Page 28 of Traitor Wolf (Bonded by Fate Duet #1)

Chapter Twenty

T he night train from Grimreach was quiet.

Too quiet. Kaelric hadn’t spoken a word on the ride back.

But when I finally let my head fall against his shoulder, he didn’t pull away.

He sat there, warm and silent, until the city lights returned.

Elia was safe, Valkaryn had calmed, and Kaelric hadn’t let go of my arm once.

His fingers were threaded through the crook of my elbow, keeping me within arm’s reach.

Whatever happened between us on that battlefield… it got buried the second we returned to Aerlyn Academy. We had barely any time to check in with my family and Cassian before we were on the train to the Steel Mountains.

It was trial day, the second one.

It was obstacle-based, from the look of it .

The stone beneath my boots was slick with morning dew, and there was dried blood from last night on my boots. I stood just behind the iron gate of the arena, heart thudding, Kaelric at my side in human form.

The arena held a hush so deep it made the skin on my arms rise.

Kaelric stood beside me, eyes fixed on the obsidian platform at the far end of the stone field. His jaw was clenched, breath controlled, focused. But I could feel the tension coiled in him like a wire pulled too tight.

Above us, the raised stone dais overlooked the arena, and the sponsors sat in tall-backed chairs, robed in their house colors. Cassian was dressed in sharp black and dark blue, one hand resting lightly on the curved hilt at his hip. His eyes scanned the field and locked on me.

He dipped his chin once, just enough to be noticed. He didn’t seem too mad at my ditching him in the middle of the night to go to Fenmyr. For that, I was grateful. I needed to keep him as an ally.

The magistrate’s voice rang out from a smaller stone podium on the dais.

Her voice echoed across the stone field: “Today marks your second trial. This trial is known as The Gauntlet . A timed obstacle course designed to test the bond between wolfkin and weapon-bearer. You must reach the crystal at the center of the course. Together . If one of you fails to reach it, both are disqualified.”

She paused, letting that sink in. I peered to glance at Kaelric, but he didn’t look back at me, so I faced forward again.

“Magic is permitted. Interference with another pair’s bonded wolf, or weapon-bearer, is not. Violation of this rule will result in immediate execution.”

Execution! For messing with another initiate? Whoa .

There was a flicker of movement on the dais as someone laughed.

Probably House of Vexalor. They loved executions.

Magistrate Corvessa’s eyes swept over us. “The goal here is to weed out the weak. Only the mountain will know if you are worthy of its gift.”

That landed like a blade in my gut, the entire reason I was here: to get magic for my whole family and change their lives for the better. I stood a little taller then, imagining the mountain watching me, assessing whether or not I was worthy of the power it wanted to impart.

She turned toward the dais. “Sponsors, confirm your observation.”

Cassian stood first. “House Draven observes…”

One by one, the others followed. The process was so formal, and it hadn’t been done in the first trial. It gave me chills.

Then the silence returned.

I looked forward, really focusing on the obstacle course ahead.

Or at least what I could see of it from here.

The usual arena was completely transformed from its original state.

The gauntlet stretched before us, a collection of platforms of stone suspended over a black chasm.

The dirt-packed floor that was normally there…

a terrifying abyss had taken its place. There were spinning gears above flame pits, narrow beams slick with ice, monkey bars that led to a final platform that rose high above the rest. In the center was a faint glowing crystal pulsing at its peak.

It shimmered with a subtle hum that prickled at the edge of my magicless skin.

Kaelric leaned toward me. “This isn’t just about speed, it’s about control.”

He was talking again. That was good, especially considering our bond was about to be tested. Ever since Fenmyr… since Valkaryn suggested I might be his mate… things felt weird between us.

I nodded. “Great, we have to be fast as we run across the abyss,” I said sarcastically.

His lips twitched, almost a smile, but then his eyes dropped to the middle of the course. There was a jump. It was twenty feet out, with nothing to land on in between.

“When the bell chimes, you may begin,” Corvessa said. “Good luck. If you survive today, you will be one step closer to glory.”

I peered to my left and right at each bonded pair, only four of us left in total. How I was still alive to have made the second trial? I had no idea.

Kaelric leaned into me then, catching my gaze and holding it. Staring into those endless green eyes made butterflies take flight in my stomach.

“Wait for the chime,” he said.

