Page 47 of The Fifth Heir

I left the padded area and took my place beside the others.

Torren handed me a cup of water.

“I don’t need—”

He continued holding it out.

I accepted the cup.

He had placed eggs and bread in front of me before we left the Fifth Wing. I had eaten half to end the argument and the rest because every time I tried to rise, he moved between me and the door without saying a word.

Now he watched until I drank.

“You know I survived twenty-four years before meeting you,” I said quietly.

“Your methods were questionable.”

“I was fine.”

“You cataloged cabinets at dawn with an injured shoulder.”

“I completed the inventory.”

His mouth moved slightly at one corner.

Rafe leaned toward us. “Is this what living in the Fifth Wing will be like every morning?”

“No,” I said.

“Yes,” Torren said at the same time.

Rafe’s grin returned. Leander looked away with the expression of someone already reconsidering the shared quarters.

The assessment examiner called us to the central circle.

Seven large runes had been embedded in the floor, one for each known element. Fire, Frost, Forest, Storm, Shadow, Stone, and Sky surrounded a smaller unmarked disc.

Keeper Malcolm descended from the gallery.

“The elemental resonance test will determine whether the fifth beam awakened a dormant affinity,” he said. “Each heir will stand at the center while the examiners activate the runes.”

“Will it determine her dragon type?” Sebastian asked.

“If she has one.”

I pretended not to hear the final qualification.

Leander went first.

When he stepped onto the center disc, the Frost rune illuminated immediately. Pale blue magic traveled across the floor and coated the disc beneath his boots. The temperature dropped fast enough that my breath became visible.

The other elemental runes remained dark.

“Primary Frost affinity,” the examiner announced. “No secondary manifestation.”

Torren produced the same clean result with Fire. The chamber warmed, red light surrounded him, and the metal clasps on his training uniform became too bright to look at directly.

Storm responded to Rafe before he reached the center. Silver light snapped between the floor markings, raising the hair along my arms.