by Kova, Elise
Her parents’ request was still at the forefront of her thoughts. It had been there all day, worming away at her resolve.
With a slow shake of her head, Eira tucked her chin and started up the pathway. It’s better this way, she tried to tell herself. She’d been wrong; Gwen had been wrong. She wasn’t meant for this, Marcus was. He was the shining star of the family—the one who would no doubt follow in their uncle’s shoes. Competing in the Tournament of Five Kingdoms was a good start toward Minister of Sorcery for the Empire, maybe even a lordship like Cullen.
If he did this, he wouldn’t be held back by her anymore.
Eira’s footsteps slowed. She looked over her shoulder, down at the cage of ice. Fritz caught her eye and smiled, giving a small wave.
A surge of wild, and likely misguided, bravery overtook her. No. There was another way to show them all Marcus didn’t need to hold himself back because of her. She could prove she could stand on her own. Swallowing down her nerves and allowing the courage to rise, Eira stalked back down and crossed to the cage of ice.
“Eira? Might I help you with something?” Fritz blinked at her.
“Please excuse me, Minister.” Eira gave a bow of her head and stepped around him.
“Eira—”
Before she could second-guess herself again, Eira held up her hand. The cold sank into her fingers, familiar and welcome. She allowed the tethers of magic to wrap around her forearm. Eira took a step forward and her hand met the bitter ice. She fused to it, magic and flesh.
There was no doubt; this was her brother’s magic. Eira had spent all of her life looking up to him, wanting to be like him. She knew his power better than anyone. She took a breath, and closed her hand into a fist.
The deep-blue ice crunched under her fingers like it was nothing more than frost. The whole barrier fractured with a crack that echoed through the Tower. The ice fell to the floor as water.
Eira lifted her skirts and stepped over the puddle. It rippled and writhed against her magic, trying to reform. Spears of water rose from the ground, frost cracking through them before they fell back down under their own weight. Her brother must be tired from holding the barrier up all day. Because he couldn’t put up much of a fight, wherever he was.
Eira lifted the pen and inked her name, last on the list. Fritz’s gaze bored holes into her skull, but Eira ignored him as she returned the pen and retreated up the Tower, heart racing in her ears.
7
“That. Was. Brilliant.” Alyss grabbed both of Eira’s hands and spun Eira around her room. “The way you didn’t just move the barrier but shattered the whole thing! I didn’t know if you had it in you to even sign up. But, wow, what a statement. You just walked in there and pow—” Alyss thrust out a hand, punching the air. “Barrier gone. Look out, other Waterrunners. Eira is here to stay!”
Eira laughed nervously. “I don’t think my uncle was as amused as you are.” Her parents wouldn’t be either.
“He didn’t stop you.”
“He couldn’t stop me, not really.” Eira paced back and forth between Alyss and the window. “At the end of the day, he can’t show me favoritism, or the opposite. I have to be the same as any other apprentice.” And if that were true, why was Eira so nervous? Likely because she had just, very publicly, disobeyed the request of her entire family.
In the three years since the incident, Eira had worked to honor every expectation set out for her. But Gwen was right. Wasn’t she? Eventually Eira had to stand on her own. She had to break away from her family’s desires of her and show them who she really was without being tethered to Marcus.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“I—” Eira didn’t get to finish. Fate decided to explain for her instead.
A flurry of four knocks on the door, a pause, and then two slow knocks interrupted her. Before she could tell her brother to come in, he entered. Marcus’s eyes glossed over Alyss and landed on her.
“Uncle wants you.”
“I bet he does,” Eira mumbled.
“Don’t let her be in trouble.” Alyss wedged herself between Eira and Marcus. “She’s allowed to compete in the trials if she wants to.”
“Go back to your room, Alyss,” Marcus said in his no-nonsense tone. “Convincing her to sign up was no doubt your brilliant idea.”
