Page 231 of The Fifth Heir

Not because it was wrong.

Because it was incomplete.

I lowered my head until my eyes were level with his and pushed the image I had seen into our connection: five lines, five points, one crown.

Leander inhaled sharply.

“Not yet,” he said.

I touched my snout to his chest.

“Not alone,” he corrected.

The Trial chamber shook.

Above us, the false inscription appeared in black fire.

ONE POWER SHALL PREVAIL.

The altered runes pulled at the men again.

This time, the four of them stood together.

Torren reached for the fire within him, but he did not aim it at another heir. He placed one hand against my scales and sent the power through me.

Rafe joined him.

Then Sebastian.

Then Leander.

I spread my wings and accepted all four streams.

Refraction divided them, crossed them, and gave them a common direction.

Up.

Power struck the ceiling.

The black inscription split down the center.

Stone broke apart, revealing a vertical passage lined with ancient crystal. Dawn light shone far above us, although sunrise had not yet reached the academy grounds.

The Trial wanted one power to prevail.

We gave it one power made from five.

The corrupted Stone runes cracked. Black light poured from them, recoiling toward a seal hidden beneath the central platform.

A familiar authority mark appeared inside it.

A crown above a closed gate.

Malcolm’s office.

The seal began to burn itself away.

Sebastian’s shadow caught it before it vanished. He enclosed the mark in darkness and tore a fragment of carved stone from the floor.