Murmurs skitter across the crowd but Father’s booming voice cuts through them easily. “The person there is deserving of this punishment. They have committed crimes against the kingdom and will pay for them with their life.”
I’m not surprised. This way, the king will guarantee at least one kill to entertain the people during this Trial. I mentally shuffle through each prisoner I know to be rotting in our dungeons, wondering which sorry soul will meet its end today.
“May you all bring honor to your kingdom, your family, and yourself.”
The crowd echoes the king’s words as an Imperial leads each of us to a separate opening of the maze. My eyes dart across The Pit, scanning the Imperials and the contestants they are escorting.
And then I see her.
Silver hair pinned up, swaying with each stride. Twenty-eight freckles dotting her nose, though I can’t count them from here. Lips I have yet to truly taste pressing together, and ocean eyes crashing into mine.
I give her something then—a smile. One that is meant only for her.
There’s nothing I can say to her, no time to taunt her with teasing words if only to ensure she will stay alive long enough to punch me in the face when this is all over.
So I don’t say a thing.
I raise my hand and flick nothing but the air in front of me as I hold her gaze.
Plagues, the glowing grin she gives me is gorgeous.
She lifts her hand, flicks the air, and—
And then she’s gone.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Paedyn
Today is the day. In fact, today might be my last day.
The Imperial guides me to an opening near the other side of the maze, leaving me there to stare up at the looming walls of foliage that dare me to enter. Dare me to get lost within its twist and turns.
Just survive today. That’s all you have to do.
The sound of snapping twigs and twisting hedges from within the maze tells me that the paths are changing again. The maze is moving.
Movement to my left has my head swiveling towards a young girl, eyes glossy and unblinking as she stares at me with a hand raised above us, projecting what I hope is an emotionless expression onto one of the giant screens for all to see. There must be dozens of them patiently awaiting us in the maze, ready to broadcast the bloodshed.
I keep my face blank as I turn back to the opening of the maze in front of me, though I’m restless to race inside and get this over with.
Everything will change after today.
“Let the final Trial begin.”
I barely hear the king’s words echo through the arena before the cries of the crazed crowd drowns them out. I blink away my thoughts, blinking up at the opening before me and the walls awaiting.
And then I’m running.
As soon as I step into the maze, I’m smothered by the blanket of shadows. It’s dark and damp but I don’t slow my pace. I run through the path of plants and hedged walls, skidding to a stop when I’m faced with my first decision.
Left or right.
I don’t have the time to ponder my options, so I hang a left and am immediately faced with the same decision.
Right.
I run and run and—
Dead end.
I backtrack, turning left instead of right and pick up my pace despite my slight panting. I fall into a routine of random guessing, retracing my steps, and cursing. Lots and lots of cursing.
“Dammit!” I’m yelling at nothing but the sixth dead end I’ve had the pleasure of stumbling upon. I spin on my heel and head back the way I came, barely glancing at the Sight who just witnessed, and recorded, my little outburst. I huff, senses feeling dull in this damp maze. The cries of the crowd outside are muffled, muted by the layers of thick foliage separating me from them.
It’s eerily quiet in here, nothing but the sound of my pounding feet, pounding heart, and panting breaths filling the silence.
And then the maze shifts.
The path I’m standing in narrows, the hedges on either side of me press in.
I’m about to be squashed.
This is my nightmare. My most terrifying, claustrophobic nightmare.
I sprint for the end of the path where another one awaits, one that isn’t moving and won’t crush me if I make it there in time. My lungs are burning, my feet shifting in the sand with each stumbling step.
Twigs and leaves and thick greenery brush my shoulders on both sides, threatening to swallow me whole as they continue closing in. But I keep running towards my salvation, towards the path awaiting me only a few yards away.
Branches and thorns I hadn’t seen before now tear at the exposed skin on my arms, unrelenting as the walls continue to push against me. Any longer and I’ll be trapped between foliage, skewered by branches and thorns.
Dead. I’ll be dead if I don’t get out. Now.
I dive.
I hit the clear pathway hard, rolling to break my fall.
And that’s when pain erupts up my leg.
Lying on my side, chest heaving, I follow the stinging sensation to my left foot—the one trapped between the two hedges that have now molded together.
A strangled cry slips from my lips, and I clamp a hand over my mouth to stifle it. Red, hot blood is running down my leg, dripping onto the sand beneath it. I sit up, trying to calm my breathing as I stretch shaky hands towards the ankle that is barely covered by my now shredded boot.
I lean forward and claw at the tangle of twining branches, leaves, and thorns ensnaring my leg. After barely managing to snap off a branch, I’ve never wished for my dagger more than in this moment.
This maze is the work of Blooms, the work of Elites. Power fills the foliage creating these walls, woven together with the branches and leaves and thorns to make them thicker and stronger and deadlier.
I gulp down air, forcing myself to ignore the flaring pain in my foot. My hands clamp around my calf. I take a shaky breath. And then I pull.
It’s like fire. The pain is so hot, so searing. I bite my tongue until I taste blood, watching as I pull more and more of my foot into view while simultaneously pulling the ruined boot off my foot. I stop, gasping for breath and a break from the pain.
Without my boot to protect my foot from the thorns and jagged branches, it is a mangled mass of torn flesh. Well, the part of it I can see, that is. The other half of my foot is still swallowed by the hedges now fused together, refusing to release me.
I swallow my scream of pain when I pull at my foot again. More torn flesh comes into view, bloody and looking like red ribbons trailing deep across my skin. But with one final yank followed by one final yelp, my foot is freed.
I fall onto my back, gasping for air and gasping from pain. I blink up at the sky, allowing myself one more moment to breathe before sitting up and tearing off the bottom strip of my tank. The burgundy fabric blends with the seeping blood from my wound as I wrap it around my foot as best I can.
Adena would be both fascinated and disgusted by how perfectly the colors match.
I push off the ground and stagger to my feet.
Pain. Sharp pain and a slew of curses.