Page 12 of The Ash Trials (The Septerra #1)

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I t was so much worse than I could have expected.

Two red-maned lionesses were chained at the foot of the throne, unable to move more than a few feet away, the short leashes keeping them trapped as they growled and bared their teeth. Both of the lionesses bore deep red gashes and other injuries. Laughing prisoners—all of Ajax’s cronies—surrounded them with bloody swords.

There was not just one Ajax lounging on the obsidian throne—but a second one leaning against a pillar nearby, with an identical grin, eye patch, and short dagger—dripping with crimson.

All the heads in the throne room turned to me as I strode in.

“Ah, Saffron,” Ajax said, cocking his head from the throne. “I’ve caught your pet, it seems. Not that she or her double put up any real fight.”

Both lionesses turned and growled at Ajax—both of them, at least, on the same page that he was the enemy.

I stepped to the center of the throne room, clutching my sword as the other prisoners began to circle me.

“Let Rachelle— both of her—go.”

Ajax clucked his tongue. “That’s not how this works.” He turned to his cronies. “Kill her.”

A swing of metal caught the light above me, and I barely dodged the oncoming blade after each prisoner stepped out of the circle to make a run at me. They were laughing as their blades nicked my skin, tore at my body as if it were made of paper. I bobbed and weaved out of their paths, just barely faster than their lazy attempts to cut at me—but my heavy sword slowed me down. I didn’t dare let it fall from my grip.

Finally, my blade made purchase with a clang, sending one of Ajax’s cronies stumbling backward.

He was a slimy snake of a man. He smiled at me, and then spit something in my direction—and where his spit landed, the floor sizzled and burned. His saliva was acid . “I want a taste of you,” he said with a toothy grin.

I lashed out, slicing my sword through the air in a wild slash, but he just backed off slightly, grinning wildly as he continued to circle me. I couldn’t let him get close to me.

Another prisoner with a dagger slashed at me, and I was too slow this time. One of the Rachelles roared as I stumbled back. I felt warmth on my arm, and I looked down.

The dagger had cut deep—deeper than I had expected. One look at the blood and I felt woozy, the pain of the slice rushing back to me as my adrenaline ebbed.

The Saffron I knew couldn’t hurt a fly . Callum’s words echoed in my head.

How stupid was I to go running into a throne room full of Ajax and the rest of his brutal cadre who killed for sport? With no power, no plan, no help?

Shame sliced through me. I would die here—and my double, wherever it was, would giggle with glee as I lost this trial—and my life.

Stupid, stupid girl.

Tears stung hot but I forced myself to stand tall and proud and looked up to Ajax as he lounged on the throne.

“Fight me yourself, Ajax,” I challenged.

“And when I win?” he asked.

“Then you’ll have what you’ve wanted this whole time. Would be a shame to let all of your fun go to a bunch of copies and lowlifes. But if I win, I want Rachelle and her double to be released. So, how about it? Come down here and fight me yourself. That is… unless you’re afraid of me.”

All of Ajax’s men turned toward him. The threat was well-placed, aimed right at his male ego. If I was going to die in this throne room, the hell if it would be in vain. I’d die attempting to free my friend, not bleeding out slowly from a thousand cuts.

Slowly, Ajax pushed himself off the throne. He walked past his double—who was oddly silent and still—not making a move to try and kill the Real Ajax. The Real Ajax tossed his dagger from hand to hand, raking his eyes down my body.

“I’ll enjoy flaying you apart. Piece by piece.”

His circle of prisoners snickered, stepping back and widening the area below the dais for our fight.

Rachelle snapped her lioness-sharp teeth at Ajax and growled as he walked past her—and I knew from the way that the Rachelle on the left put up more of a fight, that that was indeed the real Rachelle. The other one merely stared at what was going on with vacant eyes, occasionally straining against her chains. Unless Rachelle had truly given up hope…

I took in a steadying breath as Ajax started circling me.

“It’s an insult to the rest of us that you’ve even made it this far.”

“Says the man who can’t even kill his double,” I taunted.

“I haven’t killed him because I’m here to play,” Ajax said, and then lunged at me.

I dodged, swinging the heavy blade with as much agility as I could muster. I held him off, my muscles screaming and more of my hot blood tumbling out of my wounds as I whirled.

Ajax fought like a brute, with punishing, horrible strikes. Again, and again, I parried, dodged. Some past training was ingrained in my instincts, allowing me to hold him off. But I still felt like my body was moving through molasses, my mind dragging my feet through steps it was too slow to execute.

