Before we could move, several people in the crowd pointed straight at me. Assistants hurried up and down the stone steps of the amphitheatre, tending the injured and trying to make sense of the chaos.

  Splintered stone covered the arena floor. Purple streaks from the creature’s blood seeped through the cracks. Two assistants dragged an unconscious guard across the steps while another tried to calm the panicking crowd.

  Those who had stayed to fight were scattered across the stands, helping the wounded and hauling debris aside.

  Eyes began to turn my way.

  More fingers followed.

  It did not take long for them to reach a conclusion.

  It had been my fight.

  That made it my fault.

  I was still trying to work it out myself when Sir Bedivere towered over us.

  “You three. Soul cards.”

  Three?

  I turned.

  Robyn was gone.

  Sometime during the chaos she must have slipped away.

  A sharp elbow jabbed my side. Amelia dipped into a quick bow and motioned for us to follow.

  We bowed and held out our soul cards.

  He took them and read through them one at a time.

  “Who summoned it?”

  None of us answered.

  “Come on. Speak.”

  “We didn’t,” I said. “It came from the arena floor. After I fought the five.”

  The knight’s eyebrow lifted. He glanced down at the shattered ground, then back at me as understanding settled across his face.

  “This is the second trial, is it not?”

  We nodded.

  “The second trial uses reflection constructs,” he said. “Five of them, for five aspirants.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Then you fought five copies by yourself. Impressive.” A faint smirk touched his mouth. His eyes drifted to my red hair. “And the monster? You are certain that was not your doing? Some trick to escape the copies?”

  I shook my head at the accusation. “No. The copies created it. They all merged.”

  He watched me as I explained what had happened. I gave him the details of the creature and the arena floor, leaving out anything tied to the curse.

  Every so often he cut in with another question.

  Where had I been standing.

  How long after the first construct fell before the purple sludge appeared.

  What, in my opinion, had triggered the merge.

  Most of the questions circled back to the same point. I left out the part about the corrupted rune.

  How I had managed to survive five versions of myself.

  “So,” he said at last, “how did you hold off five versions of yourself?”

  Before I could answer, Rob cut in.

  “We didn’t summon the damn thing,” he said. “We fought it.”

  His voice still carried the shock of what had happened.

  Sir Bediver’s jaw clenched as Rob spoke.

  Amelia quietly stamped on Rob’s foot.

  He sucked in a breath and swallowed whatever he had been about to say.

  The knight noticed.

  His eyes lingered on Rob for a moment before dropping back to the soul card in his hand.

  “So, you three didn’t summon the thing just to show off how strong you are?” he asked. “Only for it to backfire?”

  All three of us shook our heads.

  “Of course,” he continued, almost casually, “I could also presume you summoned it to attack our beloved city.”

  “We didn’t summon it,” I said, the words slipping out sharper than I intended.

  A faint smirk touched the knight’s mouth. When he reached my soul card, a quiet scoff escaped him.

  “Clearly you three are keeping secrets.”

  My stomach tightened. I suddenly wished Jerald were here.

  “We have one suspicious Butcher,” he said, glancing toward me, “and a rather outspoken outsider.”

  His gaze moved to Amelia’s card.

  “And you.”

  He paused, then lifted his eyes to her.

  Something in his expression hardened. A trace of anger lingered beneath it.

  None of us spoke.

  “Stay here,” he said.

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  He kept the cards.

  Rob leaned toward me and shot me a nervous look.

  The knight raised a hand. Armoured men forced their way through the crowd. These men were different.

  They wore the same style of city armour and carried the same weapons as the guards, yet something about them marked them apart. Gold lined the joints of their armour. The runes carved into the plates cut deeper and sharper. The same sigil stamped across the knight’s chest gleamed from their breastplates.

  Jerald’s notes surfaced in my mind.

  Squires.

  A thousand in total. Each knight commanded his own number. Personal muscle, free to use as he pleased.

  A rough hand clamped onto my shoulder. Two more squires seized Rob and Amelia and held us in place.

