Page 23

“Fallon. Fallon. FALLON!”

I startled awake to find three faces peering down at me, then decided I wasn’t quite ready to face reality yet. Especially as it immediately felt like someone was bashing drums in my skull.

“Five more minutes,” I said through a yawn.

A few sighs of relief followed.

Lou giggled. “Yeah, I think she’s back to her usual self.”

Someone punched me in the arm, and I snapped my eyes open, finding Kendra looking down at me with worry across her face. “Don’t fucking do that again!” she said, her eyes watering.

“Aw, you do care,” I said sweetly. My friend was having none of it, though. She bombarded me with a hug. I touched my head as a sudden pain pierced my skull and felt a bump on my forehead. “Hey,” I said gently. “I’m okay. You’re okay.”

“Thank fuck,” she muttered in my ear. “We all thought you’d turned into a zombie there. Dick had to knock you out.”

“You’re the one responsible for the egg on my head and the heavy metal band thrashing in my skull?” I asked him as I rubbed the particularly tender spot on my cranium. Then I grinned. “Kudos, man. I always knew you had it in you.”

He smiled sheepishly, but his amusement quickly faded. “We thought you were a goner, Fallon. Do you remember anything?”

I frowned. “Flashes, mostly. I remember not feeling entirely in control like I was one bottle deep into a long night of drinking.” A few images popped into my head, of leering faces and bloodied bodies. I shivered. “It’s starting to come back to me.”

“We think they dispersed some kind of drug through the vents. Who knows what kind of long-term damage it does to your brain? Whatever it does, a whole lot of Potentials didn’t come out.”

“I think…” Dick eyed the door behind us warily. “I think we were the last ones to come out. Unless there was another exit. Wouldn’t surprise me if there was to be honest.”

Silence fell over our little group, and the space suddenly felt too bright—too empty. “Where are we anyway?” I looked down a long hallway, confused and wary of the many doors I saw lining it. I could see names etched into golden plaques on each door and I cocked my head in question at the others.

Lou answered first. “We’ve looked down the whole hallway. The only doors unlocked are the ones with our names on them. I guess they have individual quests for the final part of the trial.”

My heart beat a little faster at the thought of separating again.

As it was, I was only alive—or sane—because of the people in this room with me.

“Typical Master tactics. Herd us together like sheep, then wait long enough that we start to rely on each other, only to isolate and corner us before ripping us to shreds.” I attempted to rise, almost slamming to the floor once more as my knees buckled.

Dick helped me up, lending a gentlemanly arm. “Fallon, you can barely move. Maybe you should rest a little longer?”

I shook my head. “If we’re going to do this, we do it together. I don’t want to wait here alone while the rest of you continue. I’d go out of my mind worrying anyway.”

“Mother hen,” Kendra said, rolling her eyes.

To that, I stuck my middle finger up and poked out my tongue. “You love me.”

“Yeah, bitch, I really frigging do, so try not to get yourself killed while I’m not around, ‘kay?”

I smiled. “I love it when you’re bossy. It’s hot.”

Dick sighed. “You two are so weird.”

“Dicky boy, you have no idea. Now help a girl to her door, will you?”

He shook his head hopelessly, his sandy blond locks falling into his eyes, before guiding me to the door labelled ‘Fallon Auger’. Then he and the others moved to stand before their own doors. We would all enter at the same time and hopefully leave at the same time too.

“Ready?” Lou called.

“As I’ll ever be,” I said, forcing it to sound cheery. “See you on the other side, super pod.”

Kendra gave me a hard look that warned me of all the things she’d do to me if I died in there. Yeah, it didn’t make sense, but I got the memo all the same. She’d be the cutest little ghostie I ever did see. With that comforting thought in mind, I stepped through the door that would seal my fate.

I’d seen enough wacky and weird in these trials to last me a lifetime, so after the previous room, I’d been expecting more monsters or a bunch of Potentials ready to end me once and for all.

