Page 130 of The Gilded Cage

Tipping the vial to her lips, Kiva downed a mouthful, a thrill of pride hitting her when she realized that it tasted exactly the same as what she’d been ingesting for the last three days.

And yet, nothing happened.

Her magic didn’t vanish — it didn’t evenfade.It was still there, whispering just beneath her skin, waiting to be released.

“Did it w-work?”

Kiva shook her head, disappointment — and fear — filling her.

“What was it supposed to do?” Rhess asked, eyeing Kiva closely.

Kiva just shook her head again and, in a hoarse voice, said, “It doesn’t matter. I’ll just — I’ll have to figure something else out.”

She’d been so certain —so certain— that she’d recreated the potion, enough that she knew there was no point in trying again with different measurements, because the taste, smell, and texture were all perfect.

Which meant, there was something missing.

A secret ingredient, most likely. Perhaps more than one, undetectable to taste, sight, and smell.

There were too many things it could be, a world of options, and while Kiva wasn’t someone who gave up easily, she knew it could takeyearsof trial and error to figure it out.

Anger welled in her toward her grandmother, but before it could turn into full-blown fury, she stifled it, knowing it served no purpose. Delora had encouraged her to learn control, so that was what Kiva would have to do. She’d already managed to repress her magic for a decade — surely she could figure out how to use it safely now. Especially since it was clear she had no other choice.

“You look like you could use a chocabun,” Rhessinda commented, still watching Kiva carefully, and therefore seeing all the emotions play out across her face.

Having vomited up yesterday’s chocabuns, Kiva felt queasy at the thought, but Tipp jumped in and asked, “What’s a ch-chocabun?”

Rhess made a melodramatic gasping sound. “We need to rectify this situationimmediately.”

And just like that, Rhess was leading Kiva and Tipp from the greenhouse and guiding them away from the gardens — and from any hope Kiva had for a potion. She’d known it would be difficult, but still ...

Her disappointment was hard to shake.

Her fear, even harder.

But she buried them both, knowing neither would help.

She couldn’t, however, keep from mulling over why the potion hadn’t worked, before considering ways in which she might gain control of her magic, perhaps training it like Caldon was training her body. All of this and more flitted through her mind as she followed the chattering Rhessinda and Tipp out of the academy and down toward the river.

Lost in her thoughts, Kiva didn’t even see their attackers before Tipp’s cry and Rhess’s shout met her ears. An automatic instinct had her yanking Naari’s dagger from her boot, but it was knocked out of her hand as a cloth slammed over her mouth, its pungent, unfamiliar fumes causing everything to turn black in an instant.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Kiva was going to kill her sister.

That was her first thought when she began to rouse.

Her second thought was that she was going to be sick, the lingering scent of whatever had knocked her out remaining like a bad aftertaste. No matter how much fresh air she gulped in, it refused to fade entirely.

But when she opened her eyes, coughing and gagging and struggling against the ropes tying her hands behind her back, one look at where she was had her trying hard to ignore her rebelling stomach.

She’d smelled it in the air, the sea salt and brine, the distinctlyfishysmell, combined with musty old wood and faint traces of wine and spice, but it was only as she glanced around the building she’d been dragged into that she realized she was inside a warehouse at the docks.

The space around her was piled high with leaking barrels and bulging sacks. Ceramic jars lined the shelves, wooden crates were stacked precariously on top of each other, and only the smallest of slitted windows at the top of the lofty walls let in any hint of sunlight. The floor was largely empty, the stored items arranged in neat piles closer to the walls, but the room was bursting with enough goods to hide Kiva’s line of sight to the door, indicating that she’d been carried deep into the warehouse. Even so, escape wasn’t on her mind. Not when she assumed this was her sister’s sick attempt at getting her attention again, the staged abduction too similar to her first to be a coincidence.

Only, this time Kiva wasn’t alone.

Lying on the ground beside her were both Tipp and Rhessinda, their hands also bound behind their backs. The young boy was bleeding from a head wound — causing Kiva’s pulse to skittle with alarm — and the healer was bloodied and bruised, though she was slowly returning to consciousness, pulling herself up into a seated position and looking around with a grim expression.

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