“He was so gone that he didn’t even know that his wife was going to have their child, Errol. It took two months of work to bring back the memory of their marriage. After that, he has no recollection of their life together. They wiped his mind of everything.”
“It wasn’t in your control, Ilias.” Errol’s low voice
“Yes, but...”
“But nothing.” Errol leaned forward in his chair. “Who is the Almighty?”
“He is creator, king, all-knowing, all-powerful, and sovereign deity.”
“How often has He imparted to you His plans?” Errol asked.
I looked at him in surprise. “Never.”
“So what makes you so sure that He is going do so now?”
“Nothing.”
“Then stop feeling sorry for yourself. He has a purpose. He always does, but that doesn’t mean that He has to unveil to you or me. Shall not the Sovereign of the universe do right? Of course He will.”
“And if He has chosen to not let me see the future, then my role is...”
“The same it has always been,” Errol interrupted. “Seek His face, follow His will, stay close to Him, and continue to fight with His strength. Without him, you will fail.”
I hung my head as the realization of what I had been doing washed over me. Forgive me, Lord, I prayed. “I have assumed more than my measure.”
“Seek Him. In your humility, He will make you strong.”
I nodded and closed my eyes.
“I will leave you to work it out with Him,” Errol said as he rose to his feet.
“Tell Renato we will be staying for a few days. I will seek him out later.”
“And apologize to Zezilia?”
I looked up and laughed mirthlessly. “I seem to be constantly be apologizing to her.”
He nodded. “Then, we will talk about her future.” He turned to leave, but paused to lay a hand on the tome resting on table to the right of the door. “This is a copy of the Revelation should you need it.” Then he exited, closing the door softly behind him.
I lowered my head into my hands and lay my heart bare before God.
Zezilia
RENATO LOOKED DIFFERENT. I watched my brother giving instructions to a gathering of talents, defenders, and non-talented servants. Outwardly he looked the same, medium height, golden brown, and confident. But now there was an essence of authority to his voice and manner that I didn’t remember from when we both lived at home. That time had seemed so far away before, but seeing him now brought the memories as though it was yesterday. A sensation of homesickness hit my stomach, and I wondered how Mother and Father were doing.
Just then Renato turned toward me with a smile as the group around him dissipated. He wrapped me in a big hug before linking arms. “Now we can escape for an hour or so and catch up. You have to tell me all about your training.”
“Where do you want to go? I can show you the tree house that Candra and I built.”
“You built a tree house?” He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “Wait until I tell Mother.”
“Oh, please don’t. She will only get angry. You know I was never allowed to climb trees.” I led him off into the woods.
He laughed. “If she got a look at you now, Zez, I doubt she would be worried about whether or not you are acting tomboyish.”
I frowned at him over my shoulder. “What do you mean?”
He flashed me a half-smile. “You look the opposite of tomboyish and that is what is important when it comes to husband catching.”
“Husband catching?” I asked, half-puzzled and half-worried. “I am too young.” I looked down at myself. It was the same body that I had dressed this morning.
“You are turning eighteen in three weeks right?” he asked. “Actually you are running late. It is a good thing that Hadrian promised to pull strings to make sure you are married off soon.”
I frowned up at my brother. “What are you talking about?”
“You mean Errol didn’t tell you?”
I stopped and confronted him. “What?”
“Hadrian and Errol made a deal with Father to allow you to train. Hadrian promised that he would find you husband or marry you himself.”
Visions of marriage to the Sept Son sent shivers through me. It wasn’t that he wasn’t attractive. He was, in an older man way. He was handsome in a rugged, noble manner that I did like, but he was the Sept Son, the second most powerful man in the country.
As unsettling as it was to think of Errol and Hadrian deciding my future marriage partner, I had been doing that regarding my future role as a talent. This new information added a whole new dimension to the future that I had been lead to expect. An aspect that needed further discussion, but not with my brother.
“Let’s talk about something else. How is Mother doing?” I turned away and led the way toward the tree house.
“Organizing parties, gossiping, matchmaking, and socializing, she keeps busy. She and Hadrian also made a deal, but I have yet to find out what it was about.”
I turned to confront my brother. “Can’t you speak of anything but secret alliances and gossip?” I asked.
“You are an adult now, Zez. You should know about the arrangements that have been made about your future without your knowledge. I am just trying to give you a clear view of the world you are about to step into.”
“The world is full of people who want to exploit me, use me, abuse me, and kill me. As you have pointed out, I am an adult, but I don’t need to know details yet. When it comes time, Errol will tell me what I need to know. Right now I want to know about our family. How are our brothers?”
A cloud passed over his features. “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask.”
“Not likely,” I responded as I watched his face intently. “What is wrong?”
Renato turned away and lowered his gaze to the ground and the thick grass that cloaked the forest floor on either side of the trail. “Something happened to Blan.”
A sinking feeling settled in my stomach. “Last I knew he was working on a project in the west. What happened?”
