“I had not expected to see so many of you.”
“Come, Lorcan,” said a lady whose gray hair looked to be legitimately earned by age. She turned keen eyes on me, her face bright with intelligence despite the lines. “We do not doubt the veracity of your compositions. But such a thing! It’s unheard of. Can you really blame us for wanting to see for ourselves?”
Lorcan chuckled and shook his head. “Of you, Jessamine, I expected nothing less.”
The narrowed eyes of several of the other attendees suggested they felt somewhat less faith in Lorcan, but no one actually voiced such a thing.
Lorcan turned to me. “This is Her Grace, Duchess Jessamine of Callinos, University Head.” I noted she wore the same black robe as Lorcan himself.
He pointed to another woman, this time in a gray robe that made me shudder slightly. “And this is Duchess Phyllida, also of Callinos, Head of the Seekers. No doubt she seeks reassurance that her mages have not faltered in their duties where you are concerned.”
I licked my lips.
“I have never read a word in my life. Nor written one.”
Phyllida, much younger than Jessamine, with her sleek brown hair pulled back tight against her head, merely regarded me with cool eyes.
A man across the room from her spoke, however. “So you say. We are here to see the truth of it with our own eyes.”
Lorcan turned to him. “Ah, and let us not forget Duke Lennox of Ellington, Head of Law Enforcement.” His red robe stood out starkly in the room of black and gray, only the gold one of General Thaddeus brighter. The general sat several chairs down from the Head of Law Enforcement, and both appeared to have brought an entourage even larger than those accompanying the two duchesses.
This time I did wipe my hands on my robe as surreptitiously as I could. If they were hoping for a display of power from me, they were all going to be highly disappointed. And I didn’t want to find out what happened when so many important people were disappointed.
“I assume you’ve come prepared?” Lorcan looked between the red-robed Lennox and the gray-robed Phyllida. “I have already used two complex compositions to—”
“Oh relax, Lorcan,” snapped Thaddeus, “no one is asking you to expend any more of your valuable resources.”
“I have come prepared,” said Phyllida. “As I’m sure has Lennox. You are not the only one capable of such compositions, Lorcan.”
Was that amusement in her calm tone? How much competition existed between the various heads? Still, their words had relieved me. Apparently the tests were to be a repeat of the magical ones conducted by Lorcan on my arrival. In other words, painless, and requiring little from me. I tried not to let the relief show on my face, though. I tried not to let anything show on my face. I wanted to make as little impression on these people as possible.
At least it explained why there were so many of them. Presumably they wished to minimize the use of their compositions by including as many witnesses in one testing as possible. They must require a lot of power—or perhaps just a lot of skill—to compose. I wished the Kingslee school had gone into greater detail on the way magical compositions worked. But it had hardly seemed essential learning for a bunch of village children.
I knew that each of the magical disciplines—law enforcement, the seekers, the healers, the growers, the wind workers, and the creators—had a head, granted the title duke or duchess for life. And that these six heads, along with the Academy Head, the University Head, and the Heads of the Armed Forces and Royal Guard, formed a Mage Council of ten to advise the king and help write our laws. I even knew that only mages from one of the four great families ever had the necessary skill and control to rise to one of these positions. And I knew that the four great families were Devoras, Stantorn, Callinos, and Ellington.
But I knew almost nothing of how they actually composed their workings, or why they would now be poking at one another about the necessary composition for my testing.
“Enough of this,” said the red-robed Lennox, rising to his feet and withdrawing a curl of parchment. “Let us hear the truth from her lips.” He ripped it into two and threw the pieces onto the floor in front of him. The resulting red glow blossomed larger than the one that had sat on Lorcan’s desk.
Lorcan shook his head, amusement lingering around his eyes, and stepped back, leaving me alone in the middle of the room.
Lennox took a single step forward and fixed his eyes on me. This time I was ready for his questions, and ready for the lie when he asked me to give it. As soon as the oily black had faded from the red glow, proving the composition, questions fired at me from every direction.
I answered them as simply as I could. Even when the same ones were asked over and over again, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from giving a sharp retort. So many of the questions centered on my family that their images danced in front of my eyes, making it easier than usual to hold my peace.
“Enough!” said Lennox at last, reaching down to retrieve the pieces of parchment, crushing them between his long fingers. “I begin to think you doubt my composition.”
Phyllida, who had asked no questions herself, nodded, as if unsurprised by the results. “I attended her family’s home myself.”
I drew in a quick breath and focused on her face, barely holding back the questions that wanted to pour from me.
“I interviewed not only her parents, but the midwife who delivered the girl—and delivered both her parents before her, apparently. They all swear the child can be no changeling.” She shook her head. “If she has the blood of one of the families in her, it must be far back indeed. And no one else in her family has displayed any signs of control. I have left behind watchers in the village, but I must admit, I’ll be surprised if they find anything to report.”
I bit my lip. Kingslee had never had watchers. Did the whole town hate me now for bringing the seekers down on them?
Jessamine leaned forward, her black robe swishing around her. “Her blood is only one of the mysteries that has drawn us here today. And it is possible she does indeed have a mage in her ancestry. Although we had thought a much closer blood connection needed to yield the capacity for control, we have been known to be wrong before.”
