Remember who you are.
Drizzle begins to fall, light and slow.
There was a time when I believed I was destined to be drizzle. Weak and inconsequential. Existing between extremes, barely there at all.
The drizzle intensifies, no longer haze but perfectly formed droplets, falling heavy and purposeful from the darkening sky.
After I learned more about my gifts and how to harness them, I thought myself rain. It’s my first gift, the one that belongs only to me, which Melded itself to sadness. But I’mrealizing that I am more than that. I was always meant to be more than that.
Remember who you are.
The feeling is growing stronger, like it’s swallowing me whole. Rain sluices over my skin, spattering hard on the ground. I look up to find that the sun has retreated, the sky now a deep grey. Dark, swollen clouds cluster ominously above my head.
The downpour becomes a torrent. Screams pierce the air as the amphitheatre begins to flood, the water rising at an alarming rate.
Alone, I am shielded by some invisible forcefield, as though I am the very centre of everything.
The eye of the storm.
A strange sound fills my ears, faint and achingly beautiful. Tears stream down my face as I realize what it is.
Rain song.
Spreading my arms wide, I tilt my head back and let it wash over me.
Remember who you are.
It was never a question of forgetting, but of believing. And here, in this moment, I have never felt more like myself.
At last, after summoning every last drop of effort, I reach out to the storm and reel my power in. All at once, the rain stops. Clouds scatter and the sky grows lighter, a pale grey flecked with weakened sunlight. Silence descends like mist.
I stand, panting, shaking so hard my bones seem to knock together.
Remember who you are.
I am the girl who wove the storm that shook the world.
And I’m coming for my crown.
46
What happened next is a blur.
I vaguely recall the emperor saying a few words, calming the hysterical crowd and announcing me as the winner. Physicians poured into the amphitheatre, some headed towards Marina, who was lying in a sodden heap, others towards me, but I brushed them off, forcing myself to put one foot in front of the other until I was safely back inside the tunnel. Then I slumped to the ground.
I woke up some time later inside my tent. One of the physicians noticed my eyelids fluttering and murmured something I didn’t catch as she tipped a vial of clear liquid down my throat.
When I eventually come to, I’m lying on my bed in the Golden Palace. It’s dusk and all the candles are lit. Grandmother is leaning over me, her face tight and lined with worry. I watch it soften as she takes me in, reaching out a hand to stroke my hair.
‘My darling one.’
‘Grandmother,’ I whisper, then inhale sharply as the pain arrives.
‘They realigned the bone,’ says Grandmother, gesturingto my nose. ‘The swelling should start to go down in a day or two.’
I nod, which hurts. Grandmother helps me sit up to sip some water. I almost choke on it as the memories of the trials burst through the haze of painkiller.
‘Flint! Where is he?’
