The last time she cast a binding spell, she was plummeting from a height with a girl who was as much a friend as a rival. They both carried the queen’s blessing in their bones, having studied the spell for months in preparation. But it was Alinata who successfully mastered her fear in the end, capturing the flock of ravens while her friend fell to her death. There’s no fear today as she casts the same spell. At first it seems a breeze has disturbed the grains of sand near her sandals. But then more grains leave the ground, looping and eddying around her, and soon she’s enveloped in a revolving
...more
