by Terah Edun
“They are my betters only by birth. I know what’s it’s like to truly live in the Algardis empire. They? They live the lives of fairytales,” she finished in an irate huff.
Serena had grown progressively paler throughout Ciardis’s speech.
The bejeweled man smiled and his eyelids lowered as he studied the defiant girl who sat on the stool as proudly as if she sat on a throne with the court seated below her.
Softly he said, “Untested power such as hers could be the spark that flamed the court.”
“Maree,” he said in a louder tone, “I think we’ve found her.”
Meanwhile, Ciardis was furiously thinking to herself. This insufferable council was supposed to be on her side, to be her mentors, to protect her and advocate for her. From the start they’d been nothing but hateful. She thought of all the things she’d love to do to them—setting them on fire and drowning them figured prominently in her imagination.
Maree Amber’s mouth thinned into a line. “Armand,” she snapped, speaking to the Rithmatist, “Release her.”
She stood, her seat floating silently back without a touch of her hand. The man with the golden hair also stood.
“Ciardis, you will come with us,” said Maree Amber, venom in her words.
Ciardis stood warily. At Serena’s signal, she walked around to the back of the panel and followed Maree Amber and the weird man.
The older woman turned to the man once the doors of the moon room had closed behind them. “You know of her family’s history. We can’t have another mistake like that. Are you sure, Crassius?”
The strange man folded his hands into his pockets as they walked down the hall. “Very.”
Ciardis’s shoulders sagged. She had a hunch that she’d gone from hell to high water.
Chapter 14
Maree Amber guided them straight to her office. A suite with a huge balcony facing the beach, it was open and airy. Curtains framing the balcony fluttered in the wind as they took seats around her massive desk in the center of the room.
“Look at me, girl,” commanded Crassius. His eyes, a blue as bright as his hair, narrowed as he tilted her head up with his fingertip. He stared straight into her eyes as his pupils began to enlarge.
Ciardis didn’t move her head. Although she was tempted to bite his fingers off just to be ornery. She could feel his magic searching inside her with tentative pushes against her mage core.
“What are you looking for?” Ciardis asked.
Irritation briefly masked his face. “A sign.”
“A sign?”
He dropped his finger from her chin and looked over at Maree Amber, who had sat back in her ornate office chair and watched them with intrigue.
He nodded at Maree Amber and Ciardis swore the woman closed her eyes in frustration.
“Crassius, even if it is possible...”
She stopped in mid-sentence and held up a hand to halt his protest. “I don’t doubt your abilities.”
She turned hard eyes on Ciardis. “What I do doubt is this person’s ability to act as a vessel for the plans we’ve put into motion.”
“Hey!” protested Ciardis. She wasn’t as exactly sure what it was that Maree Amber was doubting about her, but blanket derision didn’t look good on anyone.
“In time, we’ll see,” he said.
“Look at this,” Maree Amber said. She grabbed another piece of paper from her desk and handed it along with the scroll to Crassius. He took them and glanced over their contents with a bored look in his eyes.
He tossed an amused look at Ciardis. “The head of the Musicians’ Guild writes that you threw his prized poodle into the bushes. And the head of the Weavers’ Guild says you unraveled every single bolt of expensive silk fabric in her warehouse. This is, of course, in addition to your rather strange affair in the gardens at the dead of night with the Duchess of Carne.”
“Those were accidents,” Ciardis stressed.
“Companions don’t have accidents,” said Maree Amber.
“Well, not the Duchess of Carne, but she tried to kill me!”
“More importantly, mages don’t have accidents,” Maree Amber continued, resolutely determined to ignore Ciardis’s outburst. “It’s time you were properly trained.”
Glancing down at a note in the report on Maree Amber’s desk, Crassius added, “Instead of just relying on your ancestral memory ball.”
Ciardis raised an eyebrow. “Companions aren’t mages. Companions have talents. I have a talent to enhance and improve upon others’ abilities.”
“On the contrary, my dear,” said Maree Amber coldly, “we believe your Weathervane abilities go far beyond the talents of your ancestors. You’ve accidently enhanced the powers of other mages five times now. There will not be a sixth.”
Ciardis bit the inside of her cheek to keep from retorting. “I didn’t mean to,” wouldn’t go over well in this situation.
“You’re a Companion, you’re a mage, and up until this moment we were lax in reining you in. Your status as the newest Weathervane in almost twenty years had quite a bit to do with that,” said Maree Amber. “It’s time for a change.”
“From this day forward you will be trained by me. Furthermore, you will not set foot into the palace for another month—not until I’m sure you’re ready to handle it. Lord Crassius is correct in this: You need guidance.”
What about Sebastian? Wait—Lord Crassius?
Ciardis looked ready to object on quite a few points.
“Be silent, Companion Trainee Ciardis,” said Maree Amber. “I’ve heard tales of your rudeness. That kind of behavior will not be tolerated when speaking to your betters.”
