“Pasha Clairmont, receiving Clarity.”
Pasha practically ran to the podium, bouncing on her heels as she received her mark, spyglass, rope, and weapon. Instructor Garcien said something to her that brightened her expression further.
“Talissa Hawthorne,” Instructor Penbrook called next. “Receiving Fortitude.”
Does that mean no one else this year gets Fortitude?
I tried not to let my jealousy spike. Talissa made her way up, accepting her rewards. More trainees I didn’t know followed after her.
“Henrik Ravenscroft, receiving Acumen.”
Henrik grinned from ear to ear, pleased with his assigned Skinscript. He practically skipped up to the podium, extending his arm with a flourish while Instructor Penbrook brushed the magic into him. His excitement was infectious, and I found myself pleased for him too.
I struggled to pay attention as more trainees I hadn’t met yet went up.
“Mikaela Newbury, receiving Auditory,” Instructor Penbrook read out.
Mikaela froze like someone had struck her. “There must be some mistake,” she said, loud enough to be heard. “I’m deaf in one ear. Auditory would be ill-suited.”
“There’s no mistake,” Instructor Penbrook replied. “The Ascendancy has chosen Auditory as your Skinscript. Will you receive it?”
She took a step back, hugging herself, head dipping. I caught a glimpse of angry tears making their way down her cheeks before she dashed them, tightening her jaw and stepping forward. The words exchanged between her and the instructors looked terse.
In the end, she pulled back her hair and received the glyph behind her ear.
Without even a pause, Instructor Penbrook called out “Georlan Sutherland, receiving Restoration.”
Georlan’s grin split his entire face, mixed with shock. His roommate nudged him forward. It took Instructor Penbrook three times as long to paint the Restoration glyph than all the previous trainee’s glyphs. Georlan flexed his hand in awe after it was done, accepting his rope, dagger and spyglass with his other hand.
“Yeshar Dunst, receiving Strength.”
Just what he needed, one more tool to help with his calculating and scheming. I pressed my lips together, trying not to grind my teeth. He looked all too smug on the podium with his arm out, like he was receiving his due.
“Sarina Rossi, receiving Beauty.”
Corra’s expression went from apprehensive to devastated to stony in a blink. She wasn’t fast enough to hide the transition with me standing right next to her. I squeezed her hand, and she turned a carefully blank stare on me. “It’s fine,” she whispered, before moving forward to receive her Skinscript.
I couldn’t imagine her disappointment. Beauty was a Skinscript that hadn’t been deemed valuable enough to cover during our lessons. It would help her out in the field–not at all. There were many like it, but she was the only one in our year to receive such a forgettable glyph. I didn’t even know what it did. None of us did.
Instructor Penbrook painted the Skinscript onto her arm with a swift efficiency, saying a few words to her as he finished. Corra recoiled as if he’d physically slapped her, rushing from the stage back to her place near me.
“Veridiana Monterose, receiving Balance,” Veridiana stepped forward to receive her Skinscript. I barely paid her any attention at all.
Corra rubbed at the new mark on her arm, eyes glassy as she watched.
“What did he say?” I asked, voice low so we wouldn’t be overheard.
She glared down at her glyph, balling her fists. “‘You really thought you got away with it, Sarra?’”
My breath caught, fear forming an icy lump in my throat. They’d been exposed. How?
“Lisia Ellington,” Instructor Penbrook called out. His lips pulled up into an unpleasant smile. “Receiving Luck.”
Luck. The Skinscript for gamblers and degenerates, the most worthless glyph possible to receive. If Corra’s Beauty Skinscript was an indignity, mine was an outright mockery. Instructor Penbrook didn’t like me, but this was low even for him. Was he doing this because Zevrial had forced him to heal me?
Or was this ‘the rest’ Yeshar had mentioned earlier?
Anger flushed up the skin on the back of my neck.
