Page 43 of This Shattered Star

“I thinkIcan decide for myself when my point has been made.”

“Stop bickering and focus,” Brannon snapped, his back to us. “Especially you, Kodhan. I can hear your mind rattling from here.”

Theia cackled, a contagious thing that had me covering my own laugh behind my hand.

Gradually, the crowd above our heads went preternaturally silent, much like a forest would in the presence of a deadly predator. Their eerie lack of chaos sobered me in an instant.

The deadliest predator here was still situated in the same place, amongst members of court. Though instead of being seated, Maverick stood a short way from his chair, as though he’d been pacing the aisle. “Well done,” his voice boomed. Kodhan’s father, forever the loyal Second, remained stoic in his own seat. “All of you have proven just how strong you can be when faced with obstacles designed for the sole purpose of proving the opposite. You should be proud of yourselves. You have done well.”

His smile was off. Instead of the full, captivating thing that carved the barest of dimples into each cheek, this smile did not reach his eyes. I would know that smile anywhere. Had seen it on him too many times to count.

It was the same one he sported in a room full of adversaries. When he’d already gripped the strings above their heads, and was ready to play.

Maverick took a long, unhurried drink of his cup filled to the brim with what looked to be a white wine. I pitied whoever had served him. He hated anything that wasn’t red or didn’t burn on the way down.

His words were a rumble of thunder. “But there are too many of you.”

Behind me, someone whined in dismay.

“I don’t care who it is. How it is done. In one final display of strength, you must eliminate the weak.” Maverick handed off his now-empty cup to the servant standing near him. Nothing but pure malice was written across his face. “I will officially end your trial when I find your numbers are sufficient. Begin.”

There were sixteen of us left.Sufficient numberscould mean anything.

Fool. I’d been afoolto think that orb truly represented the end of Strength.

I palmed Kodhan’s dagger, spreading my feet shoulder-width apart. By the constant, steady trickle of warmth blazing down the rest of my leg, I knew I was leaving a bloody trail for all to see. But a wounded leg paled in comparison to the fact that I was irrevocably outmatched.

I’d hoped for anything but this.

Kodhan shifted to put himself between me and the other competitors, fire slowly licking up his fingers and wrists.

But nothing could prepare either of us for the vine that snapped around my ankle andyanked.Air wheezed out of my lungs as I landed on my stomach, chin smashing into the dirt yet again.

In a handful of seconds, I crossed nearly half the length of the Dome. My efforts to anchor myself were futile, fingers digging into the dirt, skin splitting on loose rocks. The dagger merely left a thin trail behind me.

I had half a mind to flip onto my back to spot the vine’s owner.

With a flick of her wrist, the woman who’d manipulated the vines while crossing the swinging axes and stone wall dragged me towards her. A hungry smile played across her face.

Stars, she worked fast.

But Kodhan was faster.

Flames engulfed her before I could reach her feet.

I could only watch, with a strange sensation of wonder blooming from the stems of mortification taking root in my chest, as her pained screams filled the air. Filled my head. And yet, I couldn’t find it in myself to pair it with remorse. She would have killed me. Would have foundjoyin killing me.

Thiswas what the Starlight Trials thrived on. Proof of it lay in the crowd who cheered at deafening levels once again.

A foreign smile graced my lips. “Too slow.”

I didn’t need to raise my voice. By the sheer look of hatred she sported before collapsing, she heard me perfectly fine.

She was no longer a threat. As the vines around my ankles loosened, I pushed onto my hands and knees, expecting Kodhan’s boots to appear in my periphery. But they didn’t. He wasn’t where I’d seen him last, either.

I found Theia first, locked in a physical hand-to-hand with another girl, magic completely forlorn. Even drenched in violence, she was mesmerizing. Lips peeled back into a deep snarl, she reminded me of portraits long forgotten in the darkest corners of the library, depicting those who fought against the very enemies that spurred Maverick into creating the Veil. Warrior princesses abandoning their crowns of gold and silver for cloaks of gore and battlefields filled with nightmares.

Brannon fought against three others, though still had the upper hand with his wind. A sheer force to be reckoned with. He easily parried each of his opponents’ attacks, shielding himself against both pressurized water and physical blows.