And so I waited, and the days rolled on. I had plenty of time to work on my own personal training, and before long I had successfully worked out a way to tie the rate of Jasper’s energy drain to the outgoing power of his shield composition.
The scare at the welcome feast had finally broken down my remaining hesitations, and I also taught myself to skim a large crowd, taking only the smallest drops from each person. Collectively, the drops filled my well, keeping me buoyed up and strong no matter how much I trained. I couldn’t take energy from a mage shielded against the encroachment of power, and it seemed safer to avoid mages altogether, in case they sensed my power connecting with them. But there were enough commonborn around the palace that it didn’t matter.
Even so, and despite my inner turmoil, the days began to drag. The Ardannians ate the midday and evening meals together, and I heard murmured updates about the negotiations. They weren’t going well, mired in endless minutiae from all accounts.
“I hope you have been making more progress on learning some of their skill at healing,” I heard Phineas say to Beatrice one night. “Because the negotiations seem to make no progress at all. It is two steps back for every one step forward. Not what we expected at all.” He rubbed a hand across his face. “Looking back, I can see that all Chen’s pronouncements in Corrin were couched in vague language. Now that it comes to discussing concrete terms, our way forward seems to be far less smooth than we anticipated.”
Beatrice frowned. “Now that we know their biggest secret, they have shared with us more freely than they did during your last visit. And they have some interesting approaches to healing. But there is much to learn. Too much for one visit. We must secure that alliance.”
“We are doing our best,” Phineas said, but he sounded tired. “Today we somehow got bogged down discussing crop rotations of all things. The Sekalis have developed some new system, and their food production and population are booming as a result. Our grower representative was greatly interested, of course, but what any of it has to do with the alliance is beyond me. Sometimes I fear they are purposely stalling.”
Jasper sat across from me, and our eyes met. If an increase in food production had led to a boom in population, I doubted it had been those at the top of the social tree who had been affected. No doubt they always had plentiful access to food, regardless. And if it had only been the commonborn numbers that expanded, that might be the root of the problem that had driven the emperor to Ardann in the first place. All those new toddlers, needing to be sealed. Perhaps he even had pressure on both sides from fleeing mages as well.
I couldn’t talk about it with Jasper over the meal, but I could read the same thought on his face. It wasn’t him I most wished I could talk to freely, anyway. But Lucas and I had even less opportunity to talk now than we had at the Academy.
I crossed paths with him at the end of the meal, however.
“I hear the negotiation isn’t going well,” I said to him softly.
He gave me a tormented look, and I wished I hadn’t brought it up. We must be the only two people in Ardann who hoped for the alliance to fail nearly as much as we hoped for it to succeed.
Phineas appeared from nowhere, and we sprang apart guiltily, although we hadn’t even been touching. As Phineas led Lucas away, I heard him murmuring that the negotiations were proving difficult enough without the prince giving the Sekalis an excuse to question his commitment to the alliance and the honor of their princess.
No wonder Lucas barely even looked in my direction at mealtimes. Even friendship was barred from us now.
His face lingered in my mind, the aching sorrow of his eyes lodging inside me. Friendship would never be enough, so even if I ended up remaining in the Empire, we would always have to maintain this distance. My head could think the words, but my heart wept and railed against them. Whichever way I turned, I saw only risk, with little hope of reward.
When the negotiations continued to remain mired down, and my own position continued to vacillate, I knew I needed to seek advice. But neither my old brother, nor my new one, could be trusted to be objective. And Lucas least of all.
Jocasta’s words to me in the carriage came back. She had shown wisdom in her counsel to me in the past. If anyone would be objective, it was her.
That night, in our shared sitting room, I told her everything of my conversation with the emperor. She asked no questions, despite the shock on her face, letting me relate the whole encounter without interruption.
“So,” I said at the end of the tale, “what do you think I should do?”
“For your own sake or for the good of the kingdom?” she asked.
I frowned. “In truth, I can’t make up my mind on either, let alone decide which one weighs more with me.”
She laughed, the unexpected sound filling the small room.
“Oh, Elena, I don’t think it has taken you weeks to decide if you wish to block your power and start producing babies like a brood mare. You’ve always carried the weight of too many on your shoulders. It seems to me the real question you’re wrestling with is what would be best for your family. And then whether their benefit conflicts with what would be best for the rest of the kingdom.”
“Well, obviously,” I said, struggling to understand her point.
She shook her head. “Somehow, against my better judgment, I can’t help liking you, Elena. If anyone was to be gifted with such great powers, you were a good choice.”
“Against your better judgment?” In spite of myself I smiled.
She chuckled again. “Trouble follows you which is why I’ve done my best not to get involved. Life is hard enough without inviting more difficulties.”
She had spoken openly, so I did the same in return.
“That’s why I came to you. For objectivity, since we’re not friends. Although I can see in hindsight that you have always steered me well.”
She looked across the room, her eyes glued to a blank patch of wall. I waited, giving her time to think and trying not to guess at every minute change of her expression.
