Death Marked (Death Sworn #2)(7)

Ileni wanted to say something nonchalant, but she couldn’t stop trembling. She closed her eyes and tried to think of something calming. It had been a long time since anything in her life could be described as calming, but she reached all the way back, to before Karyn had grabbed her, before she had been sent to the Assassins’ Caves, before the Elders had told her she was losing her magic. She remembered sitting with Tellis in one of the Renegai practice rooms, back to back, focusing on the rhythms of a relaxation spell.

She had let her discipline go in the caves, hadn’t bothered with the mental exercises designed to hone magic she no longer had. Now they came slowly and jerkily, and she forced them gracelessly through her mind. Eventually the rhythms came back to her, halting but effective, and her breath fell into the pattern. No magic accompanied the rhythm, of course, a lack that scraped sharply and painfully against her concentration. But slowly, steadily, her muscles relaxed.

She wasn’t sure how long it took. When she opened her eyes, her hands were steady, and Evin was leaning on the opposite wall watching her. There was no hint of impatience in his stance, which probably meant he was very good at hiding it.

“Thank you for waiting,” Ileni said. “I’m ready to continue now.”

“Of course,” Evin replied, his voice as neutral as hers. His brown eyes were calm and steady, shaded by long dark lashes. “It wouldn’t be fair to test you when you were shaken up. The testing arena is this way.”

He led her deeper into the passageway and through a doorway to the left. Keeping her newfound calm wrapped tightly around herself, Ileni followed.

When she entered the testing arena, recognition ran through her with a chill sense of inevitability. It was smaller than the training room in the Assassins’ Caves, and the weapons lined up near one wall were fewer in number and far less exotic in type. But otherwise it was the same: round, cavernous, and sparse, lit by glowstones that covered the walls and the high arched ceiling. There were no stalactites here, though. The ceiling was a smooth, polished curve stretching from wall to wall.

“All right,” Evin said, and she forced her feet to move. In the center of the chamber was a simple raised rock, the perfect height for sitting. Evin stopped next to it and faced her.

Whatever expression was on her face, it made his brow furrow. But all he said was, “Do you want to get in some practice before Karyn gets here? We can start with something simple, like . . . can you call up fire?”

Ileni had called fire dozens of times a day, once. Nothing would explain a sudden fit of crying, so she pushed down the stab of loss and said, “That’s all right. I’ll wait for Karyn.”

“Are you sure? It’s not as if I have anything important to do right now.”

“Then go do something unimportant,” she snapped.

“Well. I do have a lot of that to do,” he said. “All right, then. Good luck.”

“I won’t need it.” Which was untrue as well as obnoxious. Calm down, Ileni.

Evin looked over his shoulder. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Ileni whirled. Karyn was leaning against the far wall of the cavern, watching them, the light of the glowstones turning the edges of her hair silver.

Ileni turned again, just in time to see Evin saunter out the door.

“This should be interesting,” Karyn said. “Are you ready to begin?”


Are you ready to begin? the Elder had said. His voice was kind, and that was the worst part. In Ileni’s other testings—the ones where she had been expected to excel, where failure merely meant she had to push herself harder—the Elders had never been kind. They had been harsh and pitiless.

They had not been kind until they started expecting her to fail.


Karyn stood with her feet braced far apart, fingers lightly curled. There was nothing kind in her face. Clearly, the sorceress was looking forward to this.

I could refuse. But then what? Ileni was here on Karyn’s sufferance. And she had to stay here, to discover the truth about the Empire. She needed that truth before she could make her choice.

She had grown up believing that destroying the Empire was her life’s goal, the hope of every Renegai. But too many of her childhood beliefs had been shattered in the Assassins’ Caves. She needed to see for herself. And if she wanted the chance to do that, she had to go along with Karyn’s cruel little game.

Ileni bit her lip. She walked to the raised rock and sat on it.

The rock, it was immediately obvious, was not intended for sitting. It was curved upward and extraordinarily uncomfortable. But Karyn was watching, so Ileni remained seated, trying to appear at ease.

Karyn’s lips twitched, but all she said was, “Should we start with basic sparring?”

Ileni wondered again why Karyn hadn’t killed her already. Maybe the sorceress just wanted to play with her first.

“No? Something simpler, then.” Karyn raised her hand, fist closed, then slowly opened it. A glowing orb hovered in front of her palm, intensely white. Karyn flicked her fingers, and the orb shot through the air.

Ileni had just enough time to block her face. The orb splattered against her bare forearm and vanished. Burning pain tore into Ileni’s skin, and she bit down on a scream.

Karyn blinked at her. “What was that?”

Before Ileni could think up an answer, Karyn sent another orb flying at her.