“Attack is such a strong word, Thaddeus.” Jessamine frowned with distaste.
“What would you call it then?” He continued to glare a challenge at her.
“And why would I report either of those incidents to you, Thaddeus?” asked Lorcan. “I certainly can’t imagine why Jessamine would do so. May I remind you that we all agreed that as a trainee, Elena falls under my responsibility.”
“Not all of us were happy with that decision,” the general shot back.
“And not all of us were present for it,” added General Griffith. “Look Lorcan, it was all very well when the girl showed no great proclivity for composition. Or even ability to compose at all. If you wanted to keep her there learning how to beat people with staffs, you were welcome to do so, as far as I was concerned. But it seems the situation has changed…”
He shifted slightly in his seat to look at me, the first of them to do so, and I tried to look as harmless as possible. Despite my desire to snap that I had a name and wasn’t the girl.
“Indeed it has,” said Thaddeus. “Even the incident at the Midwinter celebrations could now be called into question. And once again, the prince came all too close to harm on that occasion.”
“Don’t get carried away, Thaddeus.” Dashiell’s deep voice sounded for the first time since I had entered the room. “Many of us were present that night. And whatever this girl may or may not be, she’s still a first year. There is no way she brought down that balcony without any of us sensing it. She can’t possibly have acquired the subtlety required for such an act.”
My eyes flew to Lucas, and I found him looking back at me. Someone had brought down that balcony, and for some reason it sounded like the council didn’t know it. Were the prince and I the only ones who had been close enough to feel it with any certainty?
Dashiell looked down the table at Lorcan, and I remembered he was Callinos, like the Academy Head. “I am correct, am I not, Lorcan? This girl does not exhibit such advanced skills?”
“Certainly not. She is, if anything, behind her peers at the Academy. There are…limitations to her verbal direction of the compositions. We are still working—in conjunction with our colleagues at the University, of course, to develop workarounds and streamline—”
“Very well, Lorcan, we’ll take your word for it,” interjected the king. “No need to get into one of your technical speeches.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. They were working on developing ways to properly utilize my ability? I could have sworn it was Walden and me doing the work…I shifted slightly in my seat but remained silent.
“This is exactly the problem, Your Majesty,” said Duke Casimir, backing up his fellow Stantorn. “We all know what Lorcan and Jessamine are like when a new and difficult problem presents itself for study. It’s what led them to be selected for their positions in the first place. But can they really be trusted to assess the threat in front of us clearly?”
He gazed up and down the table at the other heads. “I will admit I was intrigued when I first heard of the situation. Excited, even, when I considered all the potential ramifications. But it has become increasingly obvious that this new manifestation is no more powerful than our current abilities. Instead it is a great deal less controlled.” His cold eyes turned to me, and it took everything in me not to tremble at the look in them.
“It is far too early in her training to determine the potential extent of her power.” Jessamine sighed. “And this talk of control again. We have been closely monitoring—”
“I do not just speak of control in the traditional sense,” said Casimir. “We must also consider what it means that the girl in question is commonborn. Raised among the common folk.” He paused significantly and no one else spoke. “Unfamiliar with our ways or way of life.”
It took everything in me to bite my tongue as most of the heads in the room turned to examine me as if I were an interesting animal who had wandered by accident into their midst. I understood the meaning behind his words as well as any of them did.
I was commonborn, and therefore I wasn’t on their side. I might resent them. I might have reason to turn my power and ability against them. I couldn’t be trusted.
This was what concerned them. And what had I done? Exactly what they most feared.
“Precisely,” jumped in Thaddeus. “And, indeed, her only use of power outside the strict confines of the classroom illustrates the point precisely. She is not one of us, and it is far too dangerous for her to be allowed any further training. Jessamine said it herself—who knows what the extent of her powers might be if we allow this farce to continue?”
Jessamine exchanged a quick glance with Lorcan, and I winced inside. She had only fed him more ammunition against me—and he had seized it eagerly.
“I don’t know, General,” said Lucas’s calm voice.
The entire table turned to look at him. From the expressions on their faces, I suspected a few of them at least had forgotten about his presence altogether.
“You say the fight is evidence she’s not one of us,” he continued. “But it doesn’t seem that way to me. After all, she was hardly the instigator.” He glanced significantly over at General Griffith. “And I believe that starting in second year we will even be actively encouraged to attack each other with whatever power we can muster. Is that not so?”
He looked to Lorcan, his face open as if genuinely asking the question.
“Indeed, Your Highness,” Lorcan replied.
“So it sounds to me like she was behaving exactly like one of us.” He looked around at them all. “Just a thought I had.”
“What is this nonsense about not being the instigator?” asked Griffith, coming just short of actually glaring at a member of the royal family. “I assure you—”
“Don’t forget that I was present on the occasion, General, as your esteemed colleague reminded us upon our arrival at this meeting. And as an impartial observer, I can assure you that the mageborn trainees were the instigators of the violence. They also received far less physical injury than their victim.”