  The knight walked a short distance away, far enough that we could not hear him, and spoke quietly with several assistants.

  Rob tried to lean toward me. Amelia opened her mouth.

  “Wha…” Rob started.

  “Silence,” one of the squires warned.

  The grip on my shoulder tightened until it hurt. We stayed quiet.

  After a moment the knight crossed to the head instructor. She had taken the worst of the fight. He crouched beside her and passed a glowing hand over her body. Light swept across her chest and throat.

  She stirred.

  They spoke briefly.

  The knight then stepped toward the patch of ground where the creature had bled. Thick purple sludge still clung to the stone. He crouched and lifted some of it with his gloved hand.

  He studied it and brought it close.

  His face twisted. He flicked the slime away with visible disgust.

  Then he looked back at us.

  The same revulsion lingered in his eyes.

  “Check them,” he said.

  The squires moved at once. Silver rings passed over our waists, wrists, and necks as they searched us. The air thickened around my body. Pressure closed in, invasive, as if something unseen pushed through skin and bone.

  “Hold still,” one of them muttered.

  Amelia yelped as another pressed the ring hard against her ribs.

  “Hey!” Rob snapped.

  “Quiet,” the squire ordered, jabbing his own ring into Rob’s side.

  Rob grunted and fell silent.

  “Hold out the box,” the one checking me said.

  I did. He ran the ring over my pouch and the small box at my side, that same unseen pressure pushing through everything it touched.

  A few moments later the squires stepped back.

  “Find anything?” the knight asked.

  The three squires shook their heads.

  “No, sir.”

  The knight let out a slow breath. He held our soul cards in one hand and studied them as if weighing a decision. For a moment it looked like he might snap them in half.

  Instead, he shrugged and dropped them.

  The cards left his hand and landed in the mud with a wet slap. Purple muck splashed across their surfaces.

  One of the squires who had been searching through the debris below stepped to his side.

  “Sir.” He saluted. “The corrupted aura faded with the creature.”

  Sir Bedivere gave a small nod. The knight gave a small nod, though the news clearly displeased him. The squire shifted under his stare.

  “Out with it,” the knight said.

  “Could it have been a distraction, sir?”

  A faint smirk touched the knight’s mouth.

  The squire straightened.

  The knight’s gaze returned to us.

  “Where’s your friend?”

  A weight settled in my stomach.

  Robyn was not exactly my friend. We had an understanding, nothing more. She also seemed to know far more about me than I knew about her.

  But I knew one thing.

  I was not about to sell out a girl I barely knew to a man like this.

  “The red-haired girl?” Rob asked.

  My stomach dropped.

  “No idea who she was,” Rob continued. “I think she was one of the aspirants. She helped for a bit, then…” He glanced around the ruined ground. “She ran off. Maybe to help someone else.”

  Amelia gave a small nod beside him, backing the answer.

  The knight nodded as if humouring us, though his eyes stayed fixed on me. On my hair.

  “Sure she’s not someone close to this one?” he asked.

  I shook my head.

  His face did not change. He held the look a moment longer, studying me, weighing something. Then a thought seemed to strike him.

  His expression shifted.

  “Well,” he said slowly, “it seems the three of you are quite the heroes today.”

  We shifted under his gaze.

  “Perhaps these little outsider trials are beneath you.” A smile touched his lips, though no warmth reached his eyes. “So, allow me to lift you to a place where you can truly display your talents. A place worthy of individuals who show such power and natural skill.”

  His voice remained calm, but the edge beneath the words cut through the air.

  “It is rare for those of humble birth to rise above their station.” His gaze moved between us. “Rarer still to prove themselves before their betters.”

  Something in his words tightened my chest.

  “So, allow me to grant you the chance to elevate yourselves.”

  I did not like where this was going.

  “I will have my men send word to your guardians,” he continued. “You may present yourselves for the true trials. Not these little contests meant for common folk.”

  His smile returned.