I swallowed hard and adjusted my grip on Valkaryn.

The sword thrummed softly in my hand, calm and ready.

‘You are not alone,’ she whispered to me.

I squared my shoulders.

Somewhere deeper in the course, the crystal sounded a low, resonant chime.

The gauntlet had begun.

“Stay near me,” Kaelric said.

I nodded. “I always do.”

He gave me a look I couldn’t quite name —half exasperated, half something else.

I steeled myself. The platform we stood on floated in a long arc over an open void. Some parts of it were cracked, some shimmering faintly like heat mirages. Not all of it was real, I knew that instantly. This whole area reeked of magic. One wrong step and I’d vanish into whatever was below.

Kaelric backed up and then began to run, and I went after him, sticking close on his heels. The platform suddenly split off into multiple directions, causing me to yelp, though I remained steady. Kaelric started to veer left, but Valkaryn pulsed in my palm.

‘No,’ she warned. ‘That path is magically broken. Go right. Trust me.’

I grabbed Kaelric’s arm mid-stride and yanked him toward the right.

He didn’t argue. He just followed.

To our left, an initiate from House Caelthorn blasted past us and took the other path. Ten paces in, he shouted a curse before suddenly dropping into the abyss as if the very ground no longer existed. I saw his wolf-bonded try to stop him, but too late, and then he too was gone in seconds.

“No,” Kaelric breathed, steadying himself on the platform as he slowed.

“Was he one of your wolves?” I asked.

Kaelric just nodded and then slipped his hand into mine, trudging forward more carefully .

As we were on the platform, it suddenly broke into smaller pieces. I screamed as the one we were on shook a little.

“We gotta jump!” Kaelric said, letting go of my hand, leaping to the next platform, then turning to face me.

“It’s too far!” I screamed, panic rising up inside of me.

“I’ll catch you! I think as time goes on, the path is going to get worse. We have to hurry to the next obstacle!” His voice was calm but stern.

Get worse? Creator help me.

I peered down into the darkness. Bad idea. I swayed, envisioning dropping into the blackness below and never hitting the bottom.

“Brynn!” Kaelric shouted, and that power that he carried slapped me out of my stupor.

I looked up at him.

“Jump!” It was a command, and although I could deny it, I knew he was right about it getting worse. I could hear my fellow initiates screaming and communicating to their wolfkin, barking orders.

Without pausing to overthink it, I sheathed Valkaryn and then backed up to the very edge of the little circle of stone I was on, getting one good step in before I leapt .

I couldn’t help the scream that flew from my lips; I knew immediately I wasn’t going to make it. I was a few inches short. I reached out in panic, and somehow Kaelric was there, grasping me with a strength I didn’t know he had and pulling me to him. My body slammed into his, and he held me steady.

He peered down at me with a fire in his gaze, eyes going yellow. “Just a few more. We've got this, but we need to hurry,” he told me.

I nodded. We leapt then, one platform to the next, always Kaelric first. The wind had torn my cloak off three jumps ago, the stone barely wide enough to land. Every step was a gamble, and every time, Kaelric was there to catch me.

We made the final leap together and landed hard on solid ground. Kaelric caught my elbow to steady me, and for just a second our eyes locked.

Then, the next challenge reared up.

A corridor rose up from the blackness, lined with stone faces that began spitting bursts of flame at certain intervals. The walls were close, making it a tight fit to run down the hallway and out the other side. The air was blistering.

“Speed matters,” Kaelric reminded me.

I nodded, and before I could lose my nerve, I sprinted first, ducking low and zigzagging between jets of fire. Heat seared my skin, and Kaelric followed behind me like a shadow, his breath even, his steps silent.

Behind us, a girl cried out. I spun just in time to see a jet of fire catch her thigh.

Her wolf-bonded lunged to protect her, only to be seared from the side.

They collapsed together, one flaming, the other howling but alive.

No one stopped to help them. A sound boomed behind me, and I turned back to see that at the end of the corridor, a thick wall of enchanted frost blocked our way.

Runes of some kind pulsed faintly across its surface.

Without even asking, I knew Valkaryn could cut through this. I pulled my blade and darted forward through a gap in the flames as Kaelric slipped in behind me, narrowly avoiding being cooked. It was so hot that beads of sweat rolled down my skin.