What I wasn’t expecting was to find four platforms, each filled with things of the utmost importance to me.

The door closed behind me. No going back now.

On the far left was my brother and sister. My heart swelled with joy as I saw them, safe, sound and, most importantly, smiling. “Ethan! Hadley!” I ran, my body forgetting the meaning of fatigue as pure adrenaline and joy spurred me on.

I neared the dais and skidded to a halt. My siblings hadn’t moved an inch. They didn’t stretch their arms out to me or smile wider, nor did their faces show any recognition of my presence at all. Slowly, I made to grab Ethan’s hand, but it passed right through.

My heart plummeted as I stared longingly at my family… what remained of them. The illusion shimmered, changing to include an image of me alongside them. We were all laughing, our faces red in that full-belly-laugh-can’t-breathe kind of way. And I… I looked so happy. So free.

I didn’t know the girl up there with them, but I wanted to.

I wanted to be her so badly because I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been truly happy and free to just be myself.

With everything I’d done—everything my father and Victoria had forced me to do—I’m not sure I knew how to be carefree and happy…

Not sure if I even could be anything other than a monster anymore.

At its core, this image was everything I was fighting for. Keeping Ethan and Hadley safe—fighting to get them away from my parents—was the one thing I’d never altered course from. It was everything.

A part of me wanted to stay and stare at them forever.

I knew it wasn’t real, but damn did it make that cold, dead thing in my chest crack with pain and longing.

I missed them so much. I missed Ethan’s stupid jokes, his kindness and the light that my parents hadn’t managed to snuff out yet.

I missed Hadley’s innocence, the pure glee in her giggles and her warmest of snuggles.

I missed us .

After staring at it until I was satisfied the image was well and truly burnt into my retinas for safekeeping, I turned to the next dais.

My mood shifted like the sands of freaking time as I beheld them.

My mother and father—beautiful and cruel.

It was hard to reconcile, sometimes, how awful my mother truly was.

She had never done anything outright to hurt me, but she’d never protected me either.

She knew perfectly well all the wicked things Victrus and Victoria had forced me to do, but she turned her back all the same.

Let’s not forget she was married to my father.

Anyone able to love such a beast was bound to be just as black on the inside.

I recognised some of myself in her though. Her beauty was a double-edged blade hidden by sleek and smooth curves. But where she was blond, graceful, and elegant, I was more like my father.

I cast my eyes upon him. Black hair, tanned skin, tall, and striking in countenance.

I studied the hard lines of his jaw and the rigidity in his stance.

Yes. I was definitely my father’s daughter in more ways than one.

He’d tried so very hard to cast me in his image.

He had failed in this task, but only because he’d turned his attention to my older sister.

My hands curled into fists at the thought, my nails biting into my skin.

He’d failed to turn her, too, so he’d done the unspeakable and wormed his way into her brain.

Fresh rage coursed through me like lightning.

This man… this fucking monstrosity. I had never particularly delighted in violence, but this was the one time I’d make an exception.

And he would fucking pay. He and the multi-headed beast that was the entirety of House Jupiter and its criminal underbelly.

I forced myself to take a breath and still my mind. The hunger for justice was ever present, but I couldn’t let it rule me. Anger was a tool to be used on occasion—never the main weapon of choice.

I stepped down from the platform and walked away. It was easier to ignore the storm of emotions roiling inside when I spied what awaited next.

My heart did a happy little dance as I spied the four guys standing there.

Zane was grinning like a total cheese ball as he slung his arm around Ace, who was rolling his eyes in feigned annoyance.

Kayden had one muscled bicep resting on Noah, who had his nose in a book and was clearly protesting the interruption.

I studied them for a long, long while. These four men… they were beginning to change my life. No, that wasn’t quite right. They’d already changed my life. I’d felt things for each of them that I had never felt before—hadn’t allowed myself to feel.

