Crown of Danger (The Hidden Mage Book 2)

by Melanie Cellier

  Bryony rubbed both her arms. “It was awful. I never thought I’d experience taking someone’s energy like that, but I can see what Amalia was talking about.”

  As soon as she mentioned our instructor’s name, I knew what had happened. I should have recognized it straight away, but there had been too much going on for me to think properly. Energy taken by force wasn’t like energy willingly given, as in the case of Bryony or Tyron’s compositions. The stolen energy strained to return to its rightful owner, eventually breaking free to do just that—unless its original owner was no longer alive.

  All that energy churning inside me had returned to my attacker. No wonder she had recovered so quickly and escaped. What did she think had happened? Whatever she thought, it had unnerved her enough to flee instead of continuing to fight. My only consolation was that I didn’t see how she could possibly guess the truth. I had been too far away for her to hear my words, and my ability was totally unique.

  We rumbled through the entrance of the Academy, Captain Vincent calling out muffled instructions to unseen guards. The gates creaked shut behind us, closing with a thunderous clang.

  Weary after the unexpected battle and the struggle with the stolen energy, I stumbled down the carriage steps and into the Academy courtyard. Layna swung down from her mount and gestured for me to head straight inside the building. I complied without protest, shivering slightly in my still wet clothes.

  The wooden doors at the top of the gray stone stairs already stood open, so I hurried inside, Bryony on my heels. Inside the echoing entrance hall, I halted. Water dripped down to form a small puddle at my feet.

  Several people had been walking through the large space, and all of them stopped to stare at us in surprise. But only one caught my attention. Darius.

  Chapter 6

  The prince had also paused, the slightest expression of surprise creasing his face at the picture we must create. But then he resumed walking, coming to stand a short distance in front of me. He gave a small, impersonal half-bow.

  “Welcome back to Kallorway, Princess Verene. I hope you haven’t met with some accident within our borders.”

  His cold tone made me shiver more than the moisture coating me.

  “Only if you consider an outright attack in broad daylight to be an accident,” Bryony said tartly.

  For a moment, I could have sworn something sparked and flashed in Darius’s eyes, but it might have been my imagination willing the emotion there.

  “I heard Captain Vincent was called out with a squad of guards,” he said, in the same detached voice. “I didn’t realize you were involved. I trust he assisted your own guards in dealing with the brigands.”

  Bryony opened her mouth, no doubt to say they hadn’t been robbers, but I jumped in before she could.

  “I will leave the captain to give you the full report.” I called on all my training as I tried to match my tone to his. “As you can see, we are unharmed.”

  “The crown has full trust in Captain Vincent to keep the Academy and the trainees safe,” Darius said.

  Bryony snorted quietly behind me, but my focus remained on the prince’s face. What did he mean by that? Was there a warning in his words?

  But his face gave nothing away, his impassive mask impenetrable.

  Bryony shivered theatrically. “I, for one, would like to get to my room and get dry. If you’ll excuse us, Your Highness.”

  Darius didn’t flinch at her contemptuous tone, merely standing aside and gesturing for us to pass. As we stepped onto the grand staircase, I couldn’t stop myself from throwing a single glance over my shoulder. But Darius had already moved on out of sight, whether out the still-open doors or into one of the corridors, I didn’t know. He had certainly not lingered for any last glances.

  I shook myself and began to climb. Captain Layna had also entered the building and now shadowed us, several lengths behind. We reached the second landing, and I hesitated. Last year, I would have turned right here for one of the royal suites, and at the end of the year, Bryony had been staying with me. But I didn’t actually know if I had been assigned the same rooms this year.

  The head of the Academy’s servants, Zora, appeared from down the corridor, bowing low at the sight of me and making no mention of my wet and bedraggled state. Her calm didn’t surprise me—she had always seemed capable of taking any situation in stride.

  “Princess Verene, welcome back. Your old suite has been prepared for your arrival.”

  “Thank you,” I said, aware the words sounded wooden.

  She turned to Bryony. “I’m afraid you still have four more flights of stairs to climb, Bryony.”

  My friend hesitated, glancing at me, so I shooed her upward.

  “Go! Get dry.”

  She took off, almost running up the stairs in her haste, and I turned toward my own suite. Zora kept pace beside me.

  “If it pleases Your Highness, I have once again assigned Ida to your care.”

  I nodded. “Of course. I had no complaints with her efforts last year.”

  The head of the servants continued to walk with me, although I had no difficulty remembering where I was going. I had trod this path countless times before.

  When I stopped at the right door, she handed me a key. I turned it in the lock, resisting the impulse to hold my breath. After an attack outside the Academy walls, the welcome left in my room the year before seemed inconsequential.

  When I pushed the door open, however, no sign of any disturbance greeted me. Everything looked neat and clean, all the furniture in its correct places.

  Zora, entering behind me, relaxed slightly, and I realized why she had led me all the way here. I wasn’t the only one who remembered the year before.

  I had never told my personal guard about the incidents of the year before, but Layna brushed past us both anyway, poking into every corner of the room and disappearing through the doorway on the right wall that led into my bedchamber.

