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"No It was other Sorceri bent on stealing her goddesslike power They poisoned her" The Sorceri so adore their poisons, she thought bitterly But then she frowned at the irl's ed in fire, she was made sharp and deadly froan to covet life as no other before her Whenever she felt hers was in danger, a h her, the need to lash out undeniable"

When some of their eyes widened, Sabine realized her pensiveness had made the cell appear to be choked with ly displayed illusions that

As she swiftly cleared the air, another patient said, "Good ?"

"The sisters just wanted to survive, to be left alone, to ah just a bit of sorcery Was that too ave them an "hon­estly ?' look

"But the Vrekeners were unrelenting, tracking theirls' sorcery Especially the boy Because he hadn't reached his ienerate He'd been broken, scarred and deformed from his injuries forever"

They'd since learned his name was Thronos and that he was the son of the Vrekener Sabine had beheaded all those years ago "Without the use of sorcery, the girls wer-e starving Sabine was now sixteen and old enough to begin doing what any girl like her would"

Brazen Mortal crossed her ar Co"

"Really?"

"Noooo," Sabine said "Fortune-telling Which pro a witch"

She fingered the white streak in her red hair, the one she hid from others with an illusion "They didn't always burn witches at stakes That's a fallacy No, soe had burned its quota, so they killed secretly, burying a group alive" Her tone grew soft "Can you iirl to breathe earth? To feel it coazed over her silent audience Their eyes had gone wide-she could hear a pin drop

"The humans expired quickly, but not so for Sabine," she continued "The girl withstood the reaper's call for as long as she could, but felt herself fading Yet then she heard a ringing voice frorave So Sabine ainst others' dead flesh, blindly stretching, desperate for another inch closer to the surface"

From behind them, Lanthe's voice intoned, "At last, Sabine's hand shot up froround, pale and clenched Finally, Melanthe could find her sister As she hauled Sabine out of her grave, lightning struck all around and hail pelted thery to lose her catch Since that fateful night, Sabine doesn't care about anything"

Sabine sighed "It's not true that she doesn't care about anything She cares about nothing verya metallic blue fro, Sabine," she said, laying the words directly into Sabine'sTry to retain it" Gods, she was relieved to see Lanthe acquire another power Her sister's persuasion had been exhausted keep­ing Sabine alive

It seemed that all those deaths hadLanthe-in both ability and resilience

"That sorceress also had the power to talk to ani for your birthday!"

"Oh, bully" One of the least sought powers of all Sorceri The proble with ani­h within earshot to be helpful "I can only hope a plague of locusts isabout when 1 need them" To her audience, Sabine said, "We're finished here"

The long-haired s gotfe so much?"

Sabine dryly answered, "They met Omort the Death­less He was a sorcerer who could never know death's