Crown of Danger (The Hidden Mage Book 2)

by Melanie Cellier

  I eased myself into my loosest clothes, taking so long that I missed breakfast. I expected Bryony to come charging into my suite at any moment, demanding to know the reason for my absence. She didn’t appear, however, and it occurred to me she probably thought I’d grown so impatient I went to see Zora immediately instead of waiting until after the meal.

  The thought made me bolt upright. Zora! The attack and my subsequent injuries had driven all thought of her summons out of my mind.

  I shuffled out of my room, a little of the pain and stiffness diminishing with the gentle activity. I could walk normally by the time I reached the stairs, although I was wincing before I reached my third flight.

  When I finally arrived at Zora’s office, I sank into one of the wooden chairs in front of her desk with a sigh of relief.

  She looked me up and down, frowning.

  “You don’t look entirely well, Your Highness.”

  “I don’t feel entirely well,” I admitted. “But I’ll recover.” When she looked concerned, I added, “Just some soreness.”

  “Soreness?” She stood abruptly and strode around to join me on my side of the desk. “What exactly does that mean, Princess? What has happened to you?”

  “I…” My mind scrambled, unable to think of a cover story in the face of such unexpected directness.

  “Perhaps it would help you to answer honestly if I say something first,” she said. “I have been the head servant of the Academy for many years now, and I know more of what happens within its walls than the duke himself. I know that last year, you suffered an unusual number of accidents, including a broken ankle that was highly unlikely to have been caused by a friendly practice bout.”

  “I—”

  She held up her hand to stop me as she continued.

  “You then suffered a second incredibly unlikely accident. And unlike that fool of a captain, I don’t believe for a second that you and the prince were out in the dark on some sort of tryst.” She gave me an amused look. “You would hardly need to stoop to such tactics, would you?”

  I flushed, but she hurried on.

  “And then there was whatever happened in your rooms just before exams. Add to that the attack on your carriage in the village this year, and I ask you again: Why are you so sore, Princess Verene?”

  She fastened a look on me of such intensity that I wouldn’t have prevaricated, even if I could have thought of a convincing story. I had already decided whose side I thought Zora was on, and it was time to trust my instincts.

  “I was attacked last night in the entrance hall of the Academy by two cloaked assailants,” I said. “However, I managed to scare them away before they could do more than bruise me. Unfortunately I discovered this morning that the bruising was a little more substantial than I realized. I was planning to make Raelynn my next stop after you.”

  “No. Absolutely not.” Her resolute words took me by surprise. “On no account can you be healed. At least not yet.”

  “I beg your pardon?” I stared at her.

  “That fool of a maid was supposed to deliver my message to you at your suite, not out in public. I wondered if it would cause trouble if someone overheard that the two of us have been meeting, but it seems their efforts may just play into our hands, after all.”

  My mouth fell further open. “You think the attack on me last night was in response to our planned meeting?” My mind flew to Jareth, the only other person in the hall when the maid delivered Zora’s message.

  “I think it is at least a possibility,” she said briskly, crossing back around to retake her seat. “I am not a fool myself, Princess, and it has been apparent for some time that someone is mighty determined to ensure you don’t make any useful connections in Kallorway. And while I’ll admit that I’m not at the same level as someone like the prince, I am not without sway or authority.”

  “No.” I leaned forward. “I agree completely. In fact, I was hoping that might be what you wanted to talk to me about today.”

  She nodded. “It was. I had decided the time had come to tell you some things, and it seems the timing may be even more fortuitous than I’d hoped.”

  I scooted to the edge of my seat, my eagerness driving away all thought of my lingering pain.

  “So the servants do support Prince Darius? They wish to see the end of Cassius?”

  “We live in something of a bubble here at the Academy,” she said, “supported by the goodwill of the duke. But while his careful neutrality has shielded us for decades, we are not untouched by the outside world. The attack in the village proved that. It could have gone very differently, and none of my servants are unaware of that fact or the vulnerability of the loved ones they left behind. The duke suspects Cassius is behind the attack, but he is a cautious man. Even with hard proof, he would find it difficult to throw away his neutrality.”

  “The duke knows it was the king?” I asked. “He’s never said a word.”

  “Of course not. Didn’t I just mention he’s cautious? And perhaps it’s because of that, and his beloved neutrality, that he has so much influence. Many of the mages at court came through the Academy under his tenure. They respect him. He could be a powerful ally for the young prince.”

  “I agree. But how do we convince him?”

  “I have been working on that problem for years now,” she said, “chipping away at him. But I have lacked the final push to motivate him to action. You, however, Princess, might be the key.”

  My mind felt almost as dazed as my body. “You’ve been working to convince him for years? He listens to you, then?” It had seemed apparent the duke treated the Academy servants well and respected Zora, but I hadn’t suspected her of having so much freedom with him.

  “That is what I was going to tell you,” she said, her voice matter-of-fact. “I am not just the head servant at the Academy. I am also, secretly, the duke’s wife.”

