Chapter 20

Page Twenty.

The books are death, bound and printed by the deities. I wish I never, ever prayed to them.

There are only three of us left. Catherine, Fritz, and me. I stand between both of them, watching the doors to the Decidere, feeling the music of the drums beating like they are my own heartbeat. The last test was brutal, and truthfully, I'm worried about doing the next if they are all going to be like that one. I look at Catherine, admiring how calm she is. I know her though, and she will be very uncalm on the inside even if she manages to hide it super well. "Do you feel like this will be the last one for you? It feels like it might be mine."

Catherine opens her mouth to reply, but it's Fritz who interrupts. "It won't be mine." I glance at him as he carries on. "The Moon Dynasty has the strongest dragons and powerful riders. I will join them, finally." Fritz drops his eyes to me and quickly looks away. "You must be good. Our king made it clear I'm not to touch you today."

He really is disgusting.

"Maybe he just wants you focusing on what's important—becoming a rider," I snarkily reply. "But I'm happy you're leaving us alone."

I don't want to speak to him anymore, and I turn to Catherine. I take her hand and squeeze it once. She squeezes it back. "You've got this."

She gulps. "We can fly together."

"It's a vow," I whisper back, making sure Fritz can't hear and make fun of us. I say it as confidently as I can, even if I don't feel that way, but I know she needs to hear it. Daegan steps up in front of the doors, beams of light glittering above us like twinkling stars, and the drums stop. Daegan looks at me and smiles softly before looking around at the crowd as they go quiet.

I thought he was upset with me after the challenge, but when I saw him yesterday, he acted like nothing happened. Ziven still hasn't come anywhere near me, and he doesn't even come to the meals. Hettie told me he is eating in his room and training all day with a grumpy face on him. He is not here, and I didn't expect him to be. But Calix, the twins, and all of the Moon Dynasty are missing too. I thought they might come to witness, but I guess not.

"We are making history here in our home as we welcome these three into the seventh Decidere. In our history, not many have gotten this far, and we are exceedingly proud of the three fae that stand before us!" Cheers echo so loud they hurt my ears. "They are ready to take their places with the dragons. We wish you well, and we will pray to the deities for your safe return. May the sun and dragons be with you."

He raises his hands, and the doors slide open. Fritz runs in like something's on fire behind him, but Catherine and I walk straight to the door. It slams shut behind us with a bang that echoes loud. Neither of us talks or wastes any time up here, not when a dragon could appear at any moment and we would have to escape. We make our way to the steps, rushing to the bottom, and I don't see Fritz, but I don't really care. Thankfully, it's empty and silent down here. I can't hear any dragons roaring. Catherine still whispers. "The light's coming this way for me." She points far to the left.

I don't have to look long before I see the familiar red glow from deep within the stones, right in the middle aisle. "The light is straight ahead for me." It's getting brighter by the second, burning bright red like a red sun high in the sky. "Good luck."

"Good luck to you too," she echoes. No matter how confident I've become over the last few weeks, every time I'm in front of these stones, I feel like a scared child watching the forest, imagining all the monsters that could lurk within. Catherine runs for her pillar, and I smile at her back. I really, really want her to win this and become a rider. Any dragon would be lucky to have her…but me? I'm broken and I can't imagine any dragon wanting me at all.

I walk through the pillars, my heart pounding as I come to the red glowing light. The symbol of the dragon is so bright it hurts to look at, but I touch it with my finger. Everything seems to change around me, a red fog blowing around in the breeze, swirling fast, and when it settles, I'm no longer in the pillars. I'm in a forest, thick, old trees spread up high, and it's the forest I know. It's the one I grew up in.

I look over my shoulder at the village ahead, smoke rising in the air from the huts. My heart races—my mother might be there. I remember that Blaire was told she had been moved to another district, but it doesn't stop my feet from taking off for my old home. The only place in the world I have ever felt safe. Even if she isn't there, I just want to see our old home once more.

I race through the forest, down the familiar paths that are deserted, and into the village. I know my way around the huts, hearing children's laughter from within several of them but never seeing any faces. I find ours, right in the corner of the village, nestled in thick grass and hedges. The blue, curved bark walls make most of the hut, and straw is laid on the top. A small hole is letting smoke out, and that means someone might be in there.

