Chapter 111 Races & Shadows

Chapter 111 Races & Shadows
Aeloria POV

"It absolutely did." I pointed toward the food stalls. "Move."

Arren laughed. "Is that an order, my queen?"

"It is if you value your life."

The giant immediately picked up the pace. "Wise choice," Nyra teased.

"I've seen hungry warriors." Arren glanced at me. "I've never seen a hungry Leviathan Queen."

"You are about to." They both laughed. I couldn't help laughing too. For just a little while...I let myself forget about shadow gods. Chaos. Midnight meetings. And the dangerous lie I'd just told everyone I loved.

My gut pinched with guilt and anxiety again and I forced it down. I really hoped I was making the right decision here, because the guys were going to be pissed.
~

A few hours later...

By sunset, nearly the entire island had gathered around the starting grounds.

The atmosphere was completely different from the first trial. Yesterday, everyone had been nervous. Today? Everyone was fired up. The attack hadn't broken anyone's spirit. If anything, it had sharpened it.Warriors filled the wooden viewing platforms while families crowded along the rope barriers. Children sat on their parents' shoulders, waving handmade banners for their favorite contestants. Music drifted through the air as vendors wandered through the crowd selling roasted meat, fruit skewers, and fresh bread.

For a few precious hours...The island felt alive again. Hopeful. I leaned against the wooden railing overlooking the course while my mates gathered around me. The race stretched nearly three miles across forests, cliffs, rivers, and ancient ruins before looping back toward the arena. Magical obstacles shimmered along the route, glowing with enchantments powerful enough to challenge even experienced warriors. I grinned. "Oh, this is going to be fun."

"You say that every time someone is about to suffer," Calren said.

"They volunteered."

"They had no idea what they volunteered for."

"Minor detail."

Dorian chuckled under his breath. "Aeloria."

"What?"

"You smile like a villain sometimes."

"I smile like a queen."

"Same difference."

I gasped dramatically. "You wound me."

Zorath snorted. "No, but one of these contestants might." I elbowed him. Hard. The giant bronze horn sounded across the valley. Every conversation stopped instantly. Sixteen contestants lined up behind the enchanted starting line. I quickly found the three I was most interested in. Nyra bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, looking like she couldn't wait to start. Arren stood beside her with that same calm, unreadable expression he always wore. Then there was...

"Who's the guy with all the metal in his face?"

Tavren glanced down at his notes. "Jory."

"The silver-haired one?"

He nodded. "He came from the western mountain tribes." I watched him more carefully. He had silver hair shaved close on the sides with the longer top braided back. Rings lined one eyebrow, both ears, and one side of his nose. Several silver studs decorated his lower lip. Honestly...He looked like trouble. The fun kind. Aeloria, focus. The starting crystals flashed. The horn sounded again. "GO!"

Sixteen contestants exploded forward. Immediately chaos erupted. The first obstacle was simple enough. A steep cliff face enchanted to constantly shift beneath their hands. Within seconds two contestants slipped. One recovered. The other fell into the waiting safety net below. A red flare erupted. "Eliminated!"

The crowd cheered anyway. At least he wasn't dead. Nyra climbed like she'd been born on cliffs. She barely slowed down. Arren simply... powered upward. The giant didn't climb. He conquered. Hand over hand without hesitation. Jory surprised me most. Instead of fighting the moving rocks, he seemed to anticipate every shift before it happened. Interesting. Very interesting.

"They're reading the enchantment," Tavren murmured.

"I noticed."

The second obstacle was a river crossing. Except...the river was full of illusion serpents. Contestants couldn't tell which ones were fake until they got close enough. Several panicked immediately. One poor fae screamed loud enough to startle himself right into the water. Another flare. "Eliminated!"

"Oh gods," I laughed. "He punched an illusion."

"He really did," Zorath agreed proudly. The crowd roared with laughter. Nyra ignored every serpent completely. She sprinted across fallen logs without looking down once. Arren simply smashed straight through anything that got in his way. Whether it was real or fake apparently didn't matter. Jory used short bursts of earth magic to raise stepping stones across the river.

"Oh..." Rhyven smiled. "He's clever."

"He is."

The third obstacle was where everything changed. Stone guardians. Massive enchanted statues rose from the ground, blocking the narrow mountain pass. Contestants had two choices. Fight. Or outsmart them. Half chose poorly. One after another, contestants were thrown backward by the towering guardians. Flare. Flare. Flare. Three more eliminated. I winced. "Ouch."

"They'll feel that tomorrow," Calren muttered.

Nyra ducked beneath one guardian's swing before vaulting over its shoulder. Arren punched one directly in the face. The statue shattered. The crowd absolutely lost its mind. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. "He just..."

"He absolutely did," Dorian said. "...Punch a magical guardian."

"Yes."

"...Why?"

"Because he's Arren."

Fair enough. Jory surprised me again. He never fought. Never wasted energy. He manipulated the terrain itself, forcing the guardians to trap each other while he slipped past unnoticed. Tavren looked impressed. "I underestimated him."

"So did I."

By the halfway point only ten contestants remained. The final obstacle combined everything. A twisting forest maze filled with magical traps, moving walls, illusion beasts, and hidden combat arenas where contestants had to defeat summoned creatures before advancing. It was brutal. One contestant triggered an exploding vine trap. Another wandered in circles until the maze itself spit him back out. Two more flares. Then another. Nine eliminated. Leaving only seven.

The crowd stood as the final racers burst from the forest. The finish line shimmered with golden magic. Nyra emerged first. She crossed the line with a triumphant laugh, throwing both fists into the air. The crowd erupted. Seconds later Arren thundered across, barely looking winded despite the course trying to kill him for the last hour. Then Jory sprinted through, his silver hair flying behind him as he secured third place. The remaining four contestants crossed shortly afterward, exhausted but victorious. I couldn't stop smiling.

