Powerful (The Powerless Trilogy, #1.5)

by Lauren Roberts

with ignorance incarnate. Every inch cheering for each contestant they chose to represent Loot. I push through the crowd, ignoring their celebrations. They have done nothing more than send Mundanes and Defensive Elites to their deaths. And she is one of them. But it should be me. Me who dies brutally. Dies alone. Dies at all. Chants in honor of the sixth ever Purging Trials ring in my ears, each word a reminder of what I’ve done—nothing. I’ve spent my whole life huddling in her shadow, hiding from life itself. And now she has been chosen simply because she did nothing of the sort. The people knew her, loved the street magic she performed as a Veil. And yet, they sentence her to death under the guise of honor. She is a Defensive. Therefore, she is dead. And I need to find her. My hands are still streaked with coal dust, leathers clinging to my sweaty body as though I’m still hammering steel over a scalding fire. I had worked through the night and was continuing still when the commotion managed to drag me from the shop. I should have gone to see her last night. Should have been there when she found out. And now I’m shoving through a sea of people, attempting to find her before it’s too late. I scan the packed street, catching sight of a coach rumbling toward the end of it. It screeches to a halt, the horses nearly as impatient as the drivers eager to escape the slums. I sure as hell know how that feels.