Page 19 of Bonded to the Fallen Shadow King (Of Fae and Wolf Trilogy #1)

Chapter Nineteen

Briar

I shook my head and rushed to Rhielle’s side. “No. Let me help—”

“Go!” She tried to shove me away, but it was barely a tap. “I can protect myself, I promise, but the other girls are in more danger than me.”

My heart twisted at the thought of leaving her, but she was right. We needed to slow down the fucking labyrinth. “Fine, but I’m coming back for you. Just hold on.”

I turned my gaze upward, examining the columns. They rose easily twenty feet, if not more, to a wide ledge similar to the flooring, which ran the perimeter of the top of the tower like a rooftop landing with open air in the center.

My heart sank. We had to climb up there with these fucking discs and in a heavy dress. At every turn, the Council members and Fate seemed even more monstrous than before.

Kaylen’s silver eyes met mine. Her face was slick with sweat as she clung to her column. She seemed stuck. Ceana was still moving slowly, her hand tapping each section before she inched higher. Deallan’s limbs jerked with impatience as she yanked herself upward, her eyes burning bright with determination.

The discs hung from their wrists, dragging them down and making them struggle to climb upwards.

There had to be some sort of trick to it that would prove our smarts. With the weighted dresses and the discs, climbing would be hard enough. I skirted the floor ledge, careful to stay away from the pit in the middle, to the column on the other side of Deallan and looked. The columns were about two feet apart from each other, with about a three-inch gap between the tower floor ledge and each column, but the giant hole they circled would be deadly to fall into. Sure enough, crabs, leeches, and lobsters milled about below in the watery pit, squelching and disgusting. Below the floor ledge, the columns shone with something sleek and greasy.

My leg throbbed in sync with my racing pulse, and my mind hazed.

Shaking my head, I glanced at the columns again. Something was off.

“Be careful.” Rhielle’s words were strained. “The columns bite.”

“What?” I narrowed my eyes, taking in the gray, coarse surface. The column appeared thick with a strange scalelike texture carved into the stone, but I couldn’t see any hints of a mouth.

The mechanical click sounded again, even deeper than the last. My skin prickled, and I staggered back in horror as four or five mouths opened at irregular intervals along each column, showing off needle-sharp teeth that hooked inward.

Kaylen screamed, but she held tight. Her body swung wildly, and she barely regained her footing as she moved to the side of a mouth. Ceana shrieked and clung to her column. Her movements were frantic as she dodged the biting mouths. Deallan wasn’t so lucky. She cried out as one of the mouths caught her hand. “Let go!” she howled as blood gushed from the mouth, which loosened just enough to draw in more of her hand. The crunch of bone made my stomach heave.

She needed help, and Kaylen and Ceana were screaming.

Heartbeat pounding in my ears, I grabbed the leather straps at my sides and braced one of my shoulders against the column I’d chosen, then swung my discs around opposite sides of the pillar in a fast arc. The metal clanged as the two discs twisted together on the other side of the column and locked into place through the tension of the leather. I jerked the straps tight and used them for leverage to haul myself upward, like a makeshift tree-climbing belt.

The leather had enough length for me to lean back and brace my feet against the column as well. The column’s surface scratched at my wrists and forearms, and the scaly stone grated against my feet as I climbed.

A horrible thought occurred to me. How the hell do I avoid the mouths?

The discs couldn't be removed until the trial was over or I completed it, so hopefully that meant the mouths couldn't bite through the leather straps. If I could avoid sticking my foot in one, maybe I’d be okay.

I inched toward the nearest mouth, its lips peeling back to reveal the fishhook-like line of curved teeth. My breath hitched. Those teeth didn’t just bite—they caught. If I yanked away, they’d shred me. "Hold on, Deallan!"

The discs creaked as I leaned my weight into the climb and searched for traction with my feet. The mouth was now a foot away and moving toward me again, grinding against the stone as it opened wider, hungry.

How the fuck were they moving? It had to be some sort of freaky-ass fae magic.

Above me, Deallan screamed, driving me to climb faster.

My hearing tunneled as a wet snap rang through the tower.

Deallan’s entire hand was crushed between those horrible teeth. Blood sprayed her column, splattering in a violent arc.

I was still a few feet short of reaching her, but I lunged upward, discs scraping the stone as I shifted my weight. I braced one foot as best I could and tried to reach out to her with the other. "Grab my foot, Deallan!"

Deallan lost her grip on the column and pitched backward. She hovered in midair, one arm handless, blood trailing behind her like a ribbon. Then she fell straight down, grabbing for my foot but missing.

Her scream cut off as she splashed into the pit.

The water erupted, thick with sludge and rot, and creatures surged over her. Leeches wriggled like black ribbons around her limbs. Crabs climbed her torso, snapping and tearing. The water churned, red blooming through the mist as her body thrashed once—then stopped.

