Death Marked (Death Sworn #2)(13)

Even worse than her almost-plunge—at least, now that it was over—was the emptiness within her, the gaping ache the magic had left. In the caves she had become accustomed to that emptiness, slowly—still always aware of what she was missing, but able to bear it. Now the wound had been gashed open again. Once, she had wanted to die rather than live without magic.

If not for the empty chasm beneath her, the still-fading terror, she might have thought she still wanted to die.

A hand closed around her wrist. She opened her eyes. Evin hovered in front of her, his broad forehead creased. Behind him, the gray mountainside stretched upward, patches of weeds growing from cracks in the rock.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

It was such a stupid question she didn’t bother to answer. After a moment, Evin let go and flew upward, his magic pulling her along like useless cargo.


Karyn was waiting for them on the plateau at the other end of the bridge, wearing a flowing white gown, her mouth pressed into a grim line. Her voice snapped across the windy surface of the plateau. “Where have you been?”

The plateau was large and irregularly shaped, about fifteen paces across, with spiky mountains forming a jagged gray line against the sky behind it. Its surface was unnaturally smooth and gleamed in the sunlight. As soon as Ileni’s feet touched the ground, she reached for the power, and it rushed back into her. Lodestones were embedded in the plateau’s stone floor, in regular intervals around its edges. This time she recognized them instantly.

“Sorry,” Lis said. “Lost track of time.”

“By which she means,” Evin said, “that she and Cyn had a little impromptu flying contest.”

Karyn didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to.

“I tried to stop them,” Evin added virtuously.

Cyn rolled her eyes. “Not very hard.”

Karyn tapped her foot on the ground, an angry staccato. “This isn’t a game. Cyn, I expect better from you.”

Cyn flushed—though Lis, Ileni noticed, flushed darker.

“All right.” Karyn’s voice was cold and clipped. “Let’s get back to the exercises we were practicing last class. Ileni, you can observe, until you become familiar with—”

“No,” Ileni said. “I’m ready to start.”

Her fellow students all gave her startled looks. Karyn shrugged. “As you wish. Did you learn the invisible knife technique, back where you’re from?”

“No,” Ileni said. The power was rushing through her and the ground was solid beneath her, and she wanted to wipe that supercilious expression from Karyn’s face almost as much as she wanted to wipe the sense of hopelessness from her own chest. “But don’t hold back for my sake. I’m sure I’ll catch on.”

“Are you? Very well. Then we’ll move on to sparring.”

More startled glances, this time directed at Karyn. Ignoring them, the dark-haired sorceress gestured at the twins. “Cyn and Lis, why don’t you begin?”

“Oh, good,” Evin murmured. “That’s always entertaining.”

Cyn swaggered to the center of the plateau. Lis stalked to a spot five yards from her sister, her hair hanging heavily down her back. The two faced each other.

“Forearms,” Karyn said, and each girl held up one arm. Their flowing white sleeves fell around their elbows, leaving their forearms bare but for a thick metallic bracelet around Lis’s wrist.

Karyn clapped her hands.

Immediately, both girls’ lips began moving rapidly. A savage force ripped through the air between them, magic that made Ileni flinch even from yards away.

Cyn gasped in pain. Lis whimpered. Long lines of blood gushed from each of their right arms.

“Typical,” Evin said into Ileni’s ear. “They haven’t spared any spells for defense.”

Ileni twisted to stare at him. She couldn’t keep the horror off her face, even though she vaguely sensed that it was counteracting whatever credit she had gained with her earlier brashness.

Attack spells. Abhorrent, vicious, and completely forbidden by her people. Not that Renegai novices didn’t play with the idea, especially when they were young. Ileni herself had once devised a spell to hang a rival upside down in midair. The other girl had retaliated by slamming Ileni to the floor and rolling her over and over. The Elders had been aghast at such a display of violence.

But they couldn’t have been this brutal, even if they had wanted to. They hadn’t been taught spells designed solely to cause pain to other people.

A grunt pulled Ileni’s attention back to the twins. Their arms were covered in blood, so much blood Ileni couldn’t see where the new cuts were forming. She could tell they were forming by the pain that spasmed across the combatants’ faces.

And even through her revulsion, she couldn’t help admiring the grace and cleanness of their spells, the taut focus of the magic, barely a spark of energy wasted.

Finally, Lis cried out, and Karyn clapped her hands again.

“Enough,” she said. “You both made the same mistake. Can you tell me what it was?”

Cyn and Lis kept their eyes locked on each other. Blood dripped from their arms. And everyone else just stood there, watching them as if nothing was wrong.

“Well?” Karyn snapped. “It’s not exactly the first time you’ve made this mistake. What was it?”