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“Flark me,” Drazen groaned, muttering under his breath. “Don’t say it. Don’t say it.”

King Idris grew thoughtful. “Perhaps you are right.” He raised his arms to the crowd, addressing his adoring followers. “What do you think, my good people? Do I teach them a lesson?”

“To the pit. To the pit. To the pit,”the crowd chanted.

Kronk elbowed the infernus, snarling low. “Way to go, idiot.”

“I didn’t do it,” Drazen snapped.

“Clearly, they did not enjoy your pixie dance.”

“They did too.”

“Did not.”

“It’s not Drazen’s fault but the leech’s,” Runa snarled, leveling a furious glare on me. “It’s Custodis who screwed us over with his arrogant claims. Insisting that the king would find him useful.”

“Which was a far wiser approach than insulting him,” I retorted, then bit my lip when I realized what I had done—sinking to the bandits’ level and joining in their ridiculous bickering. Even though Iwas notone of them.

The king’s narrow smirk spread into a blinding smile. “The people have spoken. Lucky for all of you, the lunar equinox begins in but a handful of days, and we are short a few contestants.”

For the first time since entering the palace, a sense of dread filled my being. Whatever this “pit” was they spoke of did not sound promising.

Ready to deliver his verdict, King Idris raised his palm, and all gathered fell silent.

“Criminals of the realm…” At his dramatic pause, the room seemed to hold its breath.

“Welcome to the Fallen Trials,” he finished, and the crowd exploded in applause.

Chapter Nine

RUNA

This was all his fault.I glared holes into the back of Victor’s arrogant head as our guards led us through a wide underground corridor, deep into the belly of the keep. Glowing torches illuminated our way along the darkened path. Rough stone scuffed beneath our feet. The air, damp and musty. Voices of the condemned echoed in the cavernous space.

Kronk and Drazen followed at my back. Six armed guards led the four of us past the general population cells and into the high-security units used for those destined for the pit.

During processing, we’d been forced to change into course tunics, animal-hide leggings, and soft-soled boots. Around each of our necks were four very active suppression torques. The guy who owed me was nowhere to be found. Not that we were left unsupervised for even a moment. The urge to claw at my throat was a nest of stinging ants marching up and down my spine. The lack of control I held over the situation, over my own body, threatened to send me screaming down the corridor, tearing at my hair.

“We are the Blood River Bandits. No one can defeat us,” Kronk murmured in a failed attempt to lift my spirits.

“We’ve been through worse.” Drazen’s fake words of comfort were almost as effective as Kronk’s.

“Have we?” I snapped. “Because by my estimations, this is the worst of the worst.”

“At least your sister is alive,” Kronk contributed in a bright tone.

My insides shriveled. I’d led my brothers to believe Raelynn was dead. The truth was too much to bear.

“Did shelookaliveto you?” Her arms were completely black up to her shoulders—the effects of her crimes against the realm threatening to consume her.

Served her right. I steeled my heart against the anguish and betrayal threatening to overwhelm me. Seeing Raelynn again after her treachery, adorned in jewels and silks, sharing the king’s bed after what his rule had cost us made my head want to explode.

“She didn’t look dead,” Kronk grumbled, sounding hurt. He always was the sensitive one.

For a moment, my heart squeezed. If anything happened to my brothers, I wouldn’t survive the loss. Somehow, I would find a way to get us out of this mess. Surrender wasn’t an option. Too many depended on us. White Bridge would not fall as the village of my birth had.

We paused beside a wall of metal bars, the surface glowing with an eerie green light. Beyond the door was a vast room.