11. Chapter 11

Startled by the relentless pounding on my door, I sat up in bed, questioning if I was caught in the grasp of a vivid dream. As the pounding persisted, I gathered my thoughts and quickly dressed myself. When I mustered the courage to open the door, to my surprise, there was no one in sight. Intrigued, I cautiously peered into the hallway, only to find an empty corridor with no signs of anyone nearby.

I headed outside to the garden to get some fresh air. I glanced at the guards that were gathered in the hallways. My eyes immediately scanned for Cassius, but he wasn't around.

"Looking for your boyfriend?" Haden asked with a friendly tone, but I knew better. I hadn't even heard him come up behind. Instantly I had an uneasy feeling form in my stomach, but I ignored him. When I didn't answer, he chuckled. "Tell me, Thea. I'm curious. Does the Captain of the Guardsmen trade you trial secrets when you spread your legs for him?"

My fire magic raged deep in my chest. He wanted to get a rise out of me, and I wouldn't do it. Continuing to ignore him, I sat on the edge of a beautiful black stone fountain. My heart raced in my ears as Haden sat close by. The sound of the flowing water helped ground me and kept my magic from surging forward.

"You alright?" Nev looked genuinely concerned for me when I turned. I hadn't heard him either. My focus was not doing well today.

"I'm fine," I lied as I swiped my hand into the cold pool of water.

In the grand scheme of things, Haden wasn't important. What he thought about me wasn't important. No sooner had I started relaxing, than the ground began shaking and the blinding light from the first trial shone so bright that I shut my eyes tightly.

When the light dimmed, we were in the colosseum again, only it seemed bigger than before. It curved more around our backs. The amount of fae watching was at least double what it was last time. My eyes immediately found the Crimson King and next to his side was Cassius. He didn't look at me, so I turned away.

"Then there were thirty-six left!" the king bellowed. "Welcome to the second trial!"

The crowd roared so loudly that I plugged my ears.

"Today's trial will be something we've never done before."

The crowd of fae in the stands quieted at this news. We waited impatiently as the king stayed quiet. His eyes gazed around at the spectators before landing on me. Cassius was watching me closely as if he expected me to have some kind of reaction to the news the king was about to announce.

"The contestants will be going to the forbidden wood!"

A collective gasp spread like fire through the spectators, then through the contestants. It seemed like I was the only one who didn't seem too bothered by this. Cassius gave me a slow smile like I reacted exactly how he expected. The whole crowd was silent with…fear. Tension filled me.

What would we be doing in the forbidden wood? What if someone stumbled into Exile? Could I go see Sybil and the twins? Maybe, but would Crimson be watching? My eyes moved around the participants, they fidgeted with worry. I'm sure the stories of the Forbidden Wood had been drilled into their heads since they were young.

"All of the contestants will be dropped into the forbidden wood and must survive the night or until six are eliminated or forfeit. We want to see who can think and adapt in harsh, unpredictable environments, who is clever enough to survive against the many monsters of the wood."

The crowd didn't clap or become excited at this declaration. My eyes paused on Haden who was watching me curiously. I was the only one here who didn't look worried, but I had done this plenty of times. If anything, the forbidden wood was less scary than others made it seem.

"I forfeit!" My head snapped to the side to see one of the men bow as he forfeited his spot. What a coward.

"Anyone else?" The king gave the contestant a look of disapproval. When no one else spoke, he continued, "Magic may be used, but you may not kill each other."

My heart beat in my chest as my eyes drifted to Cassius. He was wearing his signature black guardsman uniform, but all I could picture was droplets of water running down his muscles from last night. Cassius's smug smile made me snap out of my staring. Whatever the king had spoken to us had been missed by me. Suddenly a table of weapons appeared in front of us.

"You will each pick a weapon, plus any that you have on you already."

We all moved quickly to the table. My eyes were focused on the bow and arrows. Just as I went to grab them, Haden snatched them. He gave me a cruel smile before walking off. When I peered back at the weapons there was only a small knife left. Sighing, I picked it up. At least I had my daggers.

"Best of luck. We'll be seeing some of you soon." the king announced. My eyes found Cassius as he mouthed "My Little Liar."

