As in proper noble fashion, the dinner party convened in a solar attached to the King’s Hall where they conversed and drank wine until the table was set. Gabriel could hear talk and laughter as they stepped up, and a pair of guards grasped the double doors. A handsome older page bowed and confirmed he had their salutations and names correct. He paused for a moment when looking at Gabriel.
“Forgive me, Mage Gabriel, I thought your true style was ‘Star Breaker’,” he said, bewildered, making Gabriel try to smother a chuckle but losing the battle. Satisfied, the man stepped through a crack in the door and announced loudly “Princess Robyn Bolt and Mage Gabriel Lenis.” The guards pulled the doors fully open.
They were immediately greeted by Talon, Andolyn, and most of the Council as well as a few new faces for Robyn. Mages Malain and Oren had been freed and were already beginning to look like men again. Mage Oren sported a sun burn on his brow.
Through all the greetings and salutations, Gabriel heard the silence of Lael and Adelaide off to his right. They had been in the middle of a debate, Lael looked tense and Adelaide had a furrowed brow, but as Gabriel walked in they fell silent. Lael visibly relaxed, and the woman smoothed her brow quickly looking him up and down.
“By the stars, Lael, he certainly looks the part.”
The supper was wonderful. Robyn had been allowed to sit next to Gabriel and Lael, with Mages Malain and Markus flanking them. She heard a great deal from Malain on Nolen’s cruel dealings, and listened to Lael about the affairs of the Mages and how they would handle Head Mage Casimir’s burial and memory. Markus gave them tallies on resources Jaden had should Mage Ryker attack. He accounted well over two thousand rooms left unfilled. Robyn knew it was her duty to protect her people, and it would not have been appropriate to ask them to harbor non-Mages. She wished there were more Mages to fill Jaden’s rooms, for every Mage put against Ryker was one more to protect her lands.
She retired to her room after a long meal. Her maids took down her hair and dressed her in a gown of pink silk, with a creamy satin robe, and lamb’s wool slippers. The wrap was hardly warm enough in the chill of autumn, but the seamstresses were hard at work to make warmer pieces, and she was not about to complain.
As a maid braided her hair and tied off the end, the door to the bed chamber suddenly burst open. Robyn spit out the cinnamon alcohol she had been swishing and turned to the door. The two maids with Robyn gave a start, and Robyn stood swiftly to face the intruder. Mage Mikelle rushed in with her eyes fixed on Robyn.
“Come quickly,” she said and rushed to grab Robyn’s hand. “There was an Air Mage—Gabriel—he didn’t stand a chance—hurry,” she exclaimed and pulled her out of the chamber, urging her into a run as they raced through the study and down the hall.
“What happened?” Robyn breathed, too worried to wonder why there were no guards rushing to protect her or any sounds of peril from the anteroom.
“I am not sure,” Mikelle replied, bursting through the threshold of her door and into the anteroom. She extended a hand to lay a pattern and clenched her fingers. For a moment Robyn thought Mikelle smiled, but that would be absurd in a moment of such danger.
Mikelle hit Gabriel’s door first, slamming a shoulder into it as she forced the latch down, flinging the door open. She stopped and her forward momentum propelled Robyn forward into the room.
Gabriel stood in the center of the chamber looking at the door as if he expected them, though he must have felt their energy and knew they were coming. He had an inquisitive expression as he looked at Robyn and past her to Mikelle. He narrowed his eyes at her and could not help but grin as if he was the soul recipient of some huge joke.
He wore nothing but a pair of loose white sleeping trousers with a synch around the waist left untied that sat so low Robyn was afraid it might slip. She had never seen so much of him before. It seemed as though every fiber around his hips desperately clung to his skin, but they threatened to lose the battle at any moment. She held her breath as he should, for an exhaled breath could surely loosen them enough to send them to the floor. He was dripping, his hair in wet tangles about his neck and face, and his cheeks rosy with heat. In one hand he held a towel, but he dropped it to look at the two women indignantly. The firelight of his hearth shone on him, and the droplets of water sparkled on his skin as if burnished with gold.
