Page 73 of House of Marionne

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Once I’m out of Grandmom’s presence I hurry to the Belles Wing. I halt when I spot the Sphere, its guts thrashing in the way my insides feel. Closer to its illusioned surface, the hairline crack is much larger than it appears from far away, the length of my arm, easily. I imagine my name soon to be chiseled on its slick surface, another sparkle among the thousands of others. My toushana tremors the longer I stare, and out of the corner of my eye I spot Jordan having a conversation with Headmistress Perl.

“Miss Marionne.” She smiles tightly as I pass, faster. Jordan and I meet eyes. His are stone. Once I reach my door, I stuff myself in my room and sag against the door in relief.

I have to hone my dagger.

Whatever it takes.

I pull off my shoes, and my bag gawks at me in judgment. I dump my things on my bed and run my fingers across Mom’s letter. The blue stone taunts me. I reach for it and my fingers flicker in warning. How am I going to do this?

Knock. Knock.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s me.”

My heart stutters.

“What do you want?”

The door handle jiggles before black fog seeps between its seam, and Jordan forms before me, rigid with annoyance. “Here.” He hands me a book. Discite Latina. I reach but pull my hand back. I don’t trust him. “It helps make everything simpler to memorize.”

I take the book and set it aside.

“Honing. How’s it going?” He glances over my shoulder.

“It’s harder than I thought it would be. I just need more time.”

“Time you do not have.” His insistence stokes me like kindling a fire.

“Breathing down my neck doesn’t help.” I ball my fists, as the culmination of the entire day boils over. Grandmom’s expectations, my toushana destroying the table, Beaulah. It’s too much.

He grabs my dagger from the bed, turning it in his hands. “Hold it up,” he says, his tone gentler. I begrudgingly raise the dagger.

“Higher.” He motions for me to raise my arm, but I let it fall when an idea lassos my heart into a tight squeeze.

I glance at the blue Purifier on my bed taunting me and gulp down a breath of foolish courage. “You think it’s so easy, huh?” I turn my back to him and grit my teeth to reach for the blue stone. I will have seconds once I touch it before my toushana betrays me. But if I can bear its sear against my skin for a sliver of a moment, I just might be able to get him to do what I want for a change.

My fist closes around the stone and the hum of my toushana awakens in a fury, swelling in my every crevice, frost scratching against my bones. I bite down until I taste copper, and almost toss the stone and dagger at him.

“You do it.”

I fold my arms, trying to resist the cold teasing its way through me.

“Fine. Watch closely this time.” He holds the blue stone over the dagger and the world teeters on the edge of a cliff. Please let this work. “It’s like a magnet, you have to set it on there just so or it’ll repel.” He moves the stone in a roundabout motion, pushing it lower, closer to the metal. “When it gets stubborn, hold firm. Let your magic know you’re sure about what you want. It will give in. The more enhancers you’ve folded into the blade, the harder it is to fold in another. But these are only your first several, so it shouldn’t be difficult for someone like you.” He glances at my diadem.

I swallow a retort because he’s doing exactly what I want him to. He eases the enhancer lower, and I realize I have a fist full of my skirt. The stone shimmers and finally snaps to the blade.

“Now you ease it in.” He glides the flat of his palm across them, and pressure hooks in my chest. The blue stone bubbles, contorts, then flattens until it fully dissolves, disappearing into the metal. He hands my dagger back at me, its blade rippling blue, then purple.

“It worked.” I clutch my chest.

“Of course it worked. One down, two to go.”

“I’ve actually already done the other two, Mister Observant.”

He suppresses a smile. “My apologies, then.”