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"She can’t even defend herself!"

Laughter,there, watching Shaking his head Doing nothing to helpto stone me to death

"Coal," I held my hand out to hih, you’ve had your fun," Granite stepped close enough torocks or risk having Granite thus barely held hdown my mind This was not how elementals treated one another No one was stoned, or heckled, not even those considered useless or mad They were all treated with respect Yet as I surprised? I was the only one in our fanity This moment was an extension ofintome, not into the Spiral, but toward the Enders barracks "Don’t say anything, just co Coal had been with me, just an hour past, and now he turned froh? If he were attached to me, side ether, a part of me still hated him If he loved me as he claimed, wouldn’t he want to be with me, no matter where I was?

Granite took me to the far side of the barracks and sat ’s up"

A sigh of relief escapedtreated like this?"

His black eyes, flecked with blue, were as hard as his name "No, you are the only one treated as such But even so, no one has ever been stoned in our fa your father to you Don’t move, don’t talk to anyone"

Don’t o? I leaned back, restingan array of weapons, swords, daggers, blades of all sorts, most of which I couldn’t na the bows and arrows The broad heads I kneere used for hunting, designed to cut through flesh But Enders only hunted traitors and cri I fell into at least one of those two categories, according to what everyone believed of ht me to my feet

Granite walked a few feet behind my father I couldn’t move, couldn’t walk toward hi him So I stood up where I was, slowly, carefully "Father, she’s lying, I never touched her Please, please don’t banish h to sit ree, "I know you didn’t attack her, you are as soft as yourout because" He ran a hand over the back of his neck "It isn’t your fault, she’s just being petty But what a to do with you?" His eyes met mine and I saw in them a sorrow that for the first ti her, did you?"

His jaw clenched and his throat bobbed "Youare so much like her it hurts me to look at you And you remind Cassava of herhe’d ever cos would be okay

"None of that hed to clear it "You will always be a target because you’re weaker than the rest of us"

And there was that word again Weak I was too damn weak to protect myself

Granite stepped besidein his ear Father started and looked froain He rubbed a hand over his chin, eyes thoughtful

"You think that would help?"

"It would give her a way to protect herself, and would give her a very good use You knoe are forbidden to use our abilities with the earth e go on a Hunt She would fit in perfectly in that respect"

A chill swept through rew in ht I have a spot in our family after all, one I could actually do?

Granite confirfroer than any of the other recruits by far Wouldn’t take much to turn that into a weapon And if the queen is concerned of an assassination, Enders will surround Lark Of course, once she takes her final testing, she will be taking oaths that will bind her fro someone in the royal fa froain "And what do you think about being trained as an Ender, Larkspur?"

Me, an Ender? A weapon for the king to wield when needed A cha as best for the fahon an icy winter day

"Yes, make me a weapon"

Chapter 6

More than one pair of Ender’s eyes followed me as I packed my small amount of allowable items into the tiny room allotted to me All I had was my work clothes, the jewelry my mother had left iven ot themy path His eyes traced the weapon with a fale" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">