The three of them stood there for several seconds as Robyn held her breath. Gabriel glared at Mikelle, and Robyn heard the door close with a soft chuckle and lusty sigh from the Mage.
“I…” Robyn began, certain somewhere in her mind there were words for a conversation, but stupidity bested her, and few words came to her mind. “I was….”
“Running about the palace in your nightgown?” he finished for her.
She flushed red as she realized she was indecently garbed. The month apart from him had stripped him of any fat he carried, leaving him lean and long. The muscles of his torso were prominent, and his stomach was flat. Unlike people who had to swordfight and perform hard labor to be muscular, he was naturally so.
“Mikelle said you were in danger….”
“From her. She causes most of it. You shouldn’t be friends with her.”
Robyn could not help but grin at his serious tone but coy expression. ‘I like her already. We are to be fast friends, I know it.’ “I should probably….”
He extended his hand, the muscles in his shoulders tightening as the skin pulled taught down his side. ‘But the trousers!’ her mind exclaimed and she swallowed, preparing for them to pool around his ankles. “Should we?” she asked and took a step closer.
He smirked. “I am not going to steal your innocence, Robyn. Can we not sit like old friends?”
“Can we, Gabriel?” She inched closer and took his hand. “I think we are beyond that.”
“Nonsense,” he said, and in one swift movement he swept her into his free arm, pressing her against his front. “We’ll always be old friends, but we’re going to be new friends as well.”
His hand in hers was warm and so much larger than her own. He took it behind him where he placed it against the tight cords in the small of his back. She took the opportunity to press her fingers into the ravine and draw him closer.
She had been kissed once before—well, almost once—actually never. A boy in a market on a dare from his friends had jumped out at her from a window and tried to put a kiss on her lips but missed by a good inch. Gabriel throttled the boy, and the entire village shunned her, so they moved on. She was always on the move, so she could never find a love or a pretty face to steal away with, and Princesses did not steal away with pretty faces just to kiss them. Boys never came to court her while in Urima Manor because no one knew much of her.
He did not ask as he drew her up and leaned into her, and she would not have been able to speak, for her heart beat so swiftly in her ears she could not hear. She trembled, she was sure, and felt him pull her tighter to hold her firmly. She gripped the hollow of his back and wondered where her other hand was, but in the moments of heart-racing, he had put it against his chest. She was about ready to faint. He was as smooth as she imagined, warmer by far, and smelled of earth and a scent she could not quite name but knew to be his.
Before she could let her mind analyze a thing more, he closed his eyes and touched his lips to hers, gently and without any feeling of obligation for her to reciprocate. As he pulled away, she could not bear to part with him, so she stretched up on her toes and met his lips again, not sure what to do with them but loving the connection. He worked them carefully with the impression he’d done this before, and she let him take the lead happily. It seemed to be only a moment before he pulled away, his eyes sparkling.
“I’ve missed out. You never told me.” She said breathlessly. He laughed giving his head a hopeless shake.
“Seems there are a lot of things I’ve never told you,” he said, securing his hands around her back comfortably. “I love you, Robyn, and I should have said it a long t
ime ago.”
“I hope I did not force you to say so,” she replied and pulled his hand off her back to find the gold ring of hair still bound around his middle finger. “It was unladylike of me.”
“You were more courageous than I.” He brushed a hand over his neck and returned it to her back. “I should have—”
“No,” she countered softly. “Do not dwell on what could have been.” Questions came to her mind as she watched the firelight play off his blue eyes, and he held her gaze with a solid look as if expecting difficult dialogue. “I love you,” she began, “But I need to know the truth. I have no right to ask, but I need to know. Did—did you lie with the Arconians?”
Slowly, he smirked. “No,” he chuckled with a grin. “I’m impressed it took you this long to ask.”
Relief washed over her so physically it brought color to her cheeks, and she smiled. “I—I was so distraught with worry for you—and selfishly for me.”
