"I would not have pushed her so far if we had not had experience," she says. "That was still not the equal of the avulsion trial."

"I don't understand the point of a trial that can only be solved by--" She breaks off, as one who catches herself committing blasphemy.

Inhale. Exhale. "The Lord has a plan for us, I know. But surely it is madness to say only a necromancer with a cavalier like Gideon can become a Lyctor. The Lyctors don't even--" She cuts herself off again.