Page 29 of This Shattered Star

“We’re too close to the others,” Theia murmured close behind me. The platform was wide enough to hold us all but gave no real opportunity to spread out properly.

“You think one of them will try and score a cheap hit?” Brannon mused. His amber eyes roved with a predatory focus.

Kodhan snorted. “I dare them to try.”

Brannon’s smile was all teeth. “My thoughts exactly, brother.”

The crowd was beside themselves now, pushing and shoving to get a better view. But it wasn’t the crowd that planted a seedof dread within my chest. It wasn’t the chants demanding death that fed its roots.

Before us spread a map of death.

Knee-high blades jutted from a platform to the far right. Heavy pendulums shaped like axes, suspended by nothing but air, sliced across the narrow path before it, with no other way to pass through if we wanted to get across. To the left of the platform of blades was a far less deadly alternative; a large wall of stone at least thirty feet in height. Though it was completely bare—without any means to climb it. Of course, those with high affinities in earth could try and obliterate it, or at the very least coax more cracks and ridges into its surface. But stone was remarkably stubborn. It would take far too much time for too little gain.

Across the Dome, past every obstacle, swayed a white orb the size of my palm. Like a small star, waiting to be captured.

Brannon nudged my shoulder with his arm. “That’s our jackpot.”

I hadn’t even noticed him move. I hadn’t noticedanyof them move. Too long did it take me to realize they’d strategically placed themselves between me and the danger that lay ahead. Theia lingered at my back, blocking me from the other competitors. Brannon angled himself to face both me and the obstacles in front of us. And Kodhan… he faced me fully, close enough that his body brushed against my side.

But his back was explicitly turned to Maverick.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all. And yet, if only for a fleeting moment, it was nice to feel protected. No matter what their motives were.

“How quaint.” Kodhan’s brows pulled together in distaste.

Theia hummed in agreement. “I expected much worse.”

Of all things, they seemedunimpressed.“Are you all mad?” I accused.

“I don’t know,” Kodhan quipped. “Arewe, Theia?”

“That depends.” She tapped a finger against her chin. “When you say it that way, the contrary sounds rather boring.”

Every ounce of blood drained from my face. No, the stars would not help me here.

My thoughts moved far too fast for me to grasp any thread of idea for what might save me from the last obstacle sitting across the orb.

A monstrous gap yawned so wide along the final portion of the path that no running start could help one jump across it without any magical assistance. And nothing would catch their fall, either. No net, no mat on the ground. We were easily a hundred feet in the air.

Thatwas my biggest problem.

Everyone would be able to use some form of magic to cross that gap. Everyone except for me.

Bracing myself, I tore my eyes away from the gap quickly enough to catch Diana whisper something into another woman’s ear before they both stood from their seats and made their way out of their designated row.

What are you up to?

They shuffled past other seated members of court, who paid them no heed as they disappeared down a set of stairs likely leading back into the castle.

“Strange,” I said quietly. Strange that she would disappear right as the most anticipated event of the year was about to begin.

A piercing scream rendered the air, followed by a mangled shout.

My stomach plummeted down the hundreds of feet leading to the ground below, returning only to crawl up my throat. Nausea turned my insides to hot, bubbling liquid.

The girl with hair of fire’s skin began tomove. There was no better description for what plagued her other than hundreds of tiny insects, burrowed there—unwillingly.It almost seemed like they were trying toescape, through any means possible. Her screams turned from fearful to pure, undiluted agony. The boy next to her proved no better. He’d already fallen to his knees, mouth agape, skin rippling with the same intensity.

Oh, stars.