Ronan

Ronan

The day of the third trial arrived.

I’d spent the last few days with Neela, trying to teach her how to reach her inner power. Honestly, my control over my own inner power was bad enough, but hers was nonexistent.

I might’ve been the worst teacher possible, but I was the only one she had. None of the others would help her because of my blood magic death sentence.

The question hovered behind Neela’s blue eyes at all times. Why are you helping me? Why are you trading your own life for mine? She didn’t voice it. Not after the first time I’d rounded on her and shouted in her face, “Because I don’t have a choice, I fucking love you.”

Not the most romantic way to declare my love for the first time, but it shut her up.

And it was the truth. She had a determination and strength I’d never match, forged in the hothouse of trauma. She hadn’t let her rough upbringing defeat her but had clawed her way to survival at every turn.

She was the sexiest, most alarmingly beautiful woman I knew, with her constant movement and flickering micro-expressions. She was in my thoughts all the time and had been right from the moment I met her.

I had no right to keep her sexy, writhing ass from the Floran throne. I never should have made the stupid pact. I’d been so worried for Sebarah’s future that I’d made it out of fear.

But still, that question hovered behind her eyes—why are you helping me?

The truth was I hadn’t examined my reasons too closely. I’d fallen so hard for this female that all sense had left me.

The hard line in the sand wouldn’t occur for hundreds of years. Before she sat her ass on the throne—or not—so many things had to fall into place. The majority of current monarchs had to die, all of us had to pass Gaia’s ultimate test of leadership, Neela and I both had to successfully Ascend, and we had to survive the never-ending yearly trials.

Each was an opportunity for Neela to fail and take the question out of our hands. But until then, I chose Neela. Time and again and forever, I would always choose Neela.

I would wither if she left Arathay, so my death was scheduled either way.

No point dwelling on it, so I focused on what I could control. We’d spent days trying to find Neela’s inner power, whatever it might be. But so far, no luck.

I trudged into the forest with a heavy heart. The inner power trials were always the most dangerous, and Neela had every chance of getting badly hurt.

My sword was slung at my hip as a last resort in case my inner powers failed me.

Neela was already in the forest clearing, and she threw me a sassy smile to hide her nerves. It also made my dick jump, but that would have to wait. She hadn’t kissed me since Gabrelle Lured her, and the last thing I wanted to do was rush her.

Well, no, the thing I most wanted to do was rush her and sink myself into her, but I restrained myself. For now.

The others were here too, more subdued than usual. Leif wasn’t even playing with a ball.

Dion smelled like a Gaia-be-damned cesspit and looked like he’d been dragged through the ocean. “Really? Kipper for breakfast on the day of the trial? Are you trying to put us off our game?”

Dion smirked. “It only puts you off if you let it, Ro.”

He and I had found an uneasy peace. He didn’t understand my actions, why the hell I would put a stranger’s life above my own, but he accepted them. Or so he said.

I padded across the ivy-covered ground and kissed Neela’s cheek, right on the corner of her mouth, just enough to satisfy my need for intimacy without imposing on her privacy. “Give them hell,” I whispered.

She bit her lip and nodded, brimming with determination. “I’ll whip your ass, princeling.”

Her confidence was utterly unearned, but it made me grin.

Dion read the scroll. “Today is the third trial. Each contender for the throne will be allocated a section of forest. Your task is to remain in your section for one hour. Points will be awarded based on your conduct. Exiting the section before the trial’s end will result in a forfeit.”

Relief shone on Neela’s face, and the dappled light made her tractor beam smile even brighter. “That’s it? I just have to stand in one spot for an hour? I’m excellent at standing still. I’ll ace this.”

“You are woeful at standing still,” Gabrelle corrected smoothly as she leaned against a stone pillar, looking ready for an evening out in a fine purple pantsuit. Polished, with none of Neela’s raw sexuality. “And trust me, this won’t be as easy as it sounds. We will all face our inner power.”

A slight scratch above the beauty queen’s right eye caught my attention, and I gave her a questioning glance. That was a fresh injury, and it must have been deep if it still hadn’t healed.

“I’ll tell you later,” she mouthed, putting a hand to her scarred forehead.

House insignia appeared, hovering above different sections of forest. White fangs on a gray shield for House Caro, crossed silver knives on a red shield for House Dionysus, a setting sun over a pink-and-orange ocean for House Allura, and a skull over a checkerboard of yellow and blue for me. Lastly, a pink flower on a golden shield for House Flora.

“A pretty pink rose for the pretty pink princess,” Neela joked. She was the precise opposite.

I squeezed her shoulder as she turned to leave. “Just walk out of the section if it gets too much. There’s no shame in that. You just have to make it through.”

She shook her head. “If I can’t channel my inner power here, I have no hope of surviving my Ascension. I have to stay and figure it out.”

She was right. Dammit, she was right, and I knew she would stay in her section of the forest no matter the danger.

I grabbed my heavy sword and bush-bashed through to my allocated section of the woods. The family emblem was overlaid on the ground, a checkerboard of yellow and blue grass, clearly marking the border of my territory.

As soon as I stepped foot inside, my worrying intensified. The hour had already begun, and each of us was fighting our own battles. Dion and Leif would be fine. They’d already Ascended into their full power. Dion always aced these trials, and now that Leif had gone full werewolf, he was probably having a ball, chasing rabbits or digging holes, or just rutting away in a ditch.

