Voice of Dominion (The Spoken Mage Book 3)

by Melanie Cellier

  The camp had been too public, so it was in the carriage on the way home that I told Coralie, Finnian, and Saffron of my breakthrough and of the true purpose of the attack. For a long moment after I finished, silence reigned.

  “I understand if…if you see me differently now,” I whispered when the minutes stretched on. “All those deaths because of me.”

  “No,” said Coralie swiftly. “You will always be my friend first and the Spoken Mage second.”

  “None of it is your fault,” Finnian added, his arm wrapped tightly around Coralie’s shoulders. “This war is the fault of a power-hungry would-be emperor. And you don’t seem to fit that description at all.”

  I had to force the smile onto my face, awash with shame at the memory of how close I had come to starting down that path.

  “And if you can’t leave the Academy, then we’ll just have to stay and spend some of the summer with you,” said Coralie loyally.

  Only later, when we stopped at a roadside inn for a meal, did she whisper that she had her own selfish reasons for wishing to cut her summer away from the Academy short.

  “Staring death in the face might have made me realize that love is worth fighting for, but that doesn’t mean I’m eager to meet Finnian’s mother. Horribly cowardly of me, I know.”

  “It could be worse,” I said, my eyes on Lucas who spoke to Lorcan on the other side of the room. “She could be queen.”

  “Yes, about that,” said Coralie, following my eyes. “I don’t envy you one jot. But I do expect a full account when we get back to the Academy.” She paused to bend a serious expression in my direction. “A full account.” Her face relaxed, and she giggled. “Plus a promise not to forget me when you’re a princess.”

  I winced. “A princess.” With everything else going on, I still hadn’t fully processed that possibility or Coralie’s words just before the attack. War might have had the same effect on her it appeared to have had on Lucas, but that didn’t erase her earlier perspective or the uncomfortable truth behind it. If the mageborn couldn’t accept me, I could never make a good partner in life for a prince. Our marriage would ruin the both of us.

  The thought lent bitterness to the lingering kiss he gave me in the entranceway of the Academy when we finally reached home. A crowd had gathered, mostly trainees on their way to the midday meal, and I could hear their whispers swirling around us. But Lucas didn’t hurry, gripping me with sure hands, his mouth firm and warm against mine.

  When he at last broke away, I hoped he hadn’t noticed the two salty drops that lingered on my lips.

  “Tomorrow,” he told me, his words a promise. “In the morning I will go to the palace to speak to my parents. I’ll tell them of my intention to court you and demand they change the law.”

  If he saw the fear on my face, he didn’t ask me about it, and for that I was grateful. Because despite my fear, I was far too weak to give him up.

  I would just have to hope for the best. Together we were stronger than we were apart. We had proved it again and again now, and it would have to be enough.

  I had planned to spend the afternoon resting, but I suspected I would most likely spend it being interrogated by Coralie instead. So when the knock sounded on the door, it was no surprise.

  When I pulled it open, however, the smiling face of the Academy’s head servant greeted me.

  “Welcome back, Elena. It’s nice to see these suites in use again.”

  “All except one,” I couldn’t help saying, and Damon’s face fell.

  “I’m sorry,” I said after an awkward pause. “I didn’t mean…It’s certainly nice to be back.”

  “Some things take time to adjust to,” he murmured. “And some things you don’t forget.” He glanced down the corridor. “He always had his light on the longest, you know. I used to notice it whenever I did my nightly walks through the halls to check everything was well.”

  “He studied hard,” I said. “He would have thrived at the University.”

  We both stood in silence for a moment.

  “We’ve heard rumors of what you did,” said Damon eventually.

  “I promise you they aren’t true.”

  “Aren’t they?” He regarded me steadily. “Well, true or not, it seems to me it was a fortunate day for us all when you arrived here.”

  It was strange to remember Damon showing me to my room on that first day. How out of my element I had felt, and how foreign and terrifying everything seemed. The Academy then had been far from the safe haven that greeted me today.

  “Oh,” said Damon, holding out a sealed parchment. “This came for you by messenger from General Griffith.”

  I frowned down at it but swallowed my questions. Damon would not have read my private correspondence, even if he could. I took it with a murmured thanks and withdrew into my suite.

  Coralie barged in several minutes later to find me still standing in the middle of the room staring down at it.

  “What’s that?” she asked, tweaking it from my hand. It only took her a moment to absorb the contents, and then she regarded me with a raised brow. Tossing it onto a small table, she collapsed into a chair.

  “Well? Are you going to go?”

  “I think when a member of the Mage Council requests your attendance at their mansion, it isn’t really a request.”

  “We knew he had come back to the capital ahead of us,” she reminded me. “All those reports for Their Majesties.”

  I looked away. How many of those reports had involved me? And now I was summoned to the central Devoras mansion. Well, their main Corrin home, at any rate. Their estate in the foothills of the Graybacks was far larger by all reports.

  “I suppose I might as well get it over sooner rather than later,” I said.

  Coralie rolled her eyes at me. “I don’t know why you look like you’re off to your own execution. He probably wants to tell you you’re getting a medal for valor or something.”