  “The trials reserved for those who seek a place at the table.”

  He paused and let the words settle over us.

  “The Noble Trials begin later this afternoon.” He gave a small nod to his squires.

  They stepped forward carrying strange cuff-like devices. Multiple wooden panels framed each one, bound tight with bands of iron. The squires reached for our wrists.

  Rob jerked his arm back. “Hey. What the hell is this?”

  “Do not struggle,” Sir Bedivere said. “You will find that doing so makes your situation considerably… unpleasant.”

  A squire caught Rob’s wrist and snapped the iron band shut before he could pull away. Another seized my arm and locked one around my wrist. A third secured Amelia’s.

  I turned my arm, studying the device clamped around it.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  He looked at me sharply.

  “Something to make sure you do not go running off,” he said calmly. “Even if some in the crowd are calling you heroes, others have raised suspicions.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  He gave a small shrug. “Perhaps not. Time will tell. This way we can keep an eye on the three of you.” His eyes narrowed. “We would not want a repeat of today.”

  Amelia stared at the device as if it had burned her. A shudder ran down her spine.

  For the first time, the knight smiled.

  “See you all very soon,” he said. “And children… If you are lying, the Noble Trials will break you.”

  He turned and left with his squires, not sparing a glance for the wreckage behind him.

  I looked from Rob to Amelia.

  They stood frozen, as if someone had driven an arrow through their chests.

  “What the hell is this thing, Am?” Rob asked. His voice sounded hollow.

  Her eyes filled with water. Her mouth trembled as she tried to speak.

  “Bless…” The word froze on her lips.

  “Our blessings,” Rob finished quietly. “They’re gone.”

  Gooseflesh prickled across my skin as I stared at the device clamped around my wrist. I felt nothing. Then again, I had never had a blessing to begin with, so I had no idea what I was supposed to feel. Lumi hummed softly at my side, as if testing the effect of the shackle.

  Good. No difference there.

  “Fuck,” Rob swore. He grabbed the iron band and tried to wrench it off his wrist.

  “Stop!” Amelia shouted, grabbing his arm.

  He fought her grip for a moment, then saw the panic in her eyes.

  “These things carry serious runes,” she said through quick breaths. “I’ve seen what happens when people try to rip them off.”

  The look in her eyes made him freeze.

  “It will take your hand clean off. Your blessings with it.”

  The thought drained the colour from his face.

  A chill crept down my spine. I glanced at Lumi by my side, wondering if I should risk cutting the shackle. He could devour the runes carved into it.

  But that meant risking my hand. Right now, I needed to think clearly, not act on impulse.

  “We should go to Jerald,” I said. The words came out sharp.

  Amelia shook her head. “He’ll be tied up with the barracks trials.”

  “Shit,” Rob muttered.

  “What about these Noble Trials?” I asked. “When do they start?”

  Her expression darkened. “My guess? This afternoon, after the barracks trials.”

  The box still rested in my hands. I opened it and took out my rune pouch, dagger, and ring. I slipped each back into place, then twisted the silver ring on my finger and tried to trigger the magic that changed my clothes.

  Nothing happened.

  A knot tightened in my throat.

  I drew the sword. Cold steel slid free. The runes along Lumi’s spine stirred, faint lines of light waking beneath my fingers. They pulsed against my palm.

  I watched my wrist.

  The glow held. The runes still hummed beneath my hand.

  Air slipped from my lungs. The tightness in my shoulders eased. The disguise held.

  “They’ve been looking for lambs to throw to their noble brats,” Amelia said. “Jerald warned us about this.”

  “Well, that’s just great,” Rob said.

  I slid the blade back into its sheath.

  My eyes dropped to the wooden band around my wrist. The others would not be as lucky. Their soul blades would be useless.

  “Will they take these off during the trials?” I asked.

  Rob and I both looked at Amelia.

  She said nothing.

  More than once I had heard that the knights of the city could bind or sever a blessing.

  Now I stood staring at the proof.