Hidden Power (The Gatekeeper's Trials Book 3) by Emma L. Adams

Author:Emma L. Adams [Adams, Emma L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-02T16:00:00+00:00

13

I emerged in the palace garden in a shower of saltwater, to the sight of Darrow and several other half-bloods doing battle with the Vale’s monsters.

Coral released me, and I staggered onto the lawn, shivering uncontrollably and coughing up mouthfuls of water. Using the staff to prop myself upright, I looked into Darrow’s concerned eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” My teeth chattered. “I wondered where you were. Glad you didn’t follow me.”

“So am I, considering I can’t swim,” he said.

“You can’t? Seriously?”

“Where would I have learned?”

“Fair point.” I scanned the lawn, which was strewn with the bodies of the Vale’s beasts. “The Sea Queen is dead. The Seelie Queen’s forces took her talisman, and now the merpeople want her throne.”

Coral sank into a sitting position beside the pond, her expression dull and her eyes streaming. “They have as much of a claim on leadership as I do. More, if anything. They are prepared to fight for the crown. That talisman was the only leverage my family had left.”

“Coral!” Willow left the other half-bloods and hurried over to join us. She knelt beside Coral with a comforting expression on her face. “It’ll be okay. We got rid of the Seelie Queen’s forces, and now the doorway is closed, there’s no other way for them to get in.”

“Gatekeeper!” The Erlking’s sprite flew towards me, his expression panicked. “The third trial will start soon, and you should be with the other contestants.”

“Oh, no.” I coughed, shivering. “I dropped out. I never should have made it through to the third round to begin with, and besides which, I’m freezing cold and I just dropped half my weapons in the bottom of the ocean.”

“You must, you must!” Warm air bathed me from head to toe, drying my clothes in an instant.

“Thanks, but really—I can’t.” I looked around and spotted Lady Aiten crossing the lawn behind him.

“Gatekeeper.” Lady Aiten halted, her gaze landing on Willow and Coral embracing by the pond. “What is the meaning of this?”

I barred her path. “Coral just lost her mother and her Court at the same time. Besides, it might have escaped your attention, but your old king is dead, and you have nobody left to impress. If you’re really that scared of being cast out as a traitor, you’d be in there watching the trials, not policing the choices of your adult daughter.”

Her gaze cut to me. “You swore to use your talisman in defence of our Court, yet you abandoned us at the first opportunity.”

“To help a friend!” I exploded. “Speaking of talismans, the Seelie Queen just stole the Sea Queen’s talisman—you know, the bow that’s enchanted so it can’t miss a shot—which is pretty damned relevant to your trials.” Didn’t mean she’d be able to claim it, but with the way my luck was going at the moment, she’d have it pointed at the next monarch of Summer before the third trial was over.

The blood drained from Lady Aiten’s face. “I cannot leave the palace at a time like this.

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