“And this concludes the sixth ever Purging Trials.” Calum’s voice booms over the arena, stilling and silencing everyone with a single sentence. Tealah is beside him, looking terrified with her hand pressed against his arm. The king, on the other hand, looks almost deceptively calm as he tries to seem completely unaffected by the dagger at his throat and the Resistance surrounding him.
“Many of you may not know who we are,” Calum continues, voice clear, eyes roaming over the crowd. “And that is because we are your king’s most deadly secret. His dirtiest secret. We are Ordinaries. We are Fatals. We are the Resistance.”
A collective gasp echoes through the stands, shock settling over the crowd. They can do nothing but watch the scene unfold with their powers suppressed by the Bowl and Resistance members blocking their escape.
“Today, we come out of the darkness and show you who we are. What we want to change.”
I can’t move, eyes glued to Calum as he turns to look at the king now. Every guard, every citizen watches in stunned silence, unable to stop this. “This could all be over. No more death, no more fighting.” He gestures to the crowd now, waving a hand. “We are everywhere. We are not extinct from this kingdom, despite what your king has you believe. We have never stopped growing, never stopped fighting against the injustices that the Purging brought. And we have gathered here today.”
The people seem terrified at the prospect of so many diseased Ordinaries living among them. It’s clear that Elites will do anything to keep their powers, to survive, and if they continue to believe that Ordinaries will kill them off, then they will only continue to kill us off first.
I silently plead with Calum to tell them the king’s lie, tell them we are healthy and whole. We may not have proof, but the fact that we’ve lived among them for decades with no outbreaks of disease or loss of Elite powers will have to be enough for now. Although, it seems that most of the kingdom doesn’t care enough about Ordinaries to even consider that. They just blindly trusted their twisted king.
Calum’s gaze shifts between the future king in the glass box and his future Enforcer grimacing in pain beside me. “We can peacefully come together, or we cannot. I would think the lives of your only heirs would be enough to persuade you to set your pride aside and reunite all of Ilya’s people together.”
My heart stops before sputtering back to life.
They are going to kill the princes if the king does not relent. They are gambling with the future of Ilya. Gambling with lives.
They didn’t tell me that.
No, no, no.
The crowd’s response is a roar of rage. This was not how it was supposed to go. Threatening the prince’s lives will only lead to the people’s anger being directed at us, at our cause. It’s harmful, not helpful.
My head is spinning while Ilyans scream in protest.
Calum’s voice is stern. “People of Ilya, welcome us home. We are no threat to—”
A sharp intake of breath from behind startles me, pulling my attention from Calum and the king. The Silencer standing before Kai stiffens. His eyes are wide, sweat slicking his brow. He opens his mouth as if to shout something, a warning. And then— Kai erupts in flames.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Kai
My mind feels muffled, my head hazy. This can’t be happening. Four Silencers stand in front of each of us, smothering our powers.
Four Silencers stand in front of each of us, smothering our powers.
Every contestant but Paedyn is feeling like their head is splitting. I know she isn’t affected by the Silencer’s power, but why is no member of the Resistance even touching her, guarding her, getting close to her?
The thought slips my mind when another wave of what I can only describe as heaviness crashes into me.
The ache and agony of it is hardly bearable, even with all the training I’ve been doing with Damion. My pounding head is making it hard for me to focus on the man beside Father, his face swimming in my vision.
From what I can hear through the ringing in my ears, his speech consists of how the Ordinaries want to live, even despite the disease they will spread to the Elites.
But if there are as many Ordinaries living among us as he says, then why have we not felt the effects? The loss of power?
My head throbs even more as I try to puzzle it out. The man keeps talking but I bare my teeth and block him out. I take a deep breath, pushing aside the pain to focus on the feeling of power beneath it. I focus on the man currently silencing me as the tingling thrum of his ability grows under my skin.
I shut my eyes, reaching out towards that power just as I had done so many times before with Damion. Of course, I’d never actually been able to do it—
Not. Helping.
Adrenaline mixes with that faint feeling of power, so feather-light beneath my skin.
I latch onto it.
It’s odd to think that the very same power the Silencer is using to suppress my ability is still my power, nonetheless.
Clinging to the Silencer’s ability, feeling it flood my body, I throw it back at him.
His eyes go wide at the sudden feel of his own power battling him. He was not prepared for this, not expecting this. He let his guard down.
Only a Silencer can beat a Silencer.
And that’s exactly what I do.
I beat him with his own ability.
The weight of his silence slips from my shoulders.
And then I consume them in flame.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Paedyn
Screams fill the air. Silencers are doused in flame, and the smell of burning flesh has me gagging.
The Silencers are rolling around in the sand, trying to smother the flames licking at their skin, burning their clothing. Their smothering silence over the contestants has snapped, setting them free.
I still have no idea how it happened, how Kai suddenly broke free of the Silencer’s control and took on Kitt’s Dual ability. His blast of fire, his brutal attack, has sent the whole arena into chaos once again. My eyes dart to the stands where the crowd is beginning to push back against the Resistance, and a struggle ensues.
Imperials are suddenly pouring into the arena to join the fight, and I’m shocked by how many have arrived so quickly. I whip my head around, aware that the number of black-masked figures is dwindling.
We weren’t expecting this. We weren’t prepared to fight, to lose.
I need to get out of here. Now.
The idea of running at a time like this makes my stomach churn, but the future king knows what I’ve done. The thought pounds through my skull as I scan the arena for him. He’s currently pushing through the crowd now gathered around the glass box after they overpowered the Resistance and scattered from their stands. Flames lick up his arms as he fights anyone who comes near him.
Kai has run to join the fight, his movements precise, perfect, as he drops Resistance members left and right. The sight of it makes me sick. I have no idea where Jax is, but I spot short burgundy hair in the sea of people and know immediately that it belongs to Andy.
And for her sake, Blair is lucky I can’t seem to find her.
Oh, but I will. And I’ll enjoy killing her.
I move to stand to my feet and abruptly stop at the feel of a heavy weight on my lap.
Adena.
Tears prick my eyes yet again, but I blink them away, forcing myself to keep my head. I look from her calm, motionless face to the chaos around us and the bloody battle that is raging. I try to lift her up with me, but she’s heavy—dead weight. Literally. I choke at the thought as I push her off my lap and settle her onto the sand.