Rexson did not, Vane realized. He would have to create a Magic Council to keep the Fist quiet, and the council would have to be public. Vane knew firsthand what people thought of the magicked in Herezoth. If the king formed that council in secret and somehow word got out, well, “mass hysteria,” as Zacry named it, would not be strong enough a term to describe the backlash. The Enchanted Fist had won an important battle, the battle they most cared about, despite losing the war; the thought left a bitter taste in Vane’s mouth, and not only because the entire situation was unjust. He could see its implications for his future. The words of his mother’s diary crashed against his skull like the waves upon the beach.
I do believe, with all my soul, that my son and his father share more than a name….
Vane took a deep breath, and said, “Sire….”
“Don’t you call me that. Not you of all people.”
“Rexson, are you going to found that council?”
The king’s bitterness was palpable. “It looks as though I’ll have to, doesn’t it?”
“Then I’m willing to take part, in any capacity you’d like. There should be at least one person involved who knows about your power, for your own security, to avoid embarrassing situations. Plus, to have a nobleman, a duke, will lend the council more legitimacy in the public eye. Every council until now has boasted two or three nobles, usually more. Listen, I know who I am. I realize people will talk, my uncle being who he was. Maybe they’ll realize that if he’d had a forum like this, he wouldn’t have felt compelled to take the measures he did.”
The king responded, “I’d never ask this of you. This council changes everything about your situation, whether or not you take part. Your presence at court will be even more controversial than it otherwise….”
“I’m still offering my aid, and freely.”
It’s what my father would expect of me. What my mother would do herself, if she could.
“Does this mean you’ve made up your mind, then? About your father’s title?”
“It does.”
Kora slung an arm around Vane. “You don’t belong here,” she told him. “You truly don’t, though I can’t describe how much I’ll miss you, how much the kids will miss trekking off to see you. And you,” she told her brother.
Zacry sent her a startled look. “Me?”
“There’s nothing for you in Traigland, Zac. We both know that. Joslyn’s always longed to move to Herezoth, and Lanokas, he needs you there long-term. He just won’t say it. He won’t say it, so I will.”
Rexson tried to speak, but Zacry would not let him. He asked his sister, “What about Mother? And you?”
“What about us? Zac, you’re a sorcerer. We’d still see you. You could drop by for visits at the blink of an eye.”
“I would have to discuss this with Joslyn.”
“I realize that.”
“There’s a lot to consider. There could be some unrest. My daughter….”
Kora said, “Do you know what Bennie called you last night? I can’t stop thinking about it. She said you’re what Zalski could have been, what he was called to be. Well, you can’t be that from Traigland. You won’t make an impact in Herezoth living here. And you’d love to go back, I know you would. You thrive on conflict, on challenges. You never wanted to leave in the first place. You never grudged leaving, and I appreciate that more than you’ll ever understand, but still, you didn’t want to go. What I don’t want, more than anything, is for you to grow restless and resentful, resentful of me in particular, sometime down the road because you should have gone back and never did.”
Zacry’s face turned red. He wanted to tell his sister he could never resent her, tell her he finally knew what she had sacrificed for him all those years ago during that conference with Zalski, but he could not. He had sworn not to, and that was no conversation to have with other people around. He let Kora go on.
“I think Joslyn would go to Podrar. And Viola is welcome to stay with me as long as she might need to, if you decide it’s too risky to bring her right away. If you’re willing to leave Traigland in the first place, leave the safety you have here, because you might not be, and no one would blame you if that’s the case. You’re a father now. You have a family to consider.”
“Zacry,” Rexson began, “I don’t expect…. I won’t be offended if you stay here, whatever the cause. I won’t even ask an explanation. You don’t owe me a thing, and I can get on without you, though I wouldn’t reject what assistance you could give if you did return to Herezoth.”
Zacry gave the king a brotherly punch in the bicep. “If anyone can get this council off the ground, that person’s you. You don’t need my help, and I won’t let a misplaced sense of obligation sway me if it turns out going to Herezoth is not in my family’s interest.”
“Good,” said the king. “All right, good. As long as you’re sincere in that. Listen, could I have a word with Kora?”
“Let’s go get drinks,” Vane suggested, and he and Zacry headed off, retracing their steps to the tavern. Kora and Rexson stared out at a glorious sunset, both silent at first. The sky looked the color of Bendelof’s hair.
The sorceress said, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? My favorite thing about Traigland. I’ve always said the sunsets are the one thing Traigland has that’s better than in Herezoth. When I first came here, our boat docked this time of day. We got held up by storms at sea that made it dangerous to approach the harbor earlier. And as frightened as I was, and as seasick, as unsure as the future seemed, when I looked out at that display I felt that things would work out somehow.”
“What did you do?”
“Bennie and I took Zac to the cheapest inn we could find, and just like I thought, we got lucky. Within a week me and Bennie found work with a farmer, picking and separating beans, laying them out to dry. The work was tedious, but after everything I’d been through in Herezoth, a mind-numbing task like that, it was almost welcome. When it wasn’t, I did it for Zac. I tried to be grateful he’d never have to worry about Zalski again.”