Renato stopped in the path and turned away to look into the dim recesses of the woods. For a long moment, he didn’t speak and I watched as his stance changed. Before my eyes, his façade of self-assurance and bravado fell away. When he finally turned back to regard me, his eyes had a haunted look and his face had aged. He crossed to a fallen log and sat down. Gesturing to the clear place next to him, he spoke.
“The mission was to infiltrate the Elitist movement that had settled in a compound on the west coast. Once entrenched, he was to leak information back to the Sept Son. Blan was perfect for the job and willing to do it.”
I nodded. He would be the ideal operative for that kind of work. His quiet charisma drew people to him and enticed them to trust him. He wasn’t loud enough to catch attention or foolish enough to ask for it. He would entangle himself in the social network just by being there. I sank into the seat next to Renato and waited for him to continue.
“Everything unfolded beautifully. They accepted him and gave him a house to live in and land to farm. Then with the next successful raid, they gave him a brain-altered, talented wife. It appeared he was well set.
“Then a year and a half ago, that changed. Blan’s contact noted his unusual agitation and then sudden silence and began to worry. He sent word to Hadrian that he suspected that Blan had been discovered. Three days later, a strange woman appeared at the gate with a man in tow. She asked to speak to Hadrian by his given name and would talk to no one else.”
“Blandone’s wife?” I asked. Dread settled around my heart. Surely if Blan was dead, Renato would have told me already.
Wearily Renato nodded. “I am glad you were not there to see it, Zez. His face hanging slack and eyes vacant, he didn’t even recognize me.” He clenched his hands into fists at his sides. “It took four months before he could look at me and understand that I was his brother. After that, reconstructing his memories of befor
e his time in the service of the Sept Son were easier. Hadrian believes he defended those memories more than any others. Memories of home, us, and growing up were the most dear and thus the most fortified within his mind. Within their depths, he hid information that he didn’t want the Elitists to access. The healers kept stumbling across random facts about the Sept Son and our organization.”
“So, he preformed well?” I asked, half fearful that all his sacrifice had been in vain. The thought of Blan so changed tore at my heart, but I continued to struggle for distance despite it. I didn’t feel comfortable enough with Renato to drop all of my defenses with him yet. Too much had changed since we had last truly conversed.
Renato nodded. “Very well. According the healers who are experts in this type of mind-razing, the Elitists couldn’t find what they were seeking. Then in frustration, they razed everything they could reach.”
“Everything?” A shiver crept up my back. In my studies with Selwyn I had learned a great deal about the functions of the mind. The technique Renato was describing wiped all memory and personality from the victim and the chances of recovery were minimal.
Grief slipped leaden fingers around my chest. My brother was never going to be the same. The images of how I had seen him that last summer I had been home flashed before my mind’s eye. Head thrown back in laughter as he watched a playful, witty insult dawn upon Janus, Blandone had turned to wink at me. His dark eyes glinting with merriment at his older brother’s expense, he was strong, solid, and alive. Never again will he be the same. I grieved for the brother I had known and loved knowing full well that I still would love what he had become.
“He has recovered much. I must remember that.” Renato looked over at me. “He knows me, he recognizes his wife, knows that he is a father, and he vaguely remembers all of us.”
“He has a child?” I asked in surprise. A glimmer of joy amongst the laden clouds of grief, I was an aunt. “Why didn’t you let me know?”
Renato’s smile was bittersweet. “Hadrian doesn’t want anyone to know. As far as the Elitists know, Blan and his wife died by an assassin’s hand two months after their escape. Father and Mother don’t even know.”
“Janus is going to disappointed that he and his wife didn’t provide the first grandchild. Is it a boy or girl?”
“A girl.” Renato watched my expression of joy with amusement. “Leave it to you to find something to rejoice about in the midst of tragedy.”
I purposefully ignored his comment. “When can I see them?”
“Soon. They are traveling with us for protection. Donata is probably directing the food preparation, and Blandone will be watching Ardyne play with the other children. I will just have to clear it with Hadrian first, though.”
I frowned. “Then it will have to wait.”
“Why?”
“Well, when we left them, the Sept Son was debating with Errol whether or not I was joining the Sept Son’s entourage.”
“You are joining us?” He raised his eyebrows. “Hadrian isn’t going to like that.”
“I understood that much,” I replied. “He sounds overwhelmed, and he wasn’t very happy about the thought of taking responsibility for me.”
“He has had a great deal to oversee and this Elitist threat is rattling him more than he is letting anyone see. Besides, you can be a handful.”
I pulled a face I hadn’t made since I last saw him. “I have grown up since the last time you had to watch over me.”
“Not that I could tell you had matured from that expression,” he commented with laughter. “I have missed you, Zez.”
“And I you,” I admitted as a wave of homesickness washed over me. Suddenly, I desperately wanted to see all of my brothers. I contented myself with pestering Renato with questions about them.