I didn't have time to glare at him before we were enveloped in the darkness I knew all too well. We were in the forbidden wood. The air was chilly and I lifted my hood up over my head. The others were moving around too much, but I knew better. They were being too loud. I laid down on my stomach and waited. It only took a few short minutes for a monster to come crashing through the trees.

I watched a small animal-like creature run at one of the contestants. I expected the contestant to be eaten, but instead, the man shot something towards the creature. The animal froze in place…the contestant must be Haden.

The flickering blue light of the Wisp caught my eye. She twirled around a tree, trying to get my attention. Scanning the other contestants walking away from me, I stood and hurried towards the Wisp. She kept moving farther and farther away from me, but I followed her, knowing she wanted to show me something or keep me safe. Moving away from where the other contestants had been my main goal anyway.

We weren't allowed to kill each other, but I wasn't stupid. I knew that they would try and have a monster kill me. The plan was to stay away from all of them. The Wisp stopped and I immediately knew what she had been leading me to. The tall oak tree stood in front of me. There was no mistaking the tree for another one. I walked to it quickly before I saw the oversized X carved into it. My chest tightened as I realized how close I was to Exile. I never thought coming back to Exile would feel exciting. Sybil and the twins had been on my mind, and knowing they were alright would bring me comfort. If only I could have brought them some food.

Turning, I glanced around to see if anyone was watching me, and then I jumped through the boundary. I collapsed immediately onto the ground of Exile as pain gripped me. Gods, I didn't miss this fucking pain or the hot sticky air. My lungs gasped as the hot air filled my lungs. I knew I couldn't stay here long. They would notice I was missing or maybe they already witnessed me jump.

Quickly, I stood up and ran to our home. Without knocking, I barged in and shut the door before turning. Sybil and the twins stared at me in shock. Then all of a sudden Sybil burst into tears at the sight of me. The twins just gaped. I thought she was crying because she was happy to see me, but as I took a step towards her, I stopped when she spoke.

"She didn't make it!" she wailed. The twins seemed to understand whatever she meant by that, but I didn't. "Now we have to be in this hell hole another year."

"Thea," Kaz frowned. "You're back."

"No." I frowned at a sobbing Sybil. "We're doing a trial in the forbidden wood. I just wanted to check in."

Sybil stopped crying immediately and stood. What did she mean by stuck another year? Why not say forever? Something in my mind felt like it was trying to claw its way out of the depths of forgotten memories, but it never surfaced.

"You didn't fail the trials?"

"No?" I glanced at her oddly. "I would probably be dead if I failed."

Sybil nodded and peered over at the twins oddly. They all looked at me in a way that confused me. They were definitely keeping something from me.

"What did you mean stuck for a year?" I asked. The twins glanced at one another briefly before looking at me.

"Well, if you failed, we would be stuck."

"Yeah, for forever. Not a year." My eyes narrowed on her. "What aren't you telling me?"

Kai was the one to stand up and try to approach me, but I held my dagger out so he couldn't step too close. Kai frowned at me as I pointed the blade at him in a fighting stance.

"We won't hurt you."

"You all have been keeping something from me and I want to know what it is," I demanded.

Sybil took a step at me, but I moved my dagger towards her to keep her back. Her blue eyes held a sadness I had never seen before.

"All you need to know is we are on your side," Kai whispered.

"No, not good enough," I growled. "Tell me or I'm leaving."

No one said anything so I ran out the door and towards the border, worried that they would try to keep me from leaving. Sybil demanded that the twins stop me, but I didn't look back. My lungs burned in the thick hot air. The twins were faster than me, but I was so close to the boundary. Kaz was the one to finally tackle me to the ground. I landed a punch to his face, and he tumbled off me. I crawled towards the boundary, but Kai grabbed my leg and yanked me back. They both stood over me glaring down at me.

"Thea, we aren't your enemy," one of them snapped.

"You guys know more than what you've said to me. I can't trust you." I slowly crawled back from them and closer to freedom. When they looked at each other I stood and ran, but right before I fell through the boundary Kai and Kaz yelled, "Captain, wait!"

But it was too late. I was through the boundary, air was knocked out of me once again. I lay in the flowers while I waited for air to return to my lungs and stared at the stars. Why the fuck had they called me Captain? Maybe I had misheard them. Tears filled my eyes. Why were they lying to me? Even as the air returned to my lungs I laid in the flowers and stared at the stars. Something in my mind wanted to break free, but it couldn't, and it made me cry.