Suddenly, I felt a searing pain through my thigh, and I screamed, stumbling back. Ajax grinned—he had struck low, and the tip of his blade had caught my leg, tearing it open.

I stuck my blade down into the ground, using it as a crutch.

“You’re done for,” Ajax said, circling me as I tried to keep the black spots from crowding too much of my vision. “It’s time to start begging for mercy. Or else I’ll just kill you more slowly.”

I let my shoulders slump. Let myself seem like I was about to pass out. It wasn’t completely an act. Not really. As Ajax tipped back his head and laughed, his cadre of bloodthirsty prisoners joining in at laughing at my breaking body, I bolted.

Not at Ajax. But toward what I suspected was Rachelle’s double.

The chained lioness didn’t even give me a second look. It merely raised a head as I lunged toward it, driving my sword through its eye.

Please be Rachelle’s double. Please. I prayed to all of the gods in all of the realms.

The whole throne room went silent as the lioness with my sword through its eye let out a dying whine, and slumped over.

Everyone’s gaze went to the other chained lioness, stunned at what I had just done. I didn’t waste a second of their shock, raising my blade once more to sever the chain that kept who I hoped was the real Rachelle leashed to the throne.

And then suddenly, strong hands hauled me back, and I realized Ajax’s double had grabbed me from behind, my sword clattering to the ground.

“You idiot!” the Real Ajax screamed at me. But my vision was going hazy as I clung to consciousness, blood still pouring from my wounds. It was amazing how much I had lost—I should be dry as a husk, and I knew I didn’t have much left to lose before my veins ran dry.

But as I turned to watch the unchained lioness beside the throne shift back into a human woman, those familiar green eyes looked up at me in disbelief. “Saffron,” she said in shock. “How did you know?”

I gave her an easy grin as I tried not to sway. “Lucky guess. Be safe. Tell Tristen thanks for me.”

“What are all you doing? Get those chains back on her!” the Real Ajax screamed.

But Rachelle had already grabbed for a fallen sword, fighting against the onslaught of prisoners. I saw how exhausted she was, how hard Rachelle fought as they rushed at her?—

—but then one of them roared with anguish as she sliced through him, spinning away…

…and just as Tristen had done, Rachelle started to vanish, dissolving into thin air.

“Saffron!” she yelled.

“Goodbye, Rachelle,” I said. “Now we’re almost even.”

Rachelle’s face was drawn in fear and sadness as she blinked from the throne room. I felt tears prick my eyes. The look Rachelle had given me—I knew, deep down, that I had picked correctly. That I had killed Rachelle’s double, saved my friend, and repaid at least one life debt.

As all of the heads in the throne room swiveled back to me, I held my head high, even as Ajax’s double tightened his grip on me.

“You fucking bitch, you lost me my pet!” Ajax said, turning on me. He tossed his dagger aside. “I will drain you dry and suffocate you on your own blood.”

“I’ve still won,” I said, glaring at Ajax. Even as fear sliced through my heart, I refused to give him the pleasure of seeing me break. “Rachelle will see to your end, even if I’m not the one to deal your death blow.”

Ajax’s eyes flashed. “Your friend will die like the rest of them. But as for you? This kill is for my brother. I know you were there when they murdered him.” His dark eyes glinted and he stepped up, raising his arms as his pupils rimmed with red.

Blood Magic.

As he jerked his hand up, I felt all of the blood in my body yank . It sang for him, and he whispered words—like a violent prayer in a language I didn’t recognize—as a sneer decorated his lips.

Every cell in my body wanted to fight free of myself. Yearning to leave me. The blood hurried to rush free and join him. And I watched in horror as the blood from my wounds started emptying from my veins, floating in the air toward Ajax.

I couldn’t stop the cry that escaped from me as my heart stuttered on the blood that refused to flow into it.

This was going to be a horrible, brutal death.

I kept my eyes hard, staring death down as I fought against his magic. Still, my mortal heart began to fail.

But something faltered in his eyes. The smirk disappeared?—

—and that’s when I felt it.

I fell out of his power, and I was gasping and wheezing on the stone floor just as the eternal coldness swept into the ballroom.

All of the candles went out as that evil creature that I had seen on the staircase entered the room. It was darkness and night and the overwhelming chokehold of a nightmare. It was horror and devastation and suffering all in one creature.

“I’ve come for you, my dear double,” it said. And as the words left its black lips, the shadows receded.

And the face that stared out at me?—

—was my own.