A Trial of Sorcerers Book One Elise Kova This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters and events in this book are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author. Published by Silver Wing Press Copyright © 2021 by Elise Kova All rights reserved. Neither this book, nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form without permission. Cover Artwork by Marie Magny Developmental Editing by Rebecca Faith Editorial Line Editing and Proofreading by Melissa Frain ISBN (paperback): 978-1-949694-19-2 ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-949694-31-4 eISBN: 978-1-949694-30-7 Contents Also by Elise Kova Map of the Solaris Empire Map of Meru Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Discover more from Elise Kova Acknowledgments About the Author: Elise Kova Also by Elise Kova * * * See all of Elise’s books and find where to get them on her website at: https://elisekova.com/books/ * * *A Trial of Sorcerers A Trial of Sorcerers A Hunt of Shadows (More to Come)Married to Magic A Deal with the Elf King Married to Magic #2 (More to come)Air Awakens Universe Air Awakens Series Air Awakens Fire Falling Earth’s End Water’s Wrath Crystal Crowned Vortex Chronicles Vortex Visions Chosen Champion Failed Future Sovereign Sacrifice Crystal Caged Golden Guard Trilogy The Crown’s Dog The Prince’s Rogue The Farmer’s WarThe Loom Saga The Alchemists of Loom The Dragons of Nova The Rebels of GoldNever miss a release. Get exclusive giveaways, review copies, and a free gift on sign up by subscribing to Elise Kova’s newsletter: https://elisekova.com/subscribe/ For the Tower Guard The Solaris Empire Map of Meru 1 The walls could talk, and they had secrets. …where…going… I don’t… …keep this just between us… Eira ignored the mutterings, keeping her head down and her nose in her book. The words were nothing more than magically trapped whispers of people who weren’t there—people who might not have been there for hours or even decades. They were her companions and her torturers. Eira fought to suppress and ignore the voices because when she’d tried to talk about them, no one believed her. No one else could hear them. She ascended the main walkway of the Tower of Sorcerers, a sloping path that wound like a corkscrew between lecture halls and libraries in the center and apprentice dormitory rooms on the outside. People brushed past her, quiet in contrast to the cacophony that threatened to deafen her if she let her magic run awry and unchecked. Instead, Eira tried to fill her mind with the words of the book she was reading. They painted pictures of a land far away—the Crescent Continent, Meru. A land filled with magic vastly different than hers, and peoples that seemed as if they were straight out of a folktale. It was easy for her to place herself beyond her body, imagining standing on those distant shores, until a voice said— …kill our sovereign… She stopped in her tracks. Two apprentices emerged from a storeroom, whispering amongst themselves. The man wore Tower robes like her—no collar, loose sleeves to the elbows, hem falling at the small of his back. The woman’s robes had capped sleeves and a high collar. A Waterrunner and Firebearer, Adam and Noelle, also known as the Tower’s “power couple”—and the last people Eira ever wanted to see. “What’re you staring at, freak?” Adam, the Waterrunner, said. “I’m sorry, what?” Eira asked calmly, slipping her book into her satchel so they couldn’t turn her reading about Meru—her passion—into more ammunition to be used against her. “Is she deaf now? Wasn’t she the one who ‘heard voices’ all the time?” Adam scoffed and looked to Noelle, who gave a snicker and tucked a length of dark tresses behind her ear. “Perhaps she was talking to her imaginary friends and couldn’t hear us?” Noelle suggested. “That it?” Adam took a step closer to Eira. Eira looked at him from toe to head. She stared at the tip of his hooked nose to avoid his dark brown eyes. Just like Alyss had told her to do so she wouldn’t be intimidated. “I thought I heard one of you say something about the emperor.” He laughed, a grating and terrible sound. A laugh Eira knew well…a laugh he reserved for at her. “Do I look like someone who would talk politics?” “No.” Eira shook her head. “I suppose not. You’d have to have half a brain to have an opinion on politics.” She tore her eyes away and started back up the tower. Adam grabbed her elbow, snarling, “What did you say?” “Let me go,” Eira said quietly. Her magic swelled at the offending contact; if he held on to her much longer he’d be swept away by it, as helpless as a child in a rip current. “You think you can just insult me and walk away?” “Come on, Adam.” Noelle grabbed the arm not holding Eira in place. “It’s not insulting you if it’s true,” Eira said softly. “Say that again!” Tides of magic rolled off of him, uncontrolled, unstoppable. Eira felt like the moon, spinning around him with her words. Pulling him from one direction to the next was all too easy. Making him feel whatever she wanted him to feel— Stop. Eira closed her eyes and sighed softly, trying to ward off the dark depths she was sinking into. It was a place she could never risk going. “I’m sorry. Now let me go, Adam, please.” “I’m not—” “She’s not worth it.” Noelle regarded Eira warily from the corner of her eye. “You know what she did three years ago.” Because of you. I didn’t mean to. If you hadn’t… The words still bubbled up in her, as horrible and dark as the memory of that day. But Eira was eighteen now. She no longer had to say everything that crossed her mind. Silence was often the best path forward in a noisy world. Stasis and quiet and numb. “What’s going on here?” a familiar voice interjected. All three of them turned to face the speaker. Adam’s hand quickly fell from Eira’s elbow. “Nothing,