“I have watched you struggling for nearly four years now, Elena,” she finally said. “It has seemed to me that you fought to gain a position in Ardann that would ensure freedom and security for yourself and your family. An admirable goal.” She paused. “So tell me—will becoming a Sekali and bringing them here grant you all that freedom you crave?”
My brow creased as I watched her closely.
“It will give them the freedom to read and write. To expand their minds,” I said. “You are a librarian, Jocasta. Surely you of all people understand the value of the written word?”
“Words are powerful, it is true,” she said. “But in more ways than one. Who knows better than you that it is our voice that is most powerful of all? Written or spoken, we need our unique voices to be heard. All of us. Do you think any of you will be free to have a voice here in the Empire?”
“Do we have a voice in Ardann?” I countered quietly.
She looked at me, her face hard to read. “A commonborn Devoras with the love of a prince? I would say your voice has already brought much change.”
“But maybe not enough,” I said, thinking of Jasper who spent his days so close to vast troves of knowledge that remained barred to him.
“You are still young,” Jocasta said, and Julian’s words flashed through my mind. Change is coming.
If we stayed in Ardann, my family had a chance at a full future. But if we moved to Sekali, I had none. I only had to consider how my family would vote if they were given the chance to weigh in to know which path to choose. If, indeed, I had a choice.
“But what of the alliance?” I asked.
Jocasta sighed. “That I cannot advise on. I’m here as a tutor and a librarian. No one would pick me to be a diplomat.”
“So I have to talk to Phineas.” I didn’t look forward to the conversation or to admitting how many weeks I had kept quiet.
“Or Lucas,” Jocasta said. “For all
his young years, he is experienced in this arena.”
I bit my lip. Lucas would like it even less than Phineas. But after everything we had been through, he deserved to hear it from me. I glanced sideways at Jocasta.
“Will you help me get a moment alone with him?” I asked.
She nodded. “That much I can do.”
It took her nearly a full day to maneuver an appropriate moment, but the next afternoon she led him into a small study room that opened off the library.
“I have some texts for you to study,” she said as he followed her through the door. “They might be of use to you in your final exams.”
He looked bemused, but he followed without demur. As soon as he saw me, though, his expression changed, his eyes flashing from Jocasta to me.
“Elena needs to speak to you,” Jocasta said. She pointed at a second door. “There is another room through there. I will wait here and guard the entrance for you.”
Lucas hesitated for a moment, looking like he wanted to question her, and then he glanced again at me and strode through the indicated doorway. I followed close behind, shutting the door behind us.
“Elena,” he said, “I can’t—”
I held up my hand. “This is important. I promise. Whatever you think this is about, it’s not that.” I paused to take a deep breath. “The emperor believes my non-Ardannian ancestor was a sealed Sekali mage. He is claiming that I and my brother are therefore Sekalis and must remain in the Empire. He wishes me to work a sealing composition in case the differences in my ability allow me to work it without blocking my own power.”
“What?” Lucas’s voice thundered in the room, and I looked toward the closed door before glaring at him.
He took a long breath through his nose, visibly working to control himself. I took the opportunity to hurry on, cringing inside as I said the words.
“And regardless of whether it seals me or not, he intends for me to remain here and produce children for him. As many as I can.”
I had thought Jasper angry at the suggestion, but it was nothing to the rage that transformed Lucas’s face. He closed the distance between us, grasping me by both arms and looking down into my face.
“The Sekali Emperor wants to lay claim to you and breed you like some animal?” All of his muscles stood taut, trembling from the tension, the movement passing down his arms and shaking me slightly.
“I will not allow it,” he said. “I don’t care how powerful he is.”
“Lucas,” I said, suddenly afraid. “Calm down. We have to think about this rationally. This could ruin everything. Destroy the whole alliance. We had hoped to win an ally against the Kallorwegians. We cannot afford to gain another enemy instead.”
Lucas abruptly let me go, striding up and down the short distance of the room.
“Forget the stupid alliance,” he muttered angrily, “it’s not as if we’re making any…”
He froze as if stabbed, his whole body going rigid, and then he swung slowly around to face me.
“I was part of the delegation four years ago,” he said. “When we were kept cloistered and not taken seriously. We hoped an alliance might come of it, but there was no talk of one then. When Chen arrived at the end of last year, my father thought the previous visit must have inspired their interest. That I must have made a good impression.” He shook his head. “But four years is a long time to wait to follow up, don’t you think?”
“What are you saying?” I asked.
“What changed in those four years? Nothing—except for one big development. You. My parents tried every trick they could think of to keep you from being included in this trip. But Chen insisted. And we could understand their curiosity, their desire to study your power. We would have felt the same way, and we wished to keep their good will.”
He slammed a fist into the stone wall.
“They played us for fools,” he snarled. “This whole thing has always been about luring you into the Empire. It must have been. In Ardann we thought we would have this alliance drawn up within days, and yet it has been weeks, and I couldn’t tell you if we were any closer to success than we were on the day we arrived.”
