Page 7 of Mistake of Magic
“Stars,” I breathe, surrendering Sprite into the care of a hostler who has appeared silently to tend to the horses. “This place is gorgeous.”
River and Coal exchange a glance that I can’t read, Tye suddenly finding the cuffs of his jacket incredibly interesting.
Discomfort slithers through me, but before I can question the males, River steps in front of Kora. “I wish to meet whoever told you that first trials were coming and sent you to intercept us.”
Kora’s face colors. “It was a misunderstanding, sir.”
“It was a calculation meant to humiliate you,” River says flatly. “I am quite familiar with the quint-trainee hierarchy, Kora. Including the power that senior trainees have to issue orders to their juniors. I presume this specific instruction came from a third trial who’s senior to you?”
The female lifts her chin. “A misunderstanding.”
“I wasn’t making a request,” River says, with enough quiet force to make Kora’s skin blanche.
“Yes, sir.” Kora bows, drawing herself up again. “Malikai and his quint will most likely be in the practice arena at this time of day. It’s this way.”
The female quint starts walking and I go to follow, only to realize that my body is little eager to obey. Filled with fae warriors and grand structures and magic, the breathtakingly beautiful Citadel suddenly seems like a poisonous flower. A spark of envy tugs at my chest as I watch Kora’s confident steps. A warrior in body, heart, and soul. And me... I try to swallow, finding my mouth so dry that I fail even at that.
When the Elders Council sees me, they are going to roll on the floor in laughter.
A small nip of pain pulls my attention to my hand, currently in the mouth of a large wolf, his tail swaying slowly beside my left thigh. River, Coal, and Tye, I realize a moment later, have closed ranks around me as well. All trying to look like they wandered into the formation by sheer accident. I take a deep breath, inhaling River’s clean, woodsy scent, spiced with the pine, earth, and metallic musk of the others, a blend that’s as familiar now as it is comforting.
“Thank you,” I whisper, feeling even more grateful when not a single one acknowledges having heard me. We move out to follow Kora across the broad central square, toward a building shaped like a cistern, a wide, circular structure with a flat top.
“You realize that this Malikai bloke could only have known we were coming if he’s licking the council’s boots,” Tye says softly.
“The council’s favorite trainees have always been the worst,” River says, his hands clasped behind his back. Stars know how he managed it, but the blue jacket and black pants he donned this morning still look as crisp as new. “I can’t imagine that’s changed.”
I try to mimic the male, straightening my back and lowering my tensed shoulders in what I’m certain are subtle movements—until Tye groans on my right.
“Him? Of all of us to take after, you chose that ugly bastard?” he demands.
The bastard in question turns to flash his glistening canines at Tye. “What did you expect? Leralynn is much too bright to take after you.”
“Tell me what all these buildings are,” I say quickly, halting the retort I can see forming on Tye’s tongue. “I assume the tall tower is for the council, but what is that huge bowl beneath, with the paddock beside it?”
“That’s the trial arena,” River says, smoothly accepting the change of subject. “It is heavily warded and only accessible during trials. A smaller practice arena, where we’re headed now, and other training structures line the north side of the Citadel. The dormitories for quints, visiting scholars, and staff are on the south end. The large building on the east corner is the library, with the dining hall beside it.”
“What about that sea of huts?” I say, squinting against the high sun as I point south toward a distant cluster of wooden buildings that seem to belong to this sacred place as little as I do.
“Guard country,” River replies, his voice tight. “That’s where non-bonded warriors like Pyker dwell. They keep to themselves there, unless on duty.”
Pyker. Klarissa’s pet, who tried to stage my death and come out the hero. I want to ask where he might be now, having been handed back into Klarissa’s hands a week ago, but we are already walking up to the smaller cistern-shaped building. Up close, I can see that it’s a broad, windowless stone tower with a set of steps winding around the outside wall from ground to roof.
Except there is no roof, I realize as the ten of us get to the top—just the flat edge of a thick wall encircling a sand floor two stories below. Two groups of five fae males are there now, both sets dressed similarly to Kora’s quint except for their underlying colors—a fiery orange and a mute purple instead of the females’ emerald green.
The orange quint stands with their hands connected, a glow like a miniature sun surrounding the five of them. And the purples... I wince as an invisible force lifts two of the males into the air and slams them into the wall. The orange leader, a tan-skinned male with long black hair tied back at the nape of his neck and a sharp widow’s peak, laughs. Even at this distance, his pale eyes glow cruelly from his handsome face. “Get up and do it again,” he calls as his victims gather themselves, blood covering their skin, hair, and clothes.
Bile rises in my throat. I’ve seen this scene before. Lived it. Not the magic and uniforms and training arena, but the sheer helplessness of a larger master doling out punishing blows that, no matter what he or anyone says, nothing will prevent.
A hand spreads on my back. Not along one of the spots that the males’ palms often brush—my shoulders or lower waist—but right under a shoulder blade. Where Zake’s belt left its final marks before the males pulled me from that stable.
I turn my head to find Coal there. Not looking at me at all, even as his touch says everything.
“That is Malikai?” River asks Kora. “The senior of the third trials?”
“Yes, sir,” the female says grimly. Her body is tense, uncomfortable with being here. “But those are first-trial trainees. The newest.”
I swallow, my voice low enough for only Coal tohear. “If River calls out Malikai now, the bastard will make Kora pay for it later.”