He seemed to blush under the firelight and looked away, finally closing his eyes as he could find no solid place to set them. “You know,” he sighed and lifted the lids. “It has been a very long month since I had a massage.”
“You would,” she snickered. “I haven’t the oil.”
“Oh, but your brother did. He found me some.” He slipped from her embrace, and her hand lingered where his chest had been as he shuffled through a cabinet in his bedside table. He was even more appealing in the white trousers from this angle, and she tilted her head to observe with a rogue smile. It was hard to wipe off when he finally turned around. If he noticed, he paid no mind and found himself a comfortable space before the fire. He lowered himself to the ground and fell into the Parion rug with a sigh.
She was ready to perform and sat gracefully at his side. The oil was linseed, and she spread it over his golden skin to make it glow all the harder. She kneaded his flesh where the knots had developed around his shoulder blades and down his spine. His forearms would be as much a problem as the rest of him. He should never have gone more than two weeks without a massage, and when they lived together, he rarely went a few days.
“You will need to find someone who can massage you in Jaden.”
“There are many masseurs, but you know I only trust one.”
“You cannot travel here every week for one.”
“I certainly can. I have already discussed it with Lace. She will stay with me until further notice and assist in my sidestepping until I can find a better mode of transportation.”
“Is there one?”
His eyes were open, watching the flames flicker with his cheek against his folded hands. “There is,” he answered. “Could you press harder? I can hardly feel it.”
She did as he asked and pushed harder. “Can you feel that?”
He grimaced. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” She raised a brow. He had never been good at lying, and she could usually tell when he dared. “What is this now?”
“Nothing, don’t worry.” He continued to stare at the fire with his ‘pondering’ expression.
“When I’m crowned, you’ll have to answer every question I pose.”
“Have I ever given you unclear answers?”
“What is wrong with your back?” She could not quite pinpoint what, but something about his skin and muscle was not the same.
He looked back at her. “Nerve damage. The Mages couldn’t heal me fully.”
She frowned. “Where?”
He drew two fingers down the small of his back where the corded muscle drew up to encase his spine. “I can feel here, and patches here and there. The rest is a mystery.”
She gritted her teeth. “You cannot be serious. Nolen did this?”
“On more than one occasion. Do not worry, the Mages healed me as best as they could.”
“Can no one mend you?”
“Anyone above a Class Eight, sure. Nerves are tricky things to mend.” He turned back to look at her properly, considering saying something else, but he sealed his lips and gave her sympathetic smile. ‘Don’t pity me,’ she decided.
“Any other lasting damage?” she asked as he put his head back in his hands.
“Knees crack when they bend now.”
“That’s because you’re getting old.”
“I most surely am not. I stopped aging at twenty; don’t be silly.”
Robyn chuckled, happy to hear him joke again. He had a sarcastic sense of humor, but it was something she rarely saw in the past years. She hoped with her safety, and the reuniting of his father, he would have reason to be gladdened and humorous. As she continued to work on his shoulders the fire gave a little jump and smoldered, cutting the light in half, and she realized she had put him to sleep. ‘Just like the best of days.’
She worked a little longer until he stirred, saw her to her door, and retired for the night. She bade the guard at her study door a pleasant night and stepped into the bedchamber to spend the first of many nights in the room that boarded Queens.
Chapter 23
While the palace slept, the Council debated. No one had expected to fail so badly in the battle that cost Casimir’s his life. While all knew the plans, no one fathomed the worst path would be the one taken. As Castle Jaden could not be without a Head Mage for more than a month per tradition, it fell to them to choose as soon as possible. They met in the Map Room, a whole party with Queen Challis who had been sidestepped from Viorica, and Dagan from Jaden. A vacant seat left where Councilwoman Selene should be, and Councilman Kieran’s seat was now filled by Cordis.
