Page 39 of This Shattered Star

I twisted, right leg shooting out blindly. My left followed suit, taking me all but a step forward before I cried out in pain. My right leg hooked onto a jagged spike, shredding along the very same spot that had gotten burned from Kodhan’s fire. And stayed there.

I was stuck, metal digging into sinew and muscle.

A scream gathered at the base of my throat. I quickly braced part of my weight onto my left foot as my right leg—now burnedandtorn—held the rest of it. It had slowed my fall, but the wound was deep.

I only hoped it didn’t hit bone.

Tears blurred my already limited vision. Letting them trail down my face, I blinked to clear them faster. There would be no evading death again if I fell because I couldn’t see. It would collect its bounty whether I wanted it to or not.

Stars, we were so close.

“Run, Eloise!” Theia shouted.

Bile surged up my throat, replacing the scream.

Run.Could I run?

My vision almost went completely white as I pulled my leg off the sharp point of the spike, a gasp racking my lungs so violently I choked. My stomach wavered, threatening to pour its contents out onto the platform. I couldn’t run. Not truly, with the state of my leg. But I shot into motion anyway, forcing myself forward.

I wouldnotdie here.

Nodes of smoke and ash flooded the air as a snarl echoed too close for comfort.

A wave of fire, taller than Maverick himself, washed over me, threatening to stop me in my tracks. Then another followed, faster than I could blink. The beast at my heel snarled, but my head remained attached to my shoulders. Shadows hated light. And as their essence, the beasts couldn’t fight their instincts to stay away from it.

Gideon’s voice ricocheted against each corner of my mind, louder than the crowd above.Keep pushing!

And I did. I ignored how my leg screamed and begged for me to stop. Pushed until the scalding pain turned into a dull, throbbing ache numbed by the adrenaline pumping through my veins. A temporary stitch, a needle weaving thread into the fabric of my being.

I didn’t dare look back. Kodhan’s fire still billowed behind me like a golden cloak, so he had to have been close by.

I danced over and around the blades, my toes grazing dangerously close to their ends too many times for comfort. When the mist finally parted, the platform clear of any trace of metal, I nearly collapsed, trembling like a leaf would on a storm’s wind.

A gentle arm wrapped around me, helping me stay upright. “Eloise! Gods, are you alright?” Theia’s concern was a warm blanket thrown over my shoulders.

No, I was not alright. But lying required too much effort, and I was running low on fumes.

Mutely, I nodded my head once, a tense jerk of my chin. Then I straightened and watched as the shadows lashed out at the remaining competitors. They’d quickly discovered that the best way to get past the beasts was to overwhelm them. The beasts couldn’t attack everyone simultaneously, so they’d separated, leaving one for each group.

Taking on one beast was a great deal easier than taking on all six at once, I supposed. But if one group decided to betray everyone else, it would end in disaster.

I shook myself out of Theia’s hold. “What happened?”

Brannon’s face appeared before my own, tight with worry and concern.

“I’m sorry.Gods,I’m so sorry. I was so focused on keeping my magic in place that I wasn’t looking at my feet. A spike got me, and it didn’t hurt—not really, but the shock—I wasn’t fast enough to repair the gap where you were standing—”

My hand reached out and squeezed his, stopping his rambling in its tracks. His eyes shone with genuine panic, his words laced with so much guilt that it made me squirm uncomfortably. I wanted it to stop.

So I squeezed again. “Save it. It’s not your fault. What you were doing couldn’t have been easy.”

He placed his other hand over my own. “It is entirely my fault. I’m sorry.”

I surprised myself by leaving my hand between his. “There is no need to apologize. I’m still breathing. I’m fine.”

“Your leg.” Kodhan was already examining the torn material of my pant-leg that stretched from the top of my knee to mid-thigh.

“Is also fine.” I did have enough energy to lie, after all.