Chapter 79

“What kind of test is this!?” I snarl, waving a hand up to the pillars. “Is it so important that the Queen of the Underworld be able to balance at great heights!?”

“Watch yourself,” Death snarls, stepping close enough that I can hear his lowered voice as he glances around, ensuring that the courtiers cannot hear me anymore. I feel Anton move to my side as Orion likewise steps close. “Your commentary has not been requested, Princess.”

“No, dad,” Orion says, shaking his head at his father. “She’s right – why are you doing this? Talent and beauty I can see being important for a Queen, but this? It’s -”

“Enough,” Death snarls, looking between Orion and I with a cold glare. Orion snaps his mouth shut, a learned reaction to his father’s command, I think. Death sneers at us both before moving his eyes to Anton and looking him slowly up and down. “This test was devised by the Priests according to the prophecy. It shall be done, and the results will point us further in the direction of –“

“Which prophecy?” Orion growls, pushing forward, wanting evidence.

“You do not need to know, boy,” Death bites out, cuffing his son hard over this head. Orion gasps and stumbles two steps to the wide. When I snarl and step forward Death whips his head to me. “You will remember your place, Princess, if you wish to keep the little Duchesses safe in their beds.”

“Bullshit,” I growl, stepping forward towards him. Death’s eyes go wide as I call his bluff. “I’m tied to this competition – there’s no way you can pull them in –“

Death bares his teeth and snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Enough.”

I continue to speak but then go still, my hands flying to my throat as I realize that words are no longer coming from between my lips.

“Juniper!” Anton gasps, reaching for me. I turn my face up to him, shocked, as his eyes move fast over my form, checking to ensure that I’m okay even if I can’t speak anymore. I nod eagerly, letting him know that I am.

“Stand back, children,” Death growls, glaring between the three of us before gesturing high towards the girls standing on the pillars, their Heralds floating behind them and keeping them steady. “The Trial begins.”

As Death turns fully away from us and gives a nod to the Heralds, as one they blink away. Several of the girls standing at the top of the pillars shriek and scream as the steadying hands leave their shoulders.

I gasp and cry out, reaching for them, but of course no sound comes from my mouth. Orion reaches for me, wrapping a hand around my arm. “Juniper, no,” he says, his voice grave. I turn to him, pulling at his arm, my impulse still to go forward, to stop this, to do something. The Prince shakes his head. “It’s – the Trial has begun. To interrupt it would be death.” He shakes his head, apologetic and devastated.

I cry out again, silently, and turn to face the girls, terrified for them.

They struggle for balance on the tiny tops of the poles, wobbling, their arms out. Terror is on each of their faces, tears streaming down a few cheeks. Ximena, clever and bold, crouches down on the top of her pillar with her hands pressed flat to the tops of her feet. She presses her eyes shut and barely seems to breathe, just…praying to survive just long enough.

Praying that some other girl falls first.

Horribly, a breeze floats through the air. The Contestants’ screams fill the air.

I groan and turn towards Anton, wanting his steady assurance, his light – but before I can tuck my face against him as I want to, I see Beatrice at his other side, already seeming to lean against him as she looks with horror up at the girls still balancing on top of the poles.

Anton looks anxiously at me and then down at Beatrice, and then up at me again, clearly at a loss for what to do.

My wolf snarls within me but I just go still, knowing that I can’t ask it of him – can’t ask him to turn away from this girl who believes herself to be his mate as she seeks comfort in this terrible moment.

“June,” Anton murmurs, reaching for me.

But I just turn away, clasping my hands in front of my chest, Orion’s hand still wrapped warm around my arm. And I ignore both of them, focusing instead on the eight girls above who struggle to keep hold of their lives.

The trial doesn’t last long.

A collective gasp goes through the group and I scream soundlessly as Mahina suddenly stumbles and then shrieks as she tips too far to the side and plummets to the ground. I slap my hands to cover my face, already beginning to silently sob as I hear the sickening crack of her body slamming down, her scream still echoing in the air.

“Juniper,” Laila groans, her hand on my shoulder. I turn towards her, reaching even as I keep my eyes shut. Orion lets my arm go as I wrap my arms around my friend, both of us sobbing into each other’s shoulders.

I mean – I didn’t want any of them to fall – but Mahina – Mahina, our friend, who has been so brave –

I cling to Laila, devastated, not knowing what to do. The shrieking of the wraiths fills the air, though I don’t know where they came from, and I feel the starlight tingle of Anton’s hand on my back as he stands close by me until they are gone. Shaking, I lift my head from Laila’s shoulders, not knowing what to do.

“Oh, June,” she murmurs, shaking her head, staring into my eyes. “This is horrible – I keep forgetting, because it’s fine when it’s just us – but the reality of this –“

I open my mouth to agree, to repeat back everything she says, but no words come out. She stares at me with concern, her hands finding my cheeks, but we’re both distracted when Death begins to speak again.

“The next sorting will occur now,” Death snaps, impatience and anger coloring his voice.

“What!?” Orion gasps. I turn my head to see him still close by, standing straight in his shock. As I glance beyond him, I realize that the seven surviving Bottom contestants have been returned to the platform, though many of them are trembling. Cadence has fallen to her knees, sobbing.

Death ignores his son, raising a hand and causing those golden and black circles to again appear, quite sudden, on either side of him. Nine black this time, and eight gold. Orion storms forward towards his father.

“We have had no time to consult the priests!” Orion barks out. “Let alone my preferences!”

“Hush, child,” Death snaps, glaring hard at his son. “None of that is necessary. The decision has been made.”

“It has not!” Orion rages. But Death just snarls at his son and brings his hands together in a mighty clap. I gasp soundlessly, my eyes shutting in fear as I feel myself being tugged away, pulled through nothingness. When I open my eyes I’m still on the platform – though the view has changed.

Now I am standing to Death’s lefthand side in a line of girls who all look as shocked and as frightened as I feel. I look frantically around, my eyes finding Anton, who just stares at me in horror.

“It is done,” Death says, glaring around at us before storming away. “Further news regarding the Competition will come soon.” I watch as he strides to the end of the platform and then seems to disappear into midair, the handful of courtiers who came to witness this event following after him.

A sob breaks out on my left and I snap my head to the side to see Ximena standing there, her hands pressed to her mouth as she looks down at her feet, shaking in horror.

I look down at her circle.

And then shift my eyes to the one in which I stand.

Just like Ximena’s, my circle is black.

Black, which means I’m in the Bottom. Even though Orion promised me I would be in the top.

Anton strides for me, reaching for my hand. “Nic!” he shouts into the air, looking around for him. “Get us out of here!”

I reach for my handmaid, feeling his hand slip against mine just as Nic appears, looking with horror down at my feet. “Oh, Princess…” Nic murmurs, his eyes moving to my face as he shakes his head.

“Out of here,” Anton growls, folding his arms around me, protective. “Now.”

Nic nods once and then vanishes us away.