“It’s a…”
“Trial,” Hudson supplies.
“Trial,” I call out. “It’s a test I have to pass.” Oh shit, I realize. This is what everyone told me about. The reason Ludares came about to begin with.
What have you gotten me into? I demand of Hudson.
“It’s a trial no one ever takes alone, one that only mated pairs can take,” Cyrus tells me. “Therefore—”
“Good thing she has a mate,” Jaxon says, stepping forward. “And we challenge for inclusion. Together.”
Cyrus looks like he’s going to explode and kill us both on the stage, consequences be damned, but then Imogen—one of the witches on the Circle—stands up. “They should have the right to challenge,” she says.
Her mate stands with her. “I agree.”
“So do we,” Nuri and her partner stand as well.
It won’t be enough, I tell Hudson. There won’t be enough votes without the wolves.
“You have a right to a seat by law,” Hudson tells me. “It isn’t up for a vote.”
“By law, a gargoyle has a right to a seat on the Circle. This isn’t up for debate. Or vote.” I hold Cyrus’s gaze and can tell he’s debating his next move carefully.
“Fine,” Cyrus says, the word crackling with rage and indignation. “Your challenge stands. The Trial will take place two days from now at dawn in the arena.”
“Tell him you need more time,” Hudson says urgently. “No way can you be ready in two days—”
“I need more time!” I say.
Cyrus shoots me a malicious look and says, “There is no more time. The Circle cannot afford to linger here as long as your heart desires. It is either two days from now or not at all. You choose.”
“I guess I’ll see you in the arena, then,” I tell him.
He nods, his face once again carefully blank. “That you will.”
As we leave the stage, the audience seems as mixed up as I feel. Some students are clapping and whistling, while others are whispering behind their hands or actively ignoring us—which is a new experience for me here at Katmere, but one I can definitely get behind.
The fewer people who are looking at me, the better. Especially now.
“Well, that went better than expected,” Hudson comments.
“We’re fucked, aren’t we?” I ask.
Both Hudson and Jaxon reply at the same time. “Definitely.”
92
Is It Really a Throw
Down if it Makes
You Want to
Throw Up?
“What did I just do?” I demand as soon as we leave the ceremony and make our way up to Jaxon’s tower. Panic is a living, breathing beast within me, making my hands shake and my brain feel like it’s about to explode. “What did I just do?”
“It’s fine,” Hudson says quickly. “You’re fine.”
“You agreed to compete in the Trials,” Jaxon tells me. “Everyone who gets on the Circle has to compete—and win. That’s why it’s always done as a mated pair, because it’s dangerous.” He pauses. “It’s really dangerous, Grace. And usually deadly. No one has won a seat in a thousand years. Don’t you think people have tried to remove Cyrus before?”
“Of course it’s dangerous,” I answer. “I mean, what exactly about your world isn’t deadly?”
“It’s your world, too,” Hudson reminds me, and for once he doesn’t sound cavalier. In fact, he sounds concerned, and not in a snide way.
Which, now that I think about it, might be what’s freaking me out so much. Well, that and my having just agreed to participate in some twisted paranormal version of reality TV—sudden-death edition.
“And I say you might as well be in charge of it instead of crushed by it,” he adds.
“You shut up!” I tell him, and I’m so annoyed that I end up practically yelling it. Out loud. “You’re the one who got me into this mess!”
“Me?” Jaxon looks insulted. “I’m just trying to help get you out of this mess.”
I don’t bother telling him I’m talking to Hudson. Not when I’ve got enough anger to go around. “By signing up to die with me? I’m glad that feels like helping.”
Now he just looks pissed off. “Should I have left you to go it alone when I can help you? We are mates, you know. That’s not just in name only.”
“Unless you decide otherwise,” I snark, and I know it’s a low blow, but I’m still hurting big-time from what happened before. Then to add this whole Trial thing on top of it, followed by the fact that the only help with it can come from my mate? The guy who just told me that, for a while at least, he didn’t even want to be my mate?