“Zacry will return to Herezoth, Kora. He’ll make that choice, if not now then in a year or two.”
“I know he will. And he should, he really should. Lanokas, if I could come back to help you….”
“You already have. Had you not been there today…. You were the only one Arbora didn’t freeze, weren’t you? Your shell.”
“I saw she was casting something.”
“Listen, I don’t need you to come back again. I know how to govern, and you have other concerns. I’ll do what I can to make sure the Fist keeps its mouth shut, because I owe you that. At the expense of this damn council, I owe you that. The last thing I want is for you to have to flee again, to uproot your family.”
“If it happens, it happens. I told you, I chose to go back, me, and my husband, well, I can’t say he agreed with me, but he accepted I needed to go, that my going could have consequences.”
“At the least, I can get you advance notice. I’ll send Vane if things go sour.”
“I appreciate that. Lanokas….”
“Hmmm?”
“How’s Gracia?”
“She’ll be better once the children are back, I’d say. This mess, it hasn’t been easy on her.”
“On the both of you.”
“On the both of us,” Rexson conceded. He said nothing more about marital troubles. In truth, Kora didn’t know why she expected he might. She and the king had shared one conversation since he banished her, just one, when he’d brought Vane to her family. It was losing him that made the rumors about an affair so painfully, heart-wrenchingly ironic.
She could only say, “The friction there, it’s not about me, is it? She doesn’t resent it was me you brought her children to? She doesn’t think there’s anything to what people say?”
Rexson demanded, “You know what people say?”
“Arbora told me. I’m glad she did, for my children’s sake. But I don’t understand….”
Rexson’s tone was acerbic. “People realized through the years that I banished you from necessity, not for anything you’d done. Everyone knew you’d fought beside me, had supported me. What would I have against you? And then the circumstances under which….”
“I know all that. But to leap to you fathering my children….”
“I try to laugh about it. At the absurdity. It’s all I can do.”
“I wish I could laugh. My children can’t ever go to Herezoth, can they?”
“Not openly. I can tell you, the vast majority of people wish I’d sincerely willed your banishment. They don’t mind so much I didn’t, though, as long as you keep away from my kingdom and I keep my word should you come back. They wouldn’t welcome your kids, especially thinking they have blood claims to the throne. Illegitimate heirs could start a civil war.”
“You have no illegitimate….”
“I know this. Thank God, Gracia knows it. As for the rest, well…. I wish there were something I could do.”
“I don’t doubt that, Lanokas. And I thank you.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”
“Lanokas?”
“It evokes all kinds of emo…. All kinds of memories.”
Kora tensed. “You almost said emotions.”
“I said memories. Memories best left buried.”
“So we’re going to pretend you didn’t just say…?”
“We are.”
“We’re going to pretend Vane couldn’t transport you here from time to time, for a visit? Just a visit, to talk? To maintain some kind of friendship?”
“We are.”
“We just won’t see each other again, is that it?”
“I think that’s best, for a number of reasons I won’t go into now.”
“Or ever. That you won’t go into ever, just admit it.”
“What would you have me say, Kora? That I never stopped loving you? That being with you and watching a sunset of all blasted things is agony? None of that’s true, none of it, I swear to God. But I did love you once. I’m not sure I didn’t love you more than I’ve ever loved my wife, and now, now we’re both married; my marriage is in shambles; my throne could be in jeopardy; my sons were just kidnapped, and it’s still not safe for them to come home; people will swear ‘til they’re blue in the face that I fathered your children, or at least one or two of them, one of the boys for sure; and I’m honestly worried I could fall for you again, to borrow a phrase you once used. So forgive me for thinking my sneaking away to come visit you is not the best of ideas. In fact, it’s the opposite of a good idea. It’s a very bad idea.”
Kora rubbed her temple, as though it ached. “You really do think you could fall for me again, don’t you? Because the rest of it, the rumors, you wouldn’t care about that. You’ve always had a bit of a ‘hang the world’ attitude. Sometimes it’s stronger than others, but it’s always there. It’s part of you. It’s one of the things that endeared you to me, because I was never like that.”
“Let me guess: neither is Parker.”
“Neither is Parker,” Kora conceded. “I’m surprised you remember his name.”
“Oh, I’ve never forgotten it.”
Kora ran her hand down her face. “This isn’t happening,” she said. “Lanokas, I do love him. I’d never have married if I didn’t. I’d never use someone that way.”
“That’s not who you are,” the king agreed. “And damn it, don’t call me Lanokas!”
“What should I call you? Rexson? I don’t know Rexson. That man who beat a captive this morning, I don’t know him.”
The king turned defensive. “Dorane tore my family apart, Kora. Kidnapped my children. Don’t you dare….”
“I realize what he did. He deserved worse than you gave him, and if you want me to use your real name, fine, I give up. It’s not as though it matters. It’s not like I’ll talk to you again. It’s not like you’ll be able to come for your kids yourself, not with everything you have to straighten out back home. You’ll just send Zac or Vane for them. But I do appreciate you coming here tonight, all this way. You didn’t have to.”
