Chapter: 29: Fire and Air

My body was running on fumes.

I was exhausted, and my head was on the brink of exploding. Tuesday might have been a nightmare, but today… Today had been a struggle to stay alive.

We’d not seen the shadow of a break all day—even lunch had been used to teach us proper protocol.

To survive, I’d been planning the next two days down to the last second.

Tomorrow, I wouldn’t leave my room at all. Instead, I’d spend time with Faye, read, and maybe enjoy lunch on the balcony.

Saturday, I intended to explore every nook of this castle and map the maze so I wouldn’t always need Faye to guide me around.

I slept soundly that night and didn’t wake up until Faye entered with brunch around ten.

The tea was almost cold by the time I managed to convince Faye to feast with me. I chuckled when her eyes widened after the first bite of the delightful meal.

She continued bringing me food for the rest of the day and made sure to bring extra for herself as I’d asked her to.

I’d read three of the books Faye and I had stolen from the parlor before the evening arrived.

“Seriously, Faye,” I said, sighing as I looked at the bare walls surrounding me. “I need help figuring out how to personalize this space.”

I knew nothing about art. My passion was machinery, not strokes on a canvas.

Faye had been kind enough to bring me a few magazines that narrowed down the endless selection of paintings and artwork, but it all looked the same to me.

The bed swayed under me as Faye jumped into it, placing herself beside me.

“Stefan Bianchi makes great art if you’re looking for something less complicated. Lea Martine has an absolutely sublime eye for capturing nature in her abstract style—”

Nothing she said made sense to me, but she seemed to enjoy sharing her expert knowledge with me.

It also gave me an excuse to let her pick whatever she thought would complement the space rather than me picking something at random.

Faye promised to order everything we’d agreed on and eagerly ran out of my room with her scribbled note.

I convinced her to stay through the night, and we hardly got any sleep before the sun peeked inside my room.

“Did you even leave your room yesterday?” Oakley asked, cutting the sausage on her plate in half.

“No,” I said, chuckling. “Did you?”

Piper and Oakley looked at each other before they shook their heads, and we burst out laughing.

“We’ll meet you in the parlor,” Piper shouted as we left Oakley behind after breakfast to start our adventure to map the castle.

I added a drawing to my paper every time we rounded a corner or encountered a door we hadn’t seen before so that I could analyze the map later tonight.

Only the royal turret was an entire area completely off-limits for us.

It was where the royal family currently spent their time until they were allowed to roam the castle again on Monday. It was allegedly also where they had their personal chambers.

I instantly recognized Art’s door when we ran past it. I scribbled a circle around the door on my drawing so I could find it again next week.

Next, we found the battle arena. A gigantic room where we were supposed to practice using our powers and battle each other later in the games—not something that I was looking forward to.

We found more ballrooms than I could count and several dining rooms.

Finally, we managed to slip into the kitchen and the room where servants and employees spent their breaks, but we were immediately kicked out.

I would have liked to have seen the garden that surrounded the castle, but we could only look at them from the windows as we were kept inside the walls until the Crown Trials officially began.

Besides, we weren’t allowed to walk outside without supervision anyway.

Guards protected the throne room, so we decided to steer around it.

At last, we reached the parlor, where the other girls had been sitting all day.

“Did you meet anyone on your adventure?” Oakley asked when we joined her by the windows.

“Many,” Piper said, chuckling as she sat beside Oakley.

“Mainly guards and servants, so I don’t think Evie was kidding when she said that the royals will remain hidden in the royal turret until the Crown Trials begin.”

I smiled, but the torturous sense of guilt made my face burn.

Piper and Oakley didn’t know about my night escape during my first night when I’d met Prince Atlas again. I didn’t plan on telling them either.

I was afraid it might ruin my chances of building a real friendship with them.

“What have you been doing in here?” Piper continued, and Oakley raised the book she had in her hands.

“Reading,” she said, bending the corner of the page to indicate how far she’d come before she closed the book.

I pressed my lips together and inhaled deeply through my nose. It physically hurt to see someone do that—ruin the pages instead of finding something else to mark their progress.

“What story?” Piper asked, snuggling closer to Oakley so she could see the cover.

Oakley chuckled and gave her the book. “Daughter of the Bayou.”

Piper shivered. “Is it a thriller?” she whispered, skimming the words on the back.

I smiled when Oakley explained how the brackish waters of a bayou served as the ideal setting for a romantic narrative between an Earth Iridis and a First-blood.

Fictional literature had never piqued my interest. It was easier for me to relate to realism and facts. It was also more useful.

Oakley hadn’t been the only suitor who’d spent her time reading, but most were socializing, as Evie had suggested.

Alia appeared at ease on her handcrafted throne, surrounded by her minions. It remained a mystery to me why they’d want to hang out with her.

She appeared likely to toss them aside once she no longer needed them, and if any of them were eliminated, I doubted she’d mourn them for long.

“Aren’t you excited to meet him, Will?”

Oakley’s question caught me off guard.

“What?” I asked, unsure who she was referring to.

