Page 147 of Taste of Thorns

She scowls at me and I’m very surprised she doesn’t lash out at me with her shadow magic. It’s what her sister would do. She must be more concerned about her points total than she is letting on.

We walk in silence after that, concentrating on navigating down the treacherously steep hillside. Twice Linny slips, landing on her backside and sliding down on the loose gravel. Each time, I offer my hand to help her up; each time, she refuses. The second time her arms are all scratched up and bleeding.

“You should heal that,” I say, as she continues marching on ahead, “if the dirt gets into the wound it could become infected and–”

“It’s fine!” she snaps, but I see her dabbing at the wound with a tissue a little later.

Finally, we reach the bottom of the hillside and, after some searching and some arguing, we find the entrance to the passageway leading into the hillside. It’s pitch black – so dark Ican’t see my own hand in front of my face. It’s going to make it almost impossible to weave our way through the tunnel without getting lost or losing each other.

“Can you provide some light?” I ask Linny, who is peering into the tunnel with a look that suggests she’s being asked to climb into a sewer pipe. “It’ll make things a lot easier.”

She blinks, then lifts her chin defiantly into the air. “No!”

I have a strong desire to shake some sense into the girl.

“Linny, I know we don’t like each other, but that’s just ridiculous. You’re cutting off your nose to spite your own face. We can’t do this in the dark.”

“Youcan’t do it,” she says.

“And if we lose each other. If only one of us completes the trial, we’ll both be penalized.”

She simply shrugs, making it clear that is her motive.

I blow out a lungful of frustrated air. This isn’t how things were meant to go. I wasn’t planning on revealing my powers until right at the end of the trial, something I hoped – that I’m certain would – provoke the Madame into showing up and attempt to take me out.

I certainly wasn’t planning on revealing my powers to Linny. But what choice do I have? If we don’t complete the trial, then this plan falls apart. I might not get another chance to expose the Madame with the Empress right here.

I lift my hand in front of me and summon the light into my palm. It’s easy now, becoming more and more like second nature.

Linny doesn’t notice what I’m doing at first, she’s turned her back on me. But then the illumination catches her attention, she spins around and gasps.

“That’s …, That’s not possible!” she gasps.

“And yet it is,” I say. “So eat shit!”

I set off again through the tunnel, the light in my hand revealing the way, Linny’s footsteps close behind me.

“Is that someone else’s magic?” Linny asks, sounding both petrified and horrified. “Is it the Princes’? You know accepting someone else’s help in a trial can get you banished?!” When I don’t answer, she lands her hand on my shoulder, forcing me to stop. “Put it away. I won’t be implicated! I won’t be punished for your stupidity!”

“Relax,” I say. “It’s my magic. It belongs to me.”

She shakes her head, unable to fathom that someone like me could do something like this.

“But why you, when …”

“When I come from Slate? No idea.”

“The Princes know, that’s why they chose you,” she says, astonished.

“Come on,” I tell her, “let’s just get this over with.”

I have no idea if our plan is ruined. If Linny’s presence means the Madame won’t show, whether she’ll wait for another time to strike me.

There’s only one way to find out.

Linny’s litany of questions continue uninterrupted as we weave through the tunnels but stop abruptly as we step into a huge grotto. I propel my light into the space, illuminating it completely and revealing what lurks in here with us.

Linny screams.