by Lisa Cassidy
“What did she do?” Ladan asked when Terin’s voice trailed off.
“She said that Shakar must be behind the disappearing mages.” Terin took a breath. “Foolish woman. She thought that by facing him, by killing him, she could go back to her family. I tried so hard to reason with her. She listened to me at first, even wrote a letter to the new head of DarkSkull.”
“What changed her mind?” The grim anger in Ladan’s voice had momentarily been replaced by a note of yearning, a need to know what had happened to his beloved mother.
“She argued that Shakar was old and the fact she knew him would make it easier to get him alone. Then she would have the upper hand. Plus the advantage of surprise.” Terin shook his head. “Even then I wasn’t convinced—he’d outwitted the council and stayed alive all these years, surely that made him even more dangerous. But she was desperate to go home, she missed Garan so much... she missed you, Alyx.”
Tears filled her eyes as emotion hit her like a punch in the gut. Beside her, Ladan had gone still.
“She... ” Alyx cleared her throat. “He killed her, then.”
“I assume so.” Terin’s eyes closed. “The last time I saw her, she was heading off to face him.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone? The council?” Ladan demanded. “If you’ve known all this time he was alive, how could you keep that to yourself? Mages have been dying!”
“I was terrified. If he killed Temari, and he knew I knew? He would come for me too.”
“You’re a coward.”
“Ladan, be kind,” Alyx said sharply. “You think the council would have listened to him if he went to them with a story of feeling Shakar’s magic? When he was three when it first happened?”
“They would have listened if he told them our mother went after him and ended up dead,” Ladan said. “Who else could kill a mage of the higher order?”
He was right, but it was too late now to assign blame. They needed to focus on how this information helped them. Alyx sat back in her chair, thinking. “What made my mother think she could track down Shakar? How did she know where to look?”
Terin’s gaze darted between them, the fear in it unmistakable.
“Tell us.” Ladan’s voice was granite.
“She made me show her the memories of what I’d seen and heard in Shivasa.” Terin let out a long breath, as if letting go of something he’d been holding in a long time. “She recognised something about the man I’d seen. Not his face, I never saw that, but a mannerism, I think.”
Alyx sucked in a breath. “Are you telling us she recognised him?”
A sharp nod. “She wouldn’t tell me who. Didn’t want to put me in more danger. But she said it was someone she knew, someone from the mage world. She said he must have been hiding himself, changed his appearance, maybe even used magic to do it.”
Alyx and her brother looked at each other. Now they had something. A real lead. Shakar wasn’t a man who’d been hiding for decades, no, he’d walked amongst the mage council. People would know him.
“We have to go.” Ladan stood. “Thank you for answering our questions.”
“We all know I should have come forward earlier.” Terin was looking at his feet. “Good luck with what you have to do next.”
Alyx paused at the doorway, looking back. Terin had sagged into his chair, looking old and beaten. “Terin?”
“Yes?”
“She really wanted to go home?”
Terin gave them a sad smile. “More than anything else in the world. Being apart from Garan was killing her.”
“Did you know the reason she left us, why she went to Widow Falls?”
Something flickered in his eyes, a spark of bitterness that brought life back to his features. “The damned Mage Council and their terror of the Taliath. Yeah, I knew.”
“Killing Shakar wouldn’t have solved her problem with the council.”
“She thought it would. She figured if she could destroy Shakar for good this time, save all those lives, the council would have to leave her and Garan alone.”
“Is that why you don’t like him? Because he could have made her invulnerable and put her at risk?”
Terin barked out a laugh, genuine mirth in it. “He did make her invulnerable. She had Taliath ability from the first moment they became lovers, only the council was too stupid to figure out she was hiding it from them.”
Alyx froze, shock spearing through her. “What?”
“That’s the real reason she left you,” he sobered. “She knew they’d figure it out eventually, and then they’d come for her and Garan both. Running and hiding was the only chance she had to keep you all alive.”
She swallowed back tears as Ladan’s hand landed reassuringly on her shoulder. “So the council was right about how Shakar became invulnerable?”
“Temari thought they were. She absorbed nothing from your father before they became lovers.” Terin’s gaze turned distant. “Garan Egalion was everything I wasn’t. Tall, handsome, confident. The finest Taliath of his generation. The last Taliath, now.”
“Not the last.” Ladan said quietly.
Chapter 39
Ladan left reluctantly, a day’s travel from Alistriem, to return to Widow Falls. They fought about it, a fight Alyx won after she pointed out that first, she could look after herself, and second, nobody knew where she was and therefore the chances of being attacked were low. She didn’t tell him about Shakar’s threat of sending his Hunters after her.
“You need to make sure Widow Falls is secure,” she added. “The border crossing near Tregaya could become critical.”
He left in a huff after extracting a promise that she would send a message as soon as she returned safely home. She went to an inn for the night, almost enjoying being alone as she sat at the bar eating dinner. The separation from Dashan was already painful, but she pushed that away. He would come back to her in time, and until then she needed to concentrate on Shakar, and learning how to defeat him.
