My gaze followed the line of his finger, and my mouth dropped wide open. Beside me, Merrick made a strangled noise in his throat.
Holy shit.
We had definitely reached what we’d been searching for, but it was nothing like what I’d expected to see. Not even close.
It was water.
And fire.
Chapter Sixteen
“Fire and water,” Trace repeated out loud. “At least they weren’t speaking in metaphors. I half expected it to have nothing to do with fire and water, just some poetic god speech to throw us off. I have to admit, I was completely wrong.”
My mouth was still hanging open. A literal river of flame flowed past us. It moved like water, but it looked like fire—and it burned like fire, if the crispy foliage at the banks of the river was any indication.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is exactly what the clue meant,” I murmured, finally managing to get my jaw to close. Then I swallowed. “But I’m not real sure how to get around it.”
Merrick shook his head and pulled the scroll out again, reading it over for what had to be the dozenth time. “This doesn’t make any sense. What the hell are we supposed to do with a river of fire? We have magic, but we’re not invincible. I thought the Gods’ Challenge was supposed to be hard, but I didn’t think it was meant to be a guarantee of certain death. This is too fucking much. I mean, have you met some of the other con
testants? They have talent, sure, but they’re dumber than a box of rocks.”
I chuckled, wiping the sweat from my forehead. “You are so judgmental, Mr. I-Graduated-College-At-Eighteen. Maybe they just like to hide their intelligence, play dumb so you underestimate them.”
Lachlan had a confused look on his face. “What I don’t understand is why the fire hasn’t spread beyond the banks. Some of the boys from the club and I used to work as volunteer firefighters, and the first thing ye learn is that, as long as there’s shite to burn, fire will spread. So why hasn’t this?”
Trace walked a few steps closer and carefully reached out toward a small divot on the charred bank that had filled with the fiery water. He hovered his hand over the liquid flame, almost touching the surface before quickly yanking it back with a pained hiss.
My heart lurched in my chest.
“Fuck, Trace! Be careful!”
“I’m okay.” He shook out his hand, flexing his fingers as he grimaced. “There must be something about the magic that keeps it contained. It definitely feels the same as sticking your hand over an open fire.” He glanced back at the rest of us. “So, since that useless as fuck scroll doesn’t say what to do once we reach here, anybody have any ideas?”
I stepped up beside him, taking his hand in mine and running my fingers over the skin to make sure he wasn’t badly burnt. The skin was a little pink, but he hadn’t held it near the fire long enough for it to blister or anything.
“I’m okay, Snow. Really.”
His voice was low and soft, and when I looked up into his eyes, it struck me in a rush how close we were standing… and how intimate it felt to hold his hand.
I’d done it without thinking, the movement completely instinctual, but now that I was aware of it, everything suddenly felt horribly awkward. I gave him a stilted smile and released his hand, taking a step back as the other two men joined us at the fire water’s edge.
Struggling to regain my composure, I put my hands on my hips and turned back toward the river, leaning forward a little and craning my neck from side to side, looking up and down the banks. There was nothing of note that I could see, and the river seemed to go on forever.
“Oh, shite. I think we have our answer,” Lachlan murmured, staring out at the river.
I glanced at him quickly, then turned my head to follow his gaze. “What? Where?”
“There. Do ye see it?”
He pointed, and I narrowed my eyes as I searched for whatever he was trying to point out on the opposite shore.
Then I saw it.
A boat.
It was small and dark, the wood singed just like everything else along the banks of the river. It was so unremarkable that my gaze had skipped right over it the first time I’d looked that way—and the second time too. I’d thought it was a rock or something.
“That?” Merrick snorted a disbelieving laugh. “You know I’ve got your back, Lach, but there’s no way I’m getting in that thing. It looks like it’s been fried to a crisp.”