“I am brilliant, thank you for noticing.” Alyss completely ignored the sarcasm that hung on the word “brilliant” when Marcus said it. She squeezed past Marcus and called back from the hall, “Good job, Eira. Can’t wait to be your teammate for the Tournament of Five Kingdoms!”
Eira didn’t say anything; she was too focused on guarding herself against the daggers that Marcus was glaring into her.
“Let’s go.” Marcus put his back to her and started up the Tower.
Eira scampered behind him. “Marcus—”
“Save it, Eira.”
“Marcus, I know you’re angry with me.”
“You have no idea what I feel.” Marcus’s voice pitched upward and then took an immediate dive. He rounded on her. “There’s no way you could because I have no idea what I feel.”
“I know you didn’t want me to compete.” Eira stared her brother in the eyes. After her growth spurts the past two years, she was nearly his height.
“Of course I didn’t. I don’t want you to do anything that could put you at risk. I can’t let you do anything risky. That is one thing that’s been made very clear to me by Mom and Dad and everyone else, so I thought it was to you, too.” Marcus continued upward again.
“Life is full of risks,” Eira hissed, dropping her voice as they passed by other sorcerers. “You can’t protect me from all of them.”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” he grumbled.
“Yeah, it’s not fun, is it? Someone telling you what you can and can’t do.”
“Eira—”
“Maybe you’ll get it now.” She glared at him. “I am my own person. I don’t just jump when asked and I won’t neatly exist only where and how you or anyone else wants me to.”
“You don’t think I know that? That we know that?” Marcus shook his head. Disappointment radiated off of him with more strength than his magic earlier. “But you also have to trust us when we’re looking out for your best interests.”
“What about your best interests?” Eira hated that she was echoing Cullen. “When will you stop worrying about me and start focusing on you?”
“When I can trust that you won’t accidentally kill people!” he snapped, and then instantly backed away.
“I didn’t mean to, you know I didn’t.” Eira wrapped her arms around herself, as if she could ward off the waves of guilt that crashed down on her with every reminder of that day. “It wasn’t—”
“I know. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Marcus shook his head. “But…there is that incident. And the ‘voices’ you hear all around.”
“I really do hear voices. You know I do,” she whispered, breathless. One remark after the next was a gut punch, hitting harder than he likely intended and leaving her windless. Out of everyone, he was the one who said he believed her. She needed someone in her family to believe her, and if not Marcus, then who? “I’ve told you, the voices come from unintentional vessels made by people’s magic without them realizing… That’s why the Tower is nosier than anywhere else.”
“Eira.” He sighed and slowed to a stop. They were nearing Uncle’s office. Marcus’s hands clasped over her shoulders and he looked her in the eye. “I know you believe that, but no one else has ever heard voices like that. Not one Waterrunner. And unintentional vessels are very difficult to make.”
“Maybe not as difficult as people think. Maybe someone else heard the voices and they were too afraid of being treated like this to say anything.”
Pain flashed across his expression, chased by guilt. Still, Marcus didn’t relent. “Which do you think is more reasonable? You have some kind of ability that no one else has ever had? Or that you’re hearin
g things that…”
“That aren’t real?” she finished, as frigid as the tides within her.
“That you want to hear,” he said firmly. “I know things haven’t been easy for you. It’s natural to want friends. Or to want to feel special.”
“I’m not making this up. And I don’t have imaginary friends.” Eira pulled away from him. Pain seared up her chest, infiltrating the numbing barriers she tried to submerge herself within. “You really don’t believe me, do you?”
“I believe you believe what you’re saying. Eira, wait—”
She wrenched open the door to the office of the minister, done with this conversation.
Fritz sat behind his desk, head in his hands. Grahm leaned against the edge of the desk, arms crossed. Whatever conversation they had been having came to an abrupt end as well.
“Let’s get this over with.” Eira sat in one of the two chairs opposite Fritz, bracing herself to be chastised further.