What was wrong with me? The Wisp was a dark blue as she moved closer to me, but I didn't stand up. She didn't seem to care as she floated close by and waited patiently for me to get up. Eventually, I did because I didn't want to be too close to Exile. The Wisp led the way through the woods, and I hardly watched around me for any sign of a threat.

I should have been paying attention because I would have seen the Wisp turn the darkest shade of black as a warning. But I had been so preoccupied with everything that I didn't see Leer until it was too late. When I met his gaze, he sneered at me.

"We can't kill each other," I reminded him.

"I'm not going to kill you."

Before I could defend myself, he threw some sort of powder in my face. My eyes burned, and I dropped to the forest floor trying to rub it away. My eyes burned painfully from whatever he threw at me. My skin felt like it was being stabbed by a thousand tiny pinpricks.

"But I can make it so you're an easy meal for monsters," he laughed. "You're going to be very tired in a moment. At least you don't have to be awake when the monsters eat you."

My eyes cracked open when something wrapped around my ankles and wrists, forcing me on my back. Leer's eyes glowed green as the roots of trees wrapped around me making it impossible to break free.

"Have a good nap."

The darkness of the night helped him disappear as his laugh faded with him. The tiredness he talked about hit me. My eyes were fuzzy as I saw some sort of movement, but a moment later I realized it was a Wisp along with several others. They were circling me as if they would protect me, so I stopped trying to fight the darkness and gave in to the exhaustion.

An odd noise caught my attention as I opened my groggy eyes. The forest was orange and yellow from the setting sun. I went to stand up but stopped when I remembered Leer had trapped me here. Dark clouds were moving over the pretty sunset as I lay on the forest floor feeling weak.

My eyes scanned the woods as heavy rain began to soak me. It wasn't completely dark, but the rain made it gloomy and difficult to see. Something moving on the ground coming towards me quickly caught my attention. My fire magic didn't surge forward as I tried my hardest to call it. A creature crawled towards me with hissing snarling noises. It had thick brown fur and long horns that would kill me if it stabbed me. It ran on four legs, but it was maybe only knee height. I had never seen one of these before.

It was small, but the razor-sharp teeth it snapped towards me told me it would rip me apart. One of the Wisps floated in front of me and the creature stopped immediately and stared at the bright blue flame. As soon as I did, two more small creatures popped out of nowhere. They seemed faster than the last one. They both screeched as they headed towards me. One of them launched at me and dug its teeth into my shoulder.

The scream I let out shook the trees around me violently as the monster tore apart the flesh of my shoulder. The creature was ripped from me by a black flamed Wisp. Warm blood spilled from the wound, and I worried the smell of my blood would attract more monsters. My eyes closed tightly as I searched deep within myself for my magic. It floated in my chest not moving so I tugged on it.

When I did, it exploded from me in a blast that ripped trees from their roots. My hands lifted into the air when the heat from my fire magic warmed my skin. It rippled across me in small orange flames, burning through Leer's magic.

The Wisps and the small creatures were gone when I tried to stand, by my legs gave out, so I resorted to crawling. Why hadn't I been pulled from the trial? If the sun had been setting when I awoke that means I survived the night. Shouldn"t I have been pulled? The pain from my shoulder intensified as blood dripped down my arm. There was too much blood coming from my wound. Those little shits had the sharpest bites I had ever seen.

A long while later I saw the Wisps floating in the trees near me. They were all black as if they were angry. My eyes focused on the black castle in the distance. It would take me days to crawl there. I tried summoning Sybil's healing magic, but I was too weak to use it.

"Thea?" Grabbing a dagger from my boot, I held it out to the Crimson guard who appeared from behind the trees. His eyes widened with shock.

"Captain!" The man bellowed so loudly that I covered my ears. A moment later dark shadows swirled in front of us, and Cassius stepped through them in his black uniform. His normal golden eyes were gone and replaced with pure black. His focus was on the guard before he pointed to me. Cassius's body went rigid.

"Little Viper?" He breathed as he knelt down, not caring that I had my dagger drawn. "You're alive." There was a tone of relief in his voice.