  She reappeared a few moments later.

  “Everything is clear,” she said. “I sense no power lingering anywhere.”

  I nodded my thanks.

  “And these are for you.” She handed me a tall stack of parchments. “As we discussed.”

  I thanked her more warmly as my hand curled around the precious gift. As soon as I had reached Corrin, I had expressed my appreciation of the compositions she had left me the year before to guard my door. And although I hadn’t told her of the assassin who made it into my bedchamber, I did confess to being careless enough to let one of my year mates get their hands on one.

  Guiltily, I had asked if it would be possible for her to make a modified version for this year—one whose secrets weren’t compromised. She had agreed with enthusiasm, especially after I promised to let her superiors know how effective her work had been.

  She watched with a slightly raised eyebrow as I immediately tore two, directing one toward the external door of my suite and another toward my bedchamber door. I carefully refrained from glancing at the tapestry on the left wall and the concealed door I knew lay behind it. Let Layna wonder why I felt the need for a double layer of protection. I wasn’t going to tell her. Just as I wasn’t going to shield the door that connected my sitting room with Darius’s. Despite his cold greeting, a kernel of hope had lodged in my heart and refused to die.

  Thankfully my captain’s caution extended to all parts of her role, and she had supplied me with an ample number of compositions to guard two doors. No doubt she had been allowing for the protection to need frequent refreshing in case the power was drained from challenges. Thankfully my doors had been largely undisturbed the year before, just the presence of the guarding composition apparently enough to keep any unwanted guests away. With only the occasional refresh needed after the natural drain of power over the passage of time, I had managed to make last year’s compositions last. This year should be even easier.

  Zora’s eyes lingered on Layna, but when my captain showed no sign of leaving, the hea
d servant crossed to the door.

  “I’ll leave you to get cleaned up.” She hesitated but then slipped out into the corridor without speaking further.

  I watched her go with a creased brow. It was almost as if she had wanted to speak to me alone.

  “Now that you’re safely here, I should be going also,” Layna said, pulling my focus back to her.

  “You’re not going to stay the night?” I asked in surprise.

  “I would like to examine the village and its surrounds for myself before the scene is completely trampled,” she said. “And then we will ride for Bronton before nightfall.”

  I twisted my lips. “I suppose you have to report the attack.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Certainly I must do so.”

  I sighed. “Maybe you could downplay it just a bit?” I suggested. “Just to my parents?”

  The sides of Layna’s lips quirked up the slightest bit. “I’m afraid that wouldn’t be possible, Your Highness,” she said gravely.

  I winced.

  “However,” she continued, “I expect I shall be called upon to make my report to the queen and my commanding officers rather than your parents.”

  I brightened slightly. “Yes, that’s likely true.” I could only trust that my aunt’s vested interest in keeping me here would make her view the threat with less alarm than my parents no doubt would.

  “You won’t get in trouble for leaving me here?” I asked.

  Layna shook her head. “The Academy is the safest place for you at present, Princess. As has clearly been demonstrated, I would need a much larger force to protect you on the open road.”

  I nodded. “And at least you can truthfully report that Captain Vincent and his guards proved more than capable at keeping me safe. And they would presumably be even more effective behind the walls of the Academy where they are also on their own turf.”

  “It has certainly relieved some of my concern to see the captain’s squad in action,” Layna said. “They are well trained.”

  I wanted to ask her if she thought my aunt and parents would call me back to Ardann once they got her report, but I restrained myself. Layna was an excellent personal guard, but she wasn’t privy to the crown’s policy concerns, and she certainly knew nothing of the factors that must be weighed in my aunt’s decision.

  I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but I would have to trust that my newly assigned role would be enough to keep me here. Aunt Lucienne certainly had no other simple alternative for keeping a line of communication open with Darius.

  I sighed softly. Not that Darius had looked interested in communicating with me. My eyes strayed to the tapestry before I pulled them away.

  “I must be going,” Layna said. “If we manage to discover the identity of your attackers, I’ll send you word.”

  I forced a smile. “Thank you. You fought well, and I know you must have greatly depleted your supply of compositions.”

  Layna bowed. “There is satisfaction in using them for their created purpose. Not many opportunities present themselves in Ardann. Thankfully,” she added quickly.

  I smiled again to show I understood. “Well, you may be satisfied that your workings performed admirably.”

  “Thank you, Your Highness. And farewell.” She bowed again and hurried out the door.

  Leaving my sitting room, she almost collided with a figure in a white robe. The tall girl stopped in my open doorway, and Layna hesitated, meeting my eyes over her shoulder.

  I waved my guard away. I might not like Dellion, but I no longer suspected her of wishing me harm.

  Both of the elegant trainee’s eyebrows were raised so high they almost disappeared into her elaborate arrangement of golden hair.

  “I heard a rumor you had arrived looking like a drowned rat, but I must confess, I doubted it. It hasn’t been raining lately.”

  “It was in the village,” I said flatly, not in the mood for verbal fencing with her.

