Death Marked by Leah Cypess Read Free Book Online Page A

supercilious expression from Karyn’s face almost as much as she wanted to wipe the sense of hopelessness from her own chest. “But don’t hold back for my sake. I’m sure I’ll catch on.”
    “Are you? Very well. Then we’ll move on to sparring.”
    More startled glances, this time directed at Karyn. Ignoring them, the dark-haired sorceress gestured at the twins. “Cyn and Lis, why don’t you begin?”
    “Oh, good,” Evin murmured. “That’s always entertaining.”
    Cyn swaggered to the center of the plateau. Lis stalked to a spot five yards from her sister, her hair hanging heavily down her back. The two faced each other.
    “Forearms,” Karyn said, and each girl held up one arm. Their flowing white sleeves fell around their elbows, leaving their forearms bare but for a thick metallic bracelet around Lis’s wrist.
    Karyn clapped her hands.
    Immediately, both girls’ lips began moving rapidly. A savage force ripped through the air between them, magic that made Ileni flinch even from yards away.
    Cyn gasped in pain. Lis whimpered. Long lines of blood gushed from each of their right arms.
    “Typical,” Evin said into Ileni’s ear. “They haven’t spared any spells for defense.”
    Ileni twisted to stare at him. She couldn’t keep the horror off her face, even though she vaguely sensed that it was counteracting whatever credit she had gained with her earlier brashness.
    Attack spells. Abhorrent, vicious, and completely forbidden by her people. Not that Renegai novices didn’t play with the idea, especially when they were young. Ileni herself had once devised a spell to hang a rival upside down in midair. The other girl had retaliated by slamming Ileni to the floor and rolling her over and over. The Elders had been aghast at such a display of violence.
    But they couldn’t have been this brutal, even if they had wanted to. They hadn’t been taught spells designed solely to cause pain to other people.
    A grunt pulled Ileni’s attention back to the twins. Theirarms were covered in blood, so much blood Ileni couldn’t see where the new cuts were forming. She could tell they were forming by the pain that spasmed across the combatants’ faces.
    And even through her revulsion, she couldn’t help admiring the grace and cleanness of their spells, the taut focus of the magic, barely a spark of energy wasted.
    Finally, Lis cried out, and Karyn clapped her hands again.
    “Enough,” she said. “You both made the same mistake. Can you tell me what it was?”
    Cyn and Lis kept their eyes locked on each other. Blood dripped from their arms. And everyone else just stood there, watching them as if nothing was wrong.
    “Well?” Karyn snapped. “It’s not exactly the first time you’ve made this mistake. What was it?”
    “I’d say it was pitting them against each other in the first place,” Evin observed.
    Karyn looked at him. “You have something to say?”
    Her expression could have shriveled grass, but Evin just lifted one shoulder. “Nothing that would do any good, I’m sure.”
    “Then please don’t bother.” Karyn looked again at the twins. “Well?”
    Lis and Cyn glared at each other stubbornly. The silence was broken only by the sound of blood hitting the stone in a series of uneven splats, until Ileni couldn’t take it anymore. She pulled up the power that wasn’t hers, curled her fingers into a well-practiced pattern, and muttered a few words.
    Lis gasped, but this time it wasn’t in pain. She lowered her bloodstained arm and blinked at it. Cyn snapped her head around.
    Ileni couldn’t help smiling. Not at their shock—she hadn’t been at all sure how they would react—but at the ease with which she had wielded those long-ignored skills. It was like stretching a muscle that had been cramped for months.
    Even though she knew how wrong and treacherous that magic was. Even though it had almost killed her less than an hour ago.
    Karyn stepped toward her. “What did you do?”
    “Healed