My body shook violently from the cold, or from the fact that I had lost large amounts of blood. Either way, I couldn't respond to him, but he lifted me into his arms and stepped into his warm shadows. Dizziness overtook me as we stepped from the shadows to reveal we were in front of the castle. Cassius burst into the doors and was met by a group of contestants, the king, and other guardsmen.

"Thea?" I thought it was the king that sounded confused.

A commotion followed us as he hurried through the castle. Suddenly I was on top of a table with my shirt being ripped from my shoulder.

"Fuck." Cassius muttered as he inspected the wound. "What bit you?"

Explaining to him in gasping breaths the small creature that bit me he cursed softly. He rubbed my hair gently from my face as the pain coursed through me. Sweat formed a layer over my entire body as I shook more violently.

"Their bites are poisonous. You need to heal yourself before it kills you."

"I c-can't."

"You can," he said confidently. "Close your eyes and feel for the energy you need to heal yourself." I tried, but it was futile. When I opened my eyes, Cassius leaned down next to my ear. "Take it from me if you have to. Don't be scared. You won't hurt me."

My eyes found his when he leaned back. Did he know what lived inside of me? He reached forward grabbing my hand tightly in his and nodded. So, I closed my eyes tightly and sensed his powerful shadows surging around him, so I pulled on it, tugging it into me to fuel my own magic. His shadows swarmed in my chest with so much energy my magic expanded. Cassius' hand squeezed mine as I opened my eyes.

"Good girl," he whispered as he dropped my hand and left the room. I combined the new magic with Sybil's magic, not making a show of grabbing the amulet because I didn't need it. The darkness inside me hummed at the new shadow magic I now held inside of my chest.

Another magic I collected inside of me.

I had only discovered I could take other's magic as my own a few years ago when I almost died in the Forbidden Wood. A creature had been lurking close by the boundary and I hadn't noticed it until it was too late. As I had laid on the forest floor bleeding out, the darkness in my chest had crossed into Exile and stole Sybil's magic to heal myself. When I realized what I could do, I was too horrified to tell anyone. Whatever the darkness in me was, it wanted more. It practically whispered into my mind to take it all from them, to drain magic from everyone.

I was a monster, and I knew it, but Cassius seemed to know too, which had me worried that I would be killed as soon as I stood up and left the room. How could he possibly have known, though? This ability went beyond elite magic. This was something that should never have been possible.

It was disgusting.

Evil.

I sat up on the table and rolled my shoulder to test it. It felt good. The window in the room caught my attention and I wondered if I should just jump out and try to escape before they killed me. Surely Cassius would tell the king they had an elite magic holder. The king would execute me in front of his Kingdom as a spectacle. Before I could decide to flee or not the door burst open, and the king strolled inside alone.

"I"m glad to see you didn't die, but I need to know what happened because you did not come back when the trial ended, and you should have."

His dark eyes stared at me with no disgust or malice in them. I wondered if he was just biding his time until the guards would come and take me away. Sighing heavily, I let him know what Leer had done and how I couldn't use magic because of the powder he threw at me. The king frowned slightly.

"Very well. I'm going to assume whatever Leer threw at you prevented magic from pulling you from the trial." The sad smile didn't comfort me. "Let's go." His crown tilted towards the door. Adrenaline spread like fire in my veins. The darkness called to my mind telling me to just kill them all before they turned on me. My eyes scanned the group of contestants waiting with Cassius.

Before I processed what was happening the bright light of the colosseum blinded me. The cheering of the crowd boomed so violently that I couldn't hear the darkness in my own mind. As I opened my eyes the light dimmed so I could see how many fae were gathered.

They were going to execute me in front of all of them.

The king took his place on the balcony, smiling broadly at the loud cheers.

"Thea lives!" The king exclaimed and the crowd roared to life again. Confusion spread through me at their gestures. They were happy. "But, unfortunately, we are left with a new issue. One contestant must be eliminated, so we will allow a challenge for the final spot in the top thirty.

"I'll challenge!" Leer"s voice was easy to recognize.

The crowd quieted down as his voice bellowed around us.

"Leer, I thought you might." The King gave him a pointed look. "Who would you like to challenge?"

"Thea," he smirked at me. The other contestants watched each other oddly like they didn't understand something.

The King nodded ever so slightly before turning to Cassius whispering something. Cassius's eyes found mine before his jaw clenched tightly.