She darted a quick glance at Lorcan, and I saw their faces bore almost identical expressions. This was what she had really been waiting for. This was what had drawn her here, although the University Head had no place in the assessment or restraint of threats against the kingdom. She and Lorcan were driven by curiosity—a visible thirst to understand any new form of magic that might appear.
I shivered slightly. Somehow they scared me almost more than the others. To them I might not be a threat—but was I even a person?
“What interests me greatly,” Jessamine continued, “is the assertion that this girl composed a controlled working—”
Lennox stirred, and she glanced at him.
“A partially controlled working, at least. Even you must admit that, Lennox, or we would have sent one of Phyllida’s mages instead of one of yours to investigate in the first place.”
Lennox nodded reluctantly, and Jessamine went on.
“As I was saying, if this girl has truly composed a controlled working using only spoken words—”
“A single spoken word,” cut in Lorcan.
Jessamine shook her head, her eyes still on me. “Incredible. Such control. Such power. And the girl has no training whatsoever. The implications of this…the possibilities…” Her voice trailed away, and everyone else in the room sat up a little straighter.
I fisted my trembling hands into my robe.
“See for yourself,” said Lorcan, gesturing toward me, although his eyes were on Jessamine.
She stood, an eager smile on her lips, and ripped her own tiny scroll.
Light surrounded me before rushing off to form a visible image. For the second time I watched the scene at the store unfold. Lorcan had said last time that he watched my hands, and this time I did the same. T
hey hung at my sides, clearly empty, until I rose up onto my toes, a glazed look in my eyes. Then I thrust them out in front of me just before my mouth clearly formed the word stop.
The silvery wave of power once again burst forth, holding the men in place before shattering back against the windows of the store. The light faded and the image with it.
“It is as you said.” Jessamine’s eyes glowed with something that looked remarkably like glee. “Impossible.”
Chapter 9
A babble of voices filled the room as each head consulted with their entourage or argued with one another. I watched them all, my gaze scanning the room until it caught on a new figure I hadn’t noticed before. The only white robe in the room beside mine.
Prince Lucas sat in a chair near the door, no one on either side of him. When had he come in? How much had he seen? I swallowed and met his gaze boldly. I had nothing to be ashamed of.
His arms were crossed over his chest, his head resting back against the wall. His eyes held mine, a look of deep uncertainty on his face. It was an expression that didn’t belong on his confident features, and it shook me. Almost as much as the wonder I saw lurking beneath it.
Even this prince who clearly hated me thought my power incredible. Everyone seemed to think so. But I had no idea where it had come from or how to do it again.
As our gazes held, his face slowly dropped back into its usual haughty arrogance. I nearly turned away from him, but before I could do so, his eyes swung to the side, fastening on the gold-robed General Thaddeus. I had stopped trying to follow the various conversations in the room, but my attention followed the prince’s, and what I heard made me falter back a step.
My movement brought Lucas’s eyes flicking back to me, but they immediately returned to the general.
“This cannot be allowed,” General Thaddeus bellowed. “You all saw it with your own eyes. She unleashed power with a single word. Why, she may give a simple greeting tomorrow and bring the entire building down.”
“Do you think so?” Jessamine turned curious eyes on me. “She has uttered many words since joining us in this room, and I have not felt the smallest stirring of power. Have any of you?” She didn’t turn to look at any of them, clearly not expecting an answer. “This must be studied, and—”
“Studied? Certainly,” interrupted Lorcan. “But she must also be taught control. And there can be no question that the Academy is the place for such an endeavor.” He fixed Jessamine with a hard look, and she sat back in her seat with a small sigh.
Had she been about to make an argument for taking me to the University? For a moment the idea filled my mind. Jasper was at the University. But the look on her face made any excitement dwindle into nothing. Here at least I was a trainee. I suspected that at the University I would be nothing more than a test subject. Who knew if I would even be given the opportunity to search out my brother?
“I tell you, she is a threat to our security,” cried the general. “She cannot be permitted to wander around the Academy.”
“What exactly are you suggesting, Thaddeus?” asked Phyllida, who had so far been mostly silent in the conversation. “She has broken none of our laws. Or have you seen something I have missed, Lennox?” She raised an eyebrow at the Head of Law Enforcement.
Reluctantly he shook his head.
Thaddeus only looked more enraged. “That is beside the point. The laws are there to protect us all. They serve us, not the other way around. Clearly she is a threat.”
“Then, I repeat, what exactly are you suggesting?”
He deflated a little, but the eyes he fixed on me were inescapably cold. “It is unfortunate, of course. As it always is. But uncontrolled power must be dealt with swiftly and finally. There is only one way.”
A loud gasp sounded through the room, and it took me a moment to realize it had come from me.
Then chaos broke out again as every black-robed mage in the room protested over the top of each other.
“You cannot truly consider such a thing,” said Lorcan, nearest me. “Why, we haven’t even begun to understand—”
“Enough.” A new voice joined the throng, and everyone fell quiet. Lucas pushed himself off the wall and stood, staring coldly around the room. Although he was only seventeen, every adult present watched him in silence.
