Page 61 of Of Bargains & Betrayal

Dry air.

Bursts of heat only in the dead of summer.

Already, I was at a disadvantage, and I wasn’t sure if that made me more eager to prove them wrong or made me doubt I would make it through the night. My only hope stemmed from Gallan saying he’d see me down there. I trusted he would not pull me out unnecessarily, but the same could not be said for any of the other supervising Elixia.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, and the landing opened into a network of rugged cave-like rooms, I’d wiped sweat off my brow twice. We were shuffled into the various rooms that all faced a central, inset space with a massive pit full of steaming, white-hot coals.

Each room also had a smaller, smoldering pit, as if it wasn’t hot enough.

I lowered myself onto the stone ledge that wrapped around the space and made myself as comfortable as I could, my water skin beside me and my towel over the back of my neck. The other contestants who filtered into my room with me all looked meek, even a little fearful. I suspected none of them were Elixia if they were feeling as uneasy about this as I was. The rallying cries that echoed out from the other rooms only confirmed my suspicion.

Clearly, Maksym had something to do with our seating arrangement.

Shortly after we settled in, Gallan made his appearance, divested of his shirt and with a large water skin in one hand, a bucket in the other, a stool tucked under his arm. As he sat down across from us, he gave the bucket a tap with his foot and winked at me.

“Oh, fuck off,” I grumbled, and he just grinned.

“Everyone’s comfortable?” he asked, as if we were sitting anywhere but in a fucking sauna on stone seats. “Good. We’re going to be here for a while.”

We lost our first member just over an hour in.

Sometime in our first few minutes, she’d clearly forgotten the entire purpose of our assignment and took a concerningly large gulp out of her waterskin. Only minutes after that, she started crying. The crying evolved into screaming, which spiraled into her attempting to grab one of the white-hot coals Gallan had been ladling hot water onto.

She was given a chance to gather herself, and did for a short while, but on her second attempt at throwing herself on the coals, she was hauled out.

That left five of us.

At that point, anyone tempted to drink was thoroughly dissuaded.

My only method of distraction was to close my eyes and imagine I was anywhere but in that sauna.

Back in Odessa, in the dead of winter. On assignment in one of the high alpine villages, staring down a brutal wind. Taking a much-needed dip in one of the glacial creeks.

Those images, so vivid, I could almost feel them, helped stave off the unbearable heat for a while. For my mind, at least—my body was another thing entirely. Every inch of my thin shirt and pants was soaked and plastered to me, and my braid was dripping a steady puddle onto my thigh.

I was certain I would leave a steaming lake on my seat if I stood.

When Gallan got up to check in with each of us, I wasn’t sure how much more time had passed, but he started at the furthest end from me. He tipped each of my co-contestants’ faces up, examining them, asking them to follow his finger with their eyes and then to squeeze his hands. Each of them then received stern instructions to drink or see themselves disqualified.

At least I was well prepared for his assessment.

His silver-black eyes were scrutinizing as hell as he scanned my face, and I knew my reactions were slower than I wanted. Slower than he wanted too.

“Do you feel nauseated?” he asked. “Lightheaded?”

The answers to those were yes and yes, but I shook my head.

Gallan tsked and pointed to my waterskin.

“Drink.” He leaned in and whispered, “I will be so disappointed if I have to disqualify you.”

My towel was already sopping wet, but I still wiped my face with it before I tossed Gallan a scathing glance and grabbed my waterskin.

“Yes, Father,” I grumbled as I took the smallest sip I could manage.

Immediate relief mapped a chilled path to my stomach, and I could’ve groaned—nearly distracting enough to drown out the sound of retching that kicked up beside me. The decision I made to not overdo it with my earlier meals clearly was a sound one.

As I sat there for minutes that passed with agonizing slowness, keenly aware of the way Gallan kept glancing at me, I wondered if it had all been a ruse. Little noise came from the other rooms outside of some dull chatter, and the rest of the contestants in my room all looked rather calm still. Maybe there wasn’t anything in the water after all, and they wanted to see who could be broken or persuaded more easily than the others.