The Ashen Raven's Treason

Chapter 32

Strutting across the room, carrying all the dignity in the world, she hangs the leather cord from a golden claw sconce hanging from the wall. The raven on the pendant sways back and forth, its wings spread wide and undeterred by the night we spent separated. When I look at the pendant, I see Cloak. I feel the brush of his fingers against my neck, the weight of the world slowly disappearing from my shoulders with his warmth at my back.

"Now, let's begin," she says, her eyes flaring with excitement. She rubs her hands together. "What are your favorite powers?"

"When I could, I enjoyed using ice and lightning," I respond with ease. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch the pendant. Half my focus goes to her, the other tries to figure out a way to snatch something with two pairs of eyes watching my every move.

"What did you enjoy using them for?"

I shrug. "I didn't...use them for anything."

Wyetta stops her pacing in the middle of the room and frowns at me. From the corner, leaning against a stone pillar, Zikkora snorts. "Each power has a purpose. If ice or lightning, you must do something with that power rather than watch it flutter with no purpose," he instructs.

With his presence there, I can hardly focus. Learning how to be around the Void Queen is one struggle, but this powerful of a trainer sizes me up every chance he gets. The thought of not being good enough crawls up my throat and suffocates my airways. He's powerful, strong, yet we're of the same make. Zikkora doesn't wear a Luminary form, so does that mean I have the potential to best him?

I look between the two of them, swallowing hard. "I...used ice to create a wall that kept out the army of the soulless," I squeak.

Wyetta waggles a finger at me. "I remember that fondly." All her amusement fades quickly, leaving behind determination. "But that's not good enough. Your power is strong, yet confined in what you're forcing it to do. Think bigger, Marie. You must wish to be stronger than that ice wall."

"There are limitations to what I wish to do. I have no desire to destroy what doesn't belong to me, but I want to protect others that can't protect themselves."

Wyetta gives me a saddened look. "You can still protect. Being a Luminary isn't always about having the upper hand, sometimes being a Luminary involves offering a helping hand." How poetic. "Now, I want you to reveal your ice."

"Reveal it?" I ask.

She spins on her heel, gesturing to a golden statue of an ogre. "Do what you wish with it."

My eyes dart between the two of them, but Zikkora makes no moves to help me. I call for ice and wave a hand towards the statue. Frozen crystals cut clean through the gold, trailing from the bottom and carving upwards, slicing into the solid foundation. Gold fades, blue and white emerge. The ice splinters over the surface—cracking—and I clench my fist as that ice reaches the top to close off the entire statue.

Zikkora is not so easily impressed. "You can do more than that," he snaps impatiently. "Don't just freeze the statue. Obliterate it."

For confirmation to break what doesn't belong to me, I check with Wyetta. She nods quickly, the golden hoops hanging from her ears bouncing with the movement. A single blue bird sways in the middle.

I focus on the statue and wrap another layer of ice around it, thicker and deeper this time. My power pushes hard into the gold statue, searching for any crack it can find. When I'm certain I have a decent hold, my fists clenched, I thrust my hands outward and ice splinters. Digs deep into the center of the statue. Then it explodes. Pieces of statue crumble to the marble floor, tripping down the three-step staircase around the entire room.