Gabrelle would be fine too. She was already a competent Lure even though she was a few years shy of twenty-five, and she’d sat these trials enough times to know what to expect.

But Neela was another story. Seb had told me the sorts of things he’d had to endure, and he’d barely struggled to live through a couple of his trials, even with years of training.

Neela didn’t have a chance.

I wandered deeper into my section, looking for whatever threat I was supposed to defeat, but my mind was always on Neela and whether she was coping.

A picture of her in a Shadow Walker’s jaws popped into my mind, as perfectly formed as if I was witnessing it. The black creature sank huge fangs into her neck and drained her soul while she kicked and screamed, desperately trying to escape.

My feet were sprinting before my brain caught up, hurdling logs and darting around brambles.

I swept past the boundary of my section, smashed through twigs and branches, sprinting so fast my lungs burned.

I thrashed, bashed, and hurtled in the direction of the rose floating above the trees, and finally, the forest floor turned pink beneath my flying feet.

“Neela!”

No answer. The lifelike image of her being attacked by a Shadow Walker had faded, but its memory remained, and I searched frantically.

“Tomcat!”

“Over here.” I pivoted and sprinted, following her muffled voice.

“Where are you?”

“Here.” Her voice was louder and seemed to come from inside a mass of twisted vines wrapped around something like a boa constrictor.

No Shadow Walker, then. That was a relief…although this thing could kill her just as dead. I raised my sword and hacked at the vines, releasing every ounce of adrenaline from my coiled muscles into each swing.

I chopped and whacked, and the vine finally paid me attention. One tendril snaked away from the central mass and coiled around my blade, whipping it out of my hands and flinging it through the trees.

I sprinted after it, but the grass at my feet wrapped around my ankles and tripped me, bringing me to the pink forest floor with a thud.

“I’m okay.” Her voice was muffled and small. “Just go do your own thing.”

Like hell I would. I kicked out and broke free from the snaking grass, then darted through the forest to retrieve my sword. With it, I resumed cutting into the massive vine with long slices of my sharp blade.

Neela appeared at my shoulder. “Don’t hurt it,” she scolded. “It’s just doing Gaia’s bidding.”

I stared at her for a second, trying to figure out what had happened, before pulling her into a hug. “I thought you were inside that thing.”

She grinned. “I was.”

“How did you get out?”

Her smile was so intense it almost split me in two. “I magicked my way out. I was just sitting there, quietly suffocating, you know how it is, when I closed my eyes like you taught me. I imagined a ball of light, only instead of trying to sense the life force around me, I forced spears of attention into the vine like I was attacking it with my mind. And it worked! I told it firmly to lower me to the ground, and here I am. I’m a magician!”

She threw herself into my arms and planted the sweetest, softest kiss on my lips, nothing like the passionate ones we shared in the bar and while she was under Gabrelle’s Lure, but gentle and giving.

My heart thudded, and I wanted to kiss her fully, deeply, but before I could jolt myself out of my surprise and muster a response, she slid down my body and danced away.

She kissed me. Neela Flora kissed me. My knees wobbled, and a grin split my face in two.

The leaves beneath my feet turned from pink to green, signaling the trial’s end. The clever fae had found her inner power and succeeded in this trial without my help.

Like she said, she didn’t need anybody’s help. She was learning this fae shit a whole lot faster than I expected, and I was damn proud of her.

I followed Neela and returned to the clearing just as our scores were allocated. A shimmering silver five hovered over Dion’s stinky fish hair and a four over Leif’s.

Leif shoved Dion playfully. “Next year, big D. I’m coming for you.”

A shiny three shimmered over Gabrelle’s head, which she seemed proud of. Rightly so—she’d come top of the non-Ascended.

Neela looked up at her own shimmering number two. “Suck it, you entitled pricks. Two points for the human.”

“Not a human,” I noted.

I drew the most attention. Everybody stared at the big fat zero over my head, then looked at me like I’d thrown the trial deliberately. Gabrelle’s perfect plum lips were parted, and I read the intense disappointment in her lovely brown face. She crossed her arms across her chest and cocked out a shapely hip, staring at me like I’d killed her last surviving relative.

She and I were slated to rule together. That had always been an unspoken pact between us. I would finish top, Gabrelle would rank second, and we would lead the realm together. I turned to face her, knowing I owed her an explanation. “I…left my section. Not on purpose, I was just worried about….”

Neela wouldn’t appreciate me saying I did it for her, and I didn’t want to blame her, so I trailed off lamely.

I’d failed the third trial. I’d never failed one before. My grand total for the whole year was nine measly points…I was really losing it.

It didn’t mean I was giving up. I would do everything I could to help my tomcat get whatever she wanted out of life, including the Floran throne, but my inner fae wouldn’t lie down and die. I still intended to top the rankings, even if I never became king.

But the joy on Neela’s face made my failure worth it—even though she hadn’t even needed my help. Hell, I’d do it all again just for another peck on the lips.

I never thought I’d be one of those saps who enjoyed another’s success more than his own…but Neela’s tractor-beam smile was something else, and I would do anything to see it shining from her face. Even be happy for her beating me in a trial…just this once.