.
Mikael confirmed my suspicions by drawling, “But if you hunt a devos, be prepared to lose a limb.”
“On that happy note, we’re leaving you with Bert,” Goldwyn sang. “He’ll provide you with the details of the fourth trial.”
I blinked. Fourth?
Every recruit seemed to be holding their breath.
Goldwyn swept the recruits with an amused eye. “That particular trial is unique because it starts now. You have until just before the final trial to complete it. It’s also singular in that the instructors are not aware of the nature of the quest, and are forbidden from asking their packs anything about it, or helping them in any way.”
She paused. I almost rolled my eyes. Goldwyn reminded me of Cai—theatrical.
“Good luck.”
With that, all five mentors took to the skies. Bert—today, sporting a multicolored smock—observed their flight paths from behind his spectacles. Once they were out of sight, he began speaking. “The fourth task requires each recruit to steal an object from one of yah instructors.”
Gasps, laughs, and titters spread through the crowd.
The ogre waited for a few heartbeats, and that’s where his patience ended. He stomped the ground with his dark-green feet, snorting heavily. Almost like a bull readying to charge.
The chatter ceased immediately.
He put his hands behind his back and continued. “The object must belong to, or be in the possession of, the instructor yah’ve chosen to steal from. And yah should each have an object to present by the final trial—like Goldie said.” He cleared his throat with a mighty hem, hem. “None of the instructors know anything about this quest, and yah’ll are forbidden from simply asking them for an object. Because they’re not stupid, and they’ll figure out what the trial is.” He puffed up a bit and peered down his spectacles at us. “Once you’ve got yah item, bring it to me in me cottage. Fail, and yah gone. Anyone caught cheating, and yah gone. That said, I wish yah all the best. Dismissed.” He ended with a proud nod of his head and clomped off.
Cai spun, addressing us—his pack. “We need to talk. Barracks or lake?”
“Lake,” Adrianna replied at once.
No one argued, and we moved off.
Almost immediately, Liora linked arms with me. Slowing us to a crawl, she whispered, “I know things didn’t work out between you and Wilder, but maybe now you could use what happened to your advantage.”
I frowned down at her. “What d’you mean?”
She grinned impishly. “Fourth trial.”
A raven’s caw slipped my lips. “What, you think stealing from him will change his mind about us?”
Liora responded with a soft, contrite laugh. “No, but isn’t that all the more reason to steal from him?”
That got me laughing.
A short stroll had us settling down in a circle on the pebble-covered lakeshore, where a gentle breeze wrinkled the usually glassy surface of the lake, and birdsong filled the air. Protected within our usual soundproof bubble, Cai grinned from his position opposite me and said, “Well, I didn’t see the fourth trial coming, did you?”
He scanned each of us, but his eyes rested on Adrianna the longest. It was heartwarming and exasperating. His affection wasn’t going away, no matter how many times she refused to flirt back.
Remind you of anyone? Auntie mused, chuckling.
Ouch. That stung.
But Adrianna took the bait this time. “The staff quarters aren’t far from us. Taking something from their rooms might be easier, or at least safer, than trying to pick their pockets or grab their weapons.”
Liora tucked a strawberry curl behind her ear, frowning. “Agreed. And it shouldn’t be too hard getting into Goldwyn’s rooms.”
“How come?” I asked, bemused.
An impish smile tugged her lip up. “It was before our pack was formed, but Goldwyn’s said time and time again that we’re welcome to go ask her advice on anything, at any time.”
Cai reacted with a lion’s smile. All teeth and swaggering arrogance. “True, but I’m more tempted to steal from Dimitri. Breaking into his rooms seems more entertaining, somehow.”
Adrianna remarked, “Dimitri will probably be easier to steal from than Goldwyn.”
I wasn’t the only one looking at her as if she’d gone mad.
She explained in the next breath. “This trial has loopholes within loopholes. Tysion just has to knock on his door and hint at what the trial involves. Dimitri won’t give a shit that it’s cheating. His recruits are still living with the disgrace of losing one trial, which means he is. I wouldn’t put it past him to start leaving his damned door wide open.” A pure, feline smile lit her azure eyes. “But the day you steal from the Ghost Cat or the Snake—that’s the day people whisper about your potential. That’s the day you’ve really earned something.”
Her uncharacteristic wistfulness got me to smile freely. “I’ll stick to Goldwyn and leave the impossible to you.”
“Not Wilder?”
A shrug. Acting at being casual.
Sweet, wonderful Cai changed the subject. “Shall we agree to steal our own items, but if any of us are running out of time, we’ll pitch in and help one another?”
Adrianna showed her disapproval in a frown, but even she mumbled her agreement.
Cai stretched and rolled his broad shoulders. “That leaves us with the third trial.” He peered over at Adrianna. Concern lined his voice as he asked, “I’m guessing you’ll be hunting one of the devos?”
To my surprise, Adrianna nodded toward me. “That depends on Serena. Because I’ve been thinking about what Maggie said. Actually, I haven’t been able to stop.”
A dry-bordering-on-fatigued tone slipped from me. “Neither have I.”
“Nor me,” Frazer added under his breath.
Liora met Adrianna’s eyes. “You want to use this trial to find her, don’t you?”
Confusion roiled in.
“What are you talking about?” Frazer grew stiff.
That instantly put me on edge.
Adrianna breathed through it. “We all heard Maggie’s words. The trials and the quest to find the Priestess walk hand in hand. This task provides us with freedom of movement and a unique opportunity to visit Hazel Greysand. I can fly us out to Sapor and be back within six days. And we can hunt either on the way there or back. I know the terrain we’ll be traveling over—it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a sprite.”
Even though Frazer had asked the question, she’d directed her answer toward me. Something I appreciated. My voice came out as a whisper. “You’d do that for me?”
“It’s not just for you.”
Oh.
“We’re bound together now,” Adrianna said with an elegant twist of her wrist, sweeping her hand in a circle. “This is for all of us.”
“I’m her kin,” Frazer said. He didn’t sound combative—more like defeated. “I should be the one to go with her.”
Sympathy rang clear in Liora’s expression and in her voice. “Not this time. Adi’s the only one who can do this. You know that.”
She didn’t need to say why. The pain it caused Frazer was too much to bear. It was enough to make me wish, for one fleeting second, that we weren’t becoming so finely attuned to each other’s emotions.
Adrianna tucked her wings in tighter to her body. As if conscious they were the source of his grief. “I know what the bond’s screaming at you to do, but no harm will come to her.”
I felt a stab of annoyance.
“Swear it.” Frazer’s voice snapped like a whip.
Adrianna took a particularly pointy-looking pebble and slashed it across her hand.
A noise halfway between shock and anger punched out of me.
Adrianna tossed the stone aside and raised her hand, showing him the welt. Frazer’s nostrils widened, and he nodded, satisfied.
Gods-damned fae.