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He stepped back and started back the e’d come "But not yet, Lark Not until you are trained and ready to do what you have to"

What I had to do The words unspoken hung in the air between us

To take down those who had killed h entle, like her That I have the killer instinct to do what I"You have it, Lark, in spades I think Wick saw soed to his side and looked down at hi about Wicker, about Cassava and all the years I’d thought I was alone

He tipped his head so he could look at me "You may look like your mother, but you are most definitely not her"

A smile flitted across my lips No, I wasn’t like rateful

Chapter 9

The next ood It keptable to brood on the fact that Cassava was a murderer and I had no way to prove it unless I convinced Wicker to confess The odds were most definitely not in my favor

All I could do was keep er, faster, and more deadly I had to believe there would come a day where I could face down Cassava and Wicker, and whoever else helped her

I worked every day with the other recruits and then when they went off on their free time to rest, I worked with Granite Ash never told Granite what I could see when another ele up when it ca with another eleed blows fro up under h to ht I lay down exhausted So tired that if I dreaiven a day off

"You actually going to take a break?" Mal asked as we sat around eating breakfast I nodded, and shoved another spoonful of oatmeal into my mouth It had taken a solid week before the other recruits relaxed around e in how they treated ht about what Niah had said, about going to see the recluse near the southern edge of the forest He was tolerated since he wasn’t an elemental, but as one of the supernaturals that wanted to keep away fro to take a long walk, I think" I spooned the last of lass ofI’d sleep all day"

I gave hirin "Isn’t that what you norht as well be sleeping"

A chorus of ‘oohs’ erupted along the table and Mal lifted a fist, shaking it at er "You just wait and see, Princess, I’ll best you one day" Around his fingers a gliave round opened up where I’d been standing

"Dairl’s got to have her secrets"

I went to iven as Seeders was an i pants and a vest made out of thick, woven cotton, boots that laced up over my ankles, and then the belt for my weapons I attached the practice spear toit fro down I hesitated over the bow and arrows I wasn’t as good with the bow as I’d like to be I grabbed it and slung it overthe quiver froet a chance to practice with it Finally I took a large knife, the blade the length of my forearm, the handle made out of antler, and tucked it into a sheath built into the left side of ?" The voice calared at Ash in the doorway "You shouldn’t sneak up on people"

"Not sneaking up, you weren’t listening Soet you hurt or killed sooing?"

"For a walk Why, you want to pick floith me?" I raised an eyebrow at hi flowers covered in weapons"

"Why are you really here? Just to prove you can still boss hed at me, and his eyes sparked with hu at me, not with me Ash flexed his arms as he stretched them out in front of his body "For a bit? You have at least two years before you can even be tested for the entry level of our order Two years, Princess, of work and deprivation Of learning to kill, of fighting for your place here Assued "They used to test Enders faster During the wars, Enders were trained in less than a month and sent into battle"

"That was then"--he bent to look at the shtstand--"this is noo years of work that will go down the river when you are kicked out for failing your final testing"

I swept the rocks away froive up at one point, andleft There is no option I’le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">