Dedicated to Han for her wonderfully friendly reviews <3
In the morning, the first pale streams of light fall onto my face from the crack I always leave in the curtains. Hazy memories of dreams filled with snowy rooftops, escapes through dark and fiery hallways, and single storm clouds in otherwise clear meadow skies still capture my mind. Part of my half-asleep soul pangs for the loss of being there, in Draó, despite the danger and heartache it brought.
Outside, a bird caws, and my eyes open. Leavi's here. She followed me here.
I scoff and push out of bed. She wanted to come to Morineaux anyway. It's arrogant to assume I had anything to do with it.
I pull out today's clothes. She knew we were at war, though. And the night before I left, there were those lights she conjured, little figures of me and her walking hand-in-hand. Of me catching her and holding her. My skin warms. She didn't want me to leave—she all but asked me to stay. If you don't want to go back, she insisted, you shouldn't have to.
I shed yesterday's clothes and pull on the new ones. Maybe that's all it was. She didn't want me to leave because she thought I didn't want to. Not necessarily because she wanted me to stay with her.
Silver slippers await in the bottom of my wardrobe, and I grimace. The proper footwear of courtmen is so loose that running is more likely to put me on the ground than at my destination. I shut the wardrobe door. It doesn't matter what the Ladies think. I tug on plebeian, functional black boots.
I shouldn't care what Leavi's reasons for coming are. She's here, and she needs me. Why she came doesn't change why I won't leave her in the dungeon. I turn toward the door.
Light catches my bronze circlet on its cushion, and I pause as if caught. With slow steps, I walk toward it. I am prince of my country before all else. Resolve takes hold of my bones like fatigue after a hard spell. Leavi won't have to face the punishment the law thinks she deserves, and I will be the prince of Morineaux.
I rest the circlet on my head. I'll be glad to know she's safe while I take the place I must.
As I exit, I swing on my cloak. As much as I want to rush to my sister and demand Leavi's release, I must wait until tomorrow. My return yesterday was just short of a disaster. Today I will be more organized. Today I will accomplish things and will have something to show Sela. The thought of Leavi down there still pricks my mind with guilt-poisoned needles, but caution demands patience. No one gives favors to people in their bad graces.
I push my hand through my hair but knock my circlet and fumble to catch it. It's not ideal, but Agraund used to say that choices rarely are.
I catch a servant on my way to the Mage Room and ask her to have someone deliver my breakfast there. About a month before I left for Draó, I dismissed my manservant for stealing. The boy had been with me since I was thirteen, but I never connected with him like Sela did with Maera. Even so, it stung to face the idea that he was filling his pockets when my back was turned. I had hoped that he was comfortable enough with me that if he had needed something beyond his generous wages, he would have said so. Instead, I'm left wondering for how long he was stealing and why.
Now, the lack of a manservant is another minor problem to add to the major ones. It would be easier to deliver messages if I felt the person carrying them were trustworthy and not in someone else's pocket; it would be faster to know my meals were coming without needing to expressly ask someone to get them; it would be safer and more convenient in uncountable ways to have someone there, ready, than to constantly have to search out random and unknown maids.
I turn onto the hall of the Mage Room. This is a terrible time to need to hire, though. It's not as if we have excess staff around, and any servants that lived in the city—
My chest pangs. If they were in the Kadranian's path of destruction, they're probably dead. Everyone else is locked out and surely hiding in terror.
Against the weight of that thought, I force a smile to Malloryn, who dips her head and unlocks the door. Inside, High Mage Averí and her assistant are bent over their notes. High Mage Liraena sits with the another wizard in the corner, quietly discussing. As I approach Averí, her assistant taps her shoulder and gestures at me.
The diviner's head snaps up. "Prince Aster!" she says, "Can I help you?"
"I just had some questions about your surveillance. Can we talk in the office?"
"Of course." Eyes wide, she stands.
"Nothing's wrong," I say, walking. "I apologize for stealing you away from your work. I just wanted to get clarification on a few things."
She nods, and we go to the other room. Despite stepping in yesterday, chills run over me. This should be where my uncle is hard at work, planning, organizing. Instead, his ashes rest in an urn far beneath my feet. His desk takes the middle of the room, a bookcase behind it, and cabinets line the walls. Papers spill across the desk; even as organized as Agraund was, for some reason, he never could keep his desktop straight. Solus doesn't seem to have changed that much.
My fingers trail against the edge of the desk as I circle around to Agraund's chair. I remember when he ordered it made. He was always so particular; I watched him hand his manservant a packet of specific requirements for the chair, which he wanted made special, not something else modified into this. He was also adamant that only the carpenter see the instructions, but he was like that with most things; if a piece of information was not necessary for someone, then he saw no need for them to have it.
I missed his funeral. His body would have died a day or so after the Meadow, and they held the funeral only the day before I arrived.
I suppose that was just the day before yesterday. Draó already feels like an eternity past.