Alyx approached Alistriem just after midday the following day, turning Ladan’s horse away from the city and up the road towards the palace. The Bluecoats on the front gates of her home were clearly taken-aback at the sight of her, and she smiled a greeting but didn’t linger to chat.
Safia was nowhere to be seen as Alyx stepped into the empty foyer. There she paused—the house was silent, indicating nobody was home, and she debated whether to go straight to the palace and see if her father was there or wash and change first.
Just as she’d decided to go and get Tingo to ride over to the palace, a door slammed down the hall and moments later her father appeared, moving with quick strides into the foyer. He was so deep in thought he didn’t notice her until he was halfway to the door.
“Hello, Papa.” She smiled at the surprise on his face. “Did you miss me?”
“Aly-girl,” he said in astonishment, jogging towards her. “You’re back.”
“I am.” She threw her arms around him with a laugh, and he hugged her back tightly.
“Where have you been? How have you been? What on earth possessed you to disappear like that?”
“I’ve been travelling, looking for information.” She answered his questions one by one. “But I wasn’t well when I left and I needed the time away to heal.”
A shadow flickered across his face. “And now?”
“Now I’m on the mend,” she assured him.
He hugged her again, the fierceness of it betraying the depth of his worry. “I’m glad.”
When he finally let her go, she stepped back and arched an eyebrow, trying to lighten the mood. “Even though I must have caused a huge scandal before I left? Surely I’ve totally humiliated the family name?”
“Yes, well, your killing of Lord-Mage Casovar did cause some mutterings, though the people on the streets are singing our praises for getting rid of the Mage Guard.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Garan eyed her, then let out a resigne
d breath. “Right. You mean the fact that you broke your betrothal to Cayr and vanished from the city? Well, for a start, we haven’t made any official announcements, so nobody is sure what happened. Including your dear father.”
“Are you asking me what happened?”
“I think I can probably guess. The happiness shining out of your eyes is unmistakable to a father, and I’m supposing I can attribute that to a certain young Taliath?”
“I know you don’t approve,” she said. “I am sorry for that. What if I just say that I haven’t done anything irresponsible, and that I was also with Ladan, and leave it at that?”
He turned grave. “The truth is, I like Dashan. He has more than proven himself a capable, honourable young man, and I would like him only for that look of happiness he’s put on your face. But I’ve been through the same thing with your mother, and I know the danger you’re putting yourself in. I fear for you both. Still, I trust you to do the right thing.”
“I knew I loved you for a reason,” she said cheekily. “How have things been here?”
“Slowly improving. Sparky and Caverlock have regained full control of the army and Blue Guard and the king has formally disbanded the Mage Guard. Only just in time, too, because the disputed area has essentially turned into a battleground. Shakar is a formidable commander, and Shivasa isn’t even pretending to respect the old rules anymore. I fear our northern border will soon be under real threat.”
Alyx hesitated. “And Tarrick and the others?”
“You’ll probably find them at the A’ndreas home,” Garan said. “They’ve been assisting Sparky and the king. That Tarrick of yours has a sharp military mind, and Cario is quite the diplomat.”
“I’d best go and speak to them,” she said. “But first, are you heading over to the palace?”
“I was.”
“There’s something we should talk about before you go. Casovar inadvertently told me something interesting while he was...” Garan’s face darkened, and she hurried on before he could start dwelling on her capture. His pain would only re-awaken hers. “Anyway, I have an idea of how to use the information, but I’ll need your help.”
“I’m intrigued.” He smiled. “Let’s get you something to eat in the kitchens and you can tell me all about it.”
Tingo was excited to see Alyx and almost wrenched her arms out of their sockets trying to run away with her down the road. It took several minutes and the firmest tone she could manage to calm him so that he stopped fighting the reins.
The twins’ mother answered the door, smiling at Alyx’s question as to whether the twins were home. “They are, Lady Egalion. Please come in and I’ll show you through.”
All the way down the hall, Alyx wrestled with her anxiousness. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. At a gesture from the twins’ mother, Alyx stepped through into the large front room, projecting calm confidence. Tarrick and Finn sat on the single sofa, their attention on papers lying on the table before them. Dawn sat opposite them, looking equally focused on whatever was being discussed. Cario was absent.
“Hello,” she spoke into the room.
“Alyx!” Finn was the first to speak, his expression mingling surprise and something else she couldn’t name. He glanced over at his sister.
Dawn looked weary, and there was an inflection of sadness in her words when she spoke. “We’ve been worried about you. I’m glad to see you well.”
Tarrick rose to his feet, features settled firmly in a scowl. “What were you thinking to walk away like that? Where have you been?”
“I was with Ladan. He found Terin, and we went to talk to him.”
Eager interest flashed over Finn’s face, but Tarrick spoke first, anger filling his voice. “You’ve been gone for over a week, leaving the rest of us here to worry about you without even knowing when you’d be back. Did you consider us at all?”
