Chapter Thirty-eight
e drops into a crouch and lays a gentle hand against my head,H smoothing back a strand of what is now my disgusting hair. “You did it,” he says, still smiling. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Where’s Willow?” I ask, my throat dry and cracked. “And Tristan?
Where are they? Are they okay?”
Atlas’s expression gathers into a concerned grimace as someone’s hands help gently roll me onto my back. Healers swarm around me, laying soothing touches on my head and midsection. A bright light bursts in my vision, and I gasp as wounds knit together. “Why are they healing me?”
The applause dwindles, the crowd now watching, whispering to each other in low voices.
“Atlas? What’s going on?” He bestows me with a benevolent smile, but the edges are blurred, like he's a wet painting someone smeared with their hand.
“You made it through the last challenge,” he says, touching my cheek softly and helping me sit up, his fingers stopping under my chin before he
tips my face to him. “You’re going to stand before the Sun Mirror.”
“What?” I’m so disoriented, I can’t make sense of anything. “Where are Tristan and Willow?”
Atlas presses his mouth together. “I’m sorry, Lor, but they’re not here.”
“What? No, I saw them! Where are they? If you hurt them—”
Atlas drops a heavy hand on my shoulder. “They were an illusion. They
weren’t really here.” Something putrid and rotten churns in my stomach as the sick realization washes over me. “Your challenge was to protect your loved ones until they could make it through the door. Only one other Tribute succeeded.” He gestures across the room to where Apricia sits, looking as worn out and bloody as I feel. That smug smile I’m used to is absent as she sits on the steps of the dais with her head in her hands.
“So Marici and Tesni’s sister?” I ask.
“They’re perfectly fine,” Atlas says in a kind voice, as though that’s supposed to make everything okay.
“But Halo and Tesni. They were terrified.” Anger bubbles in my chest like a cauldron stewing over an evil witch’s fire. “I was terrified Tristan and
Willow were going to die!”
“I’m sorry, Lor. But that was the final challenge.”
I shake off his hand, scooting away. The healers have finished their work sealing up my wounds, leaving behind only a dull ache.
“They thought they were dead!” I say, my voice getting louder. “What is
wrong with you? I thought Willow was in danger!”
“Lor,” Atlas says, standing up from his crouched position and coming closer, his hand outstretched. “Calm down.”
“I won’t calm down! You’re a monster! Where are Tesni and Halo? Where are they!”
Atlas holds his palms up in a placating gesture. “They’re fine. Lor, they’re with the other fallen Tributes.”
“Only the ones you didn’t kill, you mean!”
The tether on my control has gone slack. I’m shaking. I’m so angry the layers of my rage pull apart, threatening to unglue me, turning me into paper- thin sheaves.
Finally, I stand on wobbling legs and absorb the faces of everyone in the throne room. It’s filled with well-dressed Fae, all open-mouthed and gaping.
“You’re all monsters, too!” I scream, and there’s a collective flinch, like I’ve just slapped them all with the back of my hand. I wish I could. My chest is heaving, struggling to draw enough air to keep pace with my mounting fury. Even after I’ve been healed, the strain of the days trapped on that cliff and the hours I spent running through the maze bend me in half. I clutch my heart, coughing so hard the just-healed wounds in my midsection pull.
“Lor,” Atlas says softly, placing a hand on my back, running it up and down my spine. “I understand that was unpleasant, but those are the rules of the Trials.”
Still bent over, I watch as a tear lands on my boot, leaving a defined track through the dust as it rolls off my toe. I’m still crying and I hate that so many people are here to witness this moment that I finally split in two. “I thought Tristan and Willow were here,” I sob. “I thought they were in danger.”
Atlas moves closer, bending over and placing his mouth near my ear.
“They’re still in Nostraza,” he whispers so low only I can hear. “And soon you can get them out. The Sun Mirror is waiting for you.”
My eyes close and I inhale a deep breath, teeth gritted. “If you think I still
want to bond to you after all this, you’re delusional.”
“Lor,” he says, lines of tension forming around his eyes.
“Bond to Apricia. She makes far more sense. Send me home, Atlas. I don’t want any part of this court. I want to go back.”
“What are you saying? You’d go back to that shithole over being bonded to me?”
Standing up straight so everyone can hear me, I pin him with the most hostile look I can drag up from my exhausted spirit. “Yes.”
His expression shifts, a façade cracking, revealing slivers of darkness underneath the light. That kind patience in his eyes drops away to be replaced by cold blue fire. Ah, so this is it then. Something has always felt off about his words and his affection. I could never quite settle into it. Dazzled by his beauty. Charmed by this entire existence, so at odds with my life in Nostraza, I was blind to everything.
I wanted to believe he wanted me for me and not what I could do for him.
But I should have known better all along. I was so stupid not to see it.
