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Sixteen agents remained for the penultimate trial. That morning the tension had been palpable. If they survived this task, they would progress to the final trials. Elle had prepared herself in silence, brushing knots from her hair with more force than necessary. Ravaryn was a comfort at her side.

Her fingers were wrapped around the hilt as she surveyed the circle of assassins. Each had a table before them where six weapons lay and a single goblet of liquid resembling water. Elle kept her expression cold and unyielding as Mather strode into the centre.

"Recruits! Before you lies six weapons: an assortment of blades, arrows, daggers and glass." He interlaced his fingers behind his back. "Five of which are laced with a heart-stopping poison, should it get into your blood stream. The correct answer is different for each one of you, so don't even entertain the idea of cheating or I'll send you out on your ass. The goblet of water is safe."

Elle's eyes flit to the weapons lined neatly on the wooden table. A falchion, a wickedly curved rhun, a barbed arrow, a shard of glass and a haladie knife. On first inspection, none of them jumped out as being entirely safe or entirely deadly.

"You have one hour maximum. Then, you will make your selection. The faster you finish, the better your ranking will be." Mather's head whipped around to address those behind him. "Begin!" He barked.

She started systematically, from left to right. Her fingers moved deftly to pick up the arrowhead, inspecting it closely. Nothing obvious. Smelling the tip, she wrinkled her nose. DETRA had added a scent to throw her off, or to cover the poison's giveaway smell. She frowned, looking for specs or residue on the curled barbs.

When she glanced up she found that Tan was watching her closely. The blonde assassin also held her arrow head.

After the once-over, the assassin moved on to the curved rhun blade. The tip had a purple stain on it, which could've been dye but she didn't want to take the chance. When she lifted it to her nose, the faint sickly scent of ripe berries filled her nostrils. Tharith.

She moved on, sniffing and handling each weapon delicately. The shard of glass was another obvious one: when she dipped some of the water on it the shard bloomed yellow. Maiden's Flower.

Thirty minutes had passed and Elle still felt no closer to the correct answer. Both the haladie knife and the falchion had no residue, no scent, no giveaway taste. She was stumped between them. What made matters worse was the arrogant confidence of Rand, lifting his falchion up. It had the purple stain on the end, if it had the unmistakable smell it was Tharith. Rand wouldn't make an error like that. Gods, she prayed that it wasn't just dye. His eyes slowly slid to her as he announced to Mather. "I'm ready to make my choice."

The room stilled. Mather folded his arms, "very well. Cut your arm."

Rand didn't wince as the blade sliced the skin of his forearm, his triumphant smile remained. Seconds ticked by and his cockiness didn't falter. He didn't keel over, or start to foam at the mouth. A minute. Then, Mather grinned slightly. "Well done, agent. Your falchion was the correct answer."

Rand dipped his head, eyes flashing dangerously. He made a show of wiping his hands down on his leathers and placing the weapon back. Elle sneered at him from across the ring, then went back to her own weapons. Unfortunately, his falchion wasn't laced with Tharith. Now the race was on, everyone would be trying to finish, grappling at the opportunity to fight less fights, to start closer to the final pairings.

It couldn't have been more than five minutes later before another agent, one she hadn't spoken to, had finished. He had chosen the barbed arrow. Mather's expression gave nothing away as he observed the man cut his forearm. The assassin twisted the arrowhead into his arm, the barbs designed to lodge it place. Again, the room waited.

The assassin's face leeched of colour, his eyes bulged from his head. He stumbled forwards, knocking into the table leg and spilling his goblet. Elle clenched her jaw as the man fell, twitching, to the floor. When his groans and gurgles silenced, Elle could hear Rand's low chuckles.

Mather sighed. "Get back to it, recruits. Twenty-five minutes remain."

Elle's gut told her to go for the haladie knife. Every fibre in her body seemed to gravitate towards it. Sighing, she looked at the goblet. There was only one thing she knew to test further with the water, but it would contaminate it should the blade be dirtied. She had to take that chance. Taking the haladie blades, she dipped it in the water and left it there, scanning for any clouding or colour change.

Nothing.

She tried the other side. Again, nothing obvious. Taking the dripping weapon out, she frowned at the cup, sloshing the liquid around. An idea occurred. The assassin waited a few minutes. Then, she tentatively brought it to her lips and took a small sip. Swirling the liquid around in her mouth revealed a bitter flavour. She grinned internally—one of Kade's favourite pranks was to soak bittermint in their goblets before meals, as the horrible taste only developed minutes later.

Bittermint itself, however disgusting, was not poisonous. And she would have recognised that taste anywhere.

Elle cleared her throat, squashing a grimace as she swallowed. "I'm ready to choose."

Mather waved her ahead, approaching the table. Picking up the haladie knife, she cut open her arm. Her heart hammered as she waited, watching a trickle of blood run down her limb and onto the floor. Drip, Drip. Drip. Both Tan and Rand were watching intently. The poison would have worked by now.

When she looked to Mather, he grunted. "Congratulations."

Her legs turned shaky, but she managed to nod. She was safe. Second place. Ignoring Tan's scowl became ten times easier. Now all she had to do was make it to the final trials. Her and Rand were going to be neck and neck. Elle smirked, stepping back from the table—she was going to enjoy knocking him to the dirt.

#

Finishing fourth was not the position Tan had imagined herself in that morning. One look at Vhiena's triumphant face had her blood boiling underneath her skin. She chose the arrowhead and got it correct, of course. But her unfortunate ranking put both Vhiena and Rand ahead of her,

Not that the rankings meant much anyway. She would fight tooth and nail to win her damned place in DETRA. Her brother had earned his place a few years ago and she had to follow in his footsteps. Rand and her were pulling off their boots, muttering about Vhiena cheating and undeserved place until he shushed her.

Rand had leant closer and breathed something about a plan. Tan had grinned a ferocious grin as the pieces came into focus. In the penultimate trial, Rand had stood over Hana's shoulder and whispered the correct answer—securing her a place in the top eight. The girl wouldn't have been smart enough to figure it out, otherwise.

"Why did you do it?" Tan frowned.

"We can manipulate the matches in our favour. Hana is readily prepared to help take Vhiena down, since I've helped her through the challenges. I've made sure she stays above that line. Now it's time to use our allies, get them to weaken Vhiena, to play dirty."

Liking the idea, Tan leant back against the bedpost. "Good. But what if we can't leave it to just chance?"

Rand narrowed his eyes. "You think I can't best her by myself?"

"Would you want to leave it to chance?" She snapped. He grumbled, folding his arms. "No...she needs to be weakened considerably if she makes it to the final match."

"What exactly do you propose we do?"

Her eyes drifted to the tables, now being packed away. The clang of metals scraping as the weapons were thrown into a bag, to be taken down to storage once more. Rand's gaze followed hers. She knew the same idea had occurred to him as his eyes light up, a grin spreading across his features like a plotting feline. No, not some cat. More like a wolf—a dangerous wolf with blue eyes that glinted in the darkness and razor teeth capable of tearing someone to shreds.

But she wasn't frightened. Not when she knew the wolf was her ally, and his claws would sink into Vhiena.

"Poison." It wasn't a question. He stood abruptly, striding over to the men folding away the exercise, mumbling about helping. Tan watched on, amused, as he picked up the boxes of weapons and followed a man out to the storage. Not to put away the swords, but to select a more...exciting item.

She wondered what poison he would find stored in the weaponry and tactical rooms. Hopefully something that would make Vhiena scream.

The wolf did her bidding, Tan thought with a wry smile. He was all too ready to subdue her enemies for her. Tan Lysten had tamed her beast, now it was time to play.