“Are there any objections?” Vhalla addressed the crowd, and then the sorcerers in black situated on the lower dune. “Or perhaps any sorcerers who would like the honor instead?”
Vi’s heart thumped a beat that had the wordpleaseattached to every pulse. Yet no one moved. She glanced over her shoulder at Jayme, silently pleading. The girl lifted her brow and scrunched it as if to ask, “What can I do?” Vi didn’t have an answer; Jayme wasn’t a sorcerer, she was just pulling at straws.
“I think you have to go up,” Jax mumbled.
“No one?” Vhalla asked, her eyes settling back on Vi apologetically.
She didn’t want to have to spar before all these people. But there were, as expected, no objections. She had been practicing her Lightspinning at length… to the detriment of her skills as a Firebearer. Vi swallowed hard. Taavin had said magic was magic—Lightspinning or Firebearing—they were both ways to focus a channel.
She could do this.
The group of soldiers parted for Vi to walk through as she descended to the flatter area where her mother stood ready. A pair of purple eyes caught hers, almost flashing in the near-darkness. Fallor stood a head above the rest, still grinning like a fool and looking easily like he could crush all the soldiers who stood a good half step away from him. Vi suppressed a shiver and focused forward.
I’m overreacting, Vi tried to tell herself. He was nothing more than a member of the infantry. A really large, really creepy, annoying member—but not someone who deserved her suspicion. Tonight was merely a coincidence.
Vi wiggled her fingers, feeling the sparks that lingered just beneath her skin charge around them. Should she try to hide her Lightspinning? Or try to draw simple attacks of fire with her magic as she’d first learned? She could conjure basic flames easily enough. Perhaps that was the best path forward…
“Just a simple round, then?” Vhalla suggested, loud enough that the soldiers could still hear what was being decided.
Vi gave a nod of affirmation.Just a little bit of power, just enough to convince them she was a Firebearer and nothing more. She didn’t have to win the spar. It was likely better if she didn’t beat the Empress Regent—Martis would say as much, wouldn’t he?
“Are you ready?” Vhalla asked, sinking slightly lower. Vi gave a small nod, trying to look as though she was ready to do battle as well and hoping it was all a show. “Let’s begin!”
Vhalla didn’t hesitate. She sprang forward, unleashing the power in her legs as she launched from her stance. Vi stepped back, bracing herself, hands up, spark ready.
A wall of wind blew across her. Her heels sank into the sand as she was pushed back. Vi was reminded of Uncle Jax’s fire walls and she pushed the spark into her palms, avoiding the instinct to craft a shield withmysst.
The wall of wind had been a diversion, and the Empress shifted her trajectory. Vi could see her moving with the air under her feet, speeding her movements and sending the sand scuttling away in divers. She spun, bringing a kick toward Vi.
Vi dropped low, pivoting around her bent leg. The other stretched out and led her turn, sweeping across the sand toward the leg Vhalla stood on for support. Fire crackled off her heel, picking up with a flare on her mother’s wind, causing her to jump back.
“Clever move! Use your opponent’s magic against them whenever you’re able.” Vhalla clapped her hands once and before Vi even had time to register the praise, she was launching forward for a right-handed thrust.
Vi stepped back, avoiding the jab. This was a spar, an exhibition, not a fight. Their punches were wide, their distance large. Her mother was playing up Vi’s limited attacks.It must look real to the soldiers, hope whispered within her. She could convince them all she was a Firebearer.
Vi swung her hand toward her mother’s side and fire cracked like she held a physical whip.
Vhalla dispersed her flames with a gust. Vi was ready, sending a bolt of flame with a flick over her mother’s shoulder. She’d been expecting Vhalla to dodge in the opposite direction, but watched as her Mother stepped toward the fire. The flame caught her clothes, singing a hole by her collarbone—Vhalla stopping just in time to avoid further damage.
Mid-leap, Vi froze, her fire completely vanishing, her eyes landing on the barely exposed flesh. She teetered from one foot to the next, nearly losing balance and tripping over herself. Her stomach had fallen from her body, her mind was in full revolt, and her heart thrummed not from the exertion of battle but sheer panic.
For underneath her mother’s clothes, concealed, barely visible through the singed hole, was a firm-looking, white portion of skin that seemed to almost glisten—as though it were a wet rock. Certainly not burnt flesh, as it should be.
Vi knew that marking. She’d seen it in her visions of the future. She’d seen it with her own two eyes at the clinic.
But nothing could’ve prepared her to see it on her mother’s flesh.
“That’s enough for one evening, I think,” Vhalla said lightly. Vi would think her completely oblivious, were it not for the sudden shift in her demeanor. She was almost too casual, too composed. Vi wanted to run to her, hold her, weep, shake her, scream, and demand answers all at the same time. “As always, thank you all for your interest in learning more about sorcery.”
Vi closed her eyes, trying to calm the pulses of magic that were ripping through her like a sudden shift in tide, sweeping up on the undercurrents of her emotions. She had seen it wrong. It was a trick of the fading light, the pale moonlight on the dunes.
This wasn’t real.
Footfalls grew closer. “What happened?” Jax asked, looking between them. “Are you all right, Vi?” Jayme wasn’t with him. That should’ve been Vi’s first clue that he’d already known despite his confused look.
When she opened her eyes, she looked directly at her mother. Vaguely, the soldiers leaving registered to her—just enough to know that they were out of earshot.Ifshe managed to keep her voice low enough.
“Tell me you’re not afflicted,” Vi whispered with a trembling breath. It was barely audible or screaming; there was no between for her right now.
