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It’s ridiculous, I thought. We did not know what we were stepping into, only that it was dangerous. It was possible that no combat would be involved at all, but that’s what was so terrifying: not knowing.

Nobody spoke as we all took our seats in the main study room, waiting for instructions from the three mentors that stood in the room's front.

Everyone looked grim. Hells, it was palpable.

Half of this room would likely be dead by the end of the week. Earlier in the academy, we would have bothered with snide comments or cruel insults, but not today. Today, we all looked straight ahead, chins up and fists tightened.

Nobody was getting through this unscathed.Nobody.

“You’ve made it this far,” Headmistress Katherine announced, clasping her hands before her. “You’ve survived training that not everyone could survive. You’ve surpassed both physical and mental tests of combat and magic. Now it’s time for your final test.”

I fought the urge to slide my chair closer to Wolf’s. I was a fucking coward for craving the enemy; I knew that. But I also knew that having him by my side during the Transcendent was my best shot at surviving. He had powerful magic, and I could barely summon my own. I needed him whether I wanted to admit it or not.

Commander Macanthos stepped forward. “Drink this and let the tests begin. Fail to drink, and you will surely die. When you wake, your life will not be the same.”

What? The final test was to drink from this cauldron?

A few whispers filled the room, everyone just as confused as I was. I snuck a glance at Wolf. He swallowed, the only sign at all of his uncertainty.

“It’s not poison, is it?” Ashlani asked.

“Drink,” was all the commander said as he passed the cauldron to the first apprentice near the front of the room.

I didn’t see a way out of this. Whatever would happen after we drank that liquid would be up to the goddess. Hells. If I went through this entire seminary only to be killed by some liquid, I would be better off dead. I could never face Lord that way.

“It’ll be okay,” Wolf whispered to me.

The first person drank from the cauldron, tensing, but easily passed it to the second student. Then the third. The fourth.

Nothing seemed to happen.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

Wolf’s hand fell onto my shoulder, his fingers splaying over the back of my neck. “I’ll always come find you.”

I turned to look at him, only to find a soft, broken smile on his face.

I couldn’t stop myself. I smiled back.

Then I took the cauldron. My hands shook. Wolf was the only one close enough to notice.

Hells. There was no turning back now. All of this training, an entire life of killing and murder and fighting and bleeding. It all came down tothis.

Fear threatened to paralyze me, but I focused on Wolf’s hand on my shoulder. I focused on the adrenaline pounding in my veins, looking for a fight.

I put the cauldron to my lips.

I let the liquid pour into my mouth.

And I swallowed it.

I expected fire, death, pain. But none of that came. I passed the cauldron to Wolf, watching him do the same, before he, too, passed it on.

We all looked to the front of the classroom, where the first students took the drinks.

Only a few more seconds passed before bodies hit the floor one by one.

“Huntress,” Wolf breathed next to me. Or maybe I imagined it? I tried to turn and look at him, but my vision blurred. The lights in the room grew much, much too bright, before everything faded to a deep, comforting black.