bed.
That thought made me pause, the rooms I had been given were easily the size of my parent’s entire house. I felt lucky to have my own tiny room and bed there. What would happen when I spoke with the Duke?'›
What would that sort of money do to me? Or them? I didn’t want to wind up like Devon Tremont, arrogant and uncaring. The Lancaster family was kind though, so perhaps nobility would not inevitably turn me into a pompous ass. I became aware that I was pacing the room, making a circle around the sitting chair and the divan.
In the dark. I stopped and stood still. The room was pitch black. I could hardly see my own hand if held it an inch from my nose. Yet I had been navigating easily around the furniture a moment before. I realized I could feel where everything in the room was, a sensation similar to seeing, but more visceral, like touching everything around me with feather soft fingers. Curious I closed myself to my power, as I had recently learned to do before sleeping. The sensation ceased and I found myself trapped in the cloying dark. It felt as if the world was closing around me and for a moment I was claustrophobic.
I hastily opened my mind and I could see again. Just not with my eyes. It was such a subtle thing I had not noticed it when I could see normally. I lit a lamp and sat on the bed. I had a lot to learn and without a proper teacher I had no idea what to expect. I wished Penny were there to talk to, but then again, the last time I had seen her she had been frightened senseless by my newborn power.
It was time to see the Duke, so I pulled out my mother’s surcoat, emblazoned with the Cameron arms. It was a loose garment, open at the sides so I was able to put it on, even though it was clear that I was a bit larger than Elena had been. She had been a tall woman, so it was only an inch or two shorter on me than it should have been. I belted it around the waist and went out to find James Lancaster.
I found him in his rooms, with Genevieve beside him. They had the look of two people who had been sharing secrets. James gestured for me to close the door behind me. After I had done so I stood facing them.
“I am here at my mother’s request.” I said.
Genevieve burst into tears. It was so sudden and unexpected I had no idea how to react. She leapt up from her seat to throw her arms around me. In the sixteen years I had been alive, and the eleven or so I could actually remember, I had never seen Marc’s mother lose her composure. Laugh yes, angry occasionally, sorrowful perhaps… but I had never known her to weep like this. Worse she was clinging to me in a manner that should have been reserved for her own children or her husband.
Nervously I put my arms around her and patted her lightly on the back; looking to her husband to guide me. He merely nodded, as if to tell me it was alright. After a moment, Genevieve released me and returned to her seat. She was still sniffing and her face was a mess, red and puffy.
“I was certain when I saw you walk in here wearing that,” James said. “I have not seen her in over sixteen years, but you look much like your mother, although your coloring is your father’s.”
“You knew them?” I asked.
“I did. I met your father several times in Albamarl while he served the King. I knew your mother even better as she grew up in Castle Cameron not twenty miles from here. I met Ginny there,” he looked affectionately at Genevieve.
That confused me and I guess my face said as much. Genevieve answered my unspoken question, “I was there to visit my sister, Sarah, your grandmother.” Her eyes were still wet. I took a moment to work out what that meant. If she was my grandmother’s sister, that made Genevieve my mother’s aunt, and my grandaunt. She was family!
“But that means…”
“Your mother was my niece, and you are my great-nephew.” I guess her hugging me wasn’t such a breach of protocol after all. Then another thought struck me.
“So Marc is my…” I have never been very clear on the rules for calculating the various degrees of cousin- hood. Fortunately I was in a room full of amateur genealogists; the nobility learn this stuff from the time they’re old enough to talk.
“Your first cousin, once removed,” she finished for me. It would take me some time to sort out the connections in my own mind. At first I wondered if this meant I was a relation of the Lancaster family, but that was not the case. I was related to Marcus through his mother, who had been a Drake before she married James.
“How well did you know my mother?” I asked, once we had gotten back on topic.
Genevieve answered, “Very well, she was my only niece. When she announced her intention to return to her family’s home for a visit I wanted to go as well, but James and I were required to be in Albamarl that week. I would have liked to have seen you… with her,” she almost broke down again, but taking a deep breath she regained her composure. “She was very young and full of life. When she decided to devote herself to the line of Illeniel and take the vow I thought her father might go mad; so angry he was.”
“He didn’t want her to marry a wizard?” I had no idea what sort of issues being a wizard entailed in the circles of high society.
“No dear, that was later, I mean when she decided to become Anath’Meridum,” she replied. “Your mother was mad for fairy tales and adventure, that and her athletic nature led her to seek your father out.”
Now I was more confused, “What does Anath’Meridum mean?”
Genevieve explained as best she could, with occasional help from James. Neither of them understood it, but apparently certain wizards were bonded to a guardian, a warrior that would watch them, stay with them, and eventually die with them. At least that is what the legends implied, but I got the impression that James didn’t really believe their lives were linked in the physical sense.
“Why would a wizard allow himself to be bound in such a way that if his guardian died he would die also? That never made sense to me, not that I don’t believe it is possible. I just don’t think they would set things up to work like that,” said the Duke.
Genevieve nodded, “In any case, her father was none to pleased about it. She was his heir and the vow precluded her from inheriting. I don’t think he was too keen on passing the estate to her younger sister.”
“When did she marry my father, Tyndal?” Genevieve was proving to be a wealth of information and the past was coming to life before my eyes.
“About a year after that she and Tyndal were engaged. It was supposedly rare for a woman to become Anath’Meridum, but those that do frequently fall in love. I guess it is to be expected when a woman and man are forced to spend every day together,” she said.
“How many Anath’Meridum are there?” I asked.
“None now, I would assume. There was only one for each wizard, and the Illenial family was the last of the recorded lines. You have to understand, I don’t know much about the traditions, only what Elena told us,” she seemed apologetic.
“So my name is Mordecai Ardeth’Illenial, or should I call myself di’Cameron?”
James spoke up, “Properly your name is Mordecai Illenial, although you could choose to carry your matrilineal name as well, Mordecai di’Cameron Illenial in that case. Ardeth is a term added for a wizard that has been bound.”
I had no idea if I would or could be bound as Tyndal had. It sounded extremely awkward. Of course I had no understanding of the true reasons for it at that time. We continued talking for a while, till the conversation turned to the future. A subject I was understandably nervous about.
James broke the topic, “Mordecai, you realize the Cameron estates are still in my hands don’t you?”
As a matter of fact I didn’t. I was so ignorant of the workings of the upper class I wasn’t even sure what he meant. “No sir,” I said uncertainly.
“After the fire, the murders, none of the Camerons were left, other than some distant third cousins. I might have passed the estate to one of them, but your mother’s note made me aware of your survival, so I have held them in trust,” he paused, “for you.”
He had to explain a bit more to me then, but it seemed that the lands of the Cameron family were held by the Lancasters, and through them by the King. In other words, the Count of Cameron had been his vassal and the Duke of Lancaster had the freedom of deciding to whom he would bestow the title and estate to, if he chose not to keep it for himself. In short, he was offering the lands to me.
“If you intended all along to pass the land to me, why did you wait till now?” I had done nothing but ask questions since I came in.
