Page 55 of A Match Made in Error

The arena flashes, transforming into a lifelike illusion of a rain forest, complete with a prowling jaguar patrolling the edge. Two figures walk along the edge hand-in-hand, a fake couple the Moirai are using to show us what it will look like.

“The labyrinth adjusts difficulty based on the participants’ emotional bonds and choices,” the maiden continues, voice light despite the gravity of her words. “It will feel very real, but have no fear, because any injuries you sustain in the simulation will heal as soon as you’re out.” I wince, touching the place where my arm was lobbed off in a Septhis Stone simulation during the war. It had been a fake injury, but it had felt so real. “You will not roll before you make choices; instead, we will see the score of Fate on this screen after every crucial choice you make.” A simulated die rolls on the projection crystal, landing on a ten before a jaguar lunges at the fake contestants in the arena.

“The simulation will end once you have discovered and completed the challenge we set before you. Winners will receive an advantage in the next trial.” The Crone’s smile almost looks wicked. Like she enjoys making our lives difficult. “And Riven and Poppy will start us off.”

Before the eyes of the crowd fall on us, a smirk is on my face, shoulders confidently rolled back. Poppy smiles, but it doesn’t light her hazel eyes the way a true smile would. It’s fake. Like our match. A pang tugs at my stomach.

I press my lips to the shell of her ear. “You’re the most capable woman I know,” I whisper. “This trial fears you, not the other way around.”

She nods and then walks down the stone steps of the arena with a confidence that warriors would envy until we come to a stop on the stage below.

“To start, you have to press palms, foreheads, and chests together to unlock Fate’s challenge,” the Maiden instructs, her hands raising up to mirror the action. “And remember, these trials should show you far more about one another than they show those of us watching.”

“For Fate’s sake,” Poppy curses, coaxing a snort from me. A few years ago, that would have been the worst curse she could have thought of. Before she stopped revering Fate’s soulmate-finding power. I feel my cocky grin slip.

Poppy turns to face me, nestling into me. I feel the soft press of her chest against mine, and when I dip to press my forehead to hers, I feel her eyes burning a path over my face.

“Careful, sweetheart. If you look at me like that, I may forget this is fake,” I whisper, my own skin cringing at the sickeningly sweet sound of it. Do I always sound so…cheesy? I wrap my arms around her, embracing her in an honest act of connection I know she needs.

She snorts, a little laugh loosening the tension I feel in her back. “I’m not looking at you like anything.” Defensive, her face scrunches with confusion.

Since when did she start looking at me like that? With…disdain? “Are you okay?”

Our hands connect, and sigils glow around us.

“Forget it. We need to focus.” Her eyes aren’t on me anymore. They’re closed. Like she’s bracing herself.

“Poppy-” is all I get to say before the light blinks out and the illusion begins.

A flash of darkness, and then the world has shifted. Gone is the arena and the watching couples, and replacing it is a world I’ve never seen before. I know it’s a simulation, but it’s so real that it’d be easy to forget if I were in here long enough.

We’re in a tunnel now, cave walls leaking with moisture and smelling of mildew. Poppy’s hand finds mine in the darkness, and I squeeze it once. I’ve got you.

She squeezes back, not afraid, but with steady pressure. I know.

Our steps echo down the tunnel, the still quiet somehow more eerie than monsters jumping out at every turn.

“Is anything going to…happen?” Poppy asks.

“I’m not sure.” These trials are meant to challenge us. To teach us about our partner and ourselves. I suppose that being lost in underground tunnels would be unsettling for many people. It would give them a number of things to overcome: panic, resourcing, or navigating in the darkness, just to name a few. These are all things that would unsettle even the steadiest person. But not me. There has to be more.

The tunnels widen, magically pulling apart until we’re left in a large alcove of a cave. The walls still seep with moisture, and light is scarce, but it seems we are no longer alone. My shadows cling to the wall, whispering in their mother tongue that a creature lurks behind the jutted-out cave walls. My shadows huddle around it to the north, and I step in front of Poppy, shielding her from a potential attack. She wouldn’t know how to defeat it, not unless the beast is made of pastry and covered in icing. The only great physical feat I’ve seen her accomplish is putting down far too many desserts than her small body should be able to fit.

A sixth sense I picked up in battle awakens. One that answers the call of violence without hesitation. Turning off all reason and shirking my carefree persona to stir the killer within.

The creature leaps at Poppy, and I hear her shriek only once before I’m baring my teeth and ordering my shadows to restrain it. A better partner would have remembered that this is all fake. Would have remembered that working together would best serve our purpose and that the illusion responds to our reactions.

Some contestants would have let their partners handle themselves.

I cannot.

My instincts overwhelm the illusion magic, rattling it so much that my shadows squelch out the beast they tangle around until it’s nothing but pixie dust in the wind. “Where is it?” I growl, turning slowly, my hand on Poppy’s hip behind me to keep her near. My power spikes, shadows caressing Poppy as I search for the next attack.

“Riven, I’m fine,” Poppy says, her words muffled. Sounding almost underwater behind the protection of my shadows. The simulation glitches, the ancient magic that lies dormant in my veins too much for the weak simulation the witches put together.

My voice drops to a gravel-dark order, “Stay behind me.”

My shoulders are angled at the flickering opening in the cave wall, the only place an attack could come from. I widen my stance, slightly elongated canines still bared.