Page 150 of Taste of Thorns

Then there is only one left. The biggest and, frankly, the ugliest. The thing looks like it stepped right out of a book designed to scare the living shit out of its readers.

It narrows its beady eyes at me, hissing like a serpent.

I lift my hands, widen my stance and brace my body. I scream, sending as much light as I can the thing’s way; but before the light reaches it, the fabric of the air slices apart, creating a hole in the atmosphere. The demon darts straight through. I yank back my light, as the hole disappears from sight, leaving just a red tear in the air and the hissing of the demons still ringing in my ears. The same word over and over again.

“Youuuuuuu!”

But that can’t be right, can it?

“Are they gone?” Linny says, her voice shaking.

“I don’t know,” I say, wiping away sweat from my brow. “Did you see what happened? That last one, slipped right through …” But I don’t even know how to describe what happened and Linny is peering at me like I’m half mad. “You have no powers,” I say to her.

She meets my gaze, the fear leaving hers and replaced by that usual haughty determination.

“If you tell anyone …”

“Of course, I won’t,” I say. “But you can’t keep it hidden forever. What are you going to do?”

“Do?” she says, rolling up onto her feet and brushing the dust off the seat of her pants.

“They’re going to send you to Granite or Iron.” Which is, by all accounts, a hell of a lot better than Slate Quarter, but will still be one stomping great shock for a pampered girl like Linette Smyte, raised in the luxury of Onyx.

“I already told you,” she says, patting at her hair, “they’re not. I’m staying in Onyx.” I could argue, but the smile on her face makes me stop. “You think people don’t know about my little problem? Of course, they do.”

“But–” I start but my next words are interrupted, because the air inside this cold cave is disturbed and then standing before us, her black cloak wrapped around her shoulders, is the Madame. In her hand she clasps a silver egg, the same shape and size as the firestone from which Blaze hatched all those weeks ago.

“Congratulations,” she says, “you have completed the trial.”

She throws the silver egg in a looping arc towards Linny who reaches out her hands and catches it neatly, hugging it to her body.

“That will be all, Linny. Thank you. I’m so sorry your partner did not make it out of the cave.” Confusion fills Linette’s features. The Madame swirls her right arm around in front of her and before she has a chance to protest, Linny vanishes from view.

And then it’s just me and the Madame in the vast dark space of the cave, the remains of demon ashes scattered about our feet.

“I am going to make it,” I say, lifting my chin.

“We’ll see,” she says, clasping her hands together in front of her. “So it is true, you do possess powers.”

I stare back at her. I’m hidden deep within the mountains of the Highlands, out of reach of Blaze’s help. I’m not at the lake like Fox expected. And who knows if the Princes have been able to track me; if they’ll be able to find me in time.

I’m on my own. Again.

I try to recall everything that Fox has taught me. I reach for the magic in my blood. But truth be told, after that fight with the demons, I am exhausted, right down to the core of my bones, and my magic feels just the same.

Will I have the strength to fight the Madame?

I don’t know.

“You would have been wise to inform me of this as soon as you stepped foot in the academy. You would have been wiser still to have owned up to the truth when I questioned you in the maze.”

“Questioned?” I snort. Is that what she’s calling torturing me with lightning?

“Instead, Briony Storm, you’ve resorted to subterfuge and lies. You’ve hidden the truth from me and, therefore, the Empress. And you’ve even been creeping around with one of the teachers.”

I swing my head around. Are we being watched right now by the judges of this trial? Is our plan working? Can the Empress see us?

“The only one spinning a web of lies is you!” I snap.