Page 48 of The Fifth Heir

He glanced at me as lightning curled around his wrist. “Try not to look too impressed.”

“I’m trying.”

The examiner ordered him to stop encouraging the discharge.

Sebastian’s result spread farther.

The Shadow rune illuminated beneath him, but thin violet lines reached toward several others before fading. Malcolm leaned forward to examine the pattern.

“Secondary resonance?” Sebastian asked.

“No,” Malcolm said. “Shadow searches for available space. It does not indicate affinity.”

“You sound disappointed,” Rafe said.

“I prefer accurate records.”

The center disc cleared.

My turn.

I handed the water cup back to Torren and crossed the floor.

The crystal torc was the only visible proof that I belonged inside the assessment circle. I touched it before stepping onto the disc. The surface felt warm where it rested against my neck.

No rune responded.

Malcolm waited until I stood at the center, then signaled the examiners.

“Begin with Stone.”

Camilla’s element.

A low vibration traveled beneath my feet. The Stone rune glowed bronze, and weight pressed down across my shoulders. My knees bent before I forced them straight.

The center disc remained dark.

“No resonance,” the examiner recorded.

I kept my gaze away from the observation gallery.

“Forest.”

Bronze light changed to green. The pressure disappeared, replaced by the scent of wet earth and growing things. The magic passed around me without touching my skin.

“No resonance.”

“Sky.”

A current of air lifted my hair and tugged at my training uniform. Nothing answered inside me.

One by one, the remaining runes awakened.

Frost chilled the disc until my toes went numb. Shadow darkened the air. Storm made the torc tingle against my throat, but the examiner recorded no measurable response.

Each failure went onto the slate.

Each one felt less surprising and more final.