Lael sat and listened for most of the debate, still reeling from Casimir’s death. It had been planned for some time, and he knew Casimir expected to die, but it made the passing no less bitter. The man had sat the Seat for over thirty years, and Lael had served him for the better part of eleven, growing quite fond of the man. He saw Casimir as friend and father figure. Since they shared apartments separated only by an anteroom and worked together so often, Lael saw him every day and was thankful they got along so well. The job would have been a laborious effort otherwise. Casimir had his quirks. He had been known from time to time to lose his temper and partake of too many sips of spirits when the demons of his past surfaced, but if the man had been any more kind and sincere, Lael would likely had thought him faking.
Cordis had little to offer, for it was obvious where his allegiance lay for the new Head Mage, but Aisling brought up many valid points on uniting Anatoly and Jaden in stronger bonds with the prospect of a marriage. Challis joined their side from the beginning, her allegiances with the Class Ten boy well known. She retold the story of his selfless act once more, this time with more passion and a wetting of her eyes that she dramatically dabbed. The performance was spectacular as she reached out to Penny who had borne several children and knew the love of a mother. It was not long until the white-haired woman joined their side.
Adelaide knew when she was manipulated and would have nothing to do with it. She still leaned towards an older man who served in the library, and Galloway took her side; the two always in cahoots. ‘You two just like to argue the opposite side,’ Lael mused behind steepled hands. Lewis also took their side, saying he wanted to train Mage Gabriel in the infirmary and have him take over someday, suggesting there was still a Council Seat open.
“No,” Dagan argued, “the Class Ten could always find time to heal while as Head Mage.”
‘I suspected you would take the boy’s side as well,’ Lael thought. ‘I need to figure out my own loyalties.’
Lael did not know Gabriel well. He had met him many times in Castle Jaden years ago when he trained and would never forget his Classing. ‘Who was this boy everyone seemed to love so dearly?’ Aisling and Cordis had many wonderful attributes to pin to him, giving examples and stories of his bravery and valor, explaining his intelligence and skill, and adding that he was a Creator to match. Adelaide argued there was a chance he would be killed in the coming battles with Ryker Slade, and they would suffer another
loss of a Head Mage. She moved to put Gabriel in the vacant Council Seat in the end.
Markus remained the most silent as he listened to the debates. The voting had to be majority in favor, but he and Lael still voiced no opinion. It would only take one person to push Mage Gabriel into the seat. After a while Lael was not sure if Markus was asleep with his eyes open or just very pensive.
As it was customary to give the Secondhand the last vote, Lael knew he would be the decider if Markus sided with Adelaide. It had been Casimir’s deepest wish to put a leader the Mages could look up to on the Head Mage Seat, and who couldn’t look up to a Class Ten?
The room grew very quiet, and some fidgeted while others glanced at Markus with expectant eyes. The Councilman continued to stare at a spot on the map as if he could burn it free. When Galloway cleared his throat, Markus waved a hand at him to silence him. “I know you are waiting on me,” he stated and fell back into silence. Challis opened her mouth to tell more of her daughter’s plight, and Markus silenced her with his eyes.
“The Mages need someone to respect,” he finally said with his deep tone that put everyone at ease. “A fresh face with an ability to pit himself against the Arch Mages is what we all need to give us confidence in a leader. My vote sits with Mage Gabriel, and may the stars strike me down if I have erred.”
A great relief came from team Gabriel, and Challis let out a gasp of delight. Adelaide gave a polite nod and smiled a touch. “He did look the part in that ivory coat this evening. I will give you that.”
“White is such an unflattering color, but I dare say it will fit that figure nicely,” Penny tittered, old enough to be his grandmother. Aisling chuckled and said he took after his father. Cordis agreed.
As the decision had been made without Lael, he was not forced to give a vote, but the more he listened to those who knew Mage Gabriel, the more he found himself at peace. According to the laws of Jaden, when one or more Council Seats were vacant during a Head Mage election, it fell on Mage Gabriel to find someone to fill the Seat once sworn into his new title. Lael saw everyone out of the Map Room and found his way back to his chambers. Kilkiny was a very proper palace, and the Council had select rooms always waiting should they stop by in travels. Lael had found his unchanged.
Breaking Stars (Book 2) Page 23
