Page 16 of Spirit Trials (The Spirit Kingdoms #1)

I don’t bother going downstairs. A few minutes later, somebody bangs on my door, startling me. I take a breath and wrap a blanket around my shoulders before opening the door. “I called you,” he says, his eyes flashing.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you expect me to come running when you asked so nicely for me?” I ask sweetly.

He stares down at me, and I can see the anger in his eyes and in his body; he’s practically vibrating with it. “Do you have any idea what you did in there tonight?”

“Yes, I made sure everybody knew who I was.” I lift my chin in defiance. “Lox told me to be fierce, and I was.”

“Fierce. Not stupid.”

My spine stiffens at his words. “Yeah, well, Prince , maybe if you had prepared me better for tonight, I could have done things the way you wanted. Instead, I went in blindly.”

His angry eyes clash with mine. “Well, congratulations. You just made an enemy of every single competitor in this year’s spirit trials.” He walks away, and the first tinges of regret begin to grow. I climb into bed and stare at the door before I finally lie down.

It's too late to regret my actions now. I have a hard time sleeping, and I’m up early the next morning.

I take a bath because I don’t know when my next one will be and then open the wardrobe expecting to find one of Jamik’s shirts and a pair of trousers.

But that’s not what greets me. I spend the next few minutes dressing in the clothing the tailor made for me for the spirit trials.

It takes me a few minutes to figure out how it all goes together, but when I do.

..I shake my head. The man truly is a magician.

I study myself in the mirror. My outfit consists of thick pants that hug my legs, tall black boots, a long tunic with a high neck that protects my throat.

Bracers are sewn into the material to cover and protect my wrists; Rysden must have told him I use a bow.

There’s a soft, flexible and yet protective vest that fits over the long-sleeved tunic.

There’s also a belted pouch that I’ve already filled with throwing stars.

Last but not least, there are four straps for knives—two on each leg.

The entire ensemble is black. I swallow hard and vow to thank the tailor when I come back.

It’s still early when I leave my room, but I can’t stay in there any longer or I'll go crazy. I wander downstairs, hoping the fire is going in the main room. I walk toward the great room but stop by a nearly closed door when I hear an angry voice. It only takes me a moment to place the voice. It’s the Wolf King.

I still and don’t go any further. I don’t mean to eavesdrop; it just sort of happens.

“I asked you to come to the castle,” the king says angrily.

“I'm not an animal that you can summon.” That’s Rysden’s low voice.

“You sure about that?” the king asks. The king isn’t helping his cause in my eyes. I really don’t like him.

“What do you want?” Rysden asks. He sounds cool and calm.

It’s quiet a moment. When the king speaks, he sounds further away. “Quite the spectacle you put on last night.”

“I don't know what you’re talking about.”

“You expect me to believe the girl just showed up in all black on her own?”

“Coincidence,” Rysden says calmly.

I flinch when the king swears loudly. “You are the only one in this kingdom that dares to wear black to one of my events.”

“Farrah,” somebody whispers next to me, and I jump at least a foot in the air.

Lox stands next to me. “Boss says to get away from the door,” he says quietly.

My eyebrows rise in surprise. “How does he know I’m here?” I whisper.

He shakes his head. “It’s shocking to me that you don’t know by now that he knows your every movement.”

I scowl. “I’m not leaving; now go away. I'm trying to listen.” He smirks, but I ignore him and tune back into the conversation.

“And then your tramp shows up in your—” the king is saying.

“I would be very careful how you talk about her.” Rysden’s voice is different now.

The king’s voice deepens. “I don’t know what you're playing at but if you threaten my position...”

“You know I won’t do that.” Rysden sounds less angry and more resigned now.

The king laughs. “Right because you’re half a man.” I bristle at his words. “You’ve always been weak, just like your mother. You know what they say about you, right? That you’re the weak link in my kingdom. That you’re unfit to lead, a weakling, a do-gooder. You will never—”

And just like that, I’ve had enough. I throw the door open and march into the room.

The prince shoots daggers my way and glares behind me at where I’m assuming Lox is still standing.

But I don’t care. I purposefully ignore the king and walk over to the prince.

“Good morning,” I say brightly. He stares down at me, jaw tight.

The king clears his throat loudly, and I turn around and feign surprise.

“Oh, good morning. I didn’t realize we had company. ”

His eyes narrow at me. “How come you don’t bow to me like every other person in my kingdom?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” I face him head on. “You’re not my king.” He shoots his gaze to the prince, and I wonder if I shouldn’t have let that slip. Hopefully he’ll think I’m from the Jaguar Kingdom. The king steps forward, and I don’t miss the fact that Rysden steps closer to me.

He stares down at me before he laughs. Again . I sigh. He really needs to stop that. “I can’t wait until you fail,” he says in a hushed voice.

“Why?” I ask. I can’t help it.

