He shrugged. “I suppose it’s possible, but she’s working alone. The king’s Driven seem more likely. What are they capable of?”
The ring remained silent, and his grandmother turned to Selene. “Speak, apprentice. You know your father’s servants. What are these men of his like?”
“Utterly devoted,” answered Selene. “They’re recruited from the army and trained for absolute loyalty. They act as a sort of secret police, personal enforcers, and as an elite guard for the king. None of them come from the nobility, but Father gives them up to as many as four elementals, depending on their service. Unlike most, he makes certain they are trained for combat, physical and magical.”
“In your opinion, could they kill or capture one of the fae?”
Selene looked thoughtful. “If they were prepared for the task, there’s little they couldn’t accomplish.”
“You’re all ignoring the creature that appeared in the middle of it all,” said Will. “It was after Laina. It seems obvious that she hired Darla to protect her from whatever it was. The king was probably hunting it too.”
Selene straightened. “Then he should have warned the baron.”
“Maybe he did,” agreed Will. “Maybe that’s why she had an Arkeshi for a guard, or maybe he decided to use her as bait without telling her.” He thought about it for a moment. “No, that doesn’t make sense, either. If he warned her then why would he have been angry about Darla?”
“The sick bastard probably just wanted a reason to torture you,” offered Arrogan.
“You might be right about that,” said Will. “But he had to confirm Darla’s identity, so I’m sure he didn’t know for certain who she was.”
After a few more minutes of rehashing what little they knew, Aislinn made a suggestion. “I’d like to speak to the ring alone, William. Will you give your consent?”
“Why?”
“You and Selene are too inexperienced to provide much more input here. It will go faster if he and I speak directly. At the same time, some of the subjects we will cover are too far beyond your experience and would create questions and distractions you cannot afford at this time.”
Shut up, the adults want to talk, he thought to himself. A glance in Selene’s direction confirmed that she was equally annoyed by the idea. “I don’t mind, but—”
As soon as he had agreed, a source-link shot out from Aislinn and connected to both him and Selene. Over the past year he had come to take for granted the fact that no one he encountered had the strength and discipline to do what Arrogan had done to him routinely while he was apprenticed. His grandmother disabused him of the notion that he might be able to resist her with blinding speed. The connection was made, and his body put into a soft paralysis, in almost the same instant.
He thought of it as a ‘soft’ paralysis because his body first went weak, allowing him to sink to the floor before he completely lost all voluntary movement. From the corner of his eye he could see Selene sagging to the floor as well, but then his senses vanished and he was left deaf, blind, and dumb. Or as Grandfather would say, deaf and blind were added to my usual qualities, he thought dryly.
His limnthal had to remain active for the ring to speak, but Will was no longer able to connect to his turyn, so he had no idea if that was the case. He was sealed in a black void and simply had to trust that his grandmother knew what she was doing.
Considering her hostile attitude when she arrived, he didn’t feel inclined to trust her, and shivers of fear began to disturb the tiny void his consciousness was trapped within. It grew stronger, and after an unknown eternity he wanted to scream, but of course he couldn’t. In desperation, he tried to escape in the only way he knew how. Inverting his instincts, he focused and tried to pull himself out, imagining Aislinn in the room just a few feet away.
He had failed the last time he tried, but sensory deprivation—or perhaps it was the fear—gave him the extra push he needed. With an odd popping sensation, his perspective left the senseless void, and he found himself floating in the air just behind Aislinn. She was holding his hand in hers, the limnthal glowing above it.
“You know what that thing must be,” she said.
“They’re supposed to be gone, but you’re probably right,” answered Arrogan’s disembodied voice. “Either a few escaped or Grim Talek recreated them.”
“We should have destroyed the lich when we had the chance,” she responded, anger tainting her voice. “But you—”
“We weren’t strong enough to risk it.”
“The hell we weren’t!”
“Not safely. I couldn’t bear the thought of you—”
“You were weak, and now your attempt to protect me back then has left the current generation vulnerable.”
Arrogan’s voice was bitter as he replied, “I was human! We both were, in case you’ve forgotten what that’s like. I’m starting to think I’m lucky to be a piece of jewelry, rather than an emotionless monster like you’ve become.”
“I still have emotions; they’ve just been refined.”
“Down to anger, lust, and greed. It’s a miracle you’re able to keep your promise still.”
“As if I have a choice,” she answered. “It’s the foundation of what the fae are. I couldn’t break it if I wanted.”
“And do you?”
There was a long pause. “Do I wish I could break it?” she clarified hesitantly.
“Yes.”
The woman known to many as the goddess of magic sighed. “I’m not sure. It’s hard to remember who I was anymore. Not the details, but the feelings. You have no idea what it’s like. The absolute hunger of pure desires. Sometimes I just want to destroy everything, myself included, but not before I put an end to them…”
“Them being our enemies, or our students?”
“Both,” she admitted, and Will saw his grandmother’s body shiver.
“I appreciate your candor. You seemed like you were overdoing it earlier.”
