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

the Sunlit Stage. You will have the entire lower area—where the test was conducted—to present your creation. The rules are that the creation must be entirely housed in this area; it must not be a danger to any who are gathered or damage the Sunlit Stage; and you must create, present, and destroy it in the time given.”

Everyone mulled this over in silence.

“We realize this is an open-ended trial,” Vhalla said in a reassuring way. “But we want to see your creativity. We want to see what you can do without restrictions or a goal in mind. Set your minds, and your magic, free—wow us.”

“Any additional questions can be directed to me or your instructors. One-fourth of the remaining pool will be cut following this trial. Be sure to do your best to get a score that places you in the top three-fourths,” Fritz finished.

With that, the minister, emperor, and empress left. As much as Eira wanted to sit and continue mulling over what they just said, she knew she couldn’t. The time had come for her to conquer something much more immediate, and scarier, than any trial.

She stood, said a quick farewell to Alyss, and crossed to her brother before he could escape. Marcus locked eyes with her and sheer terror seemed to swallow him whole. He shrank in his seat. His eyes were wide with panic.

“I—hello, Marcus.”

“Eira.” He choked out her name, swallowed, and said more smoothly, “Hello.”

“Can we talk?”

Marcus looked to Cullen, who was already stepping away from the table with Noelle.

“Let’s give the ice siblings some space,” Cullen said casually. Noelle gave her a questioning look, but stayed silent, disappearing. Eira was left to wonder if Marcus had confided in them both.

“Where do you want to talk?” Marcus stood. Though, given the way he moved, the weight that was trying to crush her all day was also bearing down on his shoulders.

“I don’t know…” Eira folded and unfolded her hands. “Let’s go to the rooftop.”

“We haven’t been there since we were kids and new to the Tower.”

“Perfect time to go, then.”

They accessed the rooftop by a passageway back to the palace proper and a spiral stair that let them out onto a guard’s walk. Down the rampart was an old ladder, mostly rusted off and icy to the touch. When Eira gripped the first rung, a firm coating of ice covered the ladder and the bolts that connected it to the wall. Like this, it was sturdy enough for them to climb up to the flat roof of a palace spire.

Eira walked over to the far edge, inhaling the bracing chill of the night. “From here, I always thought I could see the whole world.”

“It’s quite the view,” Marcus agreed softly. He didn’t move far from the ladder, as if he were still debating a quick escape.

Eira chewed on her lower lip as she stared out at the city, glittering in challenge to the cosmos above. At the city’s far edge were the switchbacks that trailed down the mountain into the dark forest below. That was the route they would take home through the mountains.

Home. The word was a dagger, slowly peeling away the armor she’d thought she had protecting her.

“I didn’t bring you here to talk about the view, though,” Eira said softly. “But you already know that.” She glanced over her shoulder. Marcus remained silent, staring. There was an invisible wall between them. One that couldn’t be seen but Eira could feel. “I don’t know if I know this city anymore, or at least my place in it… I don’t know if I know who you are—who we are—who I am.”

Marcus pressed his lips into a hard line. Eira took it as an invitation to keep speaking. As if she could talk away the insurmountable wall of discomfort between them.

“I didn’t know,” she whispered. “I had no idea. If I’d known I would’ve…I would’ve told you.”

He still did not speak.

“Say something?” she pleaded.

Silence.

“Did you know?” Eira dared to ask outright.

Marcus looked away and Eira could almost hear her heart shattering. He’d known. No matter what he said next, his movements told her that horrible truth.

“Not…outright. No. I…I didn’t know. I was never told, is what I mean to say.” Marcus frowned. But was it at himself, or at her? “Though, I think, there’s a part of me that knew.”

“There was a part of me that knew too,” Eira said hastily, grasping for a connection with him. She couldn’t be alone now, not when the rest of her family felt so far from reach. She needed him.

“I have…a memory,” Marcus continued. “I never understood it. I thought I dreamed it.” He laughed bitterly. “I guess that’s the memory of a three-year-old, hazy and dream like.”

“What was your memory?” She didn’t know why she asked. She didn’t want the answer.

“I remember you coming from nowhere. I remember waking up, and you were there. Mom and Dad telling me I had a sister. I remember thinking, ‘I didn’t ask for a sister.’ But there you were in my home.”

In my home. Eira blinked several times over as the words replayed. His home. His family. She had been an invader. She had been the one who imposed. Marcus had no doubt been thinking how good his life would’ve been without her ever since Fritz’s revelation.

Marcus crossed his arms, swaying slightly as he shuffled his feet. Perhaps he was cold; he’d always been more susceptible to the cold than she. Or perhaps he was debating if he wanted to run off and reclaim the sister-less life he’d been born into—the life he should have had.

“I didn’t mean…” Eira shook her head.

“I know you didn’t mean. You didn’t mean anything. You were a baby. You had no say in it all, just like me.” Marcus glared at her. “But you did have a choice today in the trial.”

“This is more than the trial…this is about our family,” Eira said weakly, trying to summon the strength Alyss had earlier. But the