'Not that tight,' he growled.
Even as she apologized, bands of luxin whipped around her body, holding her tight against him. Gavin took a run toward the window and leapt.
Liv's view, at first, was only of the luxin spooling out of Gavin's hand like spider's silk, perfectly matching the rate at which they were falling. She realized she had no idea how far exactly they would have to fall to get to the level of the Threshing Chamber, or how Gavin would know when to stop them. For that matter, how did he mean to get back into the tower from the outside? Hope someone left a window open?
Oh, dear Orholam!
They were falling an awfully long time. Liv's eyes disobeyed her and jumped from the luxin above to the ground below. It was rushing up at them with incredible speed.
Then she was crushed into Gavin's back as he solidified the rope. The pressure threatened to sweep her off of him and straight into the courtyard. They whipped around backward and she saw the rope-chain spooled out to the distant top of the Prism's Tower, and the tower itself was looming bigger and bigger as as they swung back toward its sheer, unbroken face.
Three sharp jerks pushed her and Gavin backward, but with nowhere near enough force to slow them down. Briefly, Liv saw three missiles streaking out from Gavin's outstretched left hand toward the tower in front of them.
She didn't see what the missiles did, because whatever else they accomplished, with Gavin shooting them out of his left hand while his right held the rope, he absorbed the recoil with his left arm. So as soon as the missiles were out of his hand, Gavin and Liv were sent spinning sharply widdershins.
Glass and stone exploded on every side around Liv. She was sliding along a floor, zipping straight and smooth for a fraction of a second, abruptly cut away from the Prism. Then something caught the hem of her skirt. Her momentum and the friction with the floor yanked it up hard, and then her bare skin squeaked on naked stone. She flopped over sideways and rolled a few times. When she stopped against the wall, all she could think was that she couldn't believe she was still alive.
There were half a dozen drafters in the suddenly breezy hallway, looking at the Prism and her in disbelief. The Prism was already up, giving sharp orders.
Why is my butt cold? Liv followed the drafters' stares and looked down. Her skirt was bunched around her waist from the slide, exposing her to all the world. She squeaked, yanked her skirt down, and jumped to her feet.
'You, get Luxlord Black. Tell him I want this repaired. Today. Go immediately. You, take the names of everyone in this hall and everyone in the testing chamber,' the Prism was saying. Liv, seeing everyone's attention was on the Prism, shifted her hips. She hadn't noticed until after she jumped up, but her butt cheeks had been cold because her underclothes had been yanked up too. Now they were cleaving the moon in a serious way. She shimmied, trying to fix her underclothes without fishing after them with a hand. 'Aliviana, what are you doing?' the Prism asked.
Liv froze, transfixed.
'Never mind, stay here. I'll call for you in a moment.' Gavin opened the door to the testing chamber and slipped inside. All the drafters in the hall, including one of the best-looking young magisters in the whole Chromeria, Payam Navid, turned to look at Liv, obviously wondering why she was so important-and killing her chance to quickly tug her underclothes down. Not having any idea what she was going to find or what the Prism was going to expect of her, she smiled nervously at the young magister.
Chapter 45
Gavin moved quickly, hearing the old bichrome say, 'Are you ready to see your colors?' to Kip.
'I know I am!' Gavin said. 'Mistress Varidos, may I?' Family members of supplicants weren't allowed in the testing chamber for fear that it would lead to cheating. The rule, at least theoretically, even applied to the Prism. There's a reason theory and practice are two different words.
'I wasn't even aware that you'd begun your testing. How long did they say you lasted?' Gavin asked.
'Four minutes, I guess,' Kip said.
'Four twelve,' the old mistress said.
Gavin physically stopped. It had seemed like a long time up in his room, but he'd supposed it had only seemed long. Four minutes was astounding. Passing had only taken him five.
Mistress Varidos drew close to Gavin and whispered, 'There was some irregularity that I think you should know about.'
Gavin smiled at Kip. 'Well done, we'll just be a moment.' He came aside, leaving Kip with the men and women who were asking him which part he thought was hardest, how he'd managed to hold out so long, and generally treating him like the center of the world. It was pretty intoxicating for a young drafter, and it was supposed to be.
Grinning, Gavin walked toward the tester's table with Mistress Varidos. They came to stand right over the stone table. A black samite cloth was spread over a hole in the middle of the table. The testing stone would be right in there. Gavin tried to remember exactly how it was positioned. He'd only get one shot at this. 'What was the irregularity?' he asked. The samite blocked out any outside light that would interfere with the testing stone.
The old woman exhaled slowly. 'He threw the rope out of his hand at about three thirty. Before I could stop her, one of the women put it back in his hand.'
'Are you joking?' Gavin said.
'They send the beautiful ones for the testing. Half of them barely have the brains to remember their lines, much less remember some of the more obscure rules governing situations that have never arisen in living memory. Even Dazen didn't throw the rope aside.'
'Which one did it?'
'The green.'
Of course it was the green. Wild, unpredictable, chafing at the slightest restriction. 'Get her over here!'
The green tester saw the mistress's summons and walked right over. All the testers were beautiful, and if being light-skinned was a detriment on the battlefield, it was favored for this and a few other ceremonies. The visual effect of a man or woman whose skin was green or blue or red was more muted the darker their natural skin tone. Even the Parians chose coastal, lowland, or mixed-blood countrymen to represent them in this ceremony. This woman was Ruthgari, and light-skinned even for them. She moved with the easy grace of a dancer. Her thin green robe, thrown on during the ceremony so that all the testers would be clad in their colors when the supplicant emerged-which might be only ten or fifteen seconds after their testing began-was, in her case, open deep between her large breasts. She walked up eagerly, throwing her hair back, back straight, standing just on the other side of the table.
The nudity and near-nudity of some of the ceremonies were shrouded in religious and cultural symbolism that made them almost non-erotic. Almost, because no matter how high-minded you might be, you couldn't completely ignore the fact that you were looking at someone who was naked and astoundingly attractive. But the parties afterward, especially at initiations, were always a gray area. Everyone beautiful, everyone half-clad, everyone with the fresh memory of everyone else stark naked, the atmosphere jubilant, the wine flowing freely, and the somber ceremonialism suddenly removed.
This green knew exactly what she was doing. Gavin was taller than the woman, so he could barely help but stare down her barely closed robe. Instead, he looked at her heart-shaped face, hazel eyes, the pupils barely haloed in green. She looked familiar.
'Over here,' he said, pointing next to him, between himself and Mistress Varidos. She stepped around the stone table to where he'd pointed, but closer in than necessary.
'Who are you?' he asked, his voice cool.
'My name's Tisis,' she said, her smile showing off great dimples.
'Tisis what?'
'Oh,' she said, as if she didn't have a thought in her head. 'Tisis Malargos.'
'What happened, Tisis?' he asked, pretending not to recognize the name. Her father and uncle had been his friends-that was, his Dazen's. They'd disappeared after the war. Killed by bandits or enslaved by pirates, most
