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I’m also not entirely sure what the Trial of Mind involves, aside from it assessing whether we adepts have the cleverness required of magi. It also apparently takes place in a maze far beneath the Arcanium, though I’m uncertain of the accuracy of those rumors. While studying Alvord Ashbourne’s old tome probably won’t help me pass the next trial, it’s better than sitting around and doing nothing while my anxieties gnaw on me.
“What should we do now?” Eliya asks, interrupting my thoughts. She murmursconpariosand summons her crimson coin purse. She shakes it, but only the rustling of velvet fills the night. Not the clinking of silver. “That last bottle we ordered emptied my purse.”
My own purse is just as empty. With Yule around the corner, I’ve already spent a lot on buying presents for New Year’s Eve. And tonight, I also burned through the last of my stipend.
“Well,” I say with a shrug, “I suppose if we’re out of money then we’ll have to head back for the night.”
Eliya pouts. “But it’s not even nine o’clock!”
“It’s the week of our Mage Trials. We should get an early night so we’re well rested for Wednesday. The Trial of Mind will involve more than jumping off a tower.”
Eliya grabs my arm and swings it back and forth. “Reyna,” she grumbles, drawing out both syllables of my name, “when did you get so old and boring?”
“Wearetwenty-one now, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Age is just a number, especially when you’re a mage who will live until like two-hundred.”
“We’re not magi yet. We still have two more trials to pass. And drinking so much that we sleep through all of tomorrow and still feel groggy on Wednesday morning certainly won’t help with that.”
“But we won’t feel groggy on Wednesday morning if we sleep through all of tomorrow.”
I shake my head at her. “Anyway, we don’t have any money left. How are you expecting to get more drinks? By flirting with rich noblemen?”
“That isn’t a bad idea.” Her lips stretch into a wide grin. “But I have an even better one in mind.”
I know I shouldn’t ask, since it will only encourage her, but curiosity gets the better of me. And the wine is also likely to blame. “What is it?” I ask, folding my arms and bracing myself for whatever maddened idea Eliya’s crazy mind has conjured.
“We’ll solve our money problem like old times!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Have you really gotten so old and boring that you don’t remember the mischief we got up to as first-years?”
“Oh,” I say, now realizing what she means. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re fifth-years who are soon to become official Magi of Nolderan and should know better than to break the law.”
“It’s only my uncle we’ll be stealing from,” Eliya replies. “It isn’t illegal if it’s from family.”
“I’m pretty sure stealing is illegal no matter who you’re stealing from. Besides, he’s your family—not mine.”
“We’ve never been caught before.”
“And what if we’re caught this time? We would be in so much trouble that Archmage Gidston will probably disqualify us from the Mage Trials.”
“Why would we get caught now? We’re better at magic than when we were first-years.”
“You never know what may happen.”
“Fine, fine,” Eliya says, waving her hand dismissively. “Let’s go home and miss out on the enormous shipment of moon-blossom wine my uncle just received this evening.”
“Moon-blossom wine?”
“Mm,” she says and pulls me along the road. “Doesn’t matter now though, since we’re going home.”
“Wait.” I tug my arm from her grasp, and she comes to a stop. “Has he really got loads of moon-blossom wine?”
