Page 114 of Rite of Unity

“Ready to go down?”

I stilled, nodding once.

As we descended, each rung was another step toward the ground, toward safety, and I took my first full breath when I felt solid earth beneath my feet.

I stood for a moment in the cramped space at the bottom of the ladder, one hand still on the metal.Something had shifted between us.Something I couldn’t name yet.

***

Ruth found me the moment we re-entered the ball, tugging me into a powder room.She pulled a small compact disc from a pocket and dusted my cheeks, my forehead, my chin.“Maryn, you’re so red.”

I grimaced, staring at my flushed cheeks in the mirror.

“I have to get out there.”

She nodded as a cloud of powder enveloped us.

I stood beside Nami, and she wrapped her hand in mine.For the first time since entering this Rite, I wasn’t nervous.It might have been the lack of sleep or Elias’s gentle affirmations, but tonight, even though I’d said the one thing that should have sealed my fate, my heart didn’t race when Elias stepped into the middle of the room to announce the results of Trial Seven.

He called Beth forward.

He bent, offering her words of consolation, but at that moment, a collective buzzing rang around the room.

I looked down, but there was nothing on my tablet.Elias and all the guards in black were reading something in silence.When Elias looked up, his face was pale.

I pressed my hand flat against my stomach.

He didn’t look my way as he and a dozen men rushed from the room.

Beth was left standing alone at the center.

Chapter 27

Elias

IreachedtheMiddleCovenantBureau of Information just as several large SUVs pulled up.

I stumbled out of the car, my throat burning, and covered my mouth against the acrid taste of thick black smoke.

Around me, men shouted, rushing forward, tugging hoses.

A wall of scorching red cut off any escape for the souls trapped inside.

“Mother above,” I breathed, taking an unsteady step forward.

Someone bumped my shoulder as he ran past, darting into the flames.I watched in horror as he disappeared from view.

Do something, my fuzzy mind commanded, but I was frozen.How could I help?

Two more men leaped through the flames, and I jolted into action, racing for the door.

Rough fingers dug into my arm, yanking me back, and I spun around, prepared to demand release when cold hazel eyes met mine.

“Not you, Heir.You’re here for the cameras.”

Felix Cross, Father’s top advisor and his most decorated general, released my arm.

“People could die.”