"They're incredible."

"They are," Riven agreed quietly. I climbed to my feet as the crowd continued cheering. "Attention!"

The valley slowly quieted. I looked proudly at the seven remaining contestants. "You've survived another trial." Cheers answered me. "You've proven your strength." More cheers. "But strength alone doesn't earn a place here." I smiled at each of them. "It takes courage."

"It takes heart."

"And apparently..." I glanced toward Arren's shattered stone guardian, "...it occasionally takes punching enchanted statues in the face."

The crowd burst into laughter. Arren actually looked slightly embarrassed. Nyra was laughing too hard to stand. Even Jory cracked the smallest hint of a smile. I pointed toward the top three. "Congratulations to Nyra, Arren, and Jory."

The applause rolled across the valley like thunder. Only seven remained, and somehow...the competition was only getting better.
~

Nethrys POV

Dinner should have been enjoyable.

The table was set beneath the glass canopy of the greenhouse again, surrounded by glowing flowers that only bloomed after sunset. Shadow lanterns drifted lazily overhead while the fountains whispered somewhere beyond the climbing ivy. Ordinarily, it would have been peaceful. Instead, my thoughts refused to settle.

Katria sat across from me, laughing as Rosia batted a roasted potato from the edge of the table before proudly carrying it away like she'd just conquered an empire. "My ferocious little huntress," Katria teased. Rosia growled triumphantly around the potato.

I smiled despite myself. "You encourage her."

"I absolutely do."

"She's going to become insufferable."

Katria shrugged. "So?"

"...Fair."

Rosia hopped into Katria's lap, demanding scratches beneath her chin. Katria obliged immediately, smiling so brightly that something uncomfortable twisted in my chest. Gods. She had no idea what she was doing to me. I reached for my wine, more to occupy my hands than because I wanted it. This wasn't supposed to happen. When I found Katria, she had been useful. A noblewoman. Connected. Clever. A convenient ally against enemies who had been circling me for centuries.

Simple. Calculated. Efficient. Then she'd started laughing. Started arguing with me. Started making sarcastic comments when she should have been terrified. Now...Now she was sitting across from me feeding scraps of meat to a tiny magical snow leopard while humming softly to herself. And my chest actually hurt watching her. Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

"You've gone quiet." Her voice pulled me back. I realized she'd been watching me for several seconds. "I'm thinking."

Her eyebrow lifted. "Dangerous."

"I've been told."

She grinned. "I've heard you're terrifying."

"I am."

"Hmm." She studied me. "I don't know."

"No?"

"You keep smiling at my cat."

Rosia looked up proudly. "I've been exposed."

"You have."

I shook my head, unable to stop another smile. "You are impossible."

"So I've been told."

Silence settled between us again. Comfortable silence. I wasn't accustomed to comfortable silence. It usually meant someone was plotting something. With Katria...It simply meant she enjoyed existing beside me. Another unfamiliar feeling tightened in my chest. Without thinking, I reached through the shadows. The connection I'd left inside Lori-Elle and Veronica stirred instantly. Their vision became mine. For a heartbeat, I saw through Veronica's eyes. The grand hall of Varos' estate. Nobles moving through the corridors. Guards. Servants. Then Lori-Elle rounded a corner, her thoughts a frantic blur of fear as she tried to pretend nothing had happened. Good. Very good. They'd returned exactly where I wanted them.

"They're back," I murmured. Katria looked up from Rosia. "The girls?"

I nodded. "They've resumed their roles." She didn't smile. Didn't gloat. She simply sighed. "I don't even recognize them anymore."

"You don't have to."

Her gaze drifted toward the garden. "I loved them."

The words were quiet. Painfully honest. "They were my family."

I had no comforting words. I understood betrayal. I'd built an entire kingdom on it. But watching someone lose the people they loved...That was a different kind of wound. "I know."

She looked at me. "You do, don't you?"

I held her gaze. "I do."

She reached across the table and covered my hand with hers. A simple gesture. Gentle and trusting. My heart gave a decidedly inconvenient thump. Damn it. I was in trouble. Real trouble. Because if Chaos came...If everything I'd feared for centuries finally unfolded...She would deserve the truth. All of it. Not carefully edited pieces. Everything. The prison. The seals. The forgotten war. The reason I'd allowed myself to become the villain history remembered. The reason I had returned at all. My jaw tightened. Not yet. Not until I knew.

I reached through the shadows again. This time farther. Searching. Listening. Feeling. Nothing. No direct trace. No unmistakable signature. But...Something lingered. A pressure. Ancient, patient, and wrong. The sensation disappeared almost immediately. I frowned.

Katria noticed. "What?"

"I don't know." That was the problem. I didn't know. Varos was moving too confidently. Too recklessly. As though someone had convinced him he couldn't lose. That bothered me. Greatly. If he had somehow established contact with Chaos...Everything changed. The Shadow Realm would become the least of anyone's problems. Kingdoms would burn. Magic itself could unravel. The thought turned my stomach. My gaze found Katria again. She was still absentmindedly scratching Rosia beneath the chin while the tiny feline purred loud enough to echo through the greenhouse.

She looked...Peaceful.Gods, she deserved peace.
Not this. Not ancient wars. Not impossible choices. Not me. And yet here she was. Choosing to remain anyway. I closed my eyes briefly. Midnight. Everything hinged on midnight. The Leviathan Queen had received my message. Now I needed to discover whether she would come.

If she did...Perhaps there was still hope. If she refused...I would have to choose another path. Either way, once I had my answer...No more secrets. Katria deserved honesty.

Even if the truth made her hate me.