I bit my tongue, sinking one fang into it until I tasted blood. My chest had seized with the weight of Jesper’s pleading. I dug my fingers around the edges of the chair.
Slamming my eyes shut, I whispered, “I would…verifyif he was compromised.”
The thought ofanythinghappening to Jesper fucked with me hard for some reason.
Celine’s smile didn’t move, but something behind her eyes sharpened. “The Council already verified. You’re wasting time. Orders are clear. Would you kill him?”
I lifted my chin. “I would still verify, and if I found he was truly compromised with nobody pulling the strings, I would have to delegate the mission. Some missions are too personal to take on.”
The orb slowly dimmed to a soft gold color, and the lights brightened.
My shoulders slumped slightly as my breath released all at once.
Celine leaned back in her chair, folding her hands over the table. The empathic field she’d been projecting all session dropped completely. I hadn’t even realized how deep it had gone until she stopped her magic.
“You held up well,” she told me. “Your instincts are sound. There are no signs of corruption, and your emotional control under stress was impressive.”
“I’ve had practice,” I muttered.
“More than most,” she agreed. “You passed.”
“Thanks.” My stomach growled hard enough to echo.
She smiled faintly and stood, smoothing the sleeves of her robe. “You’re cleared. Eat. Hydrate. Try to rest before the next portion of the exam. You’ve earned it.”
zuko
. . .
The interview was a fucking breeze;simple and to the point. They just wanted to know we weren’t complete morons who would lie on every question. Anyone dumb enough to lie that badly under a low-grade empath probe deserved to get kicked out.
But even while answering my questions, I could not get a certain green-haired basilisk out of my head.
“She genuinely terrifies me,” Raze whispered harshly, his hand skating over his white spiked hair. His pink eyes followed Rune as she walked her pretty ass up the stairs and onto the stage in the auditorium. “I can’t believe you provoked her intostabbingyou.”
“I told you I wasflirting,” I hissed at my newfound friend. “Her stabbing me was flirting back.”
“She can kill you with one touch,” Raze argued under his breath. “You’re going to die with a boner, and I’m going to have to write your eulogy. We just met, man.”
“She’s hot,” I shrugged. “And you and I are clearly fated to be friends, so I’mnotsorry.”
He scoffed, turning back toward the stage as Headmaster Bloodwyne stepped toward his daughter.
Raze was a legend in his own right. I’d heard plenty of stories about him playing vigilante all over Kalista, but the council recruited him into being an agent. I didn’t know why he was so scared of my pretty little poison.
She was gorgeous.
“The withstanding torture trial is part of the psychological evaluation, just like the interview. It comprises thirty percent of your total score,” Headmaster Bloodwyne announced, holding a sealed envelope to his daughter.
She opened it and read the contents without flinching. Her expression remained unreadable, but that almost made me worry more about what was written.
“Applicants are each given a false piece of classified intel they must protect at all costs for one full hour. If they break and reveal the information early, they fail. This test is run by our House of Torment professor, Vaelynn Emberveil. She is well-versed in pain inducement, psychic disruption, and psychological warfare. No lasting physical damage will be inflicted. Make no mistake, the pain and fear you will experience up here are real.”
Rune put the paper back inside the envelope and handed it back to her dad.
Headmaster Bloodwyne’s golden eyes flickered between his daughter and the group of applicants. “To make the torture stop…”
“To make it stop,” Rune took over with a wink at her father, “you break. Youfail. But if you want to pass, youendure.”
