“Experiments?”

“Yes. Don’t you want to explore this new power?”

“I do, but I’ll have classes.” And tests to fail. Classmates to injure.

Zitora waved her hand. “Your curriculum so far has been geared for a standard magician. Since Yelena’s arrival, we have realized that not all students match the standard. When we get back, I want to change your focus.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course. Especially since you’ll be my student.”

I blinked.

“Don’t look so surprised,” she said. “Your powers have always intrigued me and I think it’s about time I mentor a student. Although—” Zitora frowned “—since you’ve been ambushed, attacked, incarcerated and kidnapped while in my company, perhaps you’ll want another teacher.”

I rushed to assure her of my honor in being chosen.

She gave me a rueful smile. “My first mission without guards and I made a mess of it. The Sitian Council will never let me go alone again.”

At least she didn’t run home to her father. My first mission wasn’t a success, either. I thought about Kade’s instructions to be confident when I left the coast. Despite my boast of being an all-powerful glass magician, now I could think of another who might have done the same thing with the glass orbs and magic. Ulrick.

I counted how many days it has been since we left him in Booruby. Twenty days. My body ached as if seasons had passed.

But my mood lightened. Twenty days meant Ulrick should be waiting for us at the Keep. A potential friend and a potential colleague. I could be working closely with Zitora and Ulrick. My desire to return to the Keep increased threefold.

The sight of the white marble walls surrounding the Citadel made me whoop with joy. After three days on the road, I was more than ready for a warm bath, a hot meal and a soft bed.

Zitora shared my enthusiasm and we raced our horses to the Citadel’s west gate. The guards at the entrance gestured for us to slow down, but otherwise waved us through. We maneuvered around the crowded streets and were soon inside the Magician’s Keep located in the northeast quadrant of the Citadel.

At the stables, I rubbed down Quartz and fed her a bucket of grain. The other horses had whinnied greetings when we arrived. The Stable Master inspected her from tip to tail and declared her healthy. She sucked down two milk oats from his palm. Most of the horses in the stable would do just about anything for a couple of the Stable Master’s special treats.

I returned to my quarters in the apprentice wing. Even though my residence consisted of two small rooms—a bedroom and sitting area—I had them all to myself. After sharing a room with my sisters, being crammed into the Keep’s barracks for three years and one year living with four others in the seniors’ quarters, I had my very own space.

Dust coated the furniture and a musty odor floated in the cold air. I had been gone for a total of thirty-six days, over half the cooling season. I threw my pack and sais onto the table. Assembling a bunch of kindling, I started a fire to warm the room while I hurried to the bathhouse to bathe.

Ordered to report to the Masters’ meeting room right after breakfast tomorrow, I had the rest of the evening to myself. I decided to grab a late dinner. On my way to the dining room, I passed many of my fellow students. No one stopped to ask where I had been. No one called hello. A few scowled and a couple of girls sniggered after I walked past. The usual reaction.

I wondered how the other students would feel once the news of my apprenticeship to Zitora leaked out. I imaged their stunned and jealous faces. Even better would be when they saw Ulrick by my side, as I gave him a tour of the campus. His gorgeous green eyes staring at me with rapt attention.

My little fantasy lasted until I entered the dining hall. Ulrick sat at the head of a large table filled with students. The group of mostly girls laughed and flirted with him. He was the center of their attention.

Only here a few days at most, Ulrick had managed to do what I couldn’t accomplish in four years.

My appetite gone, I fled the hall.

15

I KNEW I shouldn’t care Ulrick had already made friends. Most of my life had been lived in my sister Mara’s shadow. She had all the friends and attention from every young man in the Cowan lands. I had Tula.

When Tula had been alive, I didn’t need anyone else. We were inseparable. Until the night Ferde stole her. She’d sent me to bed early. I was supposed to help her keep the kilns hot, but I was sick with a fever. She dragged me to bed, tucked me in, and the next morning she had been gone.

Dark memories threatened to push up from the depths of my mind. I squashed them down. No reason to suffer the heart-shredding guilt again. No relief in playing the “I should have” game.

I glanced around my empty living area as I crossed to my bedroom. The glass owl Tula had made for me on my fourteenth birthday rested on my nightstand. The statue fit neatly in the palm of my hand. I examined the exquisite detail of each feather and the perfect shape of the talons. She had a finer hand with the molten glass. The tweezers in her expert fingers would blur in motion, resulting in a lifelike animal.

My hopes of finding a true friend like Tula at the Keep hadn’t lasted long. With my involvement in imprisoning the Fire Warper and his partners, the other students either were jealous of my “fame” or afraid. And my propensity for classroom accidents didn’t help my popularity.

Our classes were small—three to five students and an instructor. I remembered a session with Professor Greenblade, learning the history of Rodknee Bloodgood, the first magician to use magic to move objects. After the lecture, I had been paired with Pazia to recreate Rodknee’s original experiment. Pazia had no trouble moving the lead weight off the table and high into the air with her magic. All my efforts resulted in nothing. I couldn’t move the weight past the mark on the table, let alone off the surface. When the professor leaned on the table to check his mark, it collapsed under him.