Page 30 of This Shattered Star

Mercifully, the scene was cut short moments later. They simplyvanished. Not a single physical trace of them remained. Even the dirt was undisturbed, like they’d never existed at all.

Though their screams still echoed. As if the wind purposely held their pain in its fingers and continued to weave it into the air for us to keep reliving, over and over.

The audience applauded their bloodlust. Stomped their feet for more.

I spat out the saliva that had been building on my tongue, aware of Kodhan’s eyes tracking my every movement. Death had its hand on all our shoulders now. Ready to collect its prize.

But it would have to work much harder if it wanted anything from me.

If death was a melody waiting to capture me in its wake, then I was ready to dance.

One by one, the lights decorating the Dome went out. Cries of alarm rang out from all sides. The paths and their obstacles were barely visible now, nothing but mal-formed shadows, fractured occasionally by faint light emanating from the stars above.

“Only fitting for the stars to guide you through your first trial,” Maverick taunted. “They are the map that leads you to the Temple of Borealis if you win, after all.”

Not if.When.

The low, steady keening of a horn pierced through the chants of the crowd.

For the first time since our arrival within the Dome, Maverick’s words had difficulty finding their way over the newfound level of noise. But they hit their mark all the same, the charge of magic now filling the air as those around me prepared for war.

“Welcome to Strength.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Not wanting to risk any entanglement with the others, I sprang forward. But a warm hand wrapped around my upper arm, stopping me in my tracks.

“Wait,” Kodhan warned softly. His free hand lifted, and his fingers went up in flame, creating a beacon that cast enough light for us to make out the first ten feet around us.

Brannon and Theia remained close. Frowning at the six competitors who passed us with overconfident smiles thrown towards the audience. One of them had the nerve to wave.

“I will not be a sitting fawn,” I hissed, shoving his hand away.

“Here’s an important lesson,” he spoke softly, bringing his arm to hover in front of me yet again, like a barrier. “A creature who demonstrates patience and caution before the strike of an enemy is a wise one. For it can learn exactly how said strike will land, and better yet, know how to use it to their advantage.”

“Incredible,” I whispered in mock wonder. “Did your father teach you that?”

The hand hovering inches from my midriff slowly curled into a white-knuckled fist. “In other words,” Kodhan said tightly, “Watch and learn. If they make a mistake, we’ll know to do the opposite.”

I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek, tasting metal instantly. He raised a good point. But I would’ve preferred throwing myself over the edge of the platform before admitting that out loud.

The first competitor had chocolate colored hair framing the concentrated pull of her face in lush ringlets. The second one’s sharp features held pure excitement, entirely absent of the nerves that had my jaw tightening to the near point of cracking a tooth. His eyes gleamed with hunger—a kind I’d seen in Maverick too many times to count. He never hid the fact that he enjoyed doling out punishments to traitors or criminals. No, he reveled in it rather openly.

That same crazed gleam was exactly the reason why I needed to avoid this man entirely.

Forty raised footholds stood tall before the two of them, spaced three feet apart in a knotted pattern. Jumping across them wouldn’t be the main problem. What proved worrisome was thesizeof the footholds, their circumference no bigger than a teacup, barely large enough for someone’s foot to properly land on.

The woman only allowed a moment of calculated hesitation before hopping onto the first foothold, arms outstretched like a bird’s wings. Like Kodhan, both competitors’ hands were coated in flame. Yet the woman’s strength in the element couldn’t come close to his. Her magic was bold, and did what it needed to, but Kodhan’s was something else entirely, like a living, breathing thing. Her ally’s flame was far weaker, sputtering and flickering each time he hopped.

“It’s like a game.” Brannon’s strained smile resembled more of a grimace.

My flat laugh bled with sarcasm. “Certainly, if said game wanted to kill you.”

No one else moved forward. I could only see faint outlines of faces and shoulders, but I knew what nervousness did to a body. Knew how it tightened limbs like venom, to then allow fear to infuse them, to render them immobile. They, too, watched therest of their troupe cross. Left foot, right foot. The slightest of stumbles would prove deadly.

Light on their feet, they moved quickly, like they’d done this hundreds of times already. In the span of a few minutes, they made it onto the next platform, their bodies barely perceptible anymore in the weak light of their flames.

“Let’s go,” Kodhan ordered. They’d passed whatever test he’d been conducting.