Several eyes turned back to me, and I could feel the impact of the word victim settling through the room, along with an image of me battered and bruised. It was an image of weakness. And it was exactly what I needed.
Duke Magnus frowned, his blue robe rippling as he shifted in his seat. “It sounds increasingly as if we have all been summoned here frivolously, and some of us from important work—it is planting season you know.” He exchanged a look with the green-robed Annika. “It almost sounds as if we have been summoned here to discuss a squabble among trainees. Hardly a matter for the full Mage Council.” He directed a disapproving look at Lorcan.
“I insisted you all be present,” Lorcan said smoothly, “precisely because the matter is a squabble among Academy trainees. It is unprecedented that even a partial council should attempt to inject themselves into such a minor internal matter within one of our areas of authority.” His gaze stayed steady on Magnus. “I cannot imagine you would welcome such a change in council practice.”
Magnus leaned back in his seat, his expression thoughtful.
“I recognize your concern, Lorcan.” He looked across the table at Thaddeus before glancing at Lucas. “I suppose the presence of the prince among the first years has introduced an element of confusion for Thaddeus here. Head of the Royal Guard and all that.”
“Members of the royal family have always studied at the Academy.” Lorcan’s eyes narrowed. “And no previous head has been expected to bear such insults.”
“Insults?” Magnus raised an eyebrow.
“The suggestion that the Academy is not adequately equipped to protect any royal person studying there.”
“Oh, calm down, Lorcan,” said Lennox. “No one is suggesting you’re inadequate at your job.”
“Aren’t they?” Lorcan raised both eyebrows. “It seems to me that is exactly what is being suggested.”
“Enough,” said the king, who had been qu
ietly following the conversation. His eyes briefly met those of the queen, who had been equally silent, but whatever he saw there didn’t give him pause. “I am satisfied by my son’s assurance that he was never in any danger, nor was there any threat or aggression made toward him.”
His eyes moved to me, and I went completely still, forgetting even to breathe.
“As for the matter of the commonborn trainee…She cannot be released without further training in the necessary control. So it seems to me that the matter before us is whether she is to continue as a trainee, or whether she is to be treated as a criminal, locked away as we would a rogue mage.”
Lennox cleared his throat. “That would not be a simple undertaking, Sire. For the usual mage prisoner, removing all stored compositions and all methods of composing is fairly easily achieved. But if compositions can be verbal…”
“So we are talking of execution, then?” The queen raised a single eyebrow.
I went cold all over. I had never read a word until they granted me permission to learn. They couldn’t execute me now. Could they?
My eyes traveled frantically up and down the table, trying to count the numbers and read their expressions. When my gaze fastened on Lucas, I found him once again looking at me, something powerful and unsettling burning in his eyes.
“I am inclined to see things as Lorcan does,” said the king, giving me hope. But his next words dispelled it. “This is a matter of management within your disciplines and not the safety of the kingdom. I will therefore leave it to your own vote. Although naturally I will retain the deciding vote in the case of a tie. The vote before us is whether the council will interfere in Lorcan’s running of the Academy, namely his authority to permit the attendance of a commonborn student, who appears to be a new breed of mage. A vote for the council to refrain from interfering in the matter will result in the girl, Elena of Kingslee, remaining at the Academy for further study by Lorcan and Jessamine. A vote to forbid the taking of commonborn students under any circumstances will result in the necessary execution of the girl in question.”
“Naturally I vote that the council refrain from meddling in the running of the Academy,” said Lorcan quickly. “As they have always done in the past.”
“As do I,” said Jessamine.
“And I,” said Phyllida.
“And I,” added Dashiell, after a slightly longer pause.
So all the Callinos heads had voted together. No great surprise there.
“As much as I respect my colleague,” said Thaddeus, the qualification sounding as if it hurt him, “I cannot, in good conscience, vote to allow any potential threat to the royal family to remain. I vote to forbid the presence of a commonborn student at the Academy.”
“As do I,” said Casimir, backing up his Stantorn family member even more swiftly than the four Callinos heads had done.
General Griffith took a deep breath and then nodded his head. “As do I. The kingdom cannot face threats from within while we are so occupied fending off threats from without.”
He looked across at Annika, and she nodded her head once.
“I agree.”
So Stantorn and Devoras had stuck together. No surprise there, either. I looked at Lucas, too tense to look at the council members themselves, and saw his gaze crossing between Lennox and Magnus of Ellington. Everything came down to them now.
Chapter 22
Lennox looked down at the table, ignoring the intense gazes of his fellow council members. After a moment, he glanced up at Magnus, and something unspoken passed between them.
I held my breath, dizziness nearly overwhelming me as the moment drew out.
“The laws of our kingdom have been entrusted to me,” he said at last. “And I cannot condone an execution where no laws have been broken. Just as I cannot condone a change to how we manage our separate disciplines. Of course, if the girl Elena were to break one of our laws, I would not hesitate to act. As I am sure Lorcan would not hesitate to hand her over to me.”