Chapter XVIII
Hadrian
I emerged from Errol’s study hungry and tired, but relieved. It felt almost euphoric to leave my worries and fears at the Almighty’s feet. It had been too long since I had done this and I resolved that I wouldn’t wait so long again.
Following the sound of conversation, I found Adreet and her daughters in the warm kitchen cooking dinner. The bustle came to a clattering halt as the door closed behind me and the girls realized I was standing there. Adreet lifted a flushed face as she steadied a large kettle full of potatoes on the edge of the deep sink. The steam rose in billows, frizzing her hair.
“Oh, there you are.” She smiled. “Errol said to tell you that he and Selwyn are speaking with Renato.”
“Actually, I was hoping that you could tell me where Zezilia is. I have to speak to her first.”
“Candra usually knows.” Adreet nodded over her shoulder toward her youngest daughter and then returned her attention to the potatoes.
Candra had her hands full of bread dough and flour up to her elbows. “She said something about visiting someone named Blandone, but that was hours ago.”
She probably wasn’t still there. Blan still tired easily and struggled to focus on any one thing at a time. “Where does she usually go to think?”
Candra shrugged. “The tree house?”
“She likes to spend time in the old willow grove along river,” Eloine offered. “I sometimes find her sitting out there when she wants to be alone.”
I smiled my thanks and slipped out the back door.
“Dinner will be ready in an hour,” Adreet called after me.
The red-gold sunlight of afternoon greeted me on the doorstep. After the steamy heat of the kitchen, the warm summer breeze whispering past felt almost cool. Closing my eyes for the moment, I breathed deeply of the light smells of the country. The willow grove would be beautiful and refreshing on a day like today. I decided to check there first.
Though less traveled than the days when I had roamed the land as a child, the trail leading east was still clear. Soon, I reached the slight decline that marked the edge of the grove.
I pushed aside the thick curtain of rippling willow leaves falling from the branches above and lowered myself onto the soft ground of the lowland. Dozens of willows crowded the inlet, interlacing roots into an uneven lattice of wood, earth, and moss. Every spring the river waters, fed by the melting snow, flooded the grove and then receded, leaving behind fertile silt and moisture for the trees. By mid-summer, the grove was dry and cool, capturing the breezes coming off the river in the cascading drapery of the trees’ leafy skirts.
I sensed Zezilia before I could see her. A flickering of mint touched my mouth as her consciousness brushed mine.
“You wish to speak to me?” she asked.
“I did come here today to test you.”
“Wait there. I will come to you.”
I spotted a dry place among the roots of a mighty willow. Climbing over, I settled in to wait.
A few moments later, she appeared from the depths of the grove. Dark hair twisted into a simple braid over her shoulder and wearing clothing meant to be dirtied, she obviously hadn’t intended to be found. Her slightly too-bright, gray eyes found me without hesitation, despite my slightly secluded seat. As she drew nearer, the pink around her eyes further confirmed my suspicions that she had been weeping. The realization that I had probably inadvertently caused those tears tugged at my conscience. But before I could decide whether or not to address the subject of her brother, she spoke.
“Thank you for coming to test me personally.”
“You are welcome.” The response that my mother had driven into all of her sons’ heads slipped out of my mouth without a thought. “It is my duty.” That didn’t sound right.
“I still appreciate it. Renato has been telling me a little of the problems that you have had to deal with in the last few weeks. I can see how difficult taking time for anything is with all that demanding your attention.” Despite the awkward formality of her words, the signs of genuine grief lingered in her voice and the increased moisture in her eyes.
“You aren’t the only reason I am here,” I admitted
.
She looked up at me in surprise. Dark gray eyes studied my face and then suddenly she smiled. “You wanted to see Errol?”
“I need his advice.”
“And you got a chastising instead.”
“I needed it.”
She smiled understandingly. “Errol is good at getting to the root of the issue.”
I couldn’t help smiling at the memories from my own training. “Yes, he is. He excels at keeping one humble.”
“So, did you decide what to do with me yet?” she asked suddenly. She studied me with a steady gaze. My stomach clenched.
“What did Renato tell you about your father’s plans?”
“I wasn’t referring to that. Am I coming with you for more training?”
“So, he did tell you about the conditions of your father’s consent for you to train.”
A slight blush blossomed across her cheeks, but she didn’t drop her gaze. “If you are referring to the fact that I am betrothed to you if you cannot find another to marry me, yes, he informed me.”
“And you are comfortable working with me with that knowledge?”
“Not at the moment, but ease might come with time.” She dropped her gaze to her hands. “Besides, it seems to be the way the Almighty is leading.”
“If it makes you more at ease, Zezilia, I do not feel any more led than you toward marriage. Your father didn’t put a time constraint of the agreement and you will receive no pressure from me toward marriage to anyone. The choice of time and mate are in your hands. If your father objects, he no longer has the authority to force you to do anything.”
The tension in her shoulders eased slightly, but she didn’t raise her face. “Thank you.”
“As for the other issue, I am not sure. I have to see for myself what your skills are. Are you ready for your testing?”
“Now?”
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