Chapter Twenty-Two

A s we walked along the stone-lined pathway to the entrance of the Ice Gauntlet, my heart raced with excitement or nerves—I honestly couldn’t tell them apart anymore.

Today, I wore black training clothes. I was informed that my gray-silver ones would no longer be necessary. Daxton ordered them made for me the first day I began training with Gunnar, and they were magically already waiting for me when we ventured back upstairs to his—no, excuse me, our room.

There were more questions than answers regarding my future, and now, adding Daxton to the mix multiplied them tenfold. But right now, they would all have to wait. Thankfully, when Daxton and I saw the others before leaving for the Gauntlet, they didn’t seem surprised at seeing us together.

Idris was giddily grinning, of course. Adohan gave Daxton a serene smile while Zola nodded with a half-grin at the secret finally being revealed, and Gunnar… Well, he sighed loudly, adding a very sarcastic, “ Finally …”

They all had known about the mate bond and were pleased to see us together .

“Ready?” Gunnar asked as he followed close behind Daxton and me.

“Clearly, or else she wouldn’t be here,” Zola said to him with a scoff. She was still in a sour mood since she and Daxton had returned, not keen on hiding it. “I still have a gold coin on her besting your time, and Idris wanted me to remind you of hers…”

Gunnar scowled and rolled his eyes. “I know. Regardless of what Skylar accomplishes up there, I’ll still hold the record for youngest to complete it.” His cocky, smug smile was almost too much.

“There is a wager, huh?” I asked, casually throwing him a glance over my shoulder.

Gunnar grinned, scratching the back of his head. “Possibly.”

“Good to know,” I said before turning toward Daxton. “I go in alone, and I finish this on my own,” I said.

He raised his brows with a pleased, almost proud look. “Giving commands already, I see… How fitting.”

Zola and Gunnar continued bickering about the different wagers they had placed on me. I couldn’t help but overhear that Castor and Adohan had also joined in on this.

Adohan and Idris remained in the Summit. The baby was giving her some trouble this morning and she needed to take precautions and rest.

“I mean it, Dax. I need to do this on my own,” I said as we reached the start of the course.

“Wouldn’t dream otherwise, Spitfire. My mate is strong enough to conquer anything… All you need is the opportunity.” He stepped back, allowing me to face the massive vertical obstacle course on my own. “Get ready,” his deep voice boomed over the rocks along the entrance .

“Ready.” I crouched down, prepared to take off at a sprint and attack the first obstacle.

“Go!”

The hourglass turned, and I sprinted into the course.

I hadn’t noticed the massive gathering that had followed us to the Ice Gauntlet, but the roaring cheers blasted through my focus as I leaped onto the first obstacle of the course, encouraging me to complete it.

Using the balance techniques Daxton had taught me, I glided across quintuple steps before leaping through the air and grasping a long horizontal bar. The metal was ice cold, but I ignored the bite of it against my skin as I traversed the wall. Reaching the end, I crouched down and leaped through the air to the other side, successfully finding my footing and landing on the platform leading to the stone steps that would take me to the next level.

I heard Gunnar cheering below, with other cadets and warriors dressed in black and silver joining him. Zola held a stern look that I would guess to be amusement, and I knew that somehow, even from this distance, Idris and Adohan were cheering as well. Daxton simply gazed at me with pride swelling in his eyes. Gods, that look alone from him was enough to make me scale a thousand gauntlets.

Climbing the massive steps that were obstacles themselves, I prepared myself for the next task. Iced-over logs rolled before me, and I knew that I had to leap across them like a stone skipping over a lake to make it to the other side. From watching Daxton and the other cadets, the trick was not to stop moving your feet. If I stopped my momentum on a log, I would lose my balance and plummet down the side, or I would be forced to grab onto a rope and add time. Neither were options for me.

At the top of the stairs, I lined up with the logs, counted to three in my head, and sprinted as fast as I could to the other side. This obstacle reminded me of the games I used to play along the falls of the river with Rhea and Shaw. Stay too long in one place, and the current would sweep out your feet and take you downstream. I smiled as I took a running leap, gently tapping the top of the logs and scurrying across until landing safely on the other side… exactly like the river rocks.

“Two down, three to go.” I knew my time on these first two would be quick. It was the remaining three that had me nervous.

My legs remained strong and steady despite the dull ache in my quads, but I knew my upper body strength would be tested on the ladder following the balance beam next. The traverse up the stone steps between the different levels challenged my body as much as the obstacles themselves, with large, staggering stairs that pulled at the much-needed strength in my legs.

