A Trial of Sorcerers: Book One by Kova, Elise (universal ebook reader .txt) 📕

to cover her body in ice—a skin-like armor. But she couldn’t perfect it enough in one night to move nimbly. One wrong step or tumble and she’d be over the sides and out of bounds.

Covering the pin on her chest with a hand, Eira coated it in a layer of ice. She felt her magic seeping through the fabric and into her skin. She imagined its roots wrapping around her heart. She couldn’t cover her whole body, but she could do that much.

“Should have done that from the start,” Eira muttered, shifting her weight on the incline. As soon as she began running they would shoot. At least this way, they wouldn’t be able to knock off her pin.

Blunted arrows would still hurt. They may just be the illusion of danger but—wait, an illusion. They couldn’t hit her if they couldn’t see her.

Eira held out one palm parallel with the ground, pushed the other flat against it, and slid her hands apart slowly. A fine mist spread out from her feet as her fingertips parted. The water vapor in the air condensed to her will, the light shifting in it to create whatever illusion she wanted. Her ice evaporating earlier gave her a lot of moisture to work with.

Raising her hands, Eira pushed up the moisture, watching the sunlight shift within it. As she held out her palms like an offering, a map unfurled over the entire arena. Eira’s brow furrowed with focus as she made sure every nook and cranny of Solaris and Meru was detailed on it. The map condensed, leaving her in a twilight haze underneath.

Judging from the shouts and cries of the crowd, her plan worked: no one could see her. An arrow whizzed harmlessly through her illusion. The mist curled around it, creating a momentary shaft of sunlight.

Eira pushed forward. More arrows punctured her veil as she leapt and ducked. One lucky shot found its mark on her thigh and a cry of pain escaped her. Her leg stung, pain searing all the way up her spine and reminding her that her teeth still ached and her hands were bloody from the leap of faith.

Over and under. Over and under. She wasn’t going to let pain stop her. She was more than halfway through.

Emerging up onto the second switchback, Eira released the illusion with a wave. The crowd cheered as they saw her on the other side. Arrows whizzed harmlessly.

“Eira,” Fritz boomed over the noise, “with our view obstructed it is impossible to know if you stepped out of bounds.” He was trying to get her disqualified.

“You have my word, I didn’t!” she shouted back.

The crowd began to jeer and chant for her to continue.

The empress stepped forward with an approving smile. A smile Eira wished she could’ve seen in her own mother. “Given the nature of that obstacle, we’ll assume you didn’t step out of bounds. Continue, Eira, but don’t use an illusion like that again.”

Fritz stayed at the edge of the balcony, watching her with wary eyes. Eira tore her attention from him. Whatever he thought of her attempt, let him think it. No matter what happened, they’d never think she was helpless and desperate for her brother’s protection after today.

The next two obstacles were tied together by water. The sixth obstacle was a moat cradled at the top of a miniature mountain. To get to it, she had to climb up the fifth obstacle—a waterfall—using only the marked handholds.

Really, number five was a break.

Her muscles were exhausted and reminded her of the fact with her every push and pull upward. But the water curved around her hands. It washed over her and Eira relished in its force. She turned her face to the sky and imagined the roaring currents peeling away her skin to reveal something harder, stronger. To reveal someone she’d never been given the opportunity to discover before now.

When Eira cleared the top of the waterfall, she was breathless. But she felt the best she had since starting the trial. She nearly felt reborn, emerging soaked and panting.

White ropes were suspended over the moat. It was clear that they intended her to grasp the first and then swing across. But her arms were too tired. The chances she’d slip off and fall into the water were too great.

Eira took the first rope in her left hand and backed up so it became taut. The crowd cheered her on, expecting her to run and swing to the next. Instead, with a flash of magic, Eira summoned a wicked sharp dagger in her right palm and she pushed it through the rope with one motion, severing a piece.

The crowd hushed.

“Eira, if you wish to forfeit, you must remove your pin,” her uncle was too eager to say.

She ignored him, stepping to the edge of the water. Ice spread out from her feet, forming a bridge as Eira walked. The crowd exploded with chaos.

“Can she do that?”

“Is that allowed?”

“But the rules…”

They volleyed questions to the balcony of royals that Eira was approaching once more as she neared the third and final switchback. Eira stepped back onto the white mark of the platform and released the rope. She looked up to the balcony, waiting.

The emperor and empress watched her, both now wearing the hint of a smile that Eira would dare risk saying looked…delighted? Romulin looked as though he was holding in laughter. Fritz gave her a smoldering glare that would’ve been more befitting of a Firebearer.

Ferro grinned openly. The roguish quirk of his mouth had her heart racing once more. It would give her the strength to continue. He was in her corner, even if no one else was.

None of them said anything, and Eira took their silence to mean permission. She’d followed their rules. They’d intended her to grip the white ropes to get across. They’d never specified the ropes couldn’t be cut. And she’d had a handhold on the white markings the entire time.

Eira faced down the final obstacle—several slacklines suspended