My forehead broke out in cold sweat. Skye had been wrong. Helen wasn’t with Jaxan, and shewasgoing to vote against me. That meant Unfit. Banning me from spellcasting magic for good. Permanently Unselected. Leland’s Death Bond. Losinga hand.
“Are you all right, dear?” Sinora asked.
“No?” The terrace swayed. “I think I’m going to pass out.”
“Well,” sighed Sinora. “You’ve got a few minutes. Why don’t you sit for some?”
I slumped against a pillar and dropped to the ground, squeezing my eyes tight and shutting out the stark gray sky.
“We’re right here with you,” she said. “When it’s time, we’ll walk you to the palace. I can’t go in, and Sabrina won’t, but we’ll wait on the marble bridge with your flask and see you home. It’s going to be all right, child. I told you they need you here. It’s going to be all right.”
I wanted to believe her — I almost did, but the second I opened my eyes, Sabrina looked at me, terrified, and said, “Run.”
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
EMBER
Why are our armies Illusionists? Because intangibles cannot be attacked. The battle perceived is not the battle that exists, and by this method, our enemies are always defeated.
— Aurora Gallatine, Echelon to the
School of Illusions
Inumbly moved forward, entering Odessa Hall alone. Two stone-faced marshals escorted me upstairs to the room where I would face the Echelons. And her.
They brought me to a rectangular table set behind a jail of a half wall and told me to wait in the last chair on the right. Aside from the marshals standing at attention in the aisle, there was no one in the audience gallery behind me.
The eight members of the Council entered and took their seats at a grand bench raised on a formal platform a few feet above me. Jaxan’s lips curled in a smile. Helen, all business, was fully consumed by her papers and the other members of the Council. Not one look, not a single sign in her rigid body that she wouldn’t vote me Unfit.
The trial room was a light, neutral-colored space, its onlyadornments a slowly ticking wall clock; white moldings; a high, coffered ceiling; and the bronze, louvered detailing decorating the Council’s bench. Bright, magical spotlights made the room close to blinding. Yet it held an enlightened air — grand, traditional, old.
Massive double doors swung wide as Leland entered, striding in with his usual ease, in formal clothes, a sweater and nice pants. But his jaw was stiff, pits of darkness reigned under his lower lash line, and his stubble had grown long enough to stroke. He still looked good enough that it was an effort to keep my composure. Rugged and tired suited him, but in the five days I’d known him, he’d never seemed so spent.
We hadn’t spoken after Aila and Ari disappeared, outside of a few brief messages. I figured he was busy, maybe trying to get Jaxan to break the Dark Deal before the Echelons made their decision about me. He pulled out the chair beside me and sat.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered hoarsely, then immediately had to glance away.
His smell was wrong.
On the surface, it was the same clean smell — mint and pine. Then he moved. He unzipped his backpack and set it on the first chair, and something wafted through the air. Something steeped into his clothes, smoked and sour and rotten.
Mugroot.
“I’m their Truth-Teller,” he said woefully. “Summoned to verify your answers.” He pulled off his sweater, revealing a white, cotton shirt underneath, and stuffed the sweater I couldn’t bear the smell of into his backpack.
My face must have shown my relief because he said, “Stop burning. I didn’t sleep with anyone. I was up all night making a potion.”
The burning ceased.
“The Dark Deal?” I asked. “Is it still on?”
Leland frowned.Still on.
“And you sit with me?” I glanced at the open, ninth seat on the Council’s bench. “Here?” I would’ve preferred to face the Echelons without him.
Leland stretched an arm across the table and turned his body to face me. “No,” he said. “Not always.” He looked at the bench and subtly pointed to the Council. “From left to right. Aurora Gallatine, Echelon to the School of Illusions; Ydris Ledoux, Echelon to the School of Healing; Hector Ambrosia, Echelon to the School of Elemental Magic; Velleza Luna, Echelon to the School of Enchantments; Dashell Eldridge, Echelon to the School of Quantum Magic; Charley Starvos, Echelon to the School of Creation Magic. Jaxan D’Oron, no need for introduction there; and — ”