“So, I can banish you with the rest of the worthless lot who don’t have a spirit animal.”

I meet his gaze head-on. He doesn’t scare me; I’ve dealt with men like him before. These kind of men would come through our village, looking to trade. I knew from experience that you couldn’t give them an inch. “You sure about that?” I ask.

His face turns red, and he steps forward. Rysden stands in front of me a moment later. “Back off.”

The king looks between the two of us before he smiles and then leaves without a word. I watch him go, and Rysden stands beside me, stiff as a board. He turns to me after we hear the front doors close. “You shouldn't have done that. Now you have an even bigger target.”

I ignore his words. “He's so awful. Why don’t you overthrow him and become King?” I think he’s going to stay quiet, but he surprises me.

“Because then I'd have to kill him,” he says in a low voice.

“And that’s so bad?” I ask.

“No. But I won’t do that.”

“Why ever not?”

“My mom.”

My heart squeezes in my chest; he’s never said anything about his mom. “Your mom?”

“Yeah. She’s bound to my father. If I kill him, I kill her.”

“What?” I breathe.

“They’re bound by magic. All royal couples are.”

I take in this new information and wonder what kind of person would bind themself to that man. “Did I miss her last night?” I ask in confusion.

“No. She doesn’t approve of the spirit trials and wants nothing to do with them. She doesn’t attend those events.”

I look at his face; I want him to say more but can tell he’s done.

“Did you eat?” he asks, surprising me by the change of conversation.

I nod. He stares down at me, and I wonder what he’s thinking.

“Farrah, I—” A knock at the door silences him.

He gives me one last glance before opening the door. “Stay alive.”

“I plan to.”

Before he leaves with Lox, who knocked, he turns back. “There’s something else in your wardrobe for you for the trials.”

Curious, I make my way back to my room and open the wardrobe, wondering what I missed.

When I don’t see anything, I look up at the top shelf.

My eyes widen. “Oh my goodness,” I whisper.

Very carefully, I pull down a bow. It’s the most gorgeous bow I've ever seen, and I know he had it commissioned just for me because I’ve never seen one as small as this.

I take out the quiver and arrows and pull one out and stare at it.

It’s marked the way I mark all my arrows, with a red star.

I stare at them, unable to process the magnitude of this gift.

I throw the quiver over my shoulder and wrap my fingers firmly around the bow.

I glance around the room, committing it to memory and vowing myself to make it back.

Then I make my way quickly through the huge castle, trying to find Rysden.

I find him at the front door, almost ready to head out.

“Rysden.” He turns around immediately. I run over to him and throw my arms around him.

I know this is sorely inappropriate, and he’s probably cringing right now, but I don’t care.

I pull back and look up at his face. “Thank you! This is the nicest, most amazing...” I shake my head.

“I can’t believe you did this for me. It’s so.

..I just can’t...” I fall silent when words fail me.

“So, a weapon is what it takes to make you speechless?”

“Oh, definitely. The way to my heart is definitely through my bow,” I tell him and then regret my words instantly. I want to take them back, but I can’t without making it extremely awkward. So, I just move on. “Seriously, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He stares down at me so intensely.

“What?” I finally ask. He looks like he’s going to say something, but he doesn’t.

“Stay alive,” he repeats his words from earlier.

“I will.” And then he’s gone. I thought maybe he would ride with us over to the starting place, so he could see me off; but I guess not. I refuse to be sad. I can’t believe he got me this bow. I smile and finger one of the arrows. Hector walks past, and I stop him. “Look at what Rysden got me.”

“Go practice with it before we have to leave, but don’t lose any arrows.”

“I won’t. Call me when you’re ready to leave.

” I close the door behind me and head out.

It’s chilly, but my outfit is warm enough for now.

I practically skip over to the woods, anxious to try out my new bow.

I pick a mark on a tree and give it a try.

I’m a little off, so I reset and try again.

It only takes me a few more arrows to find my groove.

I am amazed at how smooth it is, and how much easier it is to shoot.

I’m practically giddy as I shoot arrow after arrow before I hear Lox yelling for me.

I make quick work of gathering all my arrows before heading back to the castle where Lox, Jamik, and Hector are all waiting.

“Ready?” Lox asks. “You have everything in your sack?”

“Yes, thanks.” They’ve all spent more than enough time going over what I need to take with me.

Each of them, including Rysden, kept giving me things all this week “for my sack.” Knives, throwing stars, waterskins, a small contraption that helps purify water, bandages, salves, healing herbs, and more.

I packed and repacked a hundred times, insisting I needed to be able to walk more than I needed all these things.

But they were all adamant. Even Jamik checked my bag at one point.

“Let’s go then.” Lox sounds uncharacteristically quiet. Even his eyes don’t look quite as bright as they usually do.

Throwing my bag over my shoulder next to my quiver of arrows, I smile at him. “I’m ready.”