The climb to the third obstacle was steeper than the last, adding in a falling factor that the previous two hadn’t. I approached the narrow beam that looked far more treacherous from this vantage point than it did on the ground. The slick wood was coated in patches of ice, adding a layer of difficulty I hadn’t anticipated but, in reality, should have expected. Stepping out onto the beam, I outstretched my arms to gain balance, carefully placing one foot in front of the other. The winds swirled with a life of their own at this height, spinning around my arms, but not strong enough to topple me over, thanks to my increased balance and strength training these past months .

Reaching the first inclined bend of the beam, I crouched down to hold onto the ice-cold tip before swinging my feet around and over to the other side. I scoffed, remembering how easy Daxton had made this look. I safely traversed the beam, not in the time I was hoping for, but I figured not falling to my death was a bonus. Passing smoothly over the second, I approached the third bend in the beam, looking ahead at the ladders I would have to climb.

That was where I made my gravest error yet.

My balance wavered for less than a second, but that was all it took for the strength of the winds to slam into me with a forceful jolt. My foot slipped from underneath me, my hip colliding hard with the ice, and I slid over the edge. I reached out and clutched onto the pointed top, one hand on either side while I dangled helplessly over the deathly drop.

“Skylar!” Daxton roared below in sheer panic.

“I’ve got it,” I bellowed back toward the ground. “Don’t you dare come up here!”

“Then pull your ass back up and get on the course. And… don’t fucking fall,” he commanded, his stern voice echoing off the rocks along the cliffs.

You will not fall. You will not die today , I told myself.

Bending my arms, I swung my legs in place, gaining momentum to hook my foot and then my knee around the beam, interlocking my ankles to get a firm hold. Releasing one side of the bent peak, I wrapped my hands loosely on the other side, carefully sliding down the rest of the walkway toward the safety of the platform beneath the ladder.

Not wanting to waste the adrenaline rush, I jumped up to grab the bars, steadily climbing the angled ladder. My hands were freezing against the bite of the cold metal, but my grip refused to loosen. The muscles in my arms ached as I swung myself forward to the next bar and then the next. I refused to acknowledge my aching fatigue as I passed the halfway mark. I was so close to the end… Approximately another twenty feet and I would be safe. The winds howled as the cheers from below encouraged me to push forward. With one final surge of my remaining strength, I grabbed the last bar with both hands and swung myself through the open air down onto the stone. I landed on my feet, rolling forward into a somersault before springing up and climbing to the fourth obstacle.

I dared a glance down at my hands to see openings at the base of my fingers from the friction of the obstacle on my skin. The bleeding wounds would sting, but the pain would be well worth the reward. I clenched my fists tightly, willing the bleeding to stop. I knew if I wrapped my hands, I would lose my grip on the metal rings in the next task.

Foolishly, I looked down the sheer drop that separated the opposing sides as I approached the edge of the stairs. Fear caused cadets to fall here but not me. Without overthinking my plan, I stepped back, bracing myself with one deep breath, and jumped out over the drop. I gritted my teeth against the sting of the ring on my hands. Kicking my feet forward, I swung my legs back and forth until I had enough momentum to let go. After flying through the air, I landed on the other side and, most importantly, safely.

One more left , I told myself with a cunning grin.

I was now hundreds of feet off the ground, almost at the tallest point of the Ice Gauntlet with one final obstacle to conquer—the vertical wall. I gave myself as much room as I could, placing my back to the stone cliff face and crouching low. I had already passed this test along the spine of the Nox Mountain… I could do this.

I used the mountain to my advantage, giving me an extra push forward and pumping my arms as fast as possible to turn my horizontal momentum into vertical. Every muscle in my body burned with fatigue. The speed required to complete each task tested my endurance and pushed me to new limits.

Don’t stop. Keep your feet moving until you can feel the edge with your fingers. Whatever you do, just don’t stop moving your feet until you have your grip. Daxton’s advice proved to be exactly right.

My feet kept moving, and even when I didn’t think I could move anymore, I forced myself not to stop. Stretching out my hand, my fingers danced along the edge of the wall and immediately latched on, with my other hand following suit. With my grip firm, I pulled myself half up, swinging my legs up to help me the rest of the way. I groaned as I rolled over the top, bending onto my knees, trying to catch my breath.

“I thought shifters were supposed to be faster than that,” Daxton’s voice caught me by surprise.

“I thought the Ice Gauntlet was warded so that no magic could be wielded inside the course,” I fired back over my shoulder.

“The outer steps and the surrounding area are not warded,” he said, his eyes shining with pride—the same look from when I first volunteered to be champion of the trials.

“I did it.” I breathed heavily with a wide grin as I stood up and ran into Daxton’s outstretched arms. He brushed his hand over my shoulder, and when I looked down, I saw the outline of a silver mountain peak appear on my black training clothes. “If I can do this,” I panted, “then… ”

“There never was a doubt,” Daxton answered, knowing exactly what I meant.

I was ready for the second trial.