Page 26 of The Ninth Element

My heart hammers as I lunge toward Darian, simultaneously whispering the words for an invisibility spell. I feel a dizzying sense of weightlessnessjust as the door creaks open. And there, framed in the doorway, stands theONEperson I have yearned to see throughout my childhood and all my adult years, Martyshbod Lirael!

Not like this. Gods. Not while I can get caught in the act of invading her privacy…

Darian, to his credit, stays as motionless as a statue despite my sudden ambush to grab him and extend the invisibility spell to him.

Gods. Why is she here? In the dead of the night? This keep is where Martyshyars work, not where they live. And her residence is far away, in the main keep.

Every ragged gasp I fight to suppress feels like a roar in the sudden stillness of the room. Can she hear it? Can she hear the wild beating of my heart? In the desperate lunge for Darian, I didn’t have time to cast the sound-dampening spell. I feel my blood running ice-cold. We are trapped, exposed by the very air we breathe.

Lirael moves with slow, graceful movements that suggest she might not have seen us before we vanished. She glides towards the desk, the one I’d just defiled with my thieving hands. Her eyes sweep the small space before landing directly on her own letter.

My gaze shoots to the parchment Darian placed on the desk earlier. Did he put it exactly where it was? My stomach twists into a knot of pure dread. The head of Martysh, a nine-starred Martyshyar, the most secretive intelligence order on the continent, surely missesnothing. This is it. My end.

My mind begins to paint all possible ways for my upcoming disgrace.Disqualification,that is a given. My dream of joining Martysh, of proving myself, would be ash. Even if I try to join the army despite my promise to Emmengar, they will never accept me if they catch me cheating and stealing their secrets.

But the most terrifying thought is her disappointment—the woman I’ve idolized my entire life—when she discovers the girl she once kindly helped is nothing but a cheat, a common thief. I’ve relied on tricks, not my true strength, to win. A tremor begins deep inside me, a physical herald of mycoming shame and disgrace.

Lirael just stands there, and the silence stretches, each second feeling like an eternity. The very air in the room seems to have thickened with her mere presence, an almost heavenly aura surrounding her that transcends the normal presence of any mortal woman. It is as if the room itself holds its breath in her presence. The waiting is an exquisite form of torture, stripping my nerves raw while she keeps staring at her own desk, deep in contemplation.

Then, she moves… Not with the sudden fury toward us as my panicked mind screams, but with a languid motion, she leans against the table. Her hand reaches out to her seal. The dry rasp of the parchment being rolled, a decisive click as she presses her seal into the wax, and then, as suddenly as she dominated the space, she simply turns and walks out, leaving the door wide open.

For a long moment, I can’t move. My mind is numb. I can’t process that we’re not caught. Darian, however, edges towards the doorway, pulling me behind him.

Peeking around the heavy wood, I see her reaching the end of the hallway and ascending the distant stone staircase toward the rooftop, likely going to the aviary to send the letter.

Darian nudges me.Now. It has to be now. Before she returns. I nod at him, and we rush through the corridors and down the stairs.

Chapter Nine

On the ninth day after the first trial, as the sun dips below the horizon, we nervously gather in the inner ward. After last night’s miraculous escape from the Martyshyar wing, I’ve sworn to focus on each trial as it comes—to stay calm, strategize for one step at a time, and stop worrying about future challenges.

But still, my heart beats frantically, echoing my fervent prayer.Please, no sword fights, no duels to the death. I’m more of a strategically hide-behind-a-potted-plant-and-wait-for-the-right-time-to-strike kind of warrior.

Suddenly, the ancient oak doors of the main keep creak open, and a figure emerges, resplendent in dark green and gold. It’s the same Martyshyar who greeted us before the first trial. He wears a coat adorned with eight gold stars, placing him just one rank below Martyshbod Lirael. Flanked by three seven-starred Martyshyars, he descends the steps with a measured pace. Reaching the bottom, he gazes over us with a cold, calculating appraisal.

“I am Martyshyar Kamran.”

Apparently, we weren’t important enough for an introduction before the last trial. “The second trial demands partnership. You have a tenth of the hourglass to find one. Failure to forge an alliance will result in elimination.”

My stomach plummets sickeningly to my feet.Partners? Seventy-three contenders are in the game. An odd number. Someone will be eliminated before thetrial even begins!

My eyes dart toward the Ahiras, and a cold sweat breaks out on my skin as I push through the crowd. My heart is pounding like a war drum when I reach them.

“Pippin!” Maleed’s voice cuts through the noise. “You’ll partner with Kameel. Alizan and Elranz, you’ll be together. Zanyar and I will be a pair.”

“Wait, what about me?” I blurt out, panic rising in my throat. They turn with surprise as if they’d forgotten who I am.

“It looks like we’re fresh out of partners,” Maleed says with a dismissive shrug as if my predicament is of no consequence for his highness.

A wave of frustration flares inside me, but I suppress it and try to keep my voice steady. “You are not here to win! I am.”

Maleed’s eyebrows shoot up before he speaks with a voice dripping with condescension. “So what?”

A raw scream claws at the back of my throat, but I bite it back. Instead, I force calmness into my voice and try to appeal to their logic, even though every fiber of my being screams at the futility of it all.

“If you are all planning on losing these trials eventually, why not one of you bow out now before risking a trial that might be dangerous? Isn’t that the perfect excuse for one of you to be eliminated without raising suspicions?”

Pippin stammers, “She’s right. I don’t mind giving her my spot…”

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