She chuckled faintly. “You of all people should remember how I was as a teacher. I’m even worse now. I know what I must do to teach her, but at the same time, I really do want to rip her open. I’m sure it’s coloring my judgment.” She paused, then added, “You know I’m bound to truth. I wasn’t making idle threats earlier. If the boy doesn’t deliver, I’ll ruin everything he loves, starting with what’s closest to hand.”
“What about the promise?”
“I’ve had a long time to learn my limits. I can get around it without even straining myself.”
Arrogan’s voice sounded sad. “Has it come that that? Has the hatred consumed everything left? I still remember our love, even after centuries of living without you. It never left me.”
“Stop!”
Will couldn’t feel anything physical, but the ring of command in her voice seemed like it should have shaken the foundations of the building. When Aislinn spoke again, her words were sharp enough to cut glass. “Never speak of us again. All it does is rouse my rage and fill me with visions of torturing you. I’d rather not taint my memories.”
“Fine. What about the creature? You know he’s not capable of dealing with their kind yet,” said the ring.
Aislinn shrugged. “Let the king handle them. He seems brutally effective. If he was there hunting them that night, then he already knows of the problem. All William needs to do is recover my daughter.” She turned her head to glance at Selene but froze when her field of vision passed over the area that Will was watching from.
“You didn’t tell me he knew how to project already,” said Aislinn coldly.
“He doesn’t, but he did it a few times early on by accident. It’s part of why I had to train him in the beginning—”
Will wanted to hear the rest, but Aislinn pointed at the space where he floated and twisted her finger in an odd motion before pointing it at his collapsed form. With a rushing sensation, he flew down and blackness once again enveloped him. It only lasted a moment, however, for Aislinn’s magic ush
ered him into a deep sleep.
Chapter 12
Selene was staring down at him when he opened his eyes. Will felt a little confused, for unlike normal sleep, he had no memory of dreams or other sensations to give him the sense of time having passed. He had gone from Aislinn’s rebuke to sudden wakefulness as though reality had simply stuttered, pushing him forward in time.
Lifting his head, he looked around. His grandmother stood by the door, her hand on the knob. “You half hour begins now,” she stated before stepping out. Will sat up, and Selene’s arms closed around him with desperate urgency.
He closed his eyes again, burying his face in her hair. As always, he loved her scent, though it was different now. Gone was the lavender, replaced with a faint impression of pine and some sort of spice he didn’t recognize. It reminded him of the mountains for some reason. Is Aislinn keeping her in some remote mountainous area of Faerie?
“I’ve missed you terribly,” she whispered into his neck. “You have no idea what it’s been like for me.”
Will relaxed his arms and pushed her back just far enough to bring their lips into line for a kiss. It only lasted a moment, then he squeezed her close again. “Arrogan was her student once. He told me she was meaner than him, and he was pretty awful to me.”
“She isn’t teaching me, Will. It’s just torture. I haven’t learned a thing.”
“It seems like that at first.”
“No, I’m not exaggerating. There’s no training. Nothing. I’m a glorified servant—no, that’s not right either. I’m a humiliated servant. I do nothing but clean and work for—” She stopped suddenly.
“What?” he asked.
She squeezed him tighter. “I’m sorry. She forbade me from telling you certain things that might give away where I’ve been staying, so I can’t say who I’m working for.”
“You aren’t working for her?”
She shook her head. “I only see her once a day, and that’s only so she can insult me. I’d go insane if it weren’t for—for my friend. He’s the only one who treats me like a human being.”
He? Will felt a sudden surge of irrational jealousy. “You can’t tell me his name?”
“The name would give away certain things.”
If it was Edward or Tom it wouldn’t tell me much, so it must be a foreign name, he mused. Swallowing his jealousy, he tried to reassure her. “At least you have a friend.”
She nodded. “Just one. The others—they see us almost as animals. I’m just a slave to them.”
“The fae?” he asked, but she didn’t answer. If it was the fae, wouldn’t she have just admitted it? Does that mean she’s somewhere else? He couldn’t decide.
“Enough about me,” she responded. “I’m disgusted by what that man did to you!”
“Your father?”
“I don’t want to think of him as my father anymore. He’s a monster. What you did was admirable but please don’t do it again. I love Laina, but I can’t bear to think of you being hurt for my sake. Whatever that man does isn’t your fault.”
He pushed her back so he could look at her, trying to memorize her features so they wouldn’t fade during their next long separation. “I didn’t do it for you. She’s my sister.”
“Then next time remember how important you are to me. Put your safety first.” Her expression was so emphatic that Will found himself captured by the movement of her lips. They drew him in, and their second kiss was longer than the first.
He broke away at last. There was much more he needed to tell her. “As for your training, if it’s like mine was, then you mustn’t give up hope.”
“She isn’t teaching me anything!”
“There’s nothing to be taught; she’s waiting for you to be ready.”
Her reply was saturated with frustration. “Ready for what?”
Will shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it. Heck, maybe that’s why Arrogan never explained it to me, because he knew I’d ask endless questions that he didn’t have answers for.”
