“Maybe. Let’s think on it. Stephanie, at least, has good connections among the nobility.”
“Now, about that dragon. You know what
“Yes,” Ciardis said, “and right now I don’t want to discuss it.”
“But—”
“Sebastian, we’ve got a lot more problems to be thinking about than an issue that may or may not turn into a problem.”
She paused, “This isn’t about the fact that a
He spluttered, looking uncharacteristically flushed as he said, “No! Why would it be?”
She narrowed her eyes, “Just...asking.”
“This has nothing to do with that. It’s my job to think ahead, Ciardis. For my Empire and for my people.” Uncomfortably he continued, “And this could be a major problem diplomatically for my people.”
She raised an eyebrow, “Okay, but there’s a problem staring us in the face right now that we need to fix.”
He ran a hand through his hair messily and refilled his tea, “Then we can come back to this. So what did Maree Amber want?”
Ciardis mouth dipped downward and she grimaced involuntarily.
“To punish me for court issues and to say that I wasn’t allowed at court functions for a month while she trains me.”
Sebastian raised a curious eyebrow. “And yet you’re here?”
“Functions, not meetings.”
“This woman isn’t someone you want to play with, Ciardis,” he said – his shoulders stiff and his eyes firmly on hers.
“Besides, how do you know she isn’t tracking you?” he continued.
“If she was, wouldn’t she have recognized me?”
Point taken.
“All right, it’s your turn,” she said.
“My turn?”
“What’s the deal with the
For a moment Prince Sebastian was silent. Just watching her. Then he stood and he paced. Back and forth.
Ciardis watched quietly for a few minutes while reaching out to catch his feelings. He was wary, distressed and conflicted. She had a hunch that it was because this was new territory for them. They were friends, they discussed assassination plots, but they never discussed politics. Ever
“I know you think that these political maneuvers are best kept secret but I’m in the middle of them. I have been since we met three months ago and since I’ve thwarted not two, but three attempts on your life.”
“You could at least tell me what’s happening on your side,” she said with a hint of hurt in her voice. She tried to hide it, but he could feel it and that pushed him forward.
Quietly, he said, “The treaty is at an impasse. The ambassador is adamant that we end the killings in the forest.”
“Have there been more killings of
“As far as we can tell, no. Just a few isolated incidents and some dead patches in the forests. Nothing that warrants huge concern. Kinsight will be leaving within a week to take care of that.”
“His journey has been pushed back?”
“Protocol in the way again,” he murmured. “Plus, the courtiers don’t want a big fuss.”
“And yet the ambassador is concerned.”
“And yet.” A grim air hung between them.
Ciardis sat back with her arms folded across her chest. She wasn’t convinced. Not at all.
Prince Sebastian didn’t look so sure himself.
A few minutes later, he stirred. “It’s getting late.”
“I should be getting back.”
He escorted her back to the Imperial nursery under the cover of darkness, and Ciardis slipped back up into her room without a further word.
Chapter 18
A week later, Ciardis and Maree Amber were continuing their one-on-one lessons in the head of the Companions’ Guild’s office. This time they were working on magical interference. Maree Amber wanted Ciardis to interrupt another mage’s magic. After two hours of non-stop tutoring, Ciardis was ready to tear her hair out.
She was rubbish at it. Every time she tried to stop Maree Amber from reaching out with her magic, she only succeeded in enhancing her powers. And the lady didn’t let up with her magical onslaught. So far, Ciardis’s chair had been pushed over, books had been thrown in her face, her cloak had been ripped, and she swore her hair had turned green at one point.
She was tired, frustrated, and it was chaotic.
“We’re not through Miss Weathervane.”
Ciardis turned miserable eyes on her. Her eyes felt bloodshot and she was pale with exertion. Ciardis gripped the seat cushion on either side of her body to keep from doing something she’d regret. Like lurching up and stomping out of Maree Amber’s office.
Maree Amber sighed and stared at the girl in front of her. Ciardis’s bottom lip stuck out like a petulant child’s while she sat staring at her knees with her hands gripping the couch beneath with her a ferocity that said there might be half-moon shaped puncture holes when she got up.
“Normally I would not keep pushing a trainee like this Ciardis,” she said with kindness in her voice, “But you
“And stopping mages if they’re in the act of doing something bad,” said Ciardis repeating the lesson extoled at her for the past two hours, “Yes, I know. But
“Very well,” said Maree Amber while narrowing her eyes and standing up.
“Perhaps we’re going about this the wrong way,” she said while walking around her desk with a pursed mouth.
Ciardis cocked her head and stared at her with a wary look in her eyes, “And what other way would there be?”
“Using your talents in the ways that you know best Miss Weathervane. Stand up please.”
Ciardis stood and faced the petite head of the Companions’ Guild.
“Now here is what I wish from you. I want you to
Ciardis nodded. She was tired but this would be easy. She’d learned that pushing another’s power wasn’t difficult. It was the holding back part that was hard.
Standing in front of her teacher she felt for Maree Amber’s power. She saw the solid mage core sitting in her mind sedately.
“I’m not going to do anything Ciardis. I won’t use my power. The point is that I want you to push me even though I am not doing anything.” Ciardis listened to her with half her mind as she watched the woman’s core in her mind’s eye. She began to poke and prod it with her power. When she touched the core, flare-ups would occur. Maree Amber’s magic would react to her own and draw out from the core a little bit and snap back when Ciardis pulled her magic too far away from its orbit.