I clung to my column, bile rising in my throat, the slick of sweat and blood on my palms threatening my grip. My leg pulsed with every heartbeat, pain growing stronger with each second. Tears ran down my cheeks, and I had to force myself to look away.

Another person I’d failed.

A mouth groaned open beside me. I shifted higher, muscles shaking, the discs slipping slightly. The leather bit into my fingers, but I adjusted the tension and kept moving.

One mistake, and I’d join her.

I climbed, shifting the straps higher inch by inch. Strain crept into my limbs like rot, causing each movement to hurt worse than the last. The discs groaned under my weight, and the stone raked against my skin, leaving raw red marks behind.

Ceana clung to her column, frozen. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Her gaze remained locked on the pit below, where Deallan had fallen to her death.

A lump formed in my throat. “Keep moving!”

Her fingers barely twitched. I couldn’t reach her from here. If she didn’t snap out of it soon, she was going to die.

“Briar,” Kaylen called. Her voice was barely audible from above. “You shouldn’t keep going. The crabs and leeches will attack again soon, and Rhielle is helpless over there. You need to protect her. Do you want one of your friends to die when you could save her?”

A hard knot formed in my stomach. Kaylen was right. I shouldn’t have left Rhielle.

“Feck off, bitch!” Rhielle’s face reddened with anger. “Briar, if you come get me and let Kaylen finish first, I’ll kill you myself!”

That lit something in my blood. She was right. Kaylen was manipulating me, and worse, I was letting her.

My wolf surged. Hot. Focused. Wild.

I bared my teeth and moved the discs up the other side of the column again, aiming to position the leather strap across one of the gnashing mouths. It gaped, already twisting toward me. I jerked the strap tight and pressed my leg against the anchored discs, climbing with every scrap of force I had left.

The mouth chomped, gnawed, and gagged on the leather, its teeth clacking uselessly against the strap. It couldn’t hook on. Couldn’t pull me in.

My heart started beating again, and I kept going.

I climbed fast enough that the mouth couldn't catch my foot, the strain setting my limbs on fire. My dress clung to me from blood and sweat, and one of my sides screamed with each movement. The scent of blood, sweat, and mold thickened, and my hands slipped.

Pulse racing, I caught myself and forced myself to climb higher. My breath came in tight gulps.

And before I realized it, I was at the top. The column ended smoothly.

I hauled myself up, barely getting one elbow up before the discs bit into my side, and I flopped onto the top ledge. But I couldn’t stop. Not yet. I had to do something else with these discs.

The top of the tower spread out around me. The circular, flat landing had thirteen tall circular stone containers set next to the wall around the outermost edge. Each container was marked with an emblem carved deep into the surface, one of the symbols that had been etched on our discs on display, glowing faintly against the cloudy sky. My gaze landed on a butterfly with flames for wings.

My tattoo—and the symbol on my discs.

Something writhed on top of each container, shifting in patterns like ripples on stone. The movement barely registered at first, but as I stepped closer, my vision sharpened.

Vipers. Dark-scaled, their bodies blending into the stone so well they’d be invisible if not for the glint of their eyes.

I froze as one of the vipers flicked its thin ruby tongue, tasting the air. If these snakes were like our vipers back home, they would strike at any sudden movement or if they sensed fear. We stayed away from vipers even in wolf form because they were unpredictable, but I didn’t have that option here.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself, and trying to focus on the task and not my injuries. Then I locked eyes on the closest container. My breath slowed.

No jerks. No panic. I walked forward with steady, measured steps, each one anchored with control. Confidence—not speed—was my best shield.

The discs pressed against my sides, heavy and cold. I stepped into place before the container marked with my emblem. The slit waited, with no sign of what might be inside or how I was going to get the leather straps off. My skin buzzed. The snakes didn’t move.

Not yet.

I bent slowly, guiding a disc toward the opening. My fingers brushed the rim. The nearest viper’s tongue flicked again.

Then I slid them in, first one, then the other. For a moment, the tension on my wrists tightened, then the leather straps dissolved. The discs disappeared with a satisfying shoonk .

A sharp crack split the air, and I forced myself not to flinch so the vipers wouldn’t attack.

Light flared up the stone, and a burst of heat rushed against my face. The scent of cinnamon and smoke hit me like a punch. The container shimmered, shifting from dull gray to copper. The vipers retreated, their coils tightening before they slithered backward and vanished into more slits along the top.

The entire tower groaned beneath my feet, and I could only pray that meant both that I had finished and that the labyrinth had calmed.

Another deep, grinding click reverberated from below.

I slowly kneeled on the ledge as the vipers slithered away and spun, sprinting back to the column’s edge. Kaylen had managed to climb a few more feet. Her limbs trembled under her weight, her progress stalled.

Ceana hadn’t moved at all, stuck in the exact same position as I’d last seen her.