  Her eyebrows, which had dropped down, rose again. “So the rumors of an attack are also true. How fascinating. Who wants to kill you, I wonder?”

  “If you find out, let me know,” I said.

  “They’re not bundling you straight back to Corrin, then?”

  “Not for now.” I wrung out a portion of my robe, hoping she’d get the message.

  “A pity.” She sighed and then smiled nonchalantly. “It’s not personal, of course. Things would just be…simpler without you.”

  “If you’ll leave me in peace to get into dry clothes, I’ll promise not to take offense,” I said lightly.

  She laughed and wandered away from my doorway, not bothering to close the door behind her. I sighed and crossed the room to do it myself.

  As I cleaned myself up, making use of the selection of clothes I’d left here the year before, I found I believed her. I didn’t think it was personal. But Dellion was the granddaughter of General Haddon and niece of the queen. And while it didn’t seem they had been the ones trying to kill me last year after all, they still weren’t happy about the interest the king’s supporters had shown in me—or rather in the alliance with Ardann I represented. If King Cassius and my aunt managed a proper treaty, it might tip the delicate balance of power too far away from the general.

  I considered her words and attitude as I twisted my hair inside a towel. She had sounded almost weary of the pressure she had alluded to being under from her family. As if she would have preferred to be free to view me as just another year mate. Possibly even a potential friend.

  I chuckled at that thought. Dellion might be less wedded to her family’s opinions than I had thought, but the predatory air to her movements and the competitive glint in her green eyes were all her own. Even without their involvement, I had no doubt she would have seen me as someone to prove herself against.

  But maybe it could have been a friendly sort of rivalry. Maybe it still could be.

  A knock sounded on an outer door, and I hurried out of my bedchamber. My heart sank, despite myself, when I realized it had come from the corridor door and not the one behind the tapestry. Opening it, I found Ida waiting outside.

  She bobbed a curtsy. “Welcome back, Your Highness.” Tension radiated from her as she brought my bags inside, and several times she opened her mouth only to close it again.

  Once she had finished putting away my gowns, collecting those that needed pressing, I had her place her hand on my door and spoke her name.

  “Now you’ll be safely able to come and go,” I told her. “Just like last year.”

  She dropped into a second curtsy, made awkward by the pile of garments in her arms.

  “Thank you, Your Highness. And thank you for understanding about the attack.” The second sentence seemed to burst out of her. “We were all ever so shocked to hear of it! A dangerous attack in our own village! Of course none of us would have anything to do with such a thing. We’ve all been in a tremble to think what might have happened to our families if they hadn’t hid themselves away.”

  She glanced up at me as if checking to see whether I carried any resentment toward the villagers for not rushing to my defense.

  “It is a good thing they did so,” I said. “Or things might have turned out ugly indeed. But from what I understand, no one was harmed in the end.”

  She nodded vigorously. “Thanks to the good captain.”

  “I didn’t know you were from the local village.” I could hear the hint of guilt in my voice. Ida had cared for my rooms all last year, and I knew almost nothing about her.

  The realization sparked something inside my brain. The elusive thought that had tried to grab hold of me during my last meal with my family finally formed properly. I knew nothing about the Kallorwegian commonborns.

  In all the briefings I had received from my aunt and her intelligencers on the state of the Kallorwegian court, the two different factions, and my potential year mates, I had never heard anything about the commonborns—sealed or unsealed. What did they think of their king, t
heir queen, and their prince? Who did they support to hold the throne?

  It should have occurred to me to ask when I was receiving the briefings. Commonborns might not sit on the Mage Council or have a direct say in the forming of laws, but I had seen that they wielded power of their own. After two decades of sealing, their merchant families had amassed enough wealth to ensure their voices mattered.

  “Oh yes, Your Highness,” Ida said. “Born and raised. Zora prefers to work with locals when she can, and if there’s extra work to be done, she’ll take on anyone who can carry a pail and rag.”

  I nodded, remembering the village elder’s words. It made sense that Ida would have grown up working at the Academy whenever there was extra help needed.

  “And when the sealing first started,” she continued, “she handpicked those of us youngsters who were the hardest workers and put our names forward to the duke for one of the ceremonies. She said she needed a dependable workforce who could be trusted in the mages’ rooms.”

  “I’m glad your village and the Academy were not forgotten, despite your distance from the capital,” I said.

  “Oh no, Your Highness. The duke wouldn’t allow that.” A slightly flustered look came over her face, and she dropped into another curtsy.

  I regarded her curiously. I was forcibly struck with the impression that Ida knew a great deal more about how things worked at the Academy than I did. But I could tell that openly questioning her would only cause distress. Instead, I tucked the matter away for further consideration. If my aunt didn’t know the opinions of the commonborns, then maybe it was up to me to find some answers for myself.

  Chapter 7

  Despite the temptation to request a tray in my room, I trudged down to the dining hall for the evening meal. Bryony waved enthusiastically to me from the long table second from the right. Apparently now we were second years we’d moved up in the dining hall. I walked toward her while letting my eyes roam over our previous table.