Death Marked (Death Sworn #2)(12)

Ileni walked past them, tensing as she got closer to the bridge. It was made of broad wooden slats, with enough space between them for her to see the horrifying distance below. She didn’t quite have enough willpower to not look down.

At least there were rails, even if they were little more than thick ropes strung alongside the wooden slats. Ileni gripped them with both hands, which turned out to be a mistake. It made the entire bridge sway beneath her feet.

She stepped onto the next slat, not allowing herself to hesitate, glad the imperial sorcerers couldn’t see her face. If she just kept moving, they wouldn’t know how terrified she was. The bridge stretched ahead of her, terribly long.

She thought of Sorin, of his unflinching black eyes, of the courage she had seen in the depths of the caves. She could do this. She knew courage. She had spent over a month expecting to die every day.

But not expecting to fall.

A gust of wind made the bridge swing wildly. She sucked in a breath and took another step.

And then she heard the snickers from above.

Above?

She looked up. All three of her fellow students were hovering in the air, arms spread to the sides. The girls’ white dresses fluttered around them.

Lis swooped, grabbed the bridge rail, and gave it a shake. Ileni gripped the ropes tightly and used a nudge of magic to keep her feet on the slats.

“The bridges,” Cyn said, “are for students who aren’t advanced enough to fly.”

“Leave it, Cyn,” Evin said. “It’s her first day.”

Cyn rolled her eyes. “So she needs a strong protector, then, does she?”

Evin preened. “Are you calling me strong?”

“Actually,” Ileni said, in her sweetest voice, “I can take care of myself.”

Back in the Renegai village, she had flown only a few times. It was difficult magic, draining and tiring, and her people saw it as wasteful. But those few times, it had been easy for her.

Everything had been easy for her.

She lifted into the air without changing position, magic surging through her like a draught of ice-cold water on a hot day. The wind struck at her body, and she used a tendril of magic to hold herself steady, arms close to her sides. She didn’t need to spread them—they weren’t wings, and she wasn’t a bird.

She tilted sideways. A prickle of unease sizzled through her exhilaration. This is wrong. It shouldn’t feel so good. She ignored it. She had to pretend she was one of them. That it didn’t bother her at all.

She met Cyn’s stare head-on.

Cyn and Lis turned in sync and swooped away, arcing under and over the bridge as they made their way toward the plateau.

“It’s a show for your benefit,” Evin said. He was perched in the air as if on a tree branch, his legs dangling. His voice was sympathetic, but his eyes were laughing. “They actually hate each other. You’ll see.”

Ileni grinned at him. The vast distance below her was suddenly thrilling rather than terrifying, and she couldn’t have cared less about the other girls’ posturing. With a swell of magic, she sliced through the air. The distant treetops rushed beneath her, and she pushed harder, white fluttering past the corners of her eyes as she passed the twins.

Then the magic vanished, and she fell.





CHAPTER

5

The bridge and the mountainside rushed past her. The wind seared her face, and her body flailed, graceless and helpless. She screamed, but the wind ripped it away.

The treetops and the ground rushed at her.

And stopped.

Ileni hung suspended in midair, upside down, sobbing. All around her stretched empty air, and she could make out individual treetops far below. She reached for magic to right herself, to keep herself safe, but knew what she would find.

Nothing.

Her power was gone, again. But this time it had happened abruptly and without warning. No slow draining of strength, just there one second and then gone.

Because it wasn’t her magic at all. She had borrowed it—no, stolen it. And so of course, it had betrayed her.

A swoop of green to her right, of white to her left, and her fellow students were all around her. Cyn took her wrist and, with a push of magic, righted her.

There was no mockery on Cyn’s face. Only sympathy. Which was worse.

“Are you insane?” There was nothing sympathetic in Lis’s voice. Her hair blew wildly across her face and around her shoulders. “You didn’t say you were powerless. You can’t fly without a lodestone! If Evin hadn’t moved so fast, you would be dead right now.”

“All right, Lis,” Cyn snapped. “I think she noticed that.”

Lis surged forward so that her face was only inches from Ileni’s. “There are only two collections of lodestones students can access. In the testing arena and on the training plateau. If you’re very skilled, you might be able to access the testing stones from your bedroom, and you might be able to store enough to keep you going for a while. But you can’t depend on it. Don’t you know anything?”

“Right now,” Evin observed, “she knows exactly what your breath smells like. Back off, Lis.”

Lis snarled at him, but when Evin swooped closer, she floated backward.

Ileni swallowed hard, closed her eyes, and concentrated on not crying. The bickering washed around her, meaningless noise.