“Well, that’s too fucking bad, Lor,” Atlas whispers, a deadly threat in his voice. “I stole you from the Aurora King, and you are mine.”
Before I have time to process those words, he straightens his shoulders,
tugging on the hem of his golden jacket. “It’s time for the Mirror to choose,” he announces to the room.
“I’m not doing it,” I say, drawing myself up. I want to collapse in a heap of exhaustion, but I stand my ground, staring up at Atlas, who towers over me like a golden star about to implode in a blinding flash.
“You don’t have a choice.”
In response, I spit. He blinks as the spray hits him across one of his perfectly high cheekbones and the entire room gasps in horror. “I won’t do
it,” I hiss.
“Your Majesty,” a guard says, glowering at me. “I’ll take her down to the
dungeons.” Two guards appear at my sides.
“No,” Atlas says, holding up a hand, not taking his eyes off me. “She’s going to stand before the Mirror. Gabriel, bring her.”
Gabriel materializes before me, and I growl as he sticks me with his usual disapproving glare. I guess Atlas let him out of the dungeon. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Lor.”
“What do you care?” I shout. “You wanted me dead!”
He blinks—the only sign I’ve surprised him.
“Gabriel!” Atlas says. “Bring her now.”
Gabriel reaches for me, and I start screaming and kicking. “No! Leave me alone! I want to go home!”
Gabriel and several other guards surround me, grabbing my limbs. He’s now behind me, pinning my arms at my back, his grip around my wrists like a vise. I jerk my hands to get out and he pulls on my arms so hard my
shoulders groan.
“Hold still,” he says, seething.
“No!” I scream.
“Are you sure about this, Your Majesty?” Gabriel asks Atlas, his tone tight. “I can do as she asks.”
“Absolutely not,” Atlas replies. “She’s going to the Mirror.”
“But why? What could she possibly have to offer you, Atlas?” Gabriel’s voice is on the edge of desperate, his normally cool demeanor cracking.
Atlas stands in front of us both, his gaze matched with Gabriel’s. I reach out to kick Atlas, but Gabriel tugs me back with a snarl. “I am your king and
I order you to bring her to the Mirror. Don’t make me regret letting you out of the dungeon, Gabriel—you’re still on a very fine edge.”
There is a pause, the crowd in the room so silent you could hear a pin drop.
I feel Gabriel nod.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he says in a dispassionate voice. He shoves me then, guards surrounding me on all sides, Gabriel still clutching my wrists as I fight and kick with every bit of purpose I have. Dragged along, I’m forced to stand next to Apricia, who glances over at me, her expression wary. Blood smears
her forehead, and her normally perfect hair is a mess.
Our gazes meet, and it’s clear neither of us is going to win today. Atlas has made it apparent he wants me here, despite Apricia’s willingness to bond to him instead. But he doesn’t want her, and now I’m the only one in this room who really knows why.
What I don’t understand is how Atlas could possibly have discovered this secret.
Still holding my wrists, Gabriel shoves me forward with a grunt.
The Mirror is huge, standing three times my height. The thick oval frame is made of gold, molded with curls and flowers. It sits against a wall covered in gold silk, the surface so shiny and smooth it looks like a still lake.
I confront my reflection. The blood on my face. The wild look in my eyes.
“I’m going to let go,” Gabriel whispers in my ear. “And you’re going to stand here and do as you’re told. If you put a toe out of place, I don’t care what Atlas says or what happens to me, I’ll kill you instantly. Is that understood?” Slowly, I look over my shoulder and up at him. What I see in
his eyes tells me he absolutely means it. I nod.
“Thank you,” I say.
He furrows his brow. “I just threatened to kill you, Lor. You’re a strange
little creature.”
“I know you didn’t want me here, but you helped me anyway. Made me
stronger. I don’t think I would’ve gotten this far without your help. I would have died along the way for sure.”
“I was just doing my job,” he replies, his voice cold.
“Still. You did it well.”
“I told you, if you look good, so do I.” I’m not sure if I imagine the glimmer of softness I catch in his eyes before he says, “And you would’ve
made it here with or without me, Lor.”
I frown up at him, surprised by his words, the tears in my eyes building again. Now that I’ve finally let them go, I can’t seem to get them to stop.
“It’s time,” Atlas interrupts. With his arms folded over his chest, he’s just as beautiful as always, but his shine has tarnished to a dull luster.
Gabriel finally lets go of my wrists, and I shake out my arms, still looking at Atlas. Slowly, I direct my gaze to my feet, preparing myself for the next step in a journey I never imagined I’d set out on. For weeks, I’ve wondered what would happen when I stood here. What the Mirror would see.
With the deepest breath of my life, I take a step forward, and then another, my soft footsteps echoing in the room before I look up and stare into the
Mirror.