Warm light from the fire glows through the edges of the blue door. The same door that marked my height from when I was a toddler, all the way until I was thirteen. It was a birth year tradition—chocolate cake, swimming in the lake, and making a new mark on the door. My hand shakes as I pull the door open and step inside, into the entrance hall. There are curtained areas hiding our beds, a small fire pit in the middle, and not much else in here.

None of it matters because my mother is there. She's sitting cross-legged next to the fire, in front of a low stone table I've never seen. A long, sage green dress covers her from the neck down, the colour of a breeder, and I thought it always washed out my mother's beautiful red hair, pale skin, and sharp features. When she looks up, her eyes are nothing but burning red flames. "Sit down, Story Dehana."

"Mum?" My hoarse croak lingers in the air. "Is it really you?"

"Sit down," she repeats. Her voice is so much like my mother's, but it is lacking the warmth I always heard when she spoke to me. Whoever this is, it is not my mother but some kind of cruel pretence. I can pretend too, just pretend that she is my mother, and I am getting the reward of seeing her again when I thought I never would. Her eyes, they keep burning like a fire that's never going to stop, and it sends a chill down my spine. I glance at the cushion in front of the table before I sit down on it, and a deck of cards appears in the centre of the table. My mother runs her hands over the deck, and they spread out, all of them face down. "Choose a card."

I don't know what game we are playing, what part of the Decidere this is, but I pick up one and hold it up in front of me. On the card is a picture of death, a man hidden in a black cloak, and he is holding an hourglass. I know these kinds of cards. My mum used to have them, and I played with them sometimes when she wasn't looking. Tarot cards of the old fae. She said that they were used by fae years ago and they could predict futures. That gift is long gone, never seen again, like so much of our magic. "It's death."

The second I lay the card down, she makes her demand. "Pick another." There is an energy in the air, a tension that makes me think twice about refusing. This is a test, I'm not sure about what, but I don't want to say no. I choose the last card on the left, turning it over.

It's a scene that is clearly of two lovers, kissing in a ballroom, their faces hidden. "Death and a lover?"

"They are one," she responds. I think of Ziven, how easily he wanted me dead, but how different he was in that bathroom. How he could easily make me think and feel like we weren't enemies at all. "Pick another card."

Running my eyes over the deck, I choose my next one in the middle. The word sacrifice is written on the card. There's a beautiful drawing of death itself. Bone face and bone hands are all that can be seen under a dark hood, its own hands wrapped around its neck. "Sacrifice."

"You have your answer. Now you face your trial." The smoke fades away, blowing everything around it until it's just my mother and me, alone in an empty space. "Only one leaves."

"No." Horror chokes my response. Two daggers appear in my hands, and I lift the shiny red blades. I know what I'm doing as I let them go, and they clink as they drop onto the ground.

My mother, or whatever this thing is, tilts her head to the side. "Do you refuse us?"

Tears burn in my eyes. "My mother is all I have in this world. I know you're not her, but I cannot do this."

My mother's voice changes, growing darker. "You will not gain your seventh mark."

I wipe my tears away. "I know." My mother fades away in red smoke, leaving me in front of the doors of the Decidere. Turning around, I see Catherine on the back of a stone dragon, flying across the pillars and diving below. Fritz is right after her, on a smaller dragon, but it's fast, and I barely see them for a second. I wait and wait, but no dragon comes for me, nothing changes. I glance at my hands, my arms, not seeing another mark, and it's clear my Decidere is over.

The doors swing open behind me, and I step out into the bright light, finding only Daegan waiting for me. "You're safe."

He hugs me, running his hand down my back, but I feel lost. "Don't be sad, Story. You may have failed the seventh Decidere, but it's amazing you even got that far. The dragons, they haven't chosen you as a new rider, but I didn't think they would. I am sorry."

"How do you know that?" I question as he still holds me. I need him to hold me up right now.

"Our marks glow the colour of our powers, of our dynasty." His reply only crushes me more. "When we ride our dragons, they glow. They would be glowing a bright yellow for the Sun Dynasty."

He takes my hand when he pulls away. I can't wash away the disappointment I feel. I wanted that more than I thought I did. "There were only twenty riders chosen this year, much fewer than usual. I'm sure that's the reason why they didn't choose you. Do not worry, I will protect you from anything that comes. But first, the celebration ball will be held on Saturday. Ziven said that your time in his dynasty is over after it."

My eyes drift over my shoulder as the door to the Decidere closes, my hope of being a dragon rider with it.