After all the things I’d done, the people I’d hurt…

I shook my head. I wasn’t going down that road. Not today. The old Fallon would have insisted she didn’t deserve to be happy. She would have turned her back on the idea of happiness altogether, knowing she’d never truly have it whilst her parents still lived.

But since coming to the House of Ascension and meeting the guys, as well as Kendra, Lou, and Dick…

I was hungry for life. I wanted to savour every moment of joy and love and longing.

I wanted a life with these people in it.

And maybe, just maybe, that was entirely possible if we all made it out alive.

I’d made it clear to the guys that I was not to be caged, but now I realised that wasn’t true at all.

They had all accepted my feelings for each of them, as bizarre and unlikely as that may be, and in doing so we’d somehow forged a stronger bond.

I knew the guys were getting closer. Knew we would protect each other now, no matter what we were up against.

And deep down, I knew they hadn’t ensnared me. They’d set me fucking free. I wanted them—each of them. And I’d damn well fight for them, too.

My stomach flipped and a single tear slipped down my cheek.

Who would have thought? Fallon Auger, getting all sentimental over a gym junkie, a bookworm, a merman and a Drake.

I laughed, feeling a lightness bubbling inside.

And as much as I could stay and giggle at that image forever, it only made me want to get back to the real guys all the sooner.

I turned to face the final platform and felt the air rush from my lungs.

A silver crown with dainty, elegant whorls and encrusted with sapphires sat upon a red velvet cushion atop a white column. It glimmered as I stared, as if to say, “Come get me, I’m all yours!”.

My hands trembled a little as I reached for it, but I didn’t dare touch the thing, even if it was an illusion.

It seemed so incredibly me , and I knew, if I had lifted it to my brow, it would be the perfect weight and fit.

I could change the country with this hunk of metal.

I could pull the roots of slavery from its core, free the people and set things right again.

I could bring about a new age—one that benefitted all, not just the rich and fortunate.

This symbol was a powerhouse of hope. This monarchy was the reason I’d nearly died not once but several times in this nightmare trip of a trial.

And yet… I stepped back.

What exactly was this trial testing right now? Somehow, the Masters knew what was most dear to me, but what was the point of showcasing it like this?

I chewed my lip as I glanced at the four platforms. Each was a symbol of something different: My family and friends— lovers, even—represented love and loyalty, that was obvious. My parents, a need for justice and on a deeper level, revenge. And the crown…

A monarchy, a responsibility, a future… a purpose?

I’d entered the trials in part because my father had forced me, but I’d also entered in the hope that winning would give me the means to protect my siblings and ensure they had a better future.

But what about my future? I had spent so much time doing the will of others and then trying to make up for those terrible deeds by striving to act in a way that served others, but what about my own choices?

All the things on those platforms drove me in different ways, but all things were tied to others.

Maybe I needed to think about myself, for a change. What did Fallon want?

I glanced between the four platforms, feeling torn as if this showcase was somehow meant to make me choose and I could only have one.

Except… why choose? I didn’t want one. I wanted it all.

I wanted to be happy, to have a family, to be in love, to ensure my parents reaped what they sewed.

And at the heart of it? I wanted to be queen because being queen meant I could have all those things and more.

Was that selfish? Maybe. Maybe that decision meant I could have my cake and eat it too, but it also meant I could still do something for myself while serving others.

And that right there was a gift. One I wouldn’t squander if I became the new ruler.

Maybe no one was listening, or maybe I was entirely wrong about the purpose of this test altogether, but I didn’t care. I needed to hear myself say it just once, just so the world could hear me.

“You want me to choose one of these four platforms?”

I let that question echo in the chamber before I smiled and lifted my chin.

“I can’t choose between them, because they all represent one thing and one thing only. There is no choice between family, justice, love, or the crown. These are all tied to the most important thing in this room. The only one who can make these illusions an eventuality.”

I smiled again, knowing deep in my bones what I wanted from this day and all to come.

“For once in my damn life, I choose myself.”