He looked over at me. “I don’t think they ever intended to marry their precious princess to a southern savage at all.”
My eyes widened. Some of the emperor’s remarks came back to me in full clarity. His disdain for southerners, and his remarks about war seemed all too ominous now.
“But what about the war?” I asked. “What about Kallorway?”
Lucas looked pale and shaken. “I don’t think he ever intended to help us with Kallorway.”
I sat down hard on the lone chair in the room. No alliance meant no marriage. It meant Lucas was free. But what good would it do us if the emperor meant to keep me here? And if he had really gone to such elaborate lengths to bring me here, surely he did not mean to let me go.
I stared up at Lucas. “What are we going to do?”
When Phineas returned to his suite after the day’s negotiations, he found us waiting for him. His consternation soon turned to shock and concern. And I couldn’t help but notice how his eyes lingered on Lucas. It didn’t take much effort to guess his thoughts. If the Sekalis didn’t want an alliance with Ardann, if they had no interest in the delegation outside of me, was the prince safe here? The older man had spent more than two decades in the Royal Guard, charged with protecting the royal family and the Ardannian throne.
“It is possible they want both,” he said. “An alliance and Elena.”
Lucas shook his head impatiently. “Then why prolong negotiations? Surely a completed alliance would only incline Elena to view the Empire more favorably?”
“Perhaps.” Phineas’s eyes dwelled again on Lucas.
“The question is what do we do now?” I asked.
Phineas rubbed the side of his face, staring fixedly into the small fire that burned in his suite’s large fireplace.
“I must press more aggressively in negotiations. We must force them to reveal their hand. If they do not want an alliance, we need to know it.” He drew in a long breath.
“And we must be ready to flee for our lives if necessary.”
“So you agree she must say no?” Lucas sounded relieved. “If they don’t want an alliance, we all flee.”
Phineas turned his gaze to me. “That is not such a simple matter. Would the emperor let us go peacefully in such a circumstance? If he insists she stays, we are hardly in a position to countermand him.”
Lucas caught his arm in a firm grip. “We are not sacrificing her for the rest of our safety.”
Phineas sighed. “We can certainly hope it doesn’t come to that. But if the choice is Elena alone or us all—including Elena? Well that is no choice at all. I know my duty.”
I knew he wasn’t thinking of his own safety when he said it, and it took out any sting I might otherwise have felt at his willingness to leave me behind.
“So, what should I do?” I asked.
“Wait. For now,” he replied.
After so many days of uncertainty, another day of waiting should have been easy. But I moved restlessly from book to book and place to place, unable to settle. What was being discussed behind the closed doors of the negotiating chamber?
I wasn’t the only one on edge, either. That morning Phineas had briefed the entire delegation under the strictest threats of secrecy because he needed everyone ready to run if things went poorly. There were fewer of us than usual in the library, and those present seemed to struggle to focus for any length of time. But admittedly I was the only one striding around the quiet shelves.
Eventually Julian accosted me, shaking his head in exasperation, and dragged me to Phineas’s suite.
“I know this is where you really want to be,” he said. “Leave the poor scholars in peace.”
When Phineas finally arrived he looked weary and concerned, but he showed no surprise to see us. Lucas, Jasper, Jocasta, and Beatrice all followed him into the room, a
nd my eyes flew to my brother. He had been there in the day’s negotiation, and I didn’t like the pale tinge to his face.
“Well?” Lucas demanded. I didn’t know where he had spent the day since Phineas had insisted that only the usual negotiation team be present with him, and Lucas hadn’t shown his face in the library, either.
Phineas shook his head. “They will honor a marriage alliance—but I’m not sure what good it will do us.”
“What does that mean?” Lucas asked.
“I spoke in much clearer, more forceful terms than I have done previously, demanding that the exact details be laid out,” Phineas said, in a grim voice. “I can’t say that they exactly complied, but we did get one detail that I can only feel was intentionally withheld from us before. The emperor does not intend to honor Ardann with either his heir or his spare. They are offering his youngest daughter for an alliance.”
Lucas drew back, horror on his face. “But she’s only a child!”
“Yes, the Empire is in no rush,” said Phineas. “And from the sound of it, you needn’t fear their attempting to push a child bride on you—that is no more their custom than ours. No, it appears they are quite content for the negotiations to take years before everything is settled, and probably years more until the alliance is properly formalized.”
A different horror filled Lucas’s face. “Years? But…”
Phineas nodded, his own expression bleak. “This changes everything, of course. I think we can safely conclude that helping Ardann against Kallorway’s current incursion is not on the Sekali agenda. I suspect there is only one thing in Ardann that Sekali has any real interest in.”
His eyes sought me out and lingered on my face.
I flushed hot and then cold.
“What can we do?” I asked.
“I have informed Chen that in light of this new information, we must return immediately to Ardann to discuss the matter with our monarchs. He made no attempt to dissuade me from such a course of action.”
Voice of Life (The Spoken Mage Book 4) Page 20
