Page 71 of The Fifth Heir

“Talia?”

“I’m in the central chamber.”

“Are you hurt?”

“My shoulder is fine.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“I’m not trapped under anything, bleeding, or on fire.”

His expression darkened. “That list is too specific to be reassuring.”

“The paths are connected. When you light the braziers, you melt Leander’s bridge.”

Torren looked toward the third.

“His Frost extinguished my second flame.”

“I know.”

“So the Trial expects one of us to disable the other.”

“That’s what the rules say.”

Four enter. One emerges.

Competition was not a hidden flaw in the Trial. It was the stated purpose.

“Can Leander hear you?” Torren asked.

“I’m going to try.”

“Tell him to stop freezing the lower channels. The second brazier feeds the bridge beneath me.”

“I thought the bridge was over fire.”

“It is. The stone is supported by heat. When he killed the flame, part of it collapsed.”

I touched Frost.

Leander stood near the center of his water chamber, rebuilding the ice shelf faster than Torren’s heat could melt it.

“Leander.”

His head lifted.

“Talia. Where are you?”

“I can see all the paths through the central rune. Your Frost is extinguishing Torren’s braziers and collapsing his bridge.”

“His fire is destroying mine.”

“I know. He needs you to stop freezing the lower channels.”

“The lower channels supply water to this chamber. If I stop them, the level rises.”

I watched water push over the edge of his ice shelf.