Page 42 of Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound #3)

We removed several emeralds from my side, but again, the scale hardly responded. “Maybe it’s not about weight at all,” Duncan suggested, speaking through clenched teeth as he glanced at the walls.

“Balance calls, heed its advice…”

We stared at each other in silence, because what the hell did that even mean?

We were going to fucking die here.

The walls grinded closer with each passing second, seemingly moving even faster than before. Duncan let out a grunt, staggering back from his side of the scale.

“Did you just do something? This side just got way heavier.”

I stared back at him, desperately searching for an answer. None of this made any sense. The scale was reacting as if the weight of the emeralds were completely irrelevant.

“Take them all off,” I blurted, swiping the ones off of my side and sending them toppling to the ground.

I blinked, catching a bit of stone dust right in my eye. The walls were closing in faster than ever now, and were just a few feet away on either side.

Duncan swiped the emeralds from his side as well, his cheeks going pale as the scale didn’t move an inch.

“If it has nothing to do with the emeralds, then what’s moving the scale?”

My heart hammered in my chest as the walls crept even closer, and I mentally ran through the riddle for the thousandth time.

In emerald hues, two piles lay,

Upon these scales, your fates now sway.

Match the sides and be precise,

Balance calls; heed its advice.

Judge not by eye alone, beware,

The truth concealed is waiting there.

Find harmony of heaviness,

Or suffer grave unpleasantness.

Think sharp, think swift, your time draws thin,

For soon the walls come pressing in.

Duncan grunted, his eyes flashing with silver berserker fury as he threw his arms out to either side, physically holding the wall back from crushing us.

“I’ll hold it back for as long as I can,” he roared, his eyes going even brighter. But that only seemed to make the walls move faster.

Why?

Judge not by eye alone, beware,

The truth concealed is waiting there.

And then it clicked. This wasn’t a test of brawn. It was a test of brains.

“Wait,” I whispered. “Stop fighting it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he shouted, his Whisper beginning to take over.

“The emeralds don’t matter to this at all. The balance isn’t about that, it’s about us !”

His arms trembled as he pushed back against the wall, his muscles looking ready to tear free from his shirt. “Us?”

I dropped, sitting cross-legged onto the ground despite the dire situation. “We need to find a way to relax. The scale is responding to our emotions.”

He stared back at me, dumbfounded.

“You have to try. We were meant to use our heads here. The balance we need to achieve is inside us.”

He nodded and relaxed his arms, sucking in a deep breath. “I’ll try,” he whispered, taking a seat right across from me.

I closed my eyes, focusing on my breath and trying to block out the grinding all around us. All my instincts screamed for me to stand and find some way to fight back. To push and struggle against them, even if we didn’t have a chance.

A faint memory fought its way to the surface.

Me, in Little Alabaster’s palace, trapped in a falcon chute with no way out, this same, horrible feeling of being confined.

I’d overcome it then, and I’d overcome it now.

Not by kicking and screaming, but by calming the fuck down.

The only way to beat it was to stop resisting.

I willed my heartbeat to slow, even as the first wall pressed up against my arm. Duncan groaned across from me, and I risked a look at him. The walls had him firmly in their grip, squeezing like a vise from both sides, threatening to crush him from shoulder to shoulder.

I reached out to him, grabbing him gently by the wrist. “You can do this,” I said, knowing how much I was asking. It was hard enough for me to stay calm, and I wasn’t the one with magical rage running through my veins, and on the verge of being crushed.

“You taught me to predict, not just react,” I whispered. “How to move beyond instincts, Duncan. You’re so much more than brute strength. It was your brilliant mind that allowed you to stage a coup and save an empire.”

He took in another, shuddering breath. For a second, his jaw clenched so tight that the veins bulged on his neck, but, gradually, he began to relax.

“Hi,” I murmured, forcing a smile to my trembling lips.

His mouth tipped at the corner and his dimple flashed for an instant. “Hi yourself.”

We stayed like that for a long moment, and suddenly, the groaning around us grew quieter.

We both turned and watched as the brass scale shook and shimmied before slowly righting itself, the plates lining up in perfect balance.

“Excellent.”

“We did it.” Duncan exhaled slowly and slumped as the walls pulled away. His face was slick with sweat and we were both still shaking, but I was shocked to see that his eyes were still molten silver. Rather than suppressing his magic, he’d managed to use his mind to control it.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, covering my mouth with my trembling hand. We’d prepared for battle, and I thought I was mentally ready for whatever the trials threw at us; lions, tigers, bears…but this?

This was a different beast entirely, pure psychological torture.

The walls around us dissolved into wisps of smoke and we were back in the room with Hook and Billy a few feet away, as if we’d never left.

They turned, staring down at us, backlit by the golden orb of light.

“You two alright?” Hook asked, stepping closer and cupping the back of my head gently in one hand to study my face. “Are you hurt?”

I glanced at Duncan, and he met my eyes with a slow nod. “We’re good,” I said, realizing with a start that it was true.

We’d made it past the first trial, and now, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Or —I corrected as the orb blinked and began to move— the light in the mausoleum.

Before I could even celebrate the win, though, the voice of the sphinx rang out again.

“You have the wisdom of a queen,” it said, slipping strangely from one voice to another. “But do you have the heart of one?”

Billy, James, and Duncan all exchanged a worried look and my stomach sank.

Shit.