  Of course, my friend didn’t know I had threatened the general’s life and then accused him of treason. And that was on top of driving our enemies to launch an attack on the kingdom with my mere presence.

  Coralie did however take appropriate interest in the discussion about what I should wear. She wanted me to choose my most elegant day dress, and I thought I would do better in my white trainee robe.

  In the end I settled for something in between. And when I stood in my practical leather outfit—one I often wore under my robe—she gave me her unqualified approval.

  “You were right in the end. It makes you look powerful. Like you’re a fully fledged mage who just hasn’t chosen a discipline yet. Everyone already knows you’re powerful enough you could graduate tomorrow—no harm in reminding them of it.”

  Her words buoyed me until I stood at the wide gate of the general’s Corrin mansion. I had expected to have to explain my presence to the gate guard, but at the sight of me, he immediately swung the gate open. And somehow that turned out to be even more intimidating.

  Inside the fence, vast, well-manicured gardens surrounded a tall, elegant house of white marble. I could almost hear Finnian’s laughing voice in my ear.

  Someone’s trying a little too hard to remind us all of a certain other building in Corrin, wouldn’t you say?

  His father’s Callinos mansion was a much more relaxed red sandstone.

  Drawing a deep breath, I marched up the gravel drive and knocked on the front door. It swung open as quickly as the gate had done, and I entered a cold, sparsely furnished entry. Every instinct told me to turn around and leave this unwelcoming place, but I forced myself to continue further inside. At least I didn’t have to fear running into one of the twins.

  “This way, My Lady,” said a footman, appearing at my elbow so silently that I jumped.

  He led me down a long hallway to a large receiving room decorated in icy blue satin. Inside the general sat on an uncomfortable sofa. When I entered, he stood.

  “Welcome to my home. Thank you for coming so
promptly.”

  I nodded at him cautiously, not quite ready to thank him for the invitation. He bade me sit and inquired about our journey.

  “It was uneventful,” I said.

  “Excellent.” He smiled. “The best kind of travel, then. I myself will be heading back to the front in a matter of days.”

  I smiled awkwardly, trying unsuccessfully to guess where all this small talk could be leading. The door behind me opened, and the general once more stood, so I followed his lead. When the new arrival strode into the room, I gave an internal sigh. Calix must have come straight here to his father after we arrived in the capital.

  “Welcome, Elena,” he said with a broad smile, as if we were friends. “How do you like my home?”

  Only the seat behind me prevented me taking a wary step backward.

  “Um, it’s lovely,” I managed to say which seemed to satisfy him.

  “It’s the finest house in Corrin,” he said proudly. “Aside from the palace, of course.”

  I didn’t bother to tell him that it was the first mageborn mansion I had seen inside the city.

  We resumed our seats, Calix taking a high-backed chair beside his father, and the general smiled at me again.

  “No doubt you have some slight suspicion as to why we invited you here today.”

  Wait…We? I looked between him and his younger son. Not one of my ideas had related in any way to Calix.

  “To be honest? I haven’t the faintest idea.”

  The general chuckled as if I had made a joke, but I could only manage a weak smile. I felt as if I had entered some alternate world where I was a mageborn and not the commonborn Academy-pariah-turned-Spoken-Mage.

  “My son informs me that you celebrated your nineteenth birthday at the front,” the general said. “I wish I had known so we might have hosted a celebration for you.”

  My eyebrows shot upward before I could stop them. That would have been a surprise.

  “No doubt,” General Griffith continued, “you are starting to think of marriage.”

  My face flushed. So this was about Lucas, then.

  “I hardly think I need enumerate the advantages of this family,” the general said.

  So…not about Lucas?

  “I believe our position and strength speak for themselves, and your three years at the Academy have given you ample opportunity to observe the virtues of my son.”

  Calix grinned across at me as if we had been best friends from the moment I arrived. A surreal feeling set in. The general couldn’t possibly be saying what he seemed to be saying. Could he?

  “Naturally my family would be honored to welcome you into our number—despite the oddities of your origins.”

  A change of tune for the mighty Devoras. Apparently I had finally won their respect with the only currency they truly valued—power.

  Something of my horror must have showed on my face, because he added, “Of course there is no rush for an actual marriage. You will both wish to finish at the Academy first at the very least. Perhaps even finish your mage term at the front. A formal betrothal would be more than sufficient.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t think I understand. Betrothal? Between me and Calix?”

  “Certainly, my dear. What else would I be talking of? Of course there is no question of love in the case—not yet at any rate—but that is hardly a necessity at our level.”

  Our level. I stared at him.

  “Both my son and I have long admired your strength and determination, and we—”

  “Would that be while you were voting for my execution, or while Calix was attempting to kick my ribs in?” I asked.

  The general gave a strained laugh.

  “My dear girl, this is exactly why you need us as much as we need you. You have much to learn, but I will give you this tip to begin with. In politics one must have the longest of memories while pretending to have only the shortest.”

  “I thought we were talking about a marriage, not politics.”

  He raised a sardonic eyebrow. “There’s a difference?”

