The Crown's Game (The Crown's Game, #1)

by Evelyn Skye

“What aren’t you telling me, Father?” He scooped all the crumbs into his hand and crushed them. “Just say it.” He closed his eyes. “The tsar can have only one Imperial Enchanter. The enchanter who loses the Game dies.” “No . . . Why?” The mug in Vika’s hands melted from pottery to clay. “Each country’s wellspring emits a finite amount of magic at any given time. It is not without limits. So the number of enchanters must be limited as well.” “But there have apparently been two of us all these years, not to mention you and your sister—” “Yes, but the minor charms we conjure are relatively inconsequential,” her father said. “As for you and the other enchanter, you’ve been splitting Bolshebnoie Duplo’s magic between you. That’s fine while you’re training; in fact, it was likely better that you didn’t have access to all of it while you were young and learning to control your powers. However, to serve the tsar—and to protect the empire from its enemies—the Imperial Enchanter will need all of Russia’s magic, especially since Bolshebnoie Duplo is no longer as potent as it was when the people of our country still adhered to the old ways. The Imperial Enchanter must be the only major conduit of what magic remains. There cannot be any dilution.” It hadn’t occurred to Vika that there might be an occasion when she couldn’t execute an enchantment, for lack of magic. It had always been there when she needed it. But then again, she’d never attempted anything on as large a scale as Sergei ...