"My lord?"
From my spot beside the chair, I glance across the desk at Averí. "Do you have a map yet of where the Kadranians are in the city?"
"We know where some of them are, sir. The ones in the Park are easy to follow, and that seems to be the majority of their force, including their leader. We haven't located all of the ones among the buildings, though."
"What is it going to take to do so?"
"The location-based scry is one of the hardest spells in my repertoire. To obtain an accurate map of all of their soldiers is going to take a lot of time and effort. I'd have to search the entire city."
My fingers run over the grain of the desk as I think. "What have you been working on?"
"Keeping track of their kadreaux. He's the only one of them we were able to get the name of. He's been on file for a few years. By watching him, I get to see when they draw up plans. I can't really tell where in the camp he is, though, just what he's doing."
"So it's just a regular scry, then?"
"Yes, sir."
"Why can't one of the second-tier diviners do that?"
"It's considered confidential information, my lord."
"We'll read in whoever you trust, then, so you can do the harder spell. We need to know where our enemies are."
She hesitates.
"What is it?"
"High Mage Solus said before that we should keep this sort of information from the lower tiers as much as possible, so as not to worry them."
Unease threads through me. New orders should supersede old ones, especially when they're coming from someone of higher station. "We're under siege, High Mage Averí. Anyone not worried about the situation is fooling themselves. Besides, what about the assistant that takes down your notes? She's not first-tier." I start back around the desk. "Read someone in. If you're worried about High Mage Solus, don't be. I will explain to him the situation."
"As you wish, my lord."
We exit.
I cannot do my best for the corps and country if my people will not listen because they think that somebody else is their leader. I glance around the Mage Room. Solus didn't come in while Averí and I were talking. I'll have to wait.
I approach the mages in the corner and find out in my absence, they've been studying alternative magical protections for the wall.
"Have you found anything?"
"Well," High Mage Liraena says. "Not really, my lord."
"Ah." Disappointment dips my voice. I hoped perhaps we might have some aid for our forces in the next couple days, even if it was just temporary, even if it delayed my coronation. Trying to recover morale, I say, "Well, keep up the good work, and let me know if something changes. Hopefully, we'll have the staff at work soon."
"Then we'll count the days to your ceremony." Liraena smiles.
Her support amidst all the cold hostility and indifference warms me. "Thank you, High Mage Liraena." She dips her head, and they get back to work. Resigned that Solus won't arrive any time soon, I turn to the door. I should go check on the wizards at the wall. I'm halfway across the room when the door opens, and Solus walks in.
"Ah, Prince Aster. Just the man I was looking for."
Across the room, Averí's assistant's eyes widen at his address of me. I can't call him on it because it's true, but making a point of my gender, despite it being his own, is a low blow.
I regard him. "I was hoping to find you as well, High Mage Solus."
His eyebrows raise expectantly.
"I wanted to thank you for your help while I was gone and for your continued assistance upon my arrival. You've served Morineaux well."
Solus's eyes narrow, but he dips a grateful nod. "Thank you, my lord."
"Now, what did you need my help with?"
He frowns. "I simply wanted to make sure you were aware that we were having an Auditorium Arbitrate meeting in two days."
"A full Auditorium meeting?"
"The full court was assembled when the Kadranians struck, my lord." His expression is even, but his tone calls me a child who can't remember the High Ladies meet at the same time every year. They always stay until spring; they would have come while I was gone.
"Simply verifying, High Mage Solus." It seems like a waste of time and effort to catch the Ladies of the Table up on all that is going on. Not to mention that it will be more difficult to convince Sela of anything if the Ladies are whispering in her ear the moment it's suggested.
I start to head for the door again, but then turn back. "Oh, and High Mage?"
He faces me.
"I asked Averí to read in one of the second-tier diviners to do her job so she could work on locating soldiers in the city."
He steps toward me, eyes flicking over the room. "Don't you think we should leave the lower-tiers out of such... sensitive information as much as possible?"
"As much as possible, yes. But there is too much going on at the moment to rest all of the information-gathering on one diviner. So, I'm glad we see things the same way." I strengthen my words with a smile while Solus barely conceals his scowl. "Thank you again. I know you'll make sure the transition is easy."
"I always try to do whatever is best for our country." His words are smooth, but a sliminess resides beneath.
My smile deepens. "Wonderful. Well, I am sure I will see you later. Please send for me if anything important develops. I'm headed to the wall."
I leave, uncertain that actually accomplished anything. Sometimes I swear he's more politician than magician. With everything going on, I'm not sure I can handle leading us out of this if I have to also defend my position from power-hungry wizards. Other than Illeasiarr, all of the people I look up to are gone, and my sister, who once loved me, sees me as but another pawn. My brother now not only dislikes me but thinks me untrustworthy and useless. At least the wizards on the wall seem to think my presence is a good thing.
"Let's just hope I don't disappoint them too," I mutter.