Page 184 of I Dream of Dragons

“Nobody. Touches. You.” The snarl is back, twisting his beautiful mouth. The rage in his dark eyes soothes the ache in my chest. “Never again.”

The king wanted me to refuse him and hurt him. But I couldn’t. Tru managed what I couldn’t do. He hurt him where it mattered. Without any friends, any supporters, he’s all alone in the palace.

Just like I am.

And perhaps it doesn’t matter. After all, unless I manage to kill the king tonight—and die in the process, but I try not to dwell on that part—we still need to survive the third trial and there’s no telling if we’ll succeed.

The roof terrace is illuminated with glittering lanterns. The glowing column of the Pillar beyond that turns the sea milky.

As we exit the stairs and step out, I quickly realize that only Jai and I are dressed in black. Everyone else is wearing light, bright colors, colors of the day and dawn.

It feels appropriate that we are dark as the night.

Fairy lights hang between the pillars and over the balustrade. Colorful banners fly on tall poles, fluttering in the sea breeze. The sky seems full of fires and stars.

The fae nobles turn to stare at us, dressed as always in colorful silks that flutter in the breeze. They don’t laugh or whisper behind their hands like they used to.

The music stops. Silence spreads around us in ripples.

Even the so-calledluminaor goblins, the lesser fairies the king lets loose during these balls slink away, hiding behind the potted plants and hedges, their tails swinging back and forth, their eyes glowing.

Jai’s gaze roams over the terrace but nobody seems able to look him in the eye, everyone looking away or bowing their heads. Glittering black moths flutter over his broad shoulders. One flies to me, landing on my arm, winking like a gem.

What are they seeing? What are they thinking? They watched us in the arena, saw us courting death time and again.

Some dead never leave…

A drak screeches high above, flying through the dark, and the crowd seems to wake up from its stupor. The music resumes, merry and quick-paced.

We walk among the fae and they flinch away from us, silent and staring. Here and there, magic flares. A twig twines around a fae lady’s arm, blossoming. A fae lord’s long hair turns to foliage. Another turns a face that morphs into that of a bird. It’s earth magic, the magic most fae carry inside them.

I force my gaze ahead, make myself show no reaction. We keep moving, our clothes rustling, the night whispering around us.

And then I see her.

Amaryll.

A tall figure steps out from behind her, and I recognize Tru.

Jai’s face settles into a dark scowl, but before he can speak, I step in front of him.

“Amaryll. I was glad to hear you survived, though nobody has told me how.”

“A drak swooped down and rescued me. A yellow drak. Said Athdara sent him.”

I glance back at Jai and he shrugs, smiling faintly.

He did this?Oh Gods…Even wounded and barely conscious, he asked the drak to drop him off on the palace terrace and then go find the other survivors.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

Amaryll smooths her graceful hands over her yellow gown. Her dark curls glitter with yellow garnets and tourmaline. “Were you truly glad to see me alive? After I tried to get rid of you?”

“The fuck?” Jai’s smirk evaporates. “She did what? And I saved herlife?”

Oh shit.

“It was the game,” I say smoothly, even as I recall Mera’s words of warning in my room earlier, about Amaryll wanting to win the third trial and become the king’s human queen. About the need to be wary of her.