  “My behavior was a misunderstanding,” added Calix. “And one I can promise you won’t happen again.”

  I slowly shook my head. No, it wouldn’t happen again, because I would send him flying if he ever tried. But surely neither of them could think I would seriously contemplate marrying Calix of all people?

  “You could do a lot worse than my son,” said the general, and I tried to decide if his voice had an edge. How would he react when he understood that I would never agree to such a plan?

  “I’m sorry, general.” I stood up. “I cannot possibly marry your son. Not now, not ever. I am…honored by your proposal, but it is best we do not talk of it any further.”

  “Oh, sit down,” he said, sounding more exasperated than enraged. “Calix, get out of here.”

  To my surprise, Calix amiably left the room without the smallest sign of discomfiture at being thus dismissed. Whatever the general was trying to accomplish here, his son seemed to be entirely in support. And that astonished me almost more than all the rest.

  “I have to admit,” Griffith said, “I had my doubts about the chances of such a proposal, but it was worth a try. My son understands the value of power as much as I do, and it would have been the neatest of arrangements. But no matter. There are other options, you know.”

  I slowly sank back into my chair.

  “Other options?”

  “Certainly.” He leaned back, regarding me through hooded eyes. “I meant what I said, Elena. You still have much to learn in the ways of court. Not all power comes from compositions. The Devoras family is old. We are strong, and we are respected. If you were one of us, no one could ever question your place among the mages.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “I’m not marrying your other son, either.”

  The general gave a genuine laugh at that.

  “No indeed. Julian is a less amenable son than Calix, and he has not had the opportunity to observe you up close. He doesn’t realize the potential…”

  “So what exactly are you suggesting then?”

  “I’m offering to formally adopt you into my family. I’m offering, Elena, to make you my daughter.”

  Chapter 26

  I stood, sat, and stood again before striding to the fireplace against the distant wall. When I reached the general again, I stopped.

  “You want to adopt me. You want me to become a Devoras.” I had to say the words out loud to even begin to process them. Such a possibility had never occurred to me in even my wildest dreams. And if it had, it wouldn’t be the Devoras family I would have looked to for acceptance.

  I tried to wrap my mind around the idea of becoming a member of a family that I had hated.

  “You know I’m not an orphan, right?” I asked. “I already have a family.”

  He shrugged. “Legally that is of no consequence. And you are past the age of eighteen, so their consent to the arrangement would not be required.”

  I winced at the thought of betraying them in such a fashion. Of rejecting them just as my parents had feared. What would Clemmy say?

  A strange feeling crept over me. My family had shown me that their love came without condition. Clemmy loved me too much to make any protest. She would know that a legal document did nothing to change our relationship. And if I accepted the general’s offer, then I would have a claim on all the vast resources this mansion represented. And through me, my true family might benefit.

  Perhaps this wasn’t an idea to be rejected out of hand, whatever I thought of the individual members of the Devoras family. At least I knew they weren’t traitors. The memory of the general offering to undergo a truth composition made me pause. How long had he been planning this? No wonder he had wished to reassure me of his loyalty. I would never have considered allying myself with traitors.

  “You know, Elena,” said the general in a deceptively soft voice. “There are all sorts of advantages to being a member of one of the gr
eat families.”

  I sank into the nearest chair, stunned. A member of one of the great families. There were indeed many advantages, but only one that mattered to me. In the midst of my shock, I had forgotten what Lucas had long ago told me over a desk in the Academy library. Royalty were only permitted to marry other royalty or members of one of the great families.

  The general watched me with an all-too-knowing look in his eyes. He knew about me and Lucas. He knew this was his trump card. No wonder he hadn’t seemed thrown off by my refusal of Calix. He knew he had a lure I could not refuse.

  And however it worked out between me and Lucas, the general still won. The Devoras family gained the only known Spoken Mage in history either way. If I one day became royalty, they only stood to benefit even more.

  But try as I might, I couldn’t actually think of any downside for me, either. Well, other than gaining Calix and Natalya as siblings. And it wasn’t as if I intended to move into their house.

  Callinos had already accepted me, and now Devoras was ready to do so as well. And beyond that—they would give me legitimacy in the eyes of all the mageborn. As a Devoras, I need not fear that I would have no place in court at Lucas’s side. I might be considered a safe person to offend or threaten or ostracize, but a Devoras was not.

  When I looked up, the general already had the gleam of satisfied triumph in his eyes. He was canny in ways I was only beginning to understand.

  “Will you answer a question for me, General?” I asked.

  “If I can.”

  “I know now that you are not a traitor, that you never were. So when I threatened you, during the Battle of Abneris, why didn’t you defend yourself? And why have you not mentioned it since?”

  For a moment I thought he didn’t mean to answer, but then he sighed.

  “I am not a young man, Elena. I had chosen the armed forces discipline before the threat of war became real. I was part of the forced march and subsequent battle with which we turned back the first incursion by the skin of our teeth. And I have been waging war ever since. Yours was not the first battle rage I have seen, fueled by grief and fear and anger. Such rages cannot be reasoned with. They must be either restrained or allowed to burn their course.”