The mate bond that tethered us was clouding my vision again, and right now, I needed my head to be clear.
“Daughters of the Solis continent!” Sir Featherton clapped his hands in delight. “Welcome to the second test in your Trial. Today we shall see just how strong all of your affinities are, because the test we’ve created for you cannot be completed by any fairy who holds only one affinity. Oh no, today’s test will truly push you to your limits.” His smile turned razor-sharp. “Within the Bay of Nim, the treacherous waters known for sucking fae to its depths and never letting go, waits a trinket. It’s lying at the deepest part of the bay, over a thousand feet below sea level. The first female to find it, retrieve it, and arrive safely back to shore and present it to the king will win the Trial.”
He clasped his hands behind his back, and a moment of fear stole over me. With life-giving, air, and fire affinities, I had no idea how I would ever reach it.
The Trial archon’s smile grew even broader. “Good luck.”
CHAPTER 27
“Finally, a test that my affinity will excel at,” Meegana whispered under her breath. As a female who harbored a water elemental affinity, along with shapeshifting and sound sensory, Meegana’s gifts hadn’t allowed her to excel in the first test, but here in the bay, she undoubtedly would.
I squeezed her hand. “You’ll do great.”
She nodded, her expression relieved, but when she faced me, worry etched into her features. “What are you going to do?”
I racked my brain for a response and came up short. “I don’t know yet.”
Because here, in the open ocean, I had no idea how my life-giving, air, or fire affinities would help me. It was possible I could create a mask of air around my face so I could breathe underwater, but to swim a thousand feet below the surface . . . Dangerous creatures lurked within the depths of the Brashier Sea, predators that also swam into the Bay of Nim.
I shuddered.
It didn’t seem I was alone in my concerns, though. Both Georgyanna and Beatrice also wore masks of worry. Georgyanna held four affinities—fire, electric, constructo, and emotional manipulation. Of the four of us, she seemed even worse off than me.
Beatrice would also have to get creative. With her earth element, sight sensory, and telekinesis, she was also at a disadvantage without a water element, but I supposed that was the point of these tests. Only the most ruthless, cunning, and strongest female would win.
I gave a wary glance toward Georgyanna. A small smile had formed on her face.
Taking a deep breath, I stirred the magic inside me. It rumbled in my belly, rising and waking as I pulled on it. I still had to concentrate when I blended my affinities together, but Matron Olsander assured me that with more practice it would become second nature.
“On my count!” Sir Featherton raised a hand as the king and council members watched on. “Three . . .”
Norivun stood apart from the crowd, his expression impossible to read. He crossed his arms, and I could have sworn that a flutter of worry rolled from him, but when he saw me watching him, he only nodded curtly.
The mate bond inside me unfurled, threatening to overpower my concentration on my magic, so I quickly averted my attention and focused on the water.
I would have to create an air bubble around my face, perhaps even my entire body. Maybe I could create bubbles behind me to push me down into the bay’s depths. Perhaps my fire could light the way. Worry rose higher inside me, because I couldn’t think of any way to use my life-giving affinity, which meant I was down to two affinities—air and fire only.
“Two . . . ” Sir Featherton’s arm rose higher. “One!”
Meegana shot into the water like an arrow, diving effortlessly into the bay and disappearing into its depths in a single stroke. My eyes widened when the ground rumbled, my knees wobbling as the entire realm shifted. Rocks and boulders abruptly shot from the hillside, cascading down the mountain in a rolling sweep of jagged stone.
The boulders tumbled down the incline, moving faster with every second that passed. I thought for sure we were about to be swept away in a rockslide, but then the stones lifted in the air.
I gaped when I realized what was happening. Beatrice’s forehead furrowed as she wove her hands through the air.
The rocks abruptly pulverized into tiny pebbles as they hovered above us. Several council members clapped and nodded in delight. Beatrice’s rock creation spiraled toward the water and then shot into it like a magical drill as she used her earth elemental and telekinetic affinities.
Beatrice pointed her hands downward, and the hundreds of tons of rock burrowed into the water. I knew she’d hit the seafloor’s bed when a breath of relief escaped her.
The spiraling path of pebbles she’d created widened until it formed a perfect tunnel in the water. All of the water was contained on the outside of it while the inside stayed dry.
A grin split her face as she jumped into her magically made, fully enclosed slide. With a squeal of glee, she slid down her earthen creation, going down, down, down so fast that her squeal turned into a laugh of pure fun that echoed back to those of us at the surface.
I had no doubt if Meegana wasn’t already at the bottom of the seafloor, Beatrice would be there before all of us could blink.
Only Georgyanna and I still stood on the water’s edge, and for some reason, the Kroravee native seemed in no hurry to join the other two.
Not wanting to know what she was up to, I plunged into the water. My lungs seized when its frigid embrace took hold of me, but I ignited my fire inside me to heat my limbs. Calling upon more magic, I formed a bubble of air around my head, and then I swam under the surface. I kicked as quickly as I could, but I wasn’t moving fast enough.
Calling upon more magic, I created bubbles around me. Defying gravity, my magical bubbles shoved me through the water, propelling me at impossible speed until I was rocketing toward the seafloor.
In the back of my mind, I wondered again what Georgyanna was doing, but that thought fled when a flash of movement shot past my peripheral vision. A dark shadow. An open mouth.
Fear raced through me as a huge predator cut through my path. Its mouth was over five feet wide. Fins like knives sliced through the water. It could swallow me in a single bite, and it probably could propel itself faster through the water than my magic.
Another shadow cut through the water to my left. They were circling me. A burst of panic shot through me, and I closed my eyes as I flew toward the bottom of the sea. I concentrated on what Matron Olsander had taught me. I expanded the air around me until it formed a diameter of over ten feet. Magic pulsed in my gut as I ignited my ringed bubble in fire.
A scream tore through the water, and I knew that one of the predators had been burned by my flame. But as long as I kept my fire encased within my air bubble, the water wouldn’t douse it.
Sweat beaded down my back as I wove my affinities together, needing to use both as the bubbles propelling me down increased. More. I needed more magic to get me there.
Another flash of movement to my left had me shifting my attention to my fire magic. At the last moment, I reined it in when I realized it was Meegana beside me.
She grinned as the tunnel Beatrice had built appeared to my right. The three of us were racing for the bottom, nearly neck and neck.