Chapter Thirty-Eight
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Mira
‘Take it,’ Scarlett said, offering me the mask. ‘You’ve earned it.’
I shifted my gaze from the Order of Masks atrium to my hands, stained red with Governor Halvor’s blood.
I expected the mask to feel heavy, weighed down by what I had done. But it was cool and delicate, beautiful and unnerving all at once. In the firelight, the ornate detailing seemed to come alive; it shifted beneath my touch, rearranging into patterns I’d seen once before: ancient beasts prowling, barbed vines snaking around the outline of dark eyes.
‘Can you see them?’ I asked, glancing up at Scarlett.
She shook her head. ‘Those symbols are just for you. They represent the aptitudes you have.’
‘Aptitudes?’ I repeated, turning the mask over with curious fingers.
‘My mother can’t change you – it’s impossible to make someone magical if they aren’t already. But she can enhance the abilities you already possess. That’s why the Trials are so important. Warriors must already be strong and fast to be granted increased strength and speed. Artisans need an innate intuition, to be turned into seers.’ Scarlett tilted her head, the sunset setting her red hair afire. ‘Masks are more complicated than the others, because we use more than one kind of magic. As a result, whatever powers you’re granted by Zandri will be temporary, designed to suit the mission you’re being sent on.’
I knew better than to ask Scarlett what her symbols were. Instead, I thought of my mother’s mask. Of spiderwebs and flowers concealing bloodied thorns, stunning and sinister. What had her aptitudes been? And what price had she paid for them?
As if she could read my mind, Scarlett said, ‘Adalyn was legendary, you know.’
At the mention of my mother, I went very still.
‘Zandri told me she was a thief from the Lower Districts, before she competed in the Trials. No one expected her to succeed, but she was extremely talented. After she was initiated into the Masks, she was sent on all the most challenging assignments – she probably saw more of the empire than anyone.’
I closed my eyes, imagining my mother as she was then. Imagining the kind of iron-clad determination she must have possessed to come so far – and wondering what her real motivations had been. Because I didn’t believe she would have sold out for wealth and status, forgetting about Darius and her friends in the Lower Districts.
‘What happened,’ I asked softly, ‘between her and my father?’
It was a dangerous question, and I half expected Scarlett not to answer. But she only considered me in silence for a moment. ‘Arioch was a popular king,’ she said after a pause. ‘He didn’t have many weaknesses, but he loved his first wife very much. When she died, Zandri sent Adalyn to infiltrate the Kalurian Court, to prey on that vulnerability.’
I smiled mirthlessly. That sounded like Zandri – using people’s emotions against them.
‘But she fell in love.’
‘Yes. Adalyn betrayed her Order and made a life for herself in Kalure. She probably thought she could keep Arioch safe.’ Scarlett looked at me with pity. ‘A sleeper Mask completed Adalyn’s mission and tried to kill her, too – but she was Zandri’s protégée, and she knew how to disappear.’
Until me. Until I’d decided that I wanted to compete in the Trials, that I was tired of running.
Pain squeezed my chest. I forced it away, avoiding the princess’s keen gaze.
Scarlett turned towards the metal staircase, then paused. Her expression was unguarded as she considered me, and for a second, I could have sworn she looked at me with something close to tenderness. ‘Mira, I—’
A gong echoed from below, cutting off her words.
I glanced down, then back at Scarlett. What had she been about to say?
‘Come on,’ the princess said, not quite meeting my eyes. ‘We shouldn’t keep Zandri waiting.’
She said nothing more as she led me far below the atrium. The onyx hall was every bit as disconcerting as I remembered; even with the faint flicker of fire, the entire space was dark and uninviting.
Danica and Odessa were already in position, dressed in the same clothes they had worn during the third Trial. Zandri was standing across the hall, her reflection silhouetted in a dozen mirrors.
‘Speak the values of your Order,’ she instructed.
Infiltrate. Exploit. Destroy.
Our voices melded together, until it was impossible to make out any individual sounds. Even when we stopped speaking, I could hear those three words echoing around us, entrancing and ominous.
‘Now,’ Zandri said, ‘I want each of you to approach and speak your name. You first, Mira.’
I stepped forward until my face was bathed in the light of the fire. It was so bright that I raised a hand to my eyes, only to see a small slip of parchment appear in my palm. I felt the brush of something mystical, raising the delicate hairs on my arms.
‘Mira,’ I said, the paper taking on a reddish glow. As I stared down at it, riveted, four letters burned themselves into the parchment: MIRA.
Zandri nodded once, her eyes glittering. ‘Now feed it to the fire.’
Fighting back rising trepidation, I held the paper up to the light. The letters of my name were crisp and clear. Mira . It was the name of the girl who had dreamt of a life with Aric. Who had wanted to become a Warrior and live by a code of honour.
It was the name of a girl who didn’t exist anymore.
I let the paper fall. There was a soft hiss as it disappeared into the flames, the fire burning hotter and brighter. I imagined the letters of my name turning to ash and sinking down, never to be seen again.
Zandri moved closer. Something gleamed in her hands: a thin, stiletto blade. ‘It won’t hurt for more than a second,’ she told me. ‘I’ll prick your finger, and then this will all be over.’
I extended my hand, palm up. There was the faintest of stings as it pierced my finger.
A drop of blood welled, vivid red.
As I looked on, lips parted, the drop of blood started to levitate. It rose higher and higher until it was level with my eyes, and then it began to swell.
It took me a moment to make the connection, to recognise what it was transforming into—
A blood ruby.