  Chapter 20

  I fell back in my chair, too shocked to do more than gape at her.

  “Yes,” she said, calmly responding as if I had spoken my shock. “I am married to the duke. He is married to a commonborn. Thus why our union has been a secret all these years. Most of the loyal servants know, or suspect, but they would never breathe a word to anyone.”

  “I…I don’t quite know what to say,” I said weakly.

  “If you give it a moment, the shock will dissipate.” Amusement sounded in her voice. She continued talking, kindly giving me a moment to recover myself. “As you can imagine, Francis has great sympathy for commonborns. But if there is one thing he loves more than any other, it is the Academy itself. He believes that for him, personally, his primary responsibility is the Academy—and that his neutrality is the best way of keeping it safe in the turbulent politics of the kingdom.”

  “But you feel differently?”

  “I believe neutrality has served us well in the past. But I also believe the time has come to act. The prince needs as many as possible to rally to his cause, and it is clear since your arrival that allegiances are shifting. It is finally time to pick a side and make a stand.”

  “And you think my bruises can help with that?” I still couldn’t quite make my mind accept everything I was hearing.

  “I am almost sure of it.” She stood. “In fact, we should lose no time in going to see Francis.”

  “We’re going to see the duke right now?” I asked, feeling foolish but not seeming able to stop the inane questions.

  “There is rarely a time like the present.” She gave me another amused look as I scrambled to my feet.

  I trailed through the servants’ corridors behind her. I seemed to have lost any remaining capacity to be surprised and therefore felt not the smallest astonishment when she opened a concealed door in a wall and stepped directly into the duke’s office.

  Checking that his main door was closed, she smiled at him.

  “Good morning, my dear.”

  “Zora!” He surged to his feet, looking from his wife to me.

/>   “Don’t fret,” she said. “I have told the princess about our relationship.”

  “You’ve told Princess Verene that…that we’re…” He gestured wordlessly between them, anger rising on his face.

  “Certainly I have done so,” she said, calm in the face of his ire. “And with good reason.”

  He sank back into his chair and sighed. “I am sure you have good reason. You always do. However, I wish you had consulted with me first. We had agreed that we would not tell—”

  “Never mind that,” she said briskly. “Something of greater significance has arisen.”

  He broke off, eyeing her with interest now, his disapproval apparently forgotten. I looked between them in fascination, but as Zora started talking, I was distracted from thoughts of their astonishing marriage.

  “Despite your years of neutrality,” she said, “the Academy itself has been violated.”

  He sat up straight. “The Academy? What do you mean?” His calculating gaze crossed to me.

  “Princess Verene—who is not only a trainee here but under your especial protection—has been attacked within our walls.”

  He drew in a sharp breath, his eyes once again fastening on me.

  “I was attacked last night in the entrance hall as I returned to my suite after the evening meal,” I said. “They used a composition to drag me outside into the grounds.”

  I pulled down the neckline of my gown to expose a dramatic blue and purple bruise just below my collarbone.

  “Stop.” He held up a hand. “I must call Hugh and Raelynn.”

  His wife raised an eyebrow. “Must you?”

  “They have been with me since the beginning and have been loyal through all.” He gave her a significant look. “If the Academy is to change, they have a right to hear it directly.”

  He pulled a composition from a drawer in his desk and ripped it neatly in half. We all sat in silence for a number of minutes until his door opened without a knock and the librarian hurried in, followed by the healer.

  “Your Grace? We came as fast as we could.” His eyes took in the rest of the room, and he faltered. “Zora. Your Highness. I…”

  “Princess Verene knows about Zora and me,” Duke Francis said. “So you may speak freely. She has just been telling me of a vile attack perpetrated in our own Academy walls. After everything we have been through together, I felt you had a right to hear it from the princess herself.”

  “An attack?” Raelynn gasped. “But you should have come straight to me. You poor dear.” She hurried forward, already ripping a diagnosis composition.

  “Well?” the duke asked. “How bad are her injuries?”

  “Widespread, but thankfully not serious.” She gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m guessing they’re rather painful, however. The bruising is severe.”

  I nodded, greedily eyeing the healing bag slung across her shoulder. She chuckled and withdrew a pain relief composition. I sighed as the cool mist sank into my skin.

  “This time my attackers were scared away before they could do any significant damage,” I said. “But at the end of last year, the assassin who broke into my bedchamber ended up dead himself. His master had bound him in such a way that once he named the person who hired him, his life drained away.”

  “An assassin in your bedchamber?” Raelynn looked like she was about to collapse, and Hugh rushed forward to help her into a nearby chair.

  Even Zora looked faintly taken aback at my contribution to the conversation. Duke Francis, however, never lost focus.

  “And did he name that master, then?”

  “He did. Cassius. The man, not the king, if such a distinction really matters.”

  Hugh gasped, but the duke sat back, steepling his fingers. “It is a meaningless distinction. We are bound as people by the responsibilities we take on toward others just as tightly as we are bound by the role itself. So after all my years of service, all my years of neutrality, it has come to this. The king sends assassins into the Academy itself.”