“Close the door, please, Marcus,” Fritz said wearily. Marcus obliged and Fritz turned to her. “You said you wouldn’t sign up.”
“I changed my mind.”
“We asked you specifically not to. Your parents asked you specifically not to,” Grahm said. Frustration made his voice harder than his arm made of ice. He’d lost the arm in the war against the Mad King Victor and now used his magic as a prosthetic.
“It’s fine,” Fritz said with a sigh.
“It is?” Eira asked cautiously.
“Yes. The first trial is meant to cut the field in half. You’ll be in the half that’s cut.”
“Are you saying you’ll really cut me regardless of how I perform?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“No, unfortunately the trials are going to be made public at every stage. So I can’t interfere behind the scenes without raising questions. I’m saying you will throw it.”
“Why don’t you want me to do this?” Eira pushed herself off the seat with a slap. “Why don’t any of you want me to do this?”
“We told you why,” Grahm said without looking at her.
“Because of three years ago? It was a mistake—an error. I’m not the girl I was then. I’m a woman now. I’m stronger and I have more control.”
“Do you?”
“Of course I do!”
“Do you?” Grahm gave a nod to the chair.
Eira followed his gaze back to it. The entire chair was soaking wet, dripping on the floor. She glanced at her hands, at the water there already condensing into ice.
“Yes,” Eira insisted, letting go of her power and frustration with one exhale. The water evaporated. “And maybe this is the only way to prove it to all of you. It’s clear to me now, if I don’t do this, you are all going to continue treating me like a child to be handed off and managed for the rest of my life. Even if I’m not chosen as a final competitor, I’ll show you all that I can handle myself.”
“Stop being unreasonable.” Grahm rolled his eyes.
“Wanting some control of my life is the least unreasonable thing I could ask for.” Eira started for the door.
“Don’t be selfish, Eira,” her brother murmured.
Eira pinned him with her stare. “Don’t you see? This is as much for me as it is for you and your freedom, too.”
“Please sit down. We’re not finished,” Fritz said.
“I am.” Eira slammed the door behind her.
She stormed down the Tower, working to keep the dark currents whorling in her under control. Her ocean was churning with ice, grinding into bitter stillness. Ice. Ice all the way down. Ice from the top of her head to her toes. She’d freeze the entire tumultuous ocean in her.
“Well, aren’t you the ice queen tonight?” Cullen’s voice was like a lightning strike, arcing through every corner of her.
Eira stopped dead in her tracks. Cullen was right down the hall from her. Hair perfectly coiffed up and off to the side. Hands in pockets and wearing that lazy, arrogant smile of his.
“What?”
“You’d better calm down or you’re going to freeze the whole Tower…again.”
When she scowled, he pointed to her feet. Sure enough, ice was spreading from where she stood. Cursing under her breath, Eira pressed her eyes closed and exhaled deeply. When she opened her eyes, the frost was gone.
“There.”
“What has you so worked up?” Cullen asked before she could leave him behind. “No, wait, let me guess, you’re coming back from talking with Marcus and you’ve realized that you embarrassed him in front of the whole Tower with your little show today.”
“What I talk about with my brother isn’t your business, Cullen.” Eira turned, glaring up at him. The light of the flame bulbs cast almost sinister shadows on the hard lines of his jaw and nose. His brown hair was outlined in orange. His eyes were a warm amber color, as threatening as they were beautiful.
“Let me give you a bit of advice.” He took a step toward her. Eira didn’t back away.
“Let me tell you I don’t want your advice.” She gathered her height. But he was farther up on the slope of the Tower’s main walkway. And he was just slightly taller to begin with.
“Your brother is going to be a competitor, with me. Some people are just born for this.” He gave a small shrug and his eyes dragged down her body, head to toe. “Nothing to be bothered by or ashamed of when you don’t measure up. But I will have the team I choose for this competition. You’re not going to get very far challenging that.”
“The final team is chosen based on merit.”
“The trials are a formality.”