“In this case I mean your elders,” she continued on blithely. “And it certainly will not be tolerated in this office.”
Out of the corner of her eye Ciardis saw Lord Crassius roll his eyes. She almost smirked.
“Unless given explicit permission to voice your opinions, keep silent,” Maree Amber said while standing up. “I will return in a few moments.”
When Maree Amber left, Ciardis obstinately stared out the window. She’d never been talked down to like that before in her life.
Some days—this whole season, really—were enough to drive a person mad.
*****
Lord Crassius took in her profile. She was irate, no doubt of it. The girl couldn’t hide her feelings at all. She looked like a porcupine that that been poked and had stuck out its spines in defense, just waiting for the next attack.
He decided to take pity on her. “Companion Trainee, I give you full permission to speak freely,” he said. “Just don’t make me regret it.”
“It was an accident. You know the kind of things that happen in the Imperial Courts,” she snapped. “There are thousands of mages wandering in and out at all times of the day. A wind mage could have pushed that dog. It could have been anybody,” she practically whined.
“It wasn’t anybody—it was you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because every mage’s gift leaves a special signature when used, an essence of them that is left behind in traces.”
Ciardis wilted in her seat. If this trace stuff were true then her life had become just that much more complicated. She wasn’t an imbecile; she had enhanced every nearby mages’ powers in an effort to protect Prince Sebastian at the time. Regardless of whether or not he was speaking to her then, he was still her friend.
He continued, “That is how I know you were the one that pushed the powers of all those mages, in effect causing them to use their magic without a choice and how I’m certain that you need to be trained. Of course, a mage would usually be trained by one of like ability, but that’s not going to be an option with your Weathervane powers.”
Maree Amber walked in at that moment. “Lord Crassius is correct again. As such, you’ll be under my tutelage henceforth.”
If anything could be worse, Ciardis couldn’t see it. The woman gave her the creeps.
; Ciardis’s eyelid twitched but she managed to restrain any comment.
Looking to Lord Crassius, Maree Amber said, “Will that be all, Crassius?”
“For now I leave her in your capable hands, Maree,” he said while standing.
“Very well, may your trip west be fruitful.”
He nodded and left.
“Stay seated, Miss Weathervane, I have orders to give you,” Maree Amber said while pulling parchment out of her desk and inking a quill by her side. She busied herself writing out three missives while Ciardis stared out the window, wondering where her life had gone wrong.
“This first missive with the golden ribbon is for the head of housekeeping. Take it to her immediately—I have ordered her to reassign your guest quarters to my tower. The maids will pack your things. The second missive with the red seal is destined for the guild couriers—they are to take it to the Imperial palace immediately. The third missive is for the school for mages. It is to be sent by pegasi windrider. Give the letter to a courier and tell them the destination. They will make arrangements from there. Were my instructions clear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Very well. Go and don’t dawdle. You are to meet me at my tower in two hours. We’ll begin your training.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Ciardis was tempted to ask her what the training involved, particularly since Maree Amber had already admitted that no other person’s abilities came close to matching Ciardis’s. What could she teach her that experience and the memory ball couldn’t?
She took in the woman’s expression and decided that for once forbearance would be the more acceptable tactic in this situation. The woman looked cold and cranky. Neither of which boded well for their lessons together.
She left hoping Maree Amber would be in a better mood in the afternoon.
*****
After quickly delivering the letters, she raced off to the White Horse Café. Sebastian, black hair a mess from the wind, sat in a corner booth of the bustling tavern. She recognized him immediately and was a bit surprised that he was sitting out in the open. Wouldn’t the other bar crawlers notice him, as well?
As he saw her, recognition poured through the bond in place between them and quiet contentment flowed freely from his end.
Well, at least someone’s happy with how this day is going.
He grinned as she slid silently onto the bench. Ciardis waved at the tavern girl for a tankard of cider. Sebatian put in an order of soup.
“A little overdressed for a bar crawl, aren’t you?”
“Had no time to change after my court date thanks to an urgent meeting called by the Companions’ Council,” she said sourly.
He whistled in surprise.
“The Companions’ Council? What’d the council want with you? They only convene for lord, ladies and important Companions, not trainees, particularly not troublesome ones like you.”
The tavern girl brought his soup. As he reached up to take the offered bowl, Ciardis noted the dangling Mindas bracelet on his wrist. The one that could warp the perceptions of people who came across him. The woman thought she was serving an ordinary man, a handsome one, but not the heir to the emperor’s throne. She plunked a mug of cider down in front of Ciardis with little fanfare.
When the tavern girl left, he started to eat his soup. Looking down at the green depths, he swirled his spoon around and managed to pick what looked like a wriggling centipede out of its contents.
“I am important.”
“In what universe? Your position with me has gotten you squat.” He paused. “Except death threats.”
“Now hold on, I’m more than just you,” she retorted, “As for the death threat—how did you know about the Duke of Cinnis?”
