Powerless

A friendly-looking Imperial approaches Paedyn, who is still standing in front of the banner, to inform her that she is expected at the castle. Although the Trials only start in two weeks, all contestants will be hosted at the palace to train and get to know each other. Paedyn bargains for a few minutes to say goodbye to Adena, who is heartbroken and worried about her friend’s safety but makes her promise to come back to her. When Paedyn gets back to the Imperial, he leads her to a coach, in which two other contestants from the slums, Ace Elway and Hera Colt, are already waiting. Paedyn resolves to be brave and try to survive the Trials without being discovered as an Ordinary.

Paedyn, Ace, and Hera are led into the palace, and Paedyn is awed by the beauty and wealth around her. Lenny, the friendly Imperial, is assigned to Paedyn’s service as long as she resides in the palace. He shows her to her room, in which she is amazed to find a real bed and a private bathroom. Paedyn then spends two days confined to her room before Lenny comes to inform her that she is to attend dinner with the other contestants and the king and queen that night. She is then assigned a maid named Ellie, who helps her get ready for dinner. She also meets Kitt, the crown prince, who introduces himself because she saved his brother. Lenny later comes to lead Paedyn to the throne room, where she sits at the dinner table in front of Kai. Also present are the other contestants: Ace, Hera, Andrea “Andy” Vos, Braxton Hale, Sadie, and Blair.

Despite Paedyn’s coldness toward him, Kai is strongly drawn to her. The king, the queen, and Kitt then enter, officially greeting the contestants of the sixth Purging Trials before sitting. The king reminds them that they should use the weeks in between each Trial to practice their fighting. The queen adds that they should also work on their dancing skills since they will need to attend balls and interviews meant to garner support for the contestants. Once the food is served, Kai notices that Paedyn seems to be too angry at the display of wealth to eat. Amused, he serves her food and urges her to eat, which seems to annoy her even more. The king then asks Paedyn about her power, and she answers politely. When he mentions knowing her father, a Healer named Adam Gray, Paedyn is shocked but hides her emotional reaction. At the end of the meal, Kai decides to walk Paedyn back to her room, as it is next to his own, claiming that they are now on equal footing as contestants in the Trials. She retorts that their social status still marks them as unequal, and Kai provokes her into a fight. Paedyn threatens him with a knife, but the prince uses her own dagger against her. They both stop fighting and retreat to their respective rooms.

Three days later, Paedyn is working in the training ring and realizes that she needs to get back in shape. As she starts practicing throwing knives, Kai interrupts her by throwing one of his own into her target. Paedyn angrily responds to him, but Blair, who seems to dislike Kai’s constant focus on Paedyn, throws a dagger at her and knicks her ear. The prince warns Paedyn not to let her wound bleed into her hair and helps her braid it instead.

Ellie is helping Paedyn get dressed for the upcoming interviews introducing the contestants to the public, which she is worried about since she will need to demonstrate her supposed power. Lenny then comes to lead her and the other contestants to the Bowl, the palace arena. On their way there, Kitt walks next to Paedyn and tries to comfort her. His friendliness disarms Paedyn despite her attempt to remain cold to him. Once they get to the Bowl, she notices that the stands around the arena are surrounded by Mute, a rare material that suppresses the Elites’ powers, so that no one can interfere with the Trials as they are happening. The contestants are lowered through a trapdoor under the king’s private box and into a waiting room while a crowd streams into the arena. Once the Bowl is filled with people, they are helped up the trapdoor and into the king’s box again. Paedyn initially refuses Kai’s help to boost her up, but she finds that her skirt is impeding her movements. She eventually lets the prince rip her skirt so that she can pull herself up. Once in the king’s box, she is introduced to Tealah, a teal-haired woman with the ability to amplify her voice and those of the people she touches. She begins conducting the interviews, starting with announcing the opening of the Purging Trials, to the crowd’s cheers. The first contestant is Jax, who is a Blink, and he shows off his ability to teleport to any place in his field of vision. Brawton, a Brawny, then displays his supernatural strength by throwing and crushing stone statues in the arena. Ace is an Illusionist and conjures up convincing mirages in front of everyone. Sadie, the Cloner, creates copies of herself that walk around the stands before returning to her seat. Blair, the Telekinetic, makes Tealah levitate above the ground. Hera, who is a Veil, vanishes before turning Tealah invisible as well. Andy, Kai and Kitt’s cousin, shows off her ability to turn into different animals, all the same crimson color as her hair. Finally, Kai demonstrates his power by using each of the contestants’ abilities one after the other, except Paedyn’s, whose turn comes at last.

When Tealah asks her about the incident during which she saved Kai, Paedyn cannot help but make fun of the prince, which makes the crowd laugh. She then tells the interviewer about her powers as a Psychic and her life in the slums. Rather than pretending, she decides to be honest about the poverty and challenges that she has faced, and when asked what she expects from the game, she simply states, “Survival” (123). Finally, Tealah picks random people from the public and asks Paedyn to demonstrate her power, so she makes deductions about each person and successfully convinces the crowd of her ability to read them psychically.

Kai continues to torture the Silencer, but the latter still refuses to tell him anything besides his name, Micah. After a gruesome session, the prince joins his family and the contestants for dinner, where he finds Paedyn equally distracted. The queen reminds everyone that they should pair up for the upcoming ball, and Kai knows that Paedyn will likely refuse to partner with him.

