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

night to heal, Deneya had said. Otherwise she had no hope of passing the trial in two days.

Eira was forced to agree. But she hated doing so. She felt like she had years of training to make up for—years of knowledge she was lacking. She had been a diligent student, but maybe not as diligent as she’d thought. The more she learned, the more the gaps in her knowledge were becoming apparent.

She opened the door to her room and stepped inside. Eira caught movement from the corner of her eye. Perhaps it was just having come from training with Deneya. Or perhaps she really had developed new instincts. Eira acted without thought.

A dagger of ice was in her palm—icepick grip. She twisted, thrusting backward.

“Mysst xieh.” Light sprung from the darkness, illuminating Ferro’s face.

Eira let out a gasp, trying to stop her momentum. But it was too late. Her dagger bounced off his shield harmlessly.

Thankfully, she’d never figured out how to break them.

“Do you regularly take it upon yourself to attack people?” he asked, amused.

“I… I’m so sorry,” Eira said in a rush. “I didn’t realize it was you, it’s late and—”

“It is late,” he murmured. “Where were you?”

“I was doing some reading.”

Ferro released the glyph from his palm, plunging them into darkness. Eira blinked several times, trying to force her eyes to adjust. He was a shadow, outlined in silver moonlight.

“I waited for you,” Ferro whispered. There was a weight to him in the night. His shape had become something instinctual—a force felt more than seen.

“How did you get here?” she whispered in reply. Her back pressed against the door. His hand landed to the side of her face as he leaned over her.

“I followed the passages you told me about.”

Oh, right, she had told him about the Tower’s secret passages, hadn’t she? It was hard to form cohesive thoughts with him standing so close. “Why are you here?”

“I wanted to wish you luck before you set off tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she said, little more than a squeak. Her heart was thundering. His lips were struck silver by the moon and she could imagine Alyss screaming, kiss him!, in the back of her mind.

“You’re welcome.” His eyes were almost luminescent in the darkness and they bore into her. “I’ll be watching you. I’ll be looking for you.”

“Ferro…”

“Eira?”

“How old are you?” she blurted.

He chuckled. “I’m twenty-four.”

Six years older than her. Not twenty-six. Not sixty. Six. A perfectly “not creepy” age gap, Eira decided. “You’re so young.”

“I had motivation to ascend beyond my humble beginnings as fast as I could.” She remembered him mentioning he was orphaned. “We’re a lot alike in that way. The Tournament of Five Kingdoms means as much to me as it does to you.”

“Why?” she whispered.

It was as if she broke him from a trance. Ferro blinked several times, staring at her. The shock faded into tenderness. He cupped her cheek. “Because it brought me to you.”

Ferro leaned forward and pressed his lips gently to hers. Her whole body tingled, from the top down. She shivered, shifting closer to him, wanting more. But all too soon, he pulled away, giving her nothing but a chaste peck.

“Ferro—”

“Consider that your good luck charm.” He smirked lazily. “Keep us—everything about our interactions—a secret for just a bit longer and then you’ll be headed to Meru with me as a competitor.”

Before Eira could even think of a response, he was gone. He’d disappeared into the night faster than a pleasant dream. The only proof Eira hadn’t fabricated the whole encounter was the pent-up energy threatening to explode from her every pore and the tingling of her lips.

22

Seventeen sorcerers stood in a spot usually reserved for royalty. They lined up on the Sunlit Stage in three groups—eight Waterrunners, three Groundbreakers, and six Firebearers. The amassed crowd cheered and chanted. They waved pennons emblazoned with the symbols for water, earth, and fire. Fever for the trials had spread and was reaching its climax.

Eira stared blinking in the morning light and frantically scanning the crowd for her parents. Thankfully, they hadn’t come. The other candidates smiled and waved. They made proclamations of victory to the crowd.

The emperor and empress made a series of announcements, wished them all luck, and discussed more about the tournament. Ferro stood beside them. He, too, addressed the crowd.

The people of Solaris fell to a hush as he spoke. Eira could hear their whispers and see their shifting gazes. Solaris might have grown to love the notion of the trials happening in their own lands, but the idea of sending competitors across the sea to Meru still gave them pause.

When the announcements were over, the candidates were escorted in groups of six, six, and five to wagons waiting in the center of the lower area. Each wagon had one Groundbreaker, two Firebearers, and three or two Waterrunners.

A palace guard handed out cotton, instructing them to place it in their ears. Eira was all too happy to oblige and drown out the deafening noise of the crowd. But her other candidates seemed a little skeptical about what was to come. They hadn’t been afforded the same level of detail about what to expect—an edge that would benefit her.

The next guard that came around bound strips of fabric around their heads. The cloth held the cotton in place and covered their eyes. Around and around they wound the blindfold until the world was completely dark, save for pops of light behind Eira’s eyes from the pressure.

She placed her hands under her thighs to keep herself from touching the blindfold. At any time she could take it off. It wasn’t tied with a knot she couldn’t undo. But to remove it was to forfeit.

Right before the cart lurched forward, there was a commotion. Eira could make out hazy noise, but she couldn’t tell what had transpired. Her shoulder brushed against the people next to her as the wagon jostled down the road. She didn’t even know who she was