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Hope

A sense of urgency woke up a startled Hope. She stood with a jump, grabbed her daggers by the hilt, and ran as fast as she could to the top deck.

Goosebumps covered her thighs and forearms as she spun around, taking in the sight around her.

The sea was still, as if it had tired from raging and fighting overnight. The horizon didn’t show any land masses. However far Ciaran, Stevian, and Nyxara had moved the navia, it had been enough. They were safe. Safe from Thyria, the Roix, and her father, at least. Because the massive wall of crystal with a forty-five-degree inclination emerging from the water to the sky above was the opposite of safe.

Then she saw it. She saw her . Hope covered her mouth with the back of her hand, not letting go of the blade. She held her breath as the red mass of hair swam towards the crystal mass.

Ayla’s body was small in the distance, and yet Hope could see she had reached some steps that were pulling her out of the water. A feminine voice spoke from the top of the wall, where it mixed with the lower white clouds covering its peak.

“Welcome to your ordeal, Ayla Brachyan of the North House. May you demonstrate your worthiness to possess the Fifth by securing my crystal feather. The Cardinals will not favor you. Striver, you stand alone.”

Hope saw Ayla look up at the wall in front of her with more determination than fear.

Only a fearless woman would head towards a challenge that required one power without having access to the counterpart's power to balance her inner scale. If anyone thought that being the current heir of the North House would make anything easier for Ayla in the Giving ordeal, the voice of the Cardinal had just proved them wrong.

This was a losing game, and of all the things she could lose, Hope wished Ayla didn’t lose her life.

Ayla kneeled, both palms touching the crystal wall at her feet, and looked up. Ayla Gave a thin red rug in the center of the inclined wall. Hope couldn’t see the texture from the navia, but surely it had to be some rough material. Water and a smooth surface were never a good combination.

The next second, Ayla was running up, up, up the wall.

Behind Hope, there was a male gasp. “Is that—Of course she is. Fuck. Cardinals guide her.” Raoul’s voice sounded from behind. There was no point in Hope telling him that the Cardinals had made it clear that they wouldn’t guide her. Not today.

The wall seemed to swallow the rug, vanishing under Ayla’s feet and slamming her face against the crystal. She started slipping down all the way she had already climbed. She Gave two metal poles anchored to the crystal, that she used to propel herself upwards to keep from sliding down.

After a few minutes, Ayla regained some speed again. She kept repeating the same actions: Giving anchors, holding onto them and pushing herself up, until she Gave another two anchors to a higher area.

In an ideal world, Ayla would have been Taking the already used anchors, keeping her inner balance steady. In the real world, Ayla couldn’t Take because she had no South Petal. She had no access to the Taking power.

She would have to continue Giving anchors, rugs, or whatever she needed until she reached the top. Whenever she reached the top, and that wouldn’t be anytime soon.

“Do you think she will make it?” Raoul asked.

Hope nodded slowly. “She has to.”