I yanked at the gown tangled around my legs, tearing off multiple layers of the skirt in one pull. My body lightened, and with the thicker layers gone, the air hit my skin like ice. I stood in my small clothes, soaked through with sweat and blood. No time for modesty, not that I’d had any since the last trial.

I crouched and ripped the fabric into long strips, then knotted them one by one into a rope. I tied the makeshift rope to the top of the nearest column in a constrictor knot. The stone tugged at the edges of the fabric as I lowered the rope. I didn’t see any moving mouths, but I needed to hurry before they appeared once more.

“What's wrong with you? You’re a fecking abomination!” Kaylen’s nose wrinkled in disgust. Sweat beaded her face and soaked her ruined dress.

Even when she could ask for help, she’d rather insult me. I snorted and didn’t waste my breath replying. I climbed down the rope, wrapping the fabric around my forearm to slow my descent. The knots slipped fast, the fabric fraying on the rough stone. Getting down was far easier than going up, and soon my feet slammed onto the lower platform.

Rhielle stared at me, blood on her lips. “What the feck are you thinking? Why are you down here?”

I dropped to one knee beside her. “I'm making sure you can keep your promise. But you have to help me so we both stay alive.” I leaned in, gripping her good arm. “You're still going to beat Kaylen.”

A crooked grin broke across her face, sharp with pain but fierce. “Damn right, I am. Let’s do this.”

I helped her up, steadying her weight against me. Together, we limped toward the nearest column. Despite her limp, Rhielle’s feet barely dragged.

I pressed my back to the column and braced her body with mine. “Your turn.” Quickly, I explained about the vipers at the top.

She nodded and swung her discs around the column. The metal locked in place with a satisfying clang.

I turned to face the column and stepped in close, positioning myself between her arms. Then I crouched and hoisted her up in an awkward piggyback hold, her weight unbalanced but bearable. My legs strained and wanted to buckle as her arms locked around my waist. Her legs hugged my sides, trembling but strong enough to hold.

“Don’t let go.” I took in a ragged breath, already feeling the strain from her weight.

“Don’t plan to,” she gritted out.

Then together, we climbed.

The straps strained under our weight, but they held. We levered ourselves upward, inch by inch. Rhielle’s breath shuddered against my neck, and my legs burned as my wound bled more. Every movement pulled at my injuries, and no doubt hers as well.

But we both were determined not to stop.

Working together was easier than I would have thought possible. My muscles trembled from the strain, but Rhielle clung tight. Each foot braced against the stone while each shift of weight got us closer to the top. Her breath puffed hot against my neck, uneven but steady.

The straps creaked but held.

Inch by inch, we reached the top.

Kaylen mumbled stuff, but I didn’t have the energy to spare to listen. Most likely, she was pissed that I was going to beat her twice. A smile tugged at the corners of my lips, but I was too tired to lift them. Every bit of energy had to be saved until Rhielle finished too.

I hauled us up with one last shove. My knees hit stone, and I fell forward, dragging Rhielle with me until we collapsed on the platform. The cloudy sky blurred in my vision, and for a second, I just breathed.

Then I forced myself to my feet.

Rhielle grunted as I lifted her again, hooking one arm under her legs and the other around her back. Slowly, minding the vipers, I carried her around the ring to the container with the shadowed panther, muscles sleek, eyes sharp, etched in obsidian. Her emblem.

Kaylen finally reached the top of her own column. Her face was greasy with sweat, and her legs trembled.

“Move slowly, and don’t be scared of them,” I reminded Rhielle and set her down in front of her container.

“I’m too injured to be scared,” she hissed as she very carefully guided the discs into the slit. Her fingers trembled as the snakes licked the air. The metal sank in with a soft snick, and her leathers fell from her wrists.

A burst of violet light surged around her container.

The air filled with the scent of lavender and ripe plums. Warm and sharp. Familiar and defiant.

Rhielle’s eyes widened, and she laughed. Her head tilted toward Kaylen.

“Eat shit,” she said, grinning through the pain.

The mechanical click sounded again, deep and final.

Kaylen snarled and shoved herself over the ledge. “You think that means anything?” She dragged herself toward her own container, fury etched in every step. “You’re both still scaffing abominations.”

She slammed her discs into the slot, and the tower shuddered.

The snake on top of her container coiled tight. Kaylen didn’t notice...and it struck.

Its fangs dug deep into her face, and she screamed bloody murder.

My stomach lurched, and I had to look away. Even if I hated her, no one deserved that sort of pain.

The sound tore through the platform as she stumbled backward, hands flying to the wound. Blood poured from beneath her eye as the snake retreated back into the stone like smoke.

Another loud, ground-shaking metallic click rang and settled deep into my bones, making my teeth chatter. There was a grinding noise, like a machine stopping, and the world disappeared from under our feet.