“I had to go.” She couldn’t keep the edge from her voice as some of her recently buried pain trickled out. “I promised Dawn I’d be back soon and I meant it. And I didn’t leave on a jaunt. Ladan and I talked to Terin, and what he told us is enough to convince the council about Shakar.”
This time Finn got in first. “What did you find?”
She gave them a full run down. “We have to assume my mother found Shakar and he killed her.”
Tarrick sighed. “You should have spoken to us before leaving, allowed me at least to come with you.”
“You cut me off,” Dawn added, fire flashing in her blue eyes. “You could have reached out at any time to let us know you were okay and you didn’t. That’s not how friends treat each other.”
Alyx winced as the words hit home. Her only excuse—that Dawn would have known she was with Dashan if she’d reached out—certainly wouldn’t help the situation.
“I know,” she said as gracefully as she could manage. “What I did was poor behaviour, and I apologise.”
A moment’s silence, then Dawn’s searching gaze. “Are you all right?”
“I wasn’t.” The most honest words she’d spoken to them yet. “What he did to me... I needed to go, just for a short time, and I needed my brother.”
A short silence, then Dawn spoke, her voice aching with resignation. “There was a time we could have helped you. And I know that finding out about the council murdering Taliath has come between us, and the revelation that Dash is a Taliath made things even worse. But if we don’t find a way to work past this, how can we hope to defeat Shakar?”
“It’s not up to us to defeat Shakar,” Tarrick said bluntly. “That’s the council’s job.”
“He’s right,” Alyx agreed. “And we need to help them do that, so first we have to finish our training.”
“Back to DarkSkull?” Finn asked.
Tarrick gave a short nod. “Warning the council and finishing our training are our first priorities. We can work on the other stuff later.”
“Agreed,” Finn said, relief evident in his voice.
Alyx glanced at Dawn, reaching out with her magic “I know you’re right, but I don’t know what to do about it. We just have to take it one step at a time.”
Dawn gave a little nod, then forced a smile to her face. “When do we leave? I’m hankering for dawn breakfasts already.”
Alyx matched her smile. “Give me a day to reassure myself things are steady here, and then we leave.”
They would be fine. In time.
Cario found Alyx later that night as she sat in her father’s study. A warm fire crackled in the grate, and she sipped at a glass of his finest spirits.
“I just came from the twins’ home. They told me you were back.” His voice came from the doorway. “Mind if I join you?”
“Please. We should talk.”
Cario nodded and poured himself a glass before crossing to lean idly against the stone fireplace. He turned the glass over in his hand, gaze far away as he studied its contents.
“We’re going back to DarkSkull,” she said. “Leaving tomorrow. What will you do?”
He smiled faintly. “Come with you. Once Romas learns what happened, how you defeated Casovar, none of you will be apprentices anymore. Whatever happens next, I’ll follow.”
She relaxed. She’d been more worried than she’d realised that Cario would want to leave again.
“They were terribly worried for you,” he said after a moment.
“I know.”
“The thought crossed my mind that you might have run off with Dashan.” Cario’s expression gave away nothing of what he felt about that.
She frowned, injecting confusion into her voice. “Why would you think I would do that?”
“Because you’re in love with him.”
For a moment she debated denying it, pretending she had no idea what he was talking about. Instead, she raised her eyebrows, challenging him. “And if I had run off with Dashan?”
He shrugged slightly. “You told me that you accepted me for who I am, even the bits you don’t like.”
�
��I meant it.”
“In that case, I can accept you for who you are, including the bit where you are a mage of the higher order in a relationship with a Taliath.”
Alyx stilled, meeting his intense blue gaze, wanting so badly to believe him. “Cario, I’m going to need someone to trust, someone who knows everything and can accept it. Someone who can trust me in return.”
He pushed away from the fireplace and sat down in the chair beside hers. Carefully, he reached out to place his glass down on the table nearby. Then, he met her eyes.
“Tell me everything, Alyx. You do that, and I am your man.”
Alyx sighed in resignation when Cario left for bed only to have her father appear in the doorway.
“I saw the light on and hoped you were still up,” he said, coming in. “I did what we talked about earlier, including speaking discreetly with Casta and Tijer. The guards are waiting on your word now.”
Alyx gave a little smile. “I think I might leave it until tomorrow.”
Garan gave her a knowing look, but didn’t say anything. She stifled a yawn. Her conversation with Cario hadn’t done anything to lessen her weariness. “Have a seat, Papa. There’s something you need to know.”
He took a seat in the chair Cario had vacated, stretching his long legs out towards the fire. Her eyes travelled the handsome planes of his face, the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, the grey in his temples. Then she thought about spending twenty years without Dashan, thinking he didn’t love her as much as she did him, and her heart broke a little.
“I’m going back to DarkSkull tomorrow.”
He said nothing for a moment, then gave a little nod. “I’d hoped it wouldn’t be so soon, but I accept that you’re going back. I want you to know that I understand now who and what you’ve become, and I’m prouder of you than I can ever say. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