  “It was one thing to remain neutral when there was a careful balance of power to be maintained,” Zora said. “But change is coming, whether we like it or not. And we must seize the moment to shape that change to the benefit of all.”

  The duke fixed me with narrowed eyes. “Why have I not heard of this attack last year?”

  “Of any of the attacks,” Zora murmured. “There were others in the grounds.”

  “If we are to speak openly and honestly, Your Grace,” I said, looking him directly in the eye, “I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure who I could trust. I didn’t know what side you were on.”

  The duke sucked in a breath as if he had received a physical blow.

  “Everything we have worked toward, gone in an instant,” Hugh said, distress in every line of his body.

  “But there is a different future possible.” I kept my attention focused on the duke. “A future where you don’t need neutrality because there are no sides and factions. A future where Kallorway is united behind a young, strong king who works for the good of all the people.”

  “Prince Darius.” The duke’s gaze didn’t waver from my face.

  I nodded. “Prince Darius isn’t looking to create a new faction—he seeks to end factions altogether, to heal the rift tearing Kallorway apart. He will be a king for all his people.” I glanced sideways at Zora. “And he intends to give sealed commonborns the rights they should always have possessed.”

  “Compositions.” Her grin was fierce, her face alight.

  I nodded.

  Zora turned to the duke. “The time has come. You know it has. We must stand by the prince.”

  “And what is it exactly we can do for him?” the duke asked.

  “You have influence—” Zora began, but I cut her off.

  “Actually there is something specific you can do,” I said. “Something only you can do. Something that might make all the difference.”

  Four pairs of eyes pinned me in place.

  “As Academy Head, you’re a member of the Mage Council. Call an immediate, emergency meeting of the Council here, at the Academy. Give the prince the chance to have his say, and when the time comes, lend him your support and your vote. I believe that if you are willing to do that, then Kallorway will never be the same.”

  “Call the Mage Council,” Zora breathed. “Brilliant.” She fixed her husband with her bright gaze. “And so little to ask, really.”

  He let out a long, slow breath, seeming to visibly deflate. “Very well. I will call them. Tell the prince to prepare himself.”

  “How long…?”

  “They will ride through the night if necessary. Expect the full Council by afternoon tomorrow.”

  My eyes widened, triumph making it hard to stay in my chair. “So soon.”

  The duke gave me a reproving look. “I am calling an emergency session. Not one of us would tarry in such a situation.”

  “Of course not.” I stood. “I must—”

  “Not so fast, young lady,” Raelynn said, reviving enough to jump from her chair. “I’ve only relieved your pain, not healed you.”

  I bit my lip, glancing at the door.

  “It will only take me a minute.” She rummaged through her case.

  “I’m sorry, Hugh,” the duke said quietly behind me. “I promised you a haven from politics and the court.”

  “And you have delivered on that promise for more years than I care to count,” the librarian said solemnly. “Raelynn and I will stand with you now.”

  “Of course we will,” the healer said sharply. “The very idea of sending assassins into the Academy after our trainees!”

  As soon as she found the right composition, I hurried from the room, leaving the four old friends in privacy. They were the old guard, offering their support to the new, and they needed time to come to grips with the changing situation.

  But someone else needed time to prepare as well, and all my attention was on him now.

  I burst
into my suite, almost tripping in my haste to pull aside the tapestry and open the door between us. Darius was standing at the window, but he turned sharply at my precipitate arrival.

  His eyes latched onto my cheek, and his face softened. “You went to Raelynn after all?”

  “What?” My hand flew to my cheek. I must have had a graze there that I hadn’t even noticed. “Never mind that. I’ve been with the duke. He’s called an emergency meeting of the Mage Council here at the Academy. They’ll be starting their journeys even now. And he’s going to support you.”

  Darius stared at me, his brow slowly creasing. “An emergency meeting here? But Duke Francis is always neutral. He has always been so since before my birth.”

  “We made a mistake about him,” I said. “We didn’t understand why he was neutral. His sense of responsibility to this Academy is absolute, we should never have kept the attacks secret from him. Zora was the one to see that. Once he understood that your father had been sending assassins into the Academy grounds, the rest came easily.”

  “Zora? How does she come into this?”

  “That is the most incredible part of all.” I hesitated suddenly, realizing their secret wasn’t mine to tell. But I knew Darius wouldn’t rest unless he understood exactly what had brought about the change in the duke.

  “If the duke helps you win your throne,” I said slowly, “you would never do anything to hurt him personally, would you?”

  Darius frowned. “Of course I would not. And that’s regardless of his assistance.”

  I nodded. “Then I think you’d better sit down.”

  The first members of the Mage Council arrived that afternoon. Rumors began circulating through the Academy within hours, but I heard none that approached the truth.

  Bryony cornered me in my suite, and I told her as much as I could without revealing the duke and Zora’s secret. I trusted my friend’s discretion, but it wasn’t my secret to tell unless there was dire need.