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

combing her hair, she couldn’t quite place the woman she saw. The same reflection that Eira had always known stared back at her. But it no longer felt like her.

Her face, her body, they’d been stolen from her. Taken by a truth she was quickly realizing she would’ve preferred to live in ignorance of forever. Whose eyes stared back at her? Whom did they belong to? Were they uniquely hers? Or did they belong to a birth mother who’d abandoned Eira in the night? Did they belong to the Pirate Queen Adela?

“Ready?” Alyss asked, breaking Eira from her trance.

Eira leaned away from the mirror. “Almost.”

The sensation of no longer fitting into her own skin persisted as Eira dressed. Every stitch of fabric buttoned up as it should. But none of it felt right.

She looked like herself. She moved like herself. But the image of who she was had been smeared across the canvas of her mind. The colors were blurred and distorted. She’d give anything for a distraction from the unnerving sensation of feeling like she was a thief who’d stolen her flesh.

Eira stood in the Tower hall, staring up at her uncle’s office.

“Good luck.” Alyss gave her a squeeze. “I’ll wait in your room for you and we can go to dinner together.”

“Do I have to?” Eira murmured.

“Get it over with.” Alyss gave her a light shove. “You’ll feel better as soon as you do.”

“I hate that you’re always right,” she muttered.

“It’s my burden to bear.” Alyss sauntered away, heading back for Eira’s room.

Eira stewed in the silence until it became hot and intolerable. The ocean within her was boiling, getting ready to foam over. She had to keep her better sense about her. No matter what she felt, apologizing for how she had handled the news was the right course. That would at least smooth things over for a while so Eira could process everything—according to Alyss.

She gave a knock on her uncle’s office door.

“Enter.”

Eira stepped inside, watching her uncle’s expression become pinched and tense at the mere sight of her. Eira shut the door behind her and stared at her feet. She’d mentally practiced everything she’d wanted to say, but she couldn’t find the words now.

“Well?” Fritz folded his hands on his desk and sighed. His face was pinched—because of her, likely. “What is it?”

“I…” She met his cold and closed stare. “Do you know where my parents are?”

He gazed out the window, as if unable to look her in the eye. “They left.”

All the waters within her stilled and Eira felt herself slipping beneath the surface into the bitter cold depths. “What?” she breathed.

“I’m sorry, Eira.” Did he sound sorry? She couldn’t tell. “Your father had some work to do tomorrow so they had to make haste back to Oparium.”

“I thought they’d stay for at least a little…”

“Eira…” Fritz shook his head, burying his face in his hands for a moment. The disappointment that radiated off of him was like daggers. “The way they saw it…you attacked them with your magic.”

“I didn’t. I mean, not really.” Did they say she had? Was that how they’d seen her frozen line? She had made spears of ice that jutted toward them. Was that really an attack?

“I assumed that was the case, but they would not listen to me.”

“But…” But. That’s all she could muster. A weak protest. How hard had her uncle worked to stand up for her?

“The last time your emotions got the better of you, you killed someone. And that was over a boy.” Every word hurt worse than the last. It was a parade of her failings. “From what they told me, you didn’t make any improvements in managing your emotions and magic. I didn’t have a leg to stand on.”

“I didn’t freeze anyone but myself.” Her defense was weak and small. “I didn’t hurt them.”

“I’m sure you didn’t mean to.”

“I didn’t.” She insisted. Full stop.

“Don’t you see? You have to begin thinking about how your actions follow you. I won’t always be here to spell it out. Because of your history, no one knows if you’re one second away from unleashing your magic on them!” Fritz snapped, as though he’d been holding back the words for a long time.

Eira’s back hit the door. She wanted to run from this uncomfortable truth.

His face immediately softened with remorse. “Eira, I’m sorry. This has been a burden on all of us.”

“A burden on all of you?” she whispered.

“You are not the only one dealing with this. Do you know how hard it has been to have you in my care? To know and not be able to tell you? I have loved you like my own but have had no say in any of this because I’ve been forced to respect your parents’ wishes.”

“I… I need to finish getting ready for dinner,” Eira lied, and escaped before he could say anything else. She didn’t want his half-hearted excuses.

Her parents had left without giving her the chance to say goodbye. Fritz clearly thought she was one breath away from killing anyone who had the misfortune of being close to her. How would Marcus react when she finally spoke to him?

She’d find out soon enough.

16

“How’d it go?” Alyss asked as she shoved the tiny wooden sculpture of a bear she’d been working on into her bag, brushing sawdust from her lap.

“Not well.”

“Oh.” Her friend’s expression fell. “I’m sure—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Eira said firmly.

“Then we won’t.” One of the many reasons Eira loved Alyss so much. She always knew when to push, and when to back away. “Let’s go and enjoy dinner and not think about it all for a little bit.”

“All right.” Eira doubted how much of a distraction dinner could be. But a scuffle just above the entrance to the mess hall proved to be an unexpected relief from her thoughts.

“Noelle, please.” Adam chased after his Firebearer lover like a puppy with his tail between his legs. “Let me