An abandoned boy, a grieving prince, and a reclusive sorcerer find themselves caught in a web of peril and mystery...
Domi, a young thief abandoned on the street at birth, just wants to save his dying foster mother. But first, he must survive the m...
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Pullati avoided Domi now. They did not know about his newfound identity, just that he was a Lightbearer. Still, they gave him a wide berth and a cold shoulder as he walked through the slums he once called home.
It was not disdain that held them back from him, but fear. Pullati he had known all his life shrank away from him, their eyes darting away from his glittering black laurel and the Lightbearers walking at his side. Those who did not scurry away instead threw themselves facedown on the ground and groveled.
He didn't try to persuade them to rise. Less than a month ago, he had been down there in the dirt with them. He understood from experience they didn't want to rise in his presence and face him. No Pullatus wanted a Lightbearer to pay attention to them, lest the sorcerer take a dangerous interest. These people wanted him to go away as soon as possible and leave them in peace.
And so he left them. It hurt, but he walked past Calva the old beggar, Fraga the midwife, and Edus the snatcher, all people he had grown up around. Heart aching, he continued through the narrow winding alleys of Urbs Hostiae toward a forgotten, impoverished corner of the slums.
Valens glanced at him as Domi sighed. "What? You expected a warmer welcome? This is the way things are, Alumna."
Sidus, walking one step ahead of Domi with a palm resting on the hilt of his cluden, frowned over his shoulder at the still-groveling Pullati. "They wouldn't treat you so distantly if they knew what you've done," the starholder said, his voice quiet. "What you tried to do, anyway. For them. For the world. They would be grateful, not afraid."
Domi shook his head. "No, they would still be like this. I would have been."
Very few of the Pullati they'd passed on the streets seemed willing to look him in the eye anymore, not even his old friends. He didn't blame them. Lightbearers once terrified him too, and he still feared their power and his own.
Especially his own.
Principis Heres Worldholder. He still couldn't believe it. The last couple days in Vola Apertus seemed like some weird fever dream now that he had returned home. Surely he had not met a brother with his own face. Surely he had not died and been brought back. Nothing could be absurder. The world didn't work that way. Pullati never rose from the mud, let alone became royalty.
Yet he couldn't deny the existence of the three handlers trailing behind Valens and Sidus or what their presence meant. He was to begin learning the skills of a Princeps Worldholder without delay. Just in case.
When they stepped into the dye-house's dim lobby, a motley group of people met them. Merula, arms crossed, waited in the middle of the grimy room. On the peeling pine table, Radix perched, their legs swinging with nervous energy over the edge. Beside them, Arbita eyed the filthy shop in distaste. And Aix, once more in his toothless disguise as the Dyer, stood with his back against the wall as he read a torn book.
Aix straightened and, tossing the book on the table next to Radix, strode to Valens to grasp his shoulder. "What happened, Alumna?" The old man paused as Valens glanced at the door. He nodded, then crossed to it and threw the bolt.
Merula's jaw clenched, and she bore down on Domi like a hurricane. "Where have you been, Boy? People have been searching for you for days. They say you were attacked." She grasped him and peeled back the collars of his tunica and paenula, eyes widening at the half-healed wound on his shoulder. "Who did this to you? I'll—"
"We thought you were dead, Domi." As always, Radix's voice carried through the room. How someone so small could be so loud was beyond him. "Dead! There was no sign of you."
"What happened?" Arbita asked. Her promenia wafted through the air, and Domi relaxed his will as Valens had taught him to let the particles enter him. Her face softened into relief a moment later, but still, she fixed him, Valens, and Sidus with an expectant look. "The Compendium could not locate the three of you anywhere in Provincia Sicarii."
"It's a long story," Domi said, sighing. He glanced at Aix as the lifeholder drew the stained curtains across the window, blocking the evening crimson light and any curious gazes. Domi turned to Bellus, his new protocol handler, an Empowered mindholder with tight black curls shorn close to his scalp and grace that rivaled Daedalus's. "Please," he invited the young man.
The protocol expert nodded and stepped forward to address the room. "I trust you all received the royal summons?"
"We would not be here otherwise," Aix said. The old man eyed Bellus with a gray gaze as keen and penetrating as steel. Domi wondered how all his books suggested the situation should be interpreted. He doubted the well-read man would be able to guess, but he saw the impure lifeholder's mind churning.
"What's this about?" Merula demanded. "Why did the Princeps Worldholder command us to gather here, of all places?" She frowned at Domi. "Who are all these people, Dominulus?"
He swallowed hard. "Ma, you know Valens, Aix, and Radix. And this is..." He hesitated as he glanced at the others, then plowed on. "And these others are Sidus, my bodyguard, and Bellus, Lumen, and Ardea. My handlers."
"Handlers?" Merula asked, but shocked understanding grew on Arbita's and Aix's faces. "Handle what? And bodyguard?
Bellus cleared his throat, a habit he no doubt inherited from Comitas. Domi preferred the young man over Bellus's overbearing mentor, however. "What I am about to say must never leave this room. At least not until Basilicus Daedalus Adurere grants you permission to speak." His eyes, so dark a brown they appeared black, narrowed. With a soft, ringing song, promenia gathered. "And I will know if you intend otherwise," the mindholder added, his sapphire laurel shimmering at his neckline in warning. He gazed from one person to the next. "We have all been called, by the command of the Princeps Worldholder, into the service of his only heir, Basiluculus Principis Heres Laetus Adurere."
"Who the hell is that?" Merula asked, frowning.
Radix also looked baffled. "And why us?"
Domi swallowed hard. "Because," he said, stepping forward, "you're the only people I trust."
