Chapter 23

“Choose air,” she told him with as much determination as possible.

“If any of this is true and I can only have one, then it should be fire.”

“Air,” she repeated.

Her pulse weakened. She could feel herself barely holding on. But she needed to tell him the last part. She needed to tell him about the knife.

“Princeling…”

He rolled his eyes. “You should rest. Something more irritating than normal has happened to your head.” He rose to his feet. “I have a tournament to get to, and if I’m late, I won’t be able to compete.”

“Wait,” she whispered. Then slightly louder. “Fordham, please.”

He stopped for a brief second at the sound of his full name. But then he strode out of the room.

Gods, no. She needed to…

She knew what she needed, but the exhaustion and magic depravation took her first. And the darkness claimed her.

Maya awoke in the dark on a hard pallet. She cracked open her eyes and looked around the room in confusion. She blinked to adjust to the dim light coming in from the cracked doo