Page 39 of Daughter of No Worlds

“More than anything,” he said, “The Orders care about control. That was why they were founded to begin with, to make sure that Wielders weren’t going to accidentally wreak destruction simply because they didn’t know what the hell they were doing. And to the Orders’ credit, they fulfill that role very well. When Wielders wreak destruction, it’s usually because they want to. Unless we’re talking about Moth and my roses.” Max glowered at the scalded flowers for just a moment before turning back to me.

“You seem to like conjuring, so let’s start there. And, there’s potential with that. That thing you do, turning the butterflies into glass? That’s impressive for a Valtain. They struggle with physical things like that.”

I must have looked pleased with myself, because he raised a finger.

“Don’t get too full of yourself. Your accuracy is still a mess.” He picked up a flower — a little yellow one with layers and layers of tiny, long petals. “Let’s start with this. I want you to make me a copy of this flower.”

Easy. I began to smile, but again, he raised that finger.

“No. Get that cocky smirk off your face. I’m not asking for what youthinkthis flower looks like. Thisexactflower. Every little detail the same.”

I looked from Max, to his raised hand, to the little yellow flower — all of those layers and layers of petals. I was sure I could do it. But was it really any more impressive than my own tricks? People liked performances. They liked to bedazzled. And I would certainly need to dazzle the Orders to accelerate myself.

“This will really help me impress in tests?” I said, skeptical.

“Are you implying that I’m leading you astray?”

The look on my face must have betrayed that I knew almost none of those words.

Max let out a breath through his teeth. “Listen. Many people believe that Fragmented Valtain are less capable. The idea being that Valtain magic bleaches hair and skin, so by that logic, someone like you…”

Someone like me would be inherently less powerful. I nodded, glancing down at my hand and my two tan fingers. Those patches of gold had hurt my value as a slave, and now they hurt my value as a Valtain, too.

“It’s not proven. The point is, many people, especially full Valtain, will be expecting you to fail. They’ll be looking for reason to prove that you’re not capable of doing this. We’ll make sure that you knock their moon-obsessed robes off, absolutely. But when you do it, you need to be technicallyperfect.”

We’ll make sure.Apparently, there was a “we” now.

I had to admit, I was pleasantly surprised — if somewhat perplexed — by how quickly Max had gone from trying to drive me away to being so deeply invested in my success.

“I will be,” I said.

“You’d better. I have other things I could be doing. Make it worth it.” Max handed me the flower. “Remember.Exact.”

* * *

It turnedout that my little assignment was harder than I thought it would be.

My first flower came easily, hovering, silver and translucent, between my hands. But Max took one look at it and shook his head.

“What did I tell you? That’s notthisflower. It’saflower. Or worse, what youthinka flower looks like. There’s nothing real about that.”

It took only one more long look at what I had created to realize that he was right. My creation was too perfect, formed in rows of tear-shaped, identical petals that looked real from a distance but revealed themselves to be eerily fake up close.

I nodded, letting the flower dissolve into the air. Then tried again.

And again.

And.

Again.

Too big. Too small. Too perfect. Too symmetrical.

“You’re duplicating petals,” Max pointed out.

“I know,” I muttered. I didn’t mean to duplicate, but it was so hard not to. My mind felt too thick and clumsy to create all of that detail. My headpounded. But I offered no objection, no complaint.

Hours passed. My conjurings began to take longer and longer, flickering and writhing in the air like smoke. Soon Max and I both had to squint into blinding sunset light.

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