Page 6

No, no,no. If I leave Cagmar ... there is nowhere else togo. Nowhere else to hide.

Your path will not be straight, but broken and looping,the Cosmodian’s voice whispers in my ear. The prediction I’ve clung to since childhood.

“Please. I’ll do even your filthiest jobs.”

The troll grasps my arm and hauls me to my feet. Qequan’s countenance is hard as stone. He looks away from me. The woman shakes her head. The troll drags me toward the door.

“I’m a fast learner!” I shout. “And I’ve good eyesight! I could scout for you!”

The troll on the far right chuckles. Another troll takes my other arm.

I don’t know how to read this, Calia,her voice whispers.

My father will find me. He will punish me. And then he will use me, as he always did.

Use me.

Use me.

“Wait!”My voice echoes between stone walls. Ichlad startles. Even the guards hesitate.

Qequan’s gaze slides back to me.

“I have one other skill. One you’ve never seen.” My words rush and slide together until they’re almost nonsensical. I can hardly believe I’muttering them. Never in my life,never, have I willingly shared my secret. Never have I told a soul about my darkness. A few have seen it, felt it for themselves, but fear can always be explained away.

“You try my patience.” Qequan’s voice is a threat.

The guards release me. Rubbing my arm, I say, “It’s a talent unique among my people.” Stars bless that it’s also unique among the trolls. “But it’s a guarded one.”

Qequan raises an eyebrow.

I step away from the guards. “I ... I ask for as few witnesses as possible.”

The trolls frown at me.

After a breath, Qequan says, “I will not deplete the council.”

I glance to the guards.

“Nor my men.”

I stand tall. Or try to. How would my father turn this to his benefit? He would play on the troll’s pride. “Do you fear a human will harm you, Master Qequan?”

He smirks again. At least he has a sense of humor. Several seconds pass before he dips his head, and the four troll guards move away from me and out the door. It shuts heavily in their wake.

“If you’re wasting our time ...,” Ichlad begins.

I hold up my hands in surrender. “I am not. But I do have to demonstrate on someone.”

The second troll from the right, who has been quiet, says, “And what is it you plan todemonstrate?” His tone is mocking, his accent thick.

I lower my hands. “I ... I scare people.”

Multiple chuckles reverberate across the thrones. Ichlad says, “You are human. You are fragile as the stem of a feather. You seek to incite terror inus?”

Even the smallest among them could likely snap my neck in the crook of an elbow. The gods built these creatures well.

If for some reason my darkness is not effective on trolls ... then my fate remains what it was.