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“Get the fuck out,” she hisses.
I hold my palms up in submission, thoroughly lost at her hostility. “Viola, what’s going on?”
Apparently, I asked the wrong question because she’s suddenly at my throat, a blade pressed firmly against my flesh. A shadow, which I first mistook for a gauntlet, winds its way over my mouth, effectively gagging me.
“That fucking shadow gives me the creeps.” I hear Tulip murmur behind me. I must agree with her assessment.
The shadow feels like a living creature, somehow both solid and intangible at the same time. It undulates and writhes against my mouth, churning my stomach at the sensation. After several attempts to speak around it, I stare at Viola, who unwaveringly holds her blade to my throat.
“I spoke to Zeph. He came to see me, to help me train my shadows,” she begins, her voice cold and merciless. “And he said something very interesting.”
I can only imagine the lies and half-truths my brother could spin about me. We’ve never gotten along, and it’s plain for anyone to see that he desires Viola. Of course, he would ensure no attention from her would be spared for me.
“He told me,” she continues, pressing the knife tighter against my skin, “that I should ask you about Link.”
Well, that is not what I wanted to hear.
I wish I could say Zeph whispered falsehoods in her ear, but the situation with Link is regrettable, true, and utterly my fault.
“Link,” she continues, a slight waver to her voice, “the only man I ever loved. The one time I let my heart go soft. They told me he died during the Race. Every person I knew told me there was no hope he would find the elevator because the elevator wasn’t real. Seems like it’s pretty damn real to me.”
Tulip has moved to her friend’s side, her typically beautiful and carefree face a mask of righteous indignation on behalf of her friend.
“So, tell me, Mace,” she says, running the blade down my cheek, “did Link find the elevator?”
I try to speak around the shadow she’s gagged me with, but when it’s clear I cannot, she snaps her fingers, and the shadow disengages itself from me and swirls back up her arm.
I do not have time to marvel at her control and depth of magic because the blade is still at my throat, and she’s awaiting my answer. “He did find the elevator, Viola. But you already figured that out.”
“Then why hasn’t he found me yet? Why haven’t you brought me to my parents? What kind of sick game is happening here?” she roars. With her fury comes a lashing of shadows from the corners of the basement, jumping into the air like crashing waves. Despite being underground, a frigid breeze passes over us.
The strength of her magic rivals that of the strongest Seasonale, but it is deadly magic that she appears to have very little control over.
I can see the flecks of light blue swirling in the air, frost magic waiting to be engaged. The black spots of shadow magic glisten everywhere, threatening to engulf the room in darkness.
“Viola, we must get you and Tulip to the arena. You have to be crowned the winner. Afterward, I’ll explain everything. I promise. I’ll tell you everything you need to know. But if you’re not crowned in front of everyone, you’ll have no place in Ytopie.”
“What makes you think I want a place in Ytopie?” She shoves past me, knocking her shoulder into mine and causing me to lose my footing slightly.
How does this woman manage to keep me so off-kilter?
“No need to escort us, your liege. Zeph can show us to the arena,” she snarls on her way out the door. Tulip follows behind her wordlessly until she reaches the top of the stairs. She glances about, checking to ensure Viola is out of earshot.
“I do not know what happened between the two of you, Mace, but the little trust she had in you has been completely shattered. If you have any more secrets, you should consider letting them out now.”
Chapter 39
Zeph
Frommyspotonthe sidelines of the arena, I can see Viola and Tulip, artificially dirtied by myself on the way here. They look almost as haggard as they were when I first laid eyes on them as they came down the elevator.
The elevator that was supposed to be a children’s myth.
The elevator we’re now pretending doesn’t exist, having orchestrated Viola and Tulip entering the arena from the underground before any other Racers. To anyone who looks closely, it would be suspicious. But the citizens of Ytopie just want a good show, and the dark horse who disappeared from their connections following the death of her friend appearing at the last minute to win it all makes a damn good one.
When I met her at the steps of the Palace to escort her here, I could tell she had spoken to Mace. The tension that pulsed from her body had shadows dancing all around her. I could only guess at her intention, but it could not have been good.
I shouldn’t be as happy about that as I am.
