Powerless

An Ordinary girl pickpockets a prince who cannot sense her secret

Paedyn Gray survives Loot Alley by thieving and pretending to be a Psychic—a Mundane Elite with mental abilities.

An Ordinary girl pickpockets a prince who cannot sense her secret

Paedyn Gray survives Loot Alley by thieving and pretending to be a Psychic—a Mundane Elite with mental abilities. In truth, she is an Ordinary, one of the powerless humans King Edric has been executing for decades since the Purging. Her father, a Healer, trained her from childhood to fake observations as psychic readings before his murder left her orphaned at thirteen. She and Adena, her best friend and only confidant, share a trash barricade called the Fort. When a tall stranger in black strolls through the slums, Paedyn collides with him and steals half his coins while he catches her fall. Neither knows the other—she doesn't realize he's Prince Kai, the future Enforcer, and he doesn't understand why his rare Wielder ability detects absolutely nothing from her.

Paedyn defeats a Silencer barehanded and earns a death sentence disguised as fame

Paedyn stumbles upon the same stranger collapsed in an alley, his power crushed by a Silencer—a Fatal Elite who can smother abilities. No one in the crowd intervenes. She attacks from behind, and when the Silencer tries to suppress her power, nothing happens. She has no ability to silence. She beats him unconscious with fists and fury. Kai pins her to a wall afterward, demanding to know why neither the Silencer nor he can detect her. She sells the Psychic lie convincingly, then proves it by reading sand on his shoes to deduce a secret banishment to the Scorches. Days later, her name appears on the Purging Trials banner—the people's chosen champion. Paedyn says goodbye to Adena, knowing this honor is likely her execution.

Paedyn meets her rivals and pins the prince against a wall

At the palace, Paedyn endures two days of isolation before meeting the other contestants at dinner—Offensive Elites, Defensive Elites, and Mundanes, most of whom grew up together in the castle. Kai sits across from her, amused when she refuses to eat food she considers wasteful. He piles turkey and beans onto her plate, daring her to let him spoon-feed her. She eats, furious. The king casually mentions knowing her late father, a detail that sends ice through her veins—she believes this is the man who murdered him. After dinner, Kai walks her to her room. When he touches her chin to examine a healing wound, she wrenches his own dagger free and presses it to his throat. He finds the blade hidden at her back and mirrors the gesture. They establish themselves as enemies.