CHAPTER 9When Lumina arrived at training the next day, she gaped at the obstacle course awaiting her in the private part of the royal gardens. The king, the Avadierish, the magic masters and servants were all sitting on a grandstand, which offered a full view of the course. They also each held a pair of golden binoculars.
“What is this?” she asked her father.
“Phoenix, you are to run this course and avoid the magic.”
“How? Can someone go ahead and show me—”
“No; I’m afraid you must run it by yourself.”
Lumina stared at the spikes that would impale her, the deadly swinging blades that would slice into her, the rope nets that would trap her, like the one in the border forest after she’d run away from her wedding.
She swallowed. “Father, are you trying to kill me?”
“You know all I’m tr
