Page 77 of Fae Trials

I glanced up to find Mistress Ellyllon hovering in the air with her arms outstretched.

Huge gusts of breath heaved in and out of my lungs, but I couldn’t feel a drop of relief. Not when the headmistress was the one who authorized this deadly trial.

“No-one is permitted to vandalize the campus,” she shouted.

I shook my head. Of course, she would only care about the upkeep of her precious academy.

“Headmistress!” I raised Prince Caulden’s lump of pyre stone above my head. “I came first in the trial.”

“Well done.” She flew down.

“Wait,” screeched Lady Gala from the sky. “I came first.”

“Where is your stone?” asked the headmistress.

She placed her hand in her pocket and pulled it out. “Here.”

“Gala,” said Lady Aster, her voice as whiney as a stray dog’s. “I was the first to step into the stone garden.”

Lady Gala flew down beside us and retracted her wings. “This halfling pretender cheated. There’s no way she could have gotten to the Calf of Fae and back before us.”

Lady Aster landed and twisted her face into a scowl. “Gala, you were busy making that huge boulder of ice. I reached the campus first.”

Everyone ignored her, and the bitchy side of me felt a thrill at seeing Lady Aster denied her victory. The floating sofa carrying all four princes flew across the sky and landed on the chamomile lawn.

Moments later, Ladies Salix and Gazania glided down, both with sweat glistening on their faces. With a flick of their pretty fingers and a few faerie sparkles, they straightened their appearances and took their positions at the side of the throne.

“Headmistress.” Prince August stood, flicking back his golden mane like one of the posers on TV. “I will announce the winners.”

“Not so fast.” The headmistress held up her palm. “Here are the final scores. All ladies failed the test of magic through ineptitude and cheating.”

My gaze dropped to my feet. The last thing I needed right now was a reminder of how Elijah had tricked me into nearly having sex in front of the whole academy.

Mistress Ellyllon continued. “The winner of the oral sex round is Unity due to being the only candidate who participated. Is that correct?”

Prince Rory grinned and gave Prince Caulden a nudge.

With a grimace, the winter prince nodded. I wondered if the oath of silence he had sworn would allow him to claim that I’d given him a blowjob.

“And the first person to set foot on the campus and present the pyre stone was also Unity, making her the winner—”

“I refuse to accept this.” Prince August’s hands curled into fists, and his lime-green eyes burned hot enough to incinerate my heart. He turned to Lady Aster, the faerie fated to become his mate. “It’s time to put an end to this farce and get rid of the halfling interloper.”

Chapter 21

I stepped away from the furious prince, and my back hit the stone statue.

“Prince August,” said Mistress Ellyllon. “You agreed to this trial—”

“Only when I thought our females would crush her,” the blond prince snarled. “But she appears to be as resilient as a salamander-rat from the mound’s deepest levels.”

I edged away, breathing hard to calm my frantic heart. “Wait.” I held up both palms. “If you want me to drop out—”

“It’s too late,” he said. “Magic has sealed your entrance into this ridiculous contest, and magic will seal your fate.”

My gaze darted to Prince Rory, who placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Calm down. She’s harmless.”

“You’ve been blinded by the wiles of this creature,” he snapped. “You and Caulden.”