“I’m not blind.”
“Could have fooled me,” Ciardis said.
She shifted in her seat while fidgeting and continued, “Well, it’s taken care of.”
“What do you mean, ‘it’s taken care of?’”
She swallowed some cider and mumbled under breath.
“What? I didn’t catch that,” he said sharply.
“He sort of sent a man to kill me yesterday and I sort of had to take care of it.”
For a long moment the Prince Heir just contemplated the young woman hunched over the tankard in front of him. He deciphered what she said and couldn’t tell if he wanted to kill someone or kill her.
“And you sort of took care of that?” he asked carefully.
She bit a lip. “Yeah, with some help.”
“Someone you can trust?”
“Absolutely possibly.”
He blinked. “Right. Is the duke likely to retaliate because of what you did?”
“Nothing that I can’t handle,” she said resolutely. “I’ve got enough dirt on him that he can only rely on besmirching my character at court now. Speaking of which, have you heard all the rumors about me?”
He looked at her in amusement. “Such as?”
“That you’re leaving me, for one?” she snapped.
He chuckled. “I’ve heard of that one, yes.”
She glared.
“No truth to the matter, of course.”
“Of course,” she said smoothly. “But it’d be nice if you could do something about them.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. My father has forbidden me from declaring you as my Companion for now.”
“Seriously?” she gasped. “You couldn’t have mentioned this? For how long?”
“I’m mentioning it now. And indefinitely. But in all other concerns you are my one and only choice. Don’t worry.”
“You know what this means, right?”
He looked at her silently.
“It means I’m stuck with the shitty end of the stick.”
“Smart woman.”
She shot him a long-suffering look that bordered on anger.
He grimaced and choked down a post-bug bite of soup.
“So I take it the meeting didn’t go well?” he said, shifting his attention back to the Companions’ Council.
“They said they have received three reprimands of conduct against me from the palace protocol office.” She paused and stared pointedly at him. “I repeat: the palace protocol office.”
“I have no influence over protocol. They’ve been around for hundreds of years and don’t care for my opinions,” he said.
She sighed and grumbled, “I know. I just wish you did.”
Clearing her throat, Ciardis said, “I won’t be around for about a month—the council decided it was best I have formal mage training.”
“With?”
“Maree Amber.”
“Good, she’s strict but a great mage.”
“What kind?”
“You don’t know?”
“Would I be asking if I did?” she snapped.
“She’s the head of your guild.”
“And?”
He muttered an unintelligible response.
“She’s a telekinetic companion.”
“Oh, well, that could be useful.”
“Officially.”
“Officially? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Unofficially, she’s supposed to have other talents in service of the empire.”
“Says who?”
“Says half the nobility, and my father.”
“Oh. What kind of talents?”
“No idea. Only the ruling emperor and his closest advisors are privy to that sort of knowledge.”
“Damn.” Ciardis was curious. There were many talents a person could have, but to have more than one generally qualified a person as a master mage. And “in the service of the empire” was as revealing as mud. Another mystery to solve, then.
Sebastian tapped his fingers in a pattern back and forth as he thought.
“See what she can teach you. I’ll call you into the Aether realm in a week’s time so we can convene.”
It was then that they heard a crier at the front d
oor. “A summons has been issued to gather at the square for news of the day. Five minutes until the clock strikes the mid-afternoon.”
Ciardis cursed a blue streak. “I’m late. See you at our regular meeting?” She barely saw him nod before she scrambled up from the table and ran out the door, nearly barreling over the crier in the process.
Chapter 15
Hurrying into the street, she signaled for a fast carriage. The fact that the driver had to nearly run down an old woman carrying a basket of bread to get Ciardis where she was going was enough to earn him his tip. She took off in a flat out run before the wheels had even stopped in the courtyard. Tossing a small bag of coins at the man, she set off for Maree Amber’s tower. Panting and out of breath, she made it to the base of the tower just a few minutes past the start of the hour. Ciardis approached the single-door entryway to the council head’s chambers with some resignation.
Although it was called a tower, it was really a very large set of suites set together. She’d read that the original apartments for the council head had been in a tower. But an attack three decades ago had destroyed it. No one was quite sure if it disappeared entirely or fell into the ocean. The new set of apartments had taken on the name of the tower despite being only one and a half levels and in a fairly rectangular shape.
Loitering outside Maree Amber’s door was only making Ciardis later than she already was. Sighing, she reached for the handle of the door and squeaked in surprise when the door not only shocked her with some form of electricity, but also swung wide open of its own accord.
Squeezing her hands together, she walked inside, slightly unsettled. She was getting used to magic, but only a fool would trust unseen magic. Inside was a wide foyer with a floor of marble, bookcases that lined each wall, and plush chairs arrayed in a sitting room style. Seeing no one there, she continued forward into the next room. There was a short hallway that made a sharp right into the council head’s office. Ciardis walked around the corner and immediately stopped in her tracks.