“When will you go home?”
“Tomorrow morning. I can’t stay away longer than that. Parker’s worrying, and so is my mother, I’m sure. I just can’t go back tonight. I can’t tell Parker I was seen without having some kind of a plan in mind to describe to him, an escape plan if we should need it. After all, I insisted on going to Herezoth. I told him there’d be no danger when I got back. And I don’t think there is, truly, but I should take care of the eventualities and not throw that on him. There are other things to consider as well, other things to come to terms with. Zac and Vane…. I just, I can’t go home right away.”
“I understand why you’d want to think things over first.”
“And you’re sure I’m not the cause of your problems with Gracia?”
“It’s not you, Kora. It’s the way I handled this entire mess. Gracia asked me numerous times not to go on the rescue mission. She had various reasons, some centered on herself, some not at all, and I went anyway. I went knowing full well how much she wished otherwise, and even though I had to be there, I tried to explain that to her, she never understood me. She assumed Gratton and Zacry could handle things just fine, and I was mulish and insensitive and spiteful to take part. And selfish, of course. Let’s not forget selfish. As for bringing the children here, well, I made that decision without her. It’s not that she didn’t want them here in particular. She didn’t want them to leave her to go anywhere, especially not the baby, and I insisted Melinda leave the Palace.”
“I don’t mean to pry. I just, I don’t want her to resent me, or be jealous, or to think somehow there’s something between us.”
“She doesn’t.”
“Does she know I came to help you?”
“She doesn’t, and I don’t mean for her to find out. There’s no reason to tell her. That would make her suspicious. I know you quite well, Kora, or I used to. I know your leaving Traigland was more for you than it was for me. I don’t know Gracia would believe that, though.”
“More for me? What does that mean? Are you calling me selfish?”
“Not at all. I’m saying Zacry wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to leave Herezoth to begin with.”
“You could leave Herezoth, you know. That’s an option you have, though no one’s mentioned it. You could abdicate, couldn’t you? The government’s stable now, as long as there’s a noble you could appoint to the throne. Your chief adviser.”
“I won’t give in that way.”
“Would you really be giving in? To what? You’ve hated ruling, always have, and don’t you pretend otherwise, not around me. With you gone, the Fist could stand trial like you want.”
“They’d bring you into the thick of things.”
“Hang it all, I told you not to consider that! This is about you, about you and your family and your happiness. About Herezoth’s good, not mine.”
“It’s not an option, Kora. I refuse to abdicate. I’ll found the council if I must, and it seems I must. Arbora’s shocked out of her senses right now, but give her a week, and Dorane, and they’ll be back to their old selves, threatening to reveal everything. But to abdicate, no.”
“Might it be best for Herezoth?”
“I don’t think so. The council—if I can present it in such a way to prevent unrest, and I’ll find a way—this council could accomplish some real good. Hypothetically. With Vane involved….”
“That’s another issue. You take care of him. He’ll make enemies if he joins this council, powerful ones. I don’t think he realizes….”
“He knows what he’s doing. I promise, he knows fully what he’s undertaking. He’ll be on his guard, and so will I.”
“If something should happen to him, if someone acts against him…. I really do fear for him.”
“Are you sure what you fear isn’t him leaving Traigland? And Zacry, the two of them deserting y
ou?”
“They’re not deserting me.”
“I’m sure they’ll visit, but it won’t be what it was.”
“Things can’t stay the same forever. Vane has his life to live, and so does Zac. I have my own life here, with my children, my husband. I’m nearly done with my book now. It’s taken some time, because I can’t work on it much, but I’m finally reaching the end.”
Rexson smiled. “Your history of magic. I’ve been wondering how that’s going, whether you’d let it go.”
“I haven’t, no. The pace hasn’t been what I’d like, but I expected that.”
“You do have five little ones to tend to. I’d consider that a valid explanation.”
“I suppose it is,” said Kora. She took in the orange sky. She watched the waves come in, steady, constant, one following the next as sure as the endless days in Triflag. Rexson cleared his throat, not so much to catch her attention as out of nervousness, in preparation for something unpleasant. Kora turned to him, concerned.
“I’ve a confession to make,” he said. “When Zac came to the Palace, some old topics came up. Zalski, you, the League…. It was natural enough, I suppose. But in the midst of things, I disclosed what occurred at that last conference you had with Zalski.”
“I know the one,” said Kora. She shivered despite the heat of the summer twilight. “What did you let out, Rexson?”
“That you gave up that chain for Zacry’s safety. That because of Zalski’s ultimatum, you told him how it worked, how you’d been using it for months to invade his mind….”
“Damn it, Lanokas: yes, you’re Lanokas again after this. Damn it, there was a reason I kept that from Zac. He’ll feel guilty as sin. He won’t leave Traigland now.”
“He will, Kora. That longing for home is too strong in him to resist long-term. I’ll tell him you wouldn’t want him to consider the past in his decision. You can tell him yourself.”
The Magic Council (The Herezoth Trilogy) Page 23