“It still doesn’t make sense.”
“Grandfather once told me that it was easier to teach someone who hadn’t learned to use magic yet. I think she’s trying to help you get used to being without magic before she tries the next step.”
“With as much time as I’m wasting, it would be better to just start and deal with the problems as they come.”
He shook his head. “No. The next step is dangerous. You could die if you aren’t ready for it.”
Selene stared at him thoughtfully. “I remember you saying that once before, but I figured you were just exaggerating for emphasis.”
Will ran his fingers through her hair. He couldn’t not touch her, even for a moment. I’m like a man dying of thirst, he observed. “This first phase could last a long time. Has she given you a candle to watch?”
She held up her right hand. There was a gold ring there with a small, clear stone set in it. Will could see an intense knot of turyn hovering over it, and after studying it a moment he could make out the faint lines tying it to her source.
He was surprised. “How did I miss seeing that?”
“You were looking at other things,” she said with a sly smile.
“Your face for the most part,” he admitted, “to see if you missed me.”
“You know better than that. So, what is this ring supposed to teach me? The old hag was emphatic I pay close attention to it. It seems to read my mood but I’m not sure why that’s important.”
Will thought carefully about his answer. Arrogan hadn’t explained that point very well until he was ready to move on to the first compression of his source. Was there a reason for that? Would it be better for her to be left in the dark until she came to her own conclusion? “I’m not sure how much I should tell you,” he said at last. “It isn’t reading your mood, but your mood affects it.”
“Then it reflects the state of my turyn?”
He nodded. Damn, she was quick. Then again, she’s already a fully trained sorceress, so it isn’t as though she’s completely ignorant like I was, he consoled himself.
“How is that important?” she asked.
And yet she still missed the point completely, thought Will, fighting to hide a smirk. “I’m sure you’ve noticed how it changes, when you’re tired, angry, excited, sleepy, and so on.”
“Or when we kiss,” she said with a smile.
“Your current lesson is observing it, so you learn to understand what your inner turyn is doing without needing to look at a candle, or in your case a ring. If you want to get ahead of the game, learn to change it.”
Selene frowned. “A person’s internal turyn doesn’t change.”
“You’ve seen it change already.”
“I mean it isn’t something a person can control. It’s like your heartbeat, it regulates itself.”
“Remember our bet about whether I could take your spell from you?”
She nodded.
“This is part of it. You have to master the turyn within before you can master someone else’s. Here, watch.” Will had long since learned the candle spell that Arrogan had used on him, and though he didn’t have a candle, the spell didn’t actually require one, since the flame was illusory. With a second’s effort, he cast the spell and linked his own source to an illusory flame at the end of his finger.
“Impressive,” Selene remarked sarcastically.
He ignored her obvious lack of belief. “This is basically the same spell that you have on your ring. The flame reflects my internal turyn. Now, watch.” A second later the flame changed from a forest green to a bright red, then it flared, tripling in size. He kept it that way for ten seconds or so, then shrank it down until the flame was a tiny ember, barely visible.
“You aren’t using a second spell, are you?” muttered Selene, obviously puzzled. “Is that real?”
“Would I lie to you?”
She narrowed her eyes. “In point of fact, you have lied to me on several occasions in the pa
st.”
“Not maliciously!”
“No, you always thought it was for my own good, which made me even madder.”
Will held up his hands as a sign that he wanted a truce. “Guilty as charged, but I don’t have any reason to lie this time.”
“So you claim.”
He kissed her before she could make any more accusations, but this time she pushed him back. “Tell me more before we run out of time.”
“That’s it really. Try not to make the flame larger; that’s counterproductive. When the next stage comes it will be important for you to learn how to make it smaller.”
“None of this makes sense,” Selene grumbled. “How long did this stage take you?”
Will thought about it for a moment, but he wasn’t certain. He counted fingers silently. “A year? Two years? I’m not sure.”
“A year! I can’t wait that long!” she exclaimed. “The last six months have been miserable.”
That caught his attention. “She didn’t use the candle spell on you until six months ago? She should have done that from the first day.”
“That was the first day,” confirmed Selene. “Six months ago.”
“It’s been a year, Selene,” he said softly.
She shook her head firmly. “No, it has only been six months. Trust me, I’ve been counting the days.”
“Look out the window.” He pointed. “Spring is here. This is the beginning of my second semester in my second year.”
“That can’t be right,” she muttered weakly, going to the window. “What’s the date?”
“It’s the third of Marta, in Earrach, the year 462 of the Terabinian calendar.”
Her face was ashen. “Are you sure? From my count it should still be Mean, of 461.”
Will chuckled. “And what calendar year is it where you’ve been staying?”
“That’s why I counted days, their calendar isn’t the same as ours—” she stopped suddenly, putting a hand in front of her mouth. “Forget I said that.”
“Well now that I know, I’ll have to ask Aislinn why—”
“Please! Don’t make things worse for me! You have no idea how she is.”
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