Page 97 of Kingdom of Shadows and Wings

The blond fledgling flinches, and he and Elijah crane their necks to check the beach. No one shows.

Shit.

Fear constricts my lungs, and my breathing becomes labored. In reaction to my emotions, my magic builds, ballooning into an almost painful pressure inside me. If I don’t use the power soon, I worry it will explode through my skin like a supermova.

And the outcome if I do use it could be even worse.

Olive strikes first, conjuring and heaving a mini gale at Trevor. Mark blocks the wind with a wall of sand. The wall remains solid for a moment before exploding, and thousands of tiny grains pelt Olive in the face.

Her pained yelp rings out. “My eyes!”

I lunge and grab her by the arm, pulling her backward into the ocean. “Use the water to wash them out.”

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she drops to her knees in the surf. I wait until I see her cup a handful of water and splash the liquid over her eyes before turning back around. As I do, I fumble for the dagger strapped to my belt. Elijah tackles me from the side. The dagger goes flying, and my left shoulder hits the sand hard. His oversized body lands on top of me, collapsing my lungs and forcing out every last bit of oxygen.

I wheeze. Thrash my limbs. Attempt to shove my elbow into his ribs and reach for the dagger in the sand. It’s no use. Elijah’s a brute of a man. Probably two times my weight and ten times more skilled at grappling, and my disadvantages come on top of getting the air knocked out of me.

Elijah wrenches my arms behind my back. My shoulders shriek in pain, but I refuse to give our assailants the satisfaction of crying out. Mark darts out of view and returns dragging Olive by the ponytail. Squinting with red-rimmed eyes, she manages to roll and punch him in the groin, missing her target by a hairsbreadth. Mark curses before putting her in a headlock.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is, you tell us what the Kamorian who snuck onto campus wanted, and we’ll take you to Bigley without hurting you…much. Don’t tell us, and there’s no telling how much damage we might inflict.”

Now that Elijah’s no longer crushing me, I suck air into my burning lungs. “What Kamorian?” I cough. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You should. You’re the one he wanted to stab.”

That gives me momentary pause. “My would-be assassin was Kamorian? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

Elijah cranks my arms back harder. I choke on an agonized whimper as my magic thrashes like a living beast beneath my skin. “Maybe so, but I bet it’s not the first your little roommate here’s heard of it. Is it, Olive?”

“What are you trying to imply? That I had something to do with it? Because it’s not true. I’d never do that to Lark.” Olive’s frantic gaze seeks mine. “You believe me, right?”

“Of course I do.” I’m surprised she’s letting them get under her skin. Obviously they’ll say anything to rattle us.

Mark tightens his grip across the front of her neck. Olive claws at his forearm to no avail. “Sure you wouldn’t. Kamor-lover. Did you know my cousin lost his leg in the last battle, defending Aclaris from those heathens?” he snarls. “I should do us all a favor and kill you now. If you tell us why he went after Axton, though, I promise just to maim you a little.”

He eases the pressure off her neck just enough to let her speak. “I told you, I don’t know!”

She whips her head back and connects with his nose. He screams, blood streaming down his face.

“You bitch!” Hacking, he spits a crimson glob onto the sand.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I squirm and kick behind me. My foot collides with flesh, but Elijah only grunts and tightens his hold.

Olive tries to scramble free, too, but the sand flies out from beneath her legs. She drops into the hole up to her waist. The sand fills in around her, trapping her in place. Mark uses a vine to bind her wrists behind her.

Olive continues thrashing. “Let me go!”

“You lost your chance. I’m gonna enjoy this.” Grabbing her ponytail, Mark yanks her head back as far as it will go. Using his earth magic, he levitates a thick glob of wet sand until it hovers just above her mouth. “Open up.”

When she refuses, Mark pinches off her nose. More tears stream down her cheeks as she struggles to evade his grip.

The pressure from holding back my power grows and grows, hammering at my bones and the inside of my skull. My teeth hurt. My joints swell. My pulse drums throughout my entire body. “Stop! Let her go, please. Before I?—”

“Before you what? Pass out like you did that first day in flight training?”

Well, damn. Apparently everyone and their brother noticed that.

Even Trevor starts to act uneasy. “Hey, are you sure about this? I don’t mind injuring them to give us a leg up in the trial, but no one said anything about suffocating or, you know, killing anyone.”

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