“You arrogant man,” Eira seethed. Cullen had been born with his powerful magic, his perfect hair, his up-and-coming family, and his handsome face. He’d been handed everything without ever having to work for it. He had been the first Windwalker after Vhalla’s ascension to power. He had been hand-trained by the empress herself. He was risen to lordship; his father had become a senator, welcomed with open arms into the Solaris Court—no wonder he thought the world revolved around him.
“It would be more correct to say, ‘You arrogant lord.’”
“Now you’re going to start flaunting your title?” She narrowed her eyes at him. Cullen historically hadn’t demanded the use of his title in the Tower. He was modest, or claimed to be. Of course, the humility had also been an act.
“I’m just correcting you. As long as you get things wrong, it’ll fall to me to do it.” He threw the words from their last interaction back in her face.
Eira scowled and didn’t take the bait. “You have no control over this. The trials will be public.”
Cullen seemed genuinely surprised at that information. But the expression quickly vanished on an unseen breeze. “All the more reason for you to back out when you can. No reason to make your humiliation a public affair.”
“I’m going to compete and I’m going to win,” she vowed as much to herself as to him.
His face twisted with disgust. “Think of your brother.”
“I think I’m the only one in this Tower who is. Good night, Cullen. If you need me, you can find me at the first trial.” Eira stepped away, heading in the opposite direction as him. He continued upward, no doubt to go to Marcus’s room and tell him of Eira’s lack of control and her sour demeanor.
Think of Marcus.
How dare they. The statement was a betrayal on two fronts. The first was a betrayal to Marcus, as if the world was content to let him be her keeper. If Eira never stepped out of his shadow then he would forever be saddled with responsibility for her. The second was a betrayal to her. None of them believed she had a shot. They didn’t even have the decency to pretend they did.
For a second night, Eira didn’t go to her bedroom. Instead, she went to the mysterious room behind the secret door. She read into the late hours and, for the first time, dared to attempt some of the stranger, magical instructions in the long-forgotten journals.
* * *
“What’s wr
ong?” Alyss said the moment she sat next to Eira at one of the long tables in the lecture hall.
“I didn’t sleep well,” Eira murmured, flipping through the blank pages of her notebook and envisioning the pages of the journal she’d been reading an hour ago.
“This is more than that.” Alyss grabbed her hand. “You’re staring at blank pages; you look a mess; and you weren’t at breakfast. It’s skillet cake day. There is nothing you love more than when they stop serving us that gruel and make us hot, buttery skillet cakes.”
“The explanation of how wonderful the skillet cakes were was really not necessary.”
“Tell me what’s going on and you’ll get one.”
“What?” Eira straightened.
“I sneaked one out of the mess hall—now tell me what’s going on.”
“Cake first.”
“No, you first.”
Eira groaned. “Fine. You know my uncle called me last night to meet with me…” Eira recounted the events with Marcus, her uncle, and even Cullen in the hall after. When she finished, Alyss blankly passed her a grease-stained parcel. Eira put her bag in her lap and rested the skillet cake on top—the last thing she wanted was butter stains on her dress.
“What absolute dolts,” Alyss said, finally. “The whole lot of them are idiots.”
“Easy on the insulting, they’re still my family. Except for Cullen…have at on him,” Eira said between bites.
“We’re going to show them, you and I.” Alyss nudged her with her shoulder. “I’m proud of you for not backing down.”
Eira licked her fingers and said, “There’s something else I need to tell you about.” She’d been debating when was the right time to tell her friend of the secret room. But since it seemed like it was going to be more than a passing fascination, now was as good a time as any.
“What?”
“Well, showing you would be easier…”
“Now you have me on pins, what is it?”
They were interrupted by a shrill laugh. Noelle entered the lecture hall with Adam and their usual posse. They never seemed to go anywhere without their admirers and accomplices. Eira brought her eyes back to her notebook, wiping her mouth with her fingers.