The next morning, he accidentally intercepts her as they are both leaving their rooms, so he takes her to the kitchen. There, he chats with Gail, who immediately befriends Paedyn while they eat. Paedyn seems puzzled by Kai’s more relaxed demeanor.

Later, during training, Kai notices that his brother seems a bit glum. He understands that Kitt feels caged by his duty as a future king and would like to prove himself by participating in the Trials. However, Kitt and Kai soon resume their usual banter and keep fighting until they are both on the ground. Nearby, Paedyn is working at throwing punches, but Kai notices that her form is lacking. He approaches her to show her how to better hit her target, understanding that her strength relies mostly on rage and frustration. As usual, he is sarcastic and flirty, and she responds in kind. When he asks her to demonstrate her punching skills, Paedyn tries to punch him.

Kai evades Paedyn’s punch, prompting them to start sparring. While they fight, Kai continues to flirt with her. She responds with similar sarcasm and wit. Neither one seems to be able to gain ground, each of them losing and winning the fight in turn. In the end, Paedyn gives one last warning to the prince and throws a knife at him before leaving.

In the following days, Paedyn continues to train and keep up her facade as the tension between the contestants increases. At dinner, Paedyn cannot help but be distracted by Kitt’s resemblance to his father, and her hatred for the king makes it difficult to accept the prince’s attempts at friendship. After the meal, the queen reminds the girls to practice their dancing and select a gown for the ball coming up in a few days. Kitt then walks Paedyn back to her room, and she tries to play along with his friendliness, such as when he praises her honesty during the interviews. When he asks her to be his partner for the ball, she decides to accept.

After asking Ellie for help in finding an appropriate dress for the ball, Paedyn remembers Adena’s skills as a seamstress. She tells her that she wants her friend to make her gown, and she is elated to find out that it means Adena will come live at the palace and be fed and paid for the duration of the Trials.

That night, Kai knocks on Paedyn’s door and offers to teach her how to dance so as not to embarrass herself or his brother. Paedyn refuses, but she eventually relents when she realizes that Kai is right. The prince leads her to his real room, rather than the one he is using as a contestant. He shows her basic dance steps, encouraging her to relax, but Paedyn is tense because of their close proximity. She resents that he is once again helping her, seemingly out of generosity rather than to gain anything from her.

Later, Paedyn is reunited with Adena, who is elated at the idea of being her personal seamstress. She promises Paedyn to make her a beautiful green dress for the ball, as green is the kingdom’s color. However, Paedyn tells her that she has a different idea.

Kai is waiting in the ballroom along with all the other men attending the event. The women traditionally enter the room later, after the queen arrives and joins the king. Once the monarchs have greeted their guests, the ladies file into the room, with Kai and Kitt patiently watching the parade of women in green ball gowns. Blair is Kai’s partner for the ball, and the prince tries to be polite to her while chatting with Jax and Andy. Kitt then joins them with Paedyn at his side. She is wearing a striking silver gown to match her nickname, the “Silver Savior,” and a knife is tied to her thigh. She stands out from the crowd and leaves Kai flustered. She and Blair get into a battle of wits, as Blair appears bitter about the attention that Paedyn is receiving. Kai breaks up their fight, aware that his feelings for Paedyn are going to complicate his role in the Trials.

Paedyn dances with Kitt, relieved not to be embarrassing herself. She then takes a turn with some of the other men in attendance, and one of them makes disparaging remarks about her appearance and her background. Kai takes her away from him by inviting her to dance, and Paedyn gratefully accepts. He starts flirting with her, but Paedyn is distracted by a servant, who happens to be the boy from whom she stole the secret message in Loot. She is intrigued, but the event is suddenly interrupted by an attack from the Resistance. Explosives rain down on the crowd, and Elites start panicking as the Imperials intervene to protect them. Paedyn notices that the attackers are using homemade bombs because they do not have powers, meaning that they are Ordinaries. She wants to help with the fighting, but Kai drags her away to a safe room alongside his family and other guests before he returns to the fight. Kitt also protests being forced away from the ballroom, but he eventually accepts that the future king needs to stay alive.

Paedyn is waiting in the safe room with the king, the queen, Kitt, and some guests. A Healer mends her arm, which was hurt in the attack. Paedyn then decides to approach Kitt to learn more about the incident. The prince is worried and bitter about being unable to help with the fight. Paedyn empathizes with his desire to prove himself and asks pointed questions about the attackers. Kitt reveals that a growing faction of surviving Ordinaries have been fighting against the king’s authority, and some powerful Elites who were persecuted because of their destructive abilities have joined them. Kitt seems ambivalent about the Resistance’s goals, claiming that Ordinaries weaken the Elites’ powers and thus cannot be allowed to live, but he understands their reasons for fighting back. Eventually, a guard comes in to announce that the ballroom is now safe, and the king reassures his guests that the Trials will continue as planned. Paedyn then decides that, should she survive the Trials, she will find the Resistance.

When she returns to the ballroom, she finds Kai injured from a knife planted in his back. He jokes with her despite the wound, and Paedyn, although irritated, helps him remove the blade. Kai then uses a nearby Healer’s power to heal himself and makes Paedyn promise him to stay alive in the Trials.