What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(83)

“So that you can use your magic to protect her? I think not. The entire purpose of this exercise is to force Estrella to do what she refuses. Perhaps some survival instincts will be enough to push through her stubbornness,” Mab said.

She leveled me with a glare, her reference to my inability to perform that morning perfectly clear. I wondered if it had always been me who would have been sent into the Labyrinth, or if she’d changed her mind after my failures that day.

“I’m not refusing to use my magic,” I argued, shrugging my shoulders. “I can’t touch it anymore. It just isn’t there.”

Whether that was because of my own doing, I didn’t know. I didn’t know if I’d pushed it down so far within me that even I couldn’t find it, or if the Cove had done something to me. But my instincts told me it was a bit of both—that I needed to protect the knowledge of what I could do for a little while longer. The hands of Fate were playing with the spinning wheel, maneuvering the pieces into place before my bloodline could be revealed, but the Cove had shifted something in me—awakened something—only to plunge it into the depths of slumber.

The Minotaur walked to the first entrance to the Labyrinth as Malachi led me to the second entrance. I swallowed, struggling to control my breathing. I couldn’t let them know how terrified I was to go into that maze without my magic, couldn’t let them see that fear to use against me. I looked at him expectantly, waiting for a weapon to be given to me. The Minotaur held a massive double-sided axe in his hand, the blades bigger than my head.

Surely, I would at least get a knife.

Malachi smirked as he stepped away, leaving me weaponless as he returned to the queen, who had grown tired of my games. My eyes shuttered closed for a brief moment before I forced them to open and shoved my fear down.

Fear would do nothing but get me killed. Panic would force me to make mistakes I couldn’t survive.

“The first one to reach the center of the maze wins,” Mab said, smiling at me viciously as an ugly laugh bubbled up her throat. I couldn’t decide if she truly thought I would die in that maze, or if she was expecting a fantastic show.

I didn’t know if she cared either way.

“If he wins, he gets to eat me. What do I get if I win?” I asked, flinching back from her amusement.

She exchanged a knowing glance with Malazan as she appeared at the queen’s side, laying a hand on the top of Caldris’s shoulder. I tensed, my gaze narrowing in on that touch as Caldris stilled beneath it.

Disgust rippled down the thread between us, his shame an echo of what I’d hoped to make him never feel again. What they’d forced him to do wasn’t his fault, and I focused my attention on his face, willing him to see that I did not blame or judge him for those actions in his past. They’d taken from him, and if I survived that maze, I would be sure to take back.

His gaze softened as I held it, understanding and love spilling over his features.

“You get to live,” Mab said, interrupting the moment with a chuckle. As if it was ridiculous for me to expect anything more than that—as if my life was the most valuable bargaining piece she had.

But it wasn’t.

“If you want me to play your game, you’re going to have to do better than that,” I said, keeping my words careful. I crossed my arms over my chest in challenge, watching as her eyes narrowed at my body language.

“What is it you want, Little Mouse? I have given you every luxury—”

I cut her off, braving her outrage as the crowds of Fae watched our interaction from above—their ears perked, as if they could hear every word. “I want to complete my mate bond with Caldris. I want to be given access to the Cove, so that we can finally unite ourselves as one.”

I would deal with the potential consequence of pregnancy once it was done, seeking out the remedies necessary to prevent it. We could not sever her bond over Caldris and challenge her until we completed our bond, and I was done with watching them abuse him—with watching those he despised lay their hands upon him like he was a thing without will.

Mab pursed her lips as she considered my terms. She couldn’t say no, not when I’d laid down the challenge so publicly. To do so would imply she believed I could win this battle, that I would stand a chance of beating the Minotaur.

I would, if I could use my magic. If I could access that part of me that saw the threads of life, severing the Minotaur’s and ending him without ever laying a hand upon him.

I shuddered to think of what it would take to bring that part to the surface, and I would avoid it at all costs. The golden threads connected to Caldris’s magic were still there when I passed by water, and I’d learned to pull from our bond.

But he was weakened by the iron—his magic a dull throb where it normally shone brightly. I had to hope it would be enough for me to use either of those things in the Labyrinth, that the bones of his previous victims might litter the ground to form an army.

“I’ll need more than a victory to agree to those terms. I’ll need my Minotaur’s head laid at my feet,” Mab said.

I swallowed, disappointment flooding through me. Reaching the center first would have meant merely outrunning him. Delaying him long enough to reach it first.

Killing him…

Shit.

“Deal,” I said, pushing aside my fear in favor of the opportunity it presented.