Page 30 of A Court of Wings and Shadows

“I’ve missed you, Ashlyn,” he said, low and intimate.

I didn’t look at him.

Didn’t need to.

Because whatever this was, it wasn’t aboutmissing me.

It was about control.

About proximity.

About a war that wasn’t being fought on the field.

We launched onto the course one by one, boots slamming into damp earth as the war horns sounded, echoing across the Hallow like a call to battle.

My pulse thundered in my ears as I sprinted forward, the dense trees parting just enough to allow the narrow path of the Blackbind Run to unfold before me, twisting turns, sharpened branch traps, sudden drops into illusion pits. I ducked beneath a low-hanging vine, vaulted over a trench, and slid beneath a swinging log laced with thorned vines.

Only ten seconds in?—

And I knew I wasn’t alone.

Footfalls thundered behind me, and a voice, far too smug for the effort he should’ve been exerting, called out, “Going somewhere, white-hair?”

Perin.

Of course.

I didn’t waste my breath answering.

I surged forward into the next section, a rotating bramble wall that spun slowly, vines laced with barbs, the platform shifting as you climbed. I leaped, fingers digging into the notched grooves, legs scrambling for purchase. The vines scraped my arms, but I was halfway up when?—

Pain burst through my scalp.

Perin had grabbed my braid.

Heyankedhard, and I gasped, my grip slipping on the twisting stone and thorn. My left foot lost purchase, but I snarled and held on with both hands, refusing to fall.

There were no rules in Blackbind.

Only the finish line.

And Perin knew it.

Casualties were expected. Encouraged, even.

He’d found his excuse, and his opportunity for revenge.

“You should’ve stayed off the course,” he hissed, trying to yank me down again.

“Still obsessed with getting beat by a girl?” I snapped back, my voice shaking with effort and rage.

I twisted, kicked, and caught him in the ribs. It wasn’t enough to knock him off, but it loosened his grip.

I scrambled over the last crest of the wall and dropped into a roll on the other side, boots thudding into the mud.

But I didn’t get far.

A glowing ring materialized ahead, a combat circle.