“The prince,” Piper said, her smile wider than a crescent moon. “I know you’ve technically met him before, but this has to be different, right?”

I shrugged as the memory of Prince Atlas hiding us from the guards grazed my mind. I did not look forward to being confronted by him again.

“I don’t know,” I said, sitting beside them. “I mean, he seemed nice and all, but what if that’s all a ruse?”

“Exactly!” Piper exclaimed, shaking Oakley’s shoulders. “He’s a mystery that’s about to become unraveled. What’s not to be excited about?”

“Right?” Oakley exclaimed, intertwining her fingers with Piper as they squealed.

I’d never imagined anyone could be so excited to meet someone—even if that someone was the crown prince. However, they were too cute for me to resist giggling alongside them.

“Obviously, the prince is a powerful individual.”

I turned my head and saw Alia looking at us, grinning and with narrow eyes. “He will need someone to match that potential—an equal sparring partner to help him rule.

“Do you honestly believe one of you has what it takes?”

Her lip curled into a smirk as she lifted her chin. She aimed to inspire fear and doubt, possibly spark conflict among us. I just didn’t feel like playing.

The other suitors had been top of their academies just like her. They deserved to be here as much as her.

“Ignore her,” I said, turning my back to her. “She’s only trying to make you doubt yourselves. Don’t let her.”

Heels clacking against the floor pierced the silence left behind by my boldness to challenge Alia. Then an unnatural heat warmed my back, and I stiffened.

It was easy to spot when a Fire Iridis was upset as their body heat tended to spike.

“What did you say, novice?” Alia spat.

I only continued to ignore her, hoping she’d eventually grow tired of testing my boundaries.

“How dare you speak to me like that?”

Piper and Oakley looked at me, terrified. My heart was pounding wildly, my palms sweaty, and my toes curled in my shoes.

Alia terrified me, but if I showed her that, I’d never hear the end of it.

“Don’t forget who you are, Wildcard,” she hissed.

The heat on my back became so strong that my skin started to prickle.

“A nobody, from a nobody, First-blood family.”

I clenched my jaw as my eyes widened. Fear became a foreign concept and anger a familiar friend who’d always had my back.

Alia had crossed the line.

She could call me names all she wanted, but the one thing I would never tolerate was for her to drag my family into this absurd feud.

Fury pushed me to my feet, and I turned around to face the damned woman.

“Do not bring my family into this, Alia,” I hissed, poking her chest hard enough to force her back.

“I don’t know what kind of miserable life you had before coming here, but it does not give you the right to talk about my blood and the people I care about.”

Alia looked mortified, cocked brows and blinking eyes. It didn’t shake me.

“The only people who can send me home are the king, the prince, and my master. Not you. I’m not here for the prince or the crown—I’m here to learn. So stay off my back!”

I swung my hands to dismiss her, but my emotions had gotten the better of me. A wind emerged from the palm of my hand, turning a series of furniture and books upside down.

Everyone crouched to avoid being knocked over by a flying object.

~Cursed blood.~

Alia’s frown had curved into a smile again. “You really have no control over those powers, do you?” she said, chuckling maliciously. “They control you.”

I didn’t answer her, but my silence was more than enough to confirm it.

She snorted. “You won’t last long here,” she said, barring her perfect teeth.

“You probably won’t even make it past the first trial before you either violate your contract, or you’re eliminated according to the rules of the Crown Trials.”

Everyone remained still as Alia turned her back to me and exited the room, trailed by her mindless minions.

“Are you okay?” Piper whispered, touching my shoulder lightly as my nails finally pierced my skin.

I nodded, biting my bottom lip. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, unable to look at them.

“She made me angry, but”—I sighed—“she’s right. I don’t know how to control my powers, and I doubt I ever will.”

“Hey,” Piper said, grabbing my bleeding hand and covering it with hers. “We’ve all been there. Our powers just weren’t as strong as yours, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually.”

She removed her hand from mine, and the wounds were gone.

“You really think so?” I whispered, wiping off the dried blood from my hand.

Oakley lightly grazed my shoulder. “I think even Alia struggled to control her powers when she first enrolled at her academy.”

The ghost of a smile crossed my lips.

It was nice knowing that most Iridis aren’t naturally adept at controlling their powers. It required hard work.

“Trouble controlling your powers?”

A suitor with long, sandy hair and hazel eyes joined us from behind me.

Calla Young—an Air Iridis from the Storm Academy. She also lived right beside me.

“Unfortunately,” I said, rubbing the palm of my hand.

Her droopy eyes shifted to form creases. “I think it was cool for you to stand up to Alia like that,” she said, grinning widely.

“Thank you,” I said hesitantly.

Praising me for standing up to the bully didn’t seem like the only reason Calla had approached us.

“So,” Calla continued, curling her hands behind her back.

“I know you’re being taught by one of Heliac’s greatest air masters, but I wouldn’t mind teaching you a thing or two about control if you want.”

My gloomy face lit up with her offer. “Really?” I whispered, reaching out to touch her shoulder, but hesitated.

“Sure,” she said, grabbing my reluctant hands. “We’re elemental sisters, after all.”