He nodded at Lorcan, and Lorcan nodded back. Then his eyes took in the rest of the table.
“And I can assure you all that in such a circumstance, my discipline would be more than capable of discharging our duties, whatever abilities this girl has amassed in the meantime.”
A brief smile flitted across Lorcan’s face. The Academy Head had cleverly framed the issue as a challenge to his authority and his ability to fill his role. His opponents hadn’t seen that their doubt cast question not only on Lorcan, but also on Lennox and his ability to enforce the law if I were to turn rogue.
Magnus nodded slowly.
“I vote with my kinsman. And I hope it will not be necessary to recall me to the capital again before the completion of my usual spring tour of the kingdom.”
He heaved himself to his feet, bowed to the king and then the queen, and strode from the room.
I slumped back in my chair, my head reeling, and my breath coming short and fast. All of that and nothing was to change. I would continue at the Academy.
And thank goodness for that—given the alternative, my mind whispered.
Lucas left the room immediately after that with both his parents, not faltering as he swept past me, although I felt the burn of his eyes. Lorcan gestured for me to accompany him from the room, and we returned to the Academy in near silence.
“It’s my birthday today,” I said, as we stepped through the main doors into the Academy entrance hall.
I had no idea what had prompted me to speak.
Lorcan paused and looked back at me, a startled look in his eyes.
“Oh.” For a minute we just looked at each other. “Happy Birthday.”
“Thank you.”
He cleared his throat. “Sorry about that…” He waved in the direction of the palace. “On your birthday.”
I shrugged. “It could have been worse.”
For another moment we simply regarded each other, both very much aware of what it could have been. I considered thanking him for his efforts to save me but found I had no desire to do so. He had done it for himself, not for me.
He cleared his throat again, nodded once, and disappeared toward his office.
Spring continued to warm the air, and greenery sprung up around the Academy. The dreaded day arrived when we exchanged our staffs for dull practice swords, and I once again returned to bottom of the class. Only this time I had company there. Neither Clarence nor Araminta appeared to have ever wielded a blade before, and Coralie and Saffron had only the slightest familiarity with them.
It was easier to take because I had finally caught up in composition. My extra lessons with Walden ended, and I now practiced alongside my year mates, producing verbal compositions in class. Redmond provided little in the way of assistance, so I had to work out how to modify the methods he taught without his help.
I had my revenge, however, because Lorcan and the University academics now came to our class to monitor and observe my development. They often made suggestions—and not just to me. Many of them had all sorts of ideas about how the class could better be run, and Redmond spent much of the season stalking around the Academy in a foul mood.
I was glad for the extra effort that modifying our lessons required because I would have been bored otherwise. In class we moved at a snail’s pace compared to the speed Walden and I had progressed at. After a while I realized that most of the students found the level of composing we did exhausting, and that our slow pace was designed to gradually build their capacity. Only Lucas and Dariela rarely looked tired, and I sometimes caught the visiting academics observing them with interest.
Impatience, not exhaustion, filled me during our classes, but I remembered Jasper’s words and hid it. I soon fell into the rhythm of doing no more than the basic compositions asked for, always ensuring that nothing I did made me stand out from the rest. I certainly never mentioned that the few compositions we completed left me with plenty of energy to spare.
On the occasions when Jessamine attend
ed in person, she watched me with calculating eyes, but she never actually questioned me or suggested I was holding back. And the only other person who watched me with suspicion almost never spoke to me at all. Lucas and I had never spoken of the council meeting where my fate had been decided, so I hardly expected him to start a conversation about my progress in class.
Checking out book after book from the library kept my mind alert and engaged, although Coralie thought I was mad to invite extra work. But then she had been reading since she was a child and considered the sort of topics I studied a bore. I didn’t bother to try to explain it to her.
After our conversation with Finnian in the dining hall, she had made a noticeable effort to be more sensitive about the lives of us commonborn, but she still didn’t really understand. How could she?
But I felt as if my world was expanding—growing wider with each book I read. The kingdom of Kallorway, the brief mentions of the mysterious Sekali Empire, the history of our conflicts, the history of our royal family, the history of mages and their ability to compose—all of it fascinated me. The structure of the great mage families and the mage disciplines themselves, our economy, even our geography, held me captivated. How much more I could get from maps when they were labeled with words.
Now that I had started, I couldn’t stop. My appetite for more knowledge was insatiable, and my advancements in verbal composition faltered as a result of my inattention to them.
But then one warm spring day, sick of reading cooped up in my room, I wandered through the library after composition class ended, a book tucked under my arm. The sight of all the older trainees studying caught my attention. Some of them sat alone, but many huddled in small groups. The largest group had gathered in a side room—similar to the one Jocasta and I had used while I was learning to read.
The memories of that time made me halt, a shiver running up my spine, but curiosity compelled me forward. The door had been left wide open, and I stood just outside, listening to Jocasta speak to the trainees.
Voice of Power (The Spoken Mage Book 1) Page 21