“There is no question of executing Elena.”
My name sounded shocking on his lips, the first time it had been spoken in this room by anyone except me. Duke Lennox, who had looked almost as incensed as the general, looked away from me. Only Thaddeus continued to glare in my direction.
“But Your Highness…”
“No.” Lucas showed no discomfort at speaking in such a way to this collection of important people. “There is much still to be considered here. Even beyond our theoretical understandings of how power can be controlled and worked.” He fixed a stare on the general. “I am sure if General Griffith were here, it would already have occurred to him that we cannot afford to let such a new development pass us by without great further study.”
Thaddeus’s brow crinkled as he considered the prince’s words. “My concern must always be for your safety, Your Highness, and that of your family.”
Lucas nodded. “And your service is appreciated, Cousin.”
I remembered that the queen had been a Stantorn just as Thaddeus was. Perhaps that had even been the reason for his appointment to the role of Head of the Royal Guards.
“You see the threat inherent in this new and alarming development,” the prince continued. “As do I. And I find myself considering what the result might be if we are not the only ones to discover it.”
He fell silent for a moment, and the whole room paused, considering his words.
“We have enemies at our borders, Thaddeus. You know that as well as I do. We cannot throw away this opportunity to study such a powerful force. Because you can be sure the Kallorwegians will not have done so, if such an opportunity has been presented to them.”
Enough indrawn breaths sounded to tell me some at least in the room had yet to consider this possibility. I knew little about the front lines, but the thought of the Kallorwegian forces able to compose with spoken words left me terrified. Terrified, but I had to admit also excited. Could it be possible that there were others out there like me?
“I know Father sent you to assess the threat, Thaddeus,” Lucas added quietly after a moment. “But I also know that he would see the same thing I do. Threat—yes—but also possibility. We must let the black robes do their work, and we may yet all yield great reward from it.” His eyes swung back to me. “Perhaps even an end to Kallorwegian aggression.”
I drew in a breath. I had been held just as captive by his words as everyone else in the room, and now my knees felt so weak I wished I had a chair to sink into. Could it be possible? If the mages here and at the University were able to unlock the secret of spoken magic, could it bring an end to the war before ever I had to enlist? Could I do that? Could I save both myself and Clemmy? The vision felt too alluring to be possible.
“The prince speaks with wisdom,” said Lennox, his words slow and considered. “There have been no laws broken here, and no illicit reading. Neither Phyllida nor I have any jurisdiction here. And now that this girl is a trainee, she comes under the authority of Lorcan. I see no further role for myself.”
He stood, and after a moment of hesitation, Phyllida mirrored his movements. She looked as if she meant to speak, but instead merely nodded her head to Lorcan and Jessamine before giving a half-bow to Prince Lucas and moving calmly from the room. Lennox trailed behind her, his Reds in a cluster around him.
Reluctantly the general also heaved himself to his feet. But he paused at the door to speak to the prince.
“Some threats are too dangerous to be played with, Your Highness. It’s no good making her your pet. Not when she could be all of our undoing.”
I had thought his words would offend Lucas, but the prince merely laughed.
; “I am not in the habit of keeping pets, General.”
Thaddeus glanced back at me, still frozen in the center of the room.
“I only hope not.”
And then he was gone, and I didn’t know whether to be incensed or relieved. For a moment Lucas watched me, and I couldn’t read his expression. He had spoken up for me. Saved me even, perhaps. But he hadn’t done it out of any consideration for me. And yet his eyes conveyed something now that I wished desperately I could understand.
And then he slipped from the room without another word.
“Well, that went as well as could be hoped, I think,” said Jessamine from behind me.
“Indeed.” Lorcan sounded thoughtful.
“Sending for the prince was an inspired idea,” the University Head added. “He tipped the balance in our favor, I think.”
“For now.” Lorcan sighed. “But you heard Thaddeus at the end there. He wasn’t convinced. We’ll have a further battle on our hands, I’d wager.”
“But that was to be expected.” Jessamine didn’t sound in the least downcast. “Thank goodness we have such strong numbers in council at the moment.”
A throat clearing in front of me made me startle. Jocasta raised an eyebrow and gestured for me to follow her out of the room. I flushed at being caught so obviously listening to the conversation of the two heads.
And yet, as I followed her back to the library, my mouth once again took over from my brain and blurted out the question on my mind.
“What did she mean about having the numbers in council?”
Jocasta looked back at me and sighed. We entered the library together, and she pointed back to the side room I had so briefly occupied.
“I’ll be there in a moment.”
I didn’t sit this time, too full of nervous energy. Instead I fidgeted, pacing around the room and brushing my hands along the backs of each chair. When Jocasta appeared in the door, she raised both eyebrows at me, and I sank into the nearest chair immediately.
Closing the door behind her, she sighed again.
“It’s easy to forget how little you must know.” She pointed at the parchment and pens she had just deposited on the table. “And this is only the start of it.”
Voice of Power (The Spoken Mage Book 1) Page 8