Page 233 of The Fifth Heir

The shaft narrowed near the top. Dawn waited beyond it, pale and cold.

A final barrier formed across the opening.

Words appeared within the stone.

ONE EMERGES.

Torren struck it with fire.

The barrier held.

Leander’s frost spread across it, revealing five small hollows arranged like the points of a crown.

Not one lock.

Five.

I flew to the center.

Torren took the upper point. Rafe moved to the right, Sebastian to the left, and Leander claimed the lowest.

Our powers entered the hollows.

Clear light joined them.

The words changed.

Not the letters.

The meaning.

I felt the Trial recognize us—not as five competitors occupying the same chamber, but as a single formation.

One Crown Wing.

The barrier opened.

We burst into the dawn.

Cold air rushed over my scales as the academy appeared below us. Towers, training fields, courtyards, and the dark roof of the Hall of Crowns spread beneath my wings.

People filled the grounds.

The headmaster stood at the front of the crowd. Camilla was beside him, still clutching the rolled structural plan. Guards surrounded Malcolm near the Hall entrance, although none had placed him in restraints.

Every face turned upward.

Four dragons flew around me in a five-point formation.

Torren’s fire warmed my right wing. Leander’s frost steadied my left. Rafe’s storm lifted beneath us, and Sebastian’s shadows protected our backs.

I had believed emerging meant surviving the others.

The Trial had waited centuries for someone to understand.

Five had entered.

One Crown Wing emerged.