her as a child. Many times it was the only memory that kept her going when she was found in the village alone with no family and then shuttled from home to inn as an orphan that no one wanted.
But none of the people here knew that. None seemed to know that she had known her mother – not even the man who professed to be her brother. So she put those thoughts of the past away away and focused on the pain of the present.
Standing up with hollow eyes, she said numbly, “It sounds like it was.”
Looking at the man behind the Shadow Mage, her brother, she took in a trembling breath and said, “How is this fair?”
“It’s the law,” said the Shadow Mage.
“I wasn’t asking you,” she said through clenched teeth. “Why didn’t they take me, as well?”
This time her brother spoke. “They didn’t realize that she was pregnant with more than one child. Before they arrived the maid had carried you out.”
Ciardis took a resolute step forward and the Shadow Mage held up a warning finger.
“Ah, ah, ah, Weathervane,” he said warningly.
“What am I going to do?” she said. “I’m not increasing anyone else’s powers and I can’t do anything alone.”
The Shadow Mage watched her curiously. “They haven’t taught you much, have they? I guess it’s best to keep you ignorant and dependent.”
Ciardis was heartily getting tired of everyone disparaging her lessons. Sighing, she said while looking into her brother’s eyes, “Take me instead.”
“No,” was the simultaneous shout from her brother and Christian.
“No,” echoed the Shadow Mage with a cruel smile.
“Why?” Ciardis said desperately, spreading her hands, “Female Weathervanes are always,
“While that is true,” the Shadow Mage said, “you are untrained and untested. More power doesn’t mean equal finesse.”
“Please,” she said, begging.
“No,” the Shadow Mage said. “In fact, my job here is done.”
As he stepped back into the darkness of the shadows, her brother by his side, she screamed, “Wait! Don’t go.”
Laughter echoed back at her through the darkness of the shadows. “Ah, little mage. We shall see each other soon.”
With that, he disappeared and the shadow creatures dissipated.
Ciardis fell to the ground sobbing.
After a few minutes, Christian approached her. When he dared to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, she lashed out. Pushing to her feet with a strength borne of fury, she began pummeling him with her fists. Hitting him where she could and screaming in anger. He dodged her blows with the ease of years of practice and tried to keep her from hurting herself.
She didn’t calm down. She wouldn’t calm down. Not until Stephanie finally came forward and tackled her with Christian. As they held her down, she screamed even harder.
“You bastards! I thought you were my friends. Let. Me. Go!”
“No,” said Christian. “Not until you calm down.” He started to pour his healing power into her to soothe her high-strung emotions, but retracted as soon as he felt her magic swell.
Christian and Stephanie released her quickly and scrambled back.
“Enough,” snapped Stephanie. “You may be angry, but you don’t want to kill us. Stop raising your power levels and snap out of it!”
Ciardis looked at her from where she crouched on the ground. Sniveling and angry with the world.
“Did you know?” she asked. “Did everyone know?”
Stephanie raised her chin and admitted, “Most of court knew.”
Ciardis closed her eyes and choked back a sob. “And they just let me think I had no family?”
“It was an Imperial decree. No one was to talk about the other Weathervane child. Besides, many at court didn’t even believe you were a Weathervane,” Stephanie said carefully.
Ciardis stood up and turned away.
“Where are you going?” asked Christian.
“Back to camp.”
Chapter 34
She walked calmly into camp, not shouting, not venting, and not screaming. Quietly and with a purpose. But without fail, every single soldier who crossed her path backed away quickly upon seeing her face.
Ciardis headed straight for Sebastian. She had a hunch where he’d be. The Prince Heir was seated on the ground with the same group of individuals she’d left him with earlier. His back was to her so he didn’t see her approach. But Meres did. When Meres saw her face he cleared his throat, stood, and stepped forward. Casually he moved through the group, putting his body in front of the Prince Heir’s.
When Sebastian stood up to see who had caused the disturbance, he looked at Ciardis quizzically with dark green eyes.
“Ciardis,” Meres spoke, his voice quiet. “What’s the matter?”
Ciardis looked at him with coldly calculating eyes. For once seeing the world and the people around her for what they were—self-serving and conniving individuals.
Ciardis lifted her hand and offered it, palm up.
“What do you see, Lord Meres?” she said.
He was silent for a moment. “An empty hand.”
She nodded. “I thought it was full until a few minutes ago. I thought I had a place to call home and friends to grasp.”
“Ciardis,” Prince Heir Sebastian said carefully. “You’re acting quite strange.”
She wanted to believe that this innocent boy becoming a man couldn’t have known. That he hadn’t deceived her, but she wasn’t a fool. Sebastian was the Prince Heir first, a friend second.
“I guess I am,” she admitted. “Wouldn’t you be if you found out you had a brother that everyone else knew about?”
The entire group of people blanched, and it wasn’t because she had practically shouted the words at the end. It was because they knew what she had said was true. She could see it in their faces.
She wished she could say it didn’t hurt the most that Sebastian had clearly known, but she couldn’t.
Holding out his hand, Sebastian pleaded, “Let’s discuss this somewhere more private.”
“Why?” snapped Ciardis. “So you can lie some more?”
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” said Lady Vana.
“Ciardis, it wasn’t like that,” Sebastian said. “The Imperial decree was a direct order; no one was to mention even the possibility of another Weathervane to anyone else. For secrecy’s sake.”
“So what?” said Ciardis slowly. “If he wasn’t spoken of, he didn’t exist?”
As Meres began to speak, she held up a hand. “Where has my brother been for the last eighteen years? If he wasn’t with the family that was assigned to adopt him, where was he?”
“On the northern border,” said Sebastian slowly. “At first he was fostered with an old knight family there, and since his powers came in he’s been working in the service of the emperor.”
“With that control bracelet on his arm the whole time?”
She continued issuing rapid-fire questions. This time to see if the man she had seen in the bookshop in Sandrin was the same person. “Does he have free will? Can he go as he pleases?”
“The bracelet monitors him as a tracking device would,” said Lady Vana. “If the minder allows him the freedom, he can go as he wills.”
