Death Marked by Leah Cypess Read Free Book Online Page B

their cuts,” Ileni said. “I’m sorry if bleeding to death was supposed to be part of the lesson.”
    “We weren’t in danger of bleeding to death,” Lis snapped.
    “You’re welcome,” Ileni said sweetly.
    Karyn stalked forward. She passed a hand over Cyn’s arm, and a surge of power made the bloodstains vanish. Karyn grabbed Cyn’s wrist, yanked it upward, and stared at hersmooth, unblemished skin as if she had never seen an arm before.
    A chuckle next to her made Ileni glance sideways. Evin was grinning openly. “You are full of surprises, aren’t you?”
    “I’m glad they provide you with so much amusement,” Ileni said tightly.
    Evin cocked his head to the side. “So am I.”
    Karyn dropped Cyn’s arm and strode over to Ileni. “How did you do that?”
    “Um,” Ileni said. “There’s this thing called magic—”
    “Do it again.”
    “How—”
    Twin surges of power from Karyn, and blood welled again from both twins’ arms.
    “Hey,” Cyn snapped, but a glance from Karyn silenced her.
    Ileni choked. “What is wrong with you?”
    “Heal them,” Karyn said. “I want to pay closer attention to the spell this time.”
    The healing spell to knit skin was a relatively simple one; the Renegai used it for everything from paper cuts to difficult childbirths. But it had taken Ileni a year to learn the basics of magical healing, before she had been allowed tostart attempting spells. Karyn was an experienced sorceress, but even she wouldn’t grasp it from one demonstration. How many times would the twins let their skins be ripped open so Ileni could heal them?
    She didn’t really wonder. Once she had seen a boy leap from a window to his death, at the command of his master and in service to a greater cause. Why shouldn’t the imperial sorcerers have the same dedication, the same blind obedience?
    “No,” Ileni said.
    Karyn’s face went very still. “You are not a guest here.”
    “I thought I was a student,” Ileni said. “Not a teacher.”
    “I didn’t realize—”
    “That I had anything worth teaching?”
    Silence. The loudest sound was the twins’ harsh breathing. Karyn’s fingers twitched.
    “I’ll teach you,” Ileni said. “But not like this. Step by step, the way I learned.”
    She felt power coil around Karyn, and knew Karyn could sense the power rising within her. She had no doubt that if it came to a fight, Karyn would win. Ileni didn’t know the first thing about combat magic.
    The plateau was dead silent. Over Karyn’s shoulder, Lis’s face was chalk white, her jaw clenched. Cyn leaned back, eyesflickering speculatively between Karyn and Ileni.
    “All right,” Karyn said finally, and the power within her drained slowly away. “In the mornings, then, before breakfast. Just you and me, to start.”
    Ileni blinked, so startled she held onto the power for a moment longer—a moment that made Evin draw in his breath audibly—before letting it go.
    “Is that acceptable?” Karyn asked acidly.
    It was, but it didn’t make sense. Karyn had all the control here. She could banish Ileni from the Academy, or order her killed, with a word. Why was she agreeing so easily?
    She must really want to learn healing magic.
    Or she must really want Ileni at the Academy.
    Karyn gestured at Evin without waiting for Ileni’s answer, and he walked to the center of the plateau, brow furrowed. Lis, for some reason, smirked as she strolled over to stand next to Ileni.
    It was only when Evin and Cyn were halfway through their next sparring match that Ileni wondered: How would her people feel about her teaching Renegai magic to imperial sorcerers?
    Well, if her people found out any number of the things she had done since leaving her village to serve as tutor to theassassins, they would exile her forever and speak her name in horrified whispers. Besides, if she decided to be the weapon she had been designed to be—if, in the end, she fulfilled Absalm’s plan and became the Renegai who toppled