Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1)(15)

And she repeated that lift exercise ten times. While speaking.

I could maybe do it once. Without armor. Shaking.

Amethyst was spectacular.

“I do not care how strong you think you are. You must be stronger.” Amethyst lowered herself to the ground and got into the straight-backed, stomach-sucking position we’d been in earlier. “On your stomach, hands slightly wider than your shoulders, and back straight. Push yourself up and lower yourself down—not touching the ground—and push up again. Don’t stop until I say so.”

A chill shuddered up my spine and a pool of sweat collected in the small of my back. I pushed myself up.

The rush of air awakened another shiver. My breath left me on the way down, stomach scraping the ground, and I curled my nails into the dust. I had to be Opal. I was strong enough. I would be Opal—noble and deadly.

I shoved myself up, and my elbows creaked. Amethyst shook her head at me. I hadn’t even thought beyond claiming the mask, claiming those Erlends who owed me Nacea, but I’d be noble. I’d have an equal rank to all those old nobles sitting on the high court.

I’d be equal to that lady from the carriage—in rank, if not in brazenness.

My nose smacked the ground. I winced, pain flaring behind my eyes, and rolled my head up till the ache faded. Five was gone from his perch. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

Eleven huffed beside me. I glanced to my other side as Twenty dropped to the ground, elbows going everywhere. Three, Five, Seven, and Eight were nowhere to be seen, and I paused. Amethyst cleared her throat.

I looked up. Light sparked in the window beyond her head.

Arrow tip.

I pushed up, flying backward, and fell on my ass. Twenty laughed.

An arrow tore through his neck. It clattered against the ground where my chest had been, splattering blood across the stones. Twenty collapsed, grasping his throat with both hands and sucking in wet, drowning breaths. I twisted back to the spark of light.

Nothing.

Amethyst turned Twenty onto his back. His chest didn’t rise again.

She glanced around at all of us. “Anyone see who did it?”

No one answered. I’d options but only one good guess—either Five was doing his own work or Eight had taken his suggestion. Neither was comforting.

“Abel?” Amethyst waved her servant forward. “Have them clean this up. The rest of you shift to your left and keep going. Stay out of their way.”

We all crawled out of the servants’ way and back into position, gazes darting to the windows and roofs. I half-followed Amethyst’s directions after that, pushing myself as far as I could while listening to the people around me. Two was diagonal from me, and I made sure to watch her reaction whenever she looked my way. No one saw anything and no one else died.

I was one step closer to Opal but so was everyone else.

Well, except Twenty.





Ten


An eternity later, I rose on shaky legs. Two and Four looked for archers, and I slid into step behind them and in front of trembling Eleven. Four grabbed a waterskin from his servant, and Two accepted a mug of crunchy nuts from hers. Eleven pulled a canteen from a hidden pocket.

Knives, sure, but water had never been a weapon. Now it could kill me or save me. I’d not told Maud to—

“Auditioner?” Maud appeared at my other side, a leather canteen in one hand and half a sweet potato in her other. She leaned in closer. “I was the only one to handle these.”

I downed half the canteen in one go. “Thanks.”

“Of course.” Maud looked away as my exhausted, shaky hands splattered water everywhere. “Would you like anything else?”

“No.” I plucked up the potato and sniffed. Smelled safe. I’d have to take her word for it now. I bit into it, flesh melting over my tongue, and groaned. Running all night hadn’t been this hard, hadn’t left my stomach clawing at my ribs like this. Hunger, sure, but this was need. How did anyone do this?

How would I do this again tomorrow?

“Can you bring me more water next break?” I glanced toward the group. “Or whenever you can.”

Maud pursed her lips. “Keep the canteen. I cannot interrupt your sessions, and you will have no more breaks.”

“Great.” I hooked the canteen to my belt and shoved the rest of the potato into my mouth.

She fell behind and vanished with the rest of the servants. She was useful.

So far.

This new courtyard was large and airy. Steep-roofed buildings overhung the path and towered behind us. Windows dotted the walls, dark and empty with plenty of notches for handholds, and a tall wall encircled the rest of the land in a long semicircle. Beyond the head-high bricks, evergreens and browning oaks blocked our view of the eastern spires. A decorative forest between us and the real palace.

A few trees between me and the Erlend lords.

“Wipe your hands before you touch my bows.” Emerald squeezed my arm and breezed past me to a rack of longbows and quivers.

“You’ll be shooting toward the wall.” Emerald handpicked a bow for each of us based on height and appearance. She pointed to the forest. “But first, I want to see how you stand.”

Emerald demonstrated how to hold the bow. Fingers weak, I nearly dropped mine. The open, shaded air chilled the sweat coating my skin, and I tightened my grip on the bow. Five stood next to me, back from wherever he’d been, and glanced at my hands. I forced myself to be steady till he looked away.