"Then you have a fight. Take your stances."

A small white circle appeared in front of us on the ground. We both stepped in and waited from opposite sides of it.

"You will go until one of you cannot fight anymore, dies, or forfeits." Cassius was the one to speak this rule.

"Oh, you may use magic if you wish." The King tossed it out there. Leer sneered at the King and then at me. My darkness swarmed through me at the news. It wanted me to take from Leer, kill him, crush him with our power. No one had seen my fire magic though, and I didn't want to use it if I didn't need to.

"Begin."

Leer ran at me, but I quickly dodged his advances. Rage filled his eyes when I kicked the back of his leg, knocking him over. Leer's eyes changed to a bright green as he stood. He lifted his arms as if summoning something. Vines materialized out of nowhere and snaked over the circle we fought in. They wrapped around my feet as I tried to move, but I couldn't leave the circle. The vines held me in place. Nature magic again.

"Healing magic won't help you escape this, will it?" He laughed as vines squeezed my legs so tightly, I thought they might break. The more I moved the harder they clamped down on me. I attempted to grab for my daggers, but he caught my hands in his vines without lifting a finger. Laughter escaped him as he walked towards me and stopped in front of my face.

"I feel kind of bad at how easy this was, Thea. How embarrassing will it be for you to die in front of the whole Kingdom within minutes of the fight beginning? On the other hand, it will only make the others fear me like they fear you." He slapped me with a backhand that was so hard that my head snapped to the side at the force. "I'll have to find someone else to torment. Perhaps Haden or Nev?" I struggled against the vines, but it only caused them to curl around every part of me but my head. Leer had turned to the crowd and pumped his arms into the air like he had won.

Idiot. No one from the crowd cheered in his favor.

"If you let me go now, you live," I muttered. This made him and some of the others laugh. "Is that a, no?"

"That's a fuck no," he said with a laugh.

"Alright but remember that when you"re on your knees and I'm about to kill you."

My fire had been waiting for me to give it control. To let it consume me and save me. It was an instinct it had. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath to control the urge more. I didn't need to let loose. It would be reckless and put everyone in danger. When I opened my eyes, Leer"s smile disappeared.

The fire spread from my fingertips and down my legs, burning the vines as they went. Leer stepped back only for a moment before trying to strike with his magic again. This time it was the roots of the trees coming for me. Dodging them was easy with a flick of my flame towards them. Fear overtook Leer's eyes as he realized he made the wrong choice of challenging me.

He backed away, but I was too angry to stop. The way he had treated me when I got here and the way he was so willing to kill me fueled my anger. Lifting my hands in front of me I summoned a ball of fire. It was time to end this. Just as I was about to vaporize him, he fell to his knees in front of me and the sight of it made me smile.

"I forfeit," he spoke quickly. "Forgive me, Captain. This wasn't personal."

The phrase caught me off guard. "What do you mean?" I asked as the ball of fire disappeared from my hands. My darkness evaporated immediately.

"Please forgive me." He bowed his head and refused to look at me. Why was he asking for my forgiveness?

Desperate for an answer, I practically begged, "Do you know who I am?"

"Leer has forfeited!" the King proclaimed.

The crowd roared with cheer at the news, but I was still focused on what Leer had said.

"Leer, who am I?" He was taken away without saying another word to me. Peering around at the other contestants, I noted that they all stood in shock. So much for keeping my magic hidden. The King was smiling at me as he raised his hand to silence the crowd.

"What a lovely display, Thea. The top ten contestants will be joining me and my family for dinner tonight in the great room. The rest of you will have a special dinner in the dining hall."

I glanced at the leaderboard to see my name was in the top ten with Nev, Haden, and Tagon. I didn't recognize any other names.

With that, he turned away from us. The colosseum crumbled around us as the ground shook, depositing us back in the hallway of the castle.

The contestants stared at me as I made my way to my room. Fear gripped me, and I barricaded my bedroom door. Exhaustion plagued me as I sat on my bed. Using my magic always weighed on me, but I was worried about why the King needed us to go to dinner.

Was I going to be killed because they figured out that I held elite magic? Was fire magic elite or was the darkness in my chest that made me elite? Either way, Cassius knew my secret and that sealed my fate.