by Naomi Lane
Jenna nodded.
“Listen, you can keep the book, and I have more when you’re ready.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
“And please, call me Sebastian. Well, at least in private.”
“All right, as long as you call me Jenna.” She smiled slightly.
Just then, they both heard a loud noise approaching. Sebastian moved the mage light to reveal Peter as he ran into the meadow out of breath. “There you are,” he said. He ran over to Jenna and hugged her.
“Peter, I feel like such a fool,” said Jenna. “I let the whole family down. Grandmama will never speak to me again.”
“Nonsense, Jenna, of course she will. This isn’t your fault, at least not this time. It isn’t as if you had left the letters open in plain sight. Someone illegally opened your sealed personal correspondence.”
“It’s true, Jenna,” added the Prince. “Mother is ready to have Crystelle of Merrin whipped and sent home in disgrace. Father is trying to calm her down and prevent that extreme, but ‘Lady’ Crystelle will be punished, and the Crown will still protect you. I promise.”
Jenna nodded, still wiping tears from her eyes.
“How did you know she was here?” asked Sebastian.
“I should ask the same of you.” Peter looked rather skeptical of Sebastian’s presence.
“It’s part of my magic to know these woods. I wanted to help her. I know the history of mind mages, and the magic itself is not tainted. So, how about you then?”
Peter seemed at a loss for words.
“We come here on Sevdays,” Jenna replied.
“Here, to this ugly meadow in the middle of nowhere?”
“Well—”
“Jenna!” warned Peter.
“It’s okay, Peter,” she replied. “I trust him, and he’s your friend too.” She faced Sebastian again. “We come here so Peter can teach me self-defense, for fun.”
Sebastian laughed. “It was you, wasn’t it? You and your horse magic.”
Jenna’s brow furrowed.
“You mounted Storm on the first attempt and jumped those fences,” he added.
She blushed a bit. “Does the whole court know that too?”
“No, no,” Sebastian replied. “Maybe V suspects, but it’s because we hang out with your brother. We notice the resemblance. I won’t tell Fyrian, though, despite the cash reward he has now offered.”
Jenna smiled slightly at that news.
The Prince’s face grew thoughtful. “What if I joined you on Sevdays? Gods know I could use the practice.”
Jenna and Peter both shrugged. “If you would like to, you are welcome,” Peter replied.
“Excellent, then I will leave you now, but will see you again here in a few days.” He bowed low and left on the path leading west.
“He’s so kind,” Jenna said, as she still gazed upon the place where the Prince had been standing.
“Yes, he is. And well-liked by just about everybody. Thank the gods you were there to save him. He really seems to like you now.”
Jenna shrugged.
“May I?” Peter held out his hand, and Jenna handed over the letters. He read them by lantern light before they both headed back to the East Wing. Peter seemed lost in thought, so the two did not discuss much. Jenna did ask if he knew what their Mother’s reference to their uncle meant. He said he wasn’t sure, but confirmed that their uncle was a mage. They continued to walk in silence down the path until they reached the palace grounds. Jenna spotted Lord Harcourt alongside the Queen. They appeared to be arguing, and some palace guardsmen stood nearby. Then Harcourt pointed in their direction, and the guardsmen backed away. The Queen quickly walked over with a concerned look on her face.
“Thank you, Mr. Mallory, for retrieving her.”
Peter bowed.
“Jenna,” she continued, “how about we go inside for a cup of tea?”
Peter squeezed her hand before leaving for his own quarters, and Jenna followed the Queen inside the East Wing. She wasn’t sure what the tea was made from, but whatever it was, Jenna slept peacefully for a long time after drinking it.
Chapter 12
“It does clear up the mystery,” said Harcourt, as he finished reading Jenna’s grandmother’s story. “Though I wish I could say the same for your mother’s letter. Wait here for a moment.”
Jenna sat in the Tower base two days after the scandal broke. Her life once again seemed turned upside down, but as Sebastian had promised, the Crown still protected her. The Queen gave all of the Ladies a lecture regarding mind magic and how it was not inherently evil or tainted. It was just the Black Magister and his followers that were a threat, and they were all dead. Crystelle and Yolanda were not sent home, but given two months of cleaning duty. Despite the Crown’s support, Jenna still felt ostracized and lonely, but she looked forward to the next Sevday.
Jenna heard Harcourt’s footsteps as he returned with a large book and placed it open before her. In it, Jenna saw the portraits of five people. “They were called, colloquially, the Faithful Five,” he said.
“But who were they?” Jenna was confused.
“After the mage wars ended, some of the Black Magister’s followers escaped. They formed roving bands that were slowly rounded up. These four,” he pointed to the four upper portraits, “were among the last of their descendants, but ‘Quintus’ here, your biological grandfather,” he pointed to the lowest portrait, to one of the younger-looking among them, “was different. He was Tower-born, but disliked the restriction that prevented the Tower-born from leaving the Towers, so he left and joined this group.”
“So mind magic still existed in the Towers?”
“Yes. But it faded over time and died out.”
“Except for you.”
Lord Harcourt sighed. “I was not Tower-born, but left on an orphanage doorstep. When it was discovered I had magic as a young child, I was brought here.”
“I see,” Jenna was still curious about her teacher’s heritage, but felt uncomfortable asking any more questions.
“I studied these records to attempt to guess at my origins. I admit I found Quintus’s story somewhat intriguing. All of the others in his group went to their executions screaming defiance and hatred for the Sevalian authorities. Quintus did not. He never praised the Black Magister and only reiterated his dislike for the new restrictions among the Towers.”
“What restrictions? You mean the one about the Tower-born leaving?”
“There were others. We can discuss them later, but I began to wonder if Quintus was not wholly… evil. Your grandmother’s account now makes me think otherwise.”
“He was a rapist. I say good riddance.”
“More than that. He put her under a compulsion using his mind-linking ability. It is one of the worst perversions of mind magic.” The high mage’s tone sounded angry, but then he sighed. “But your grandmother is correct. With the right instruction and a moral heart, such as you have, Miss Mallory, you will be fine.”
Jenna just nodded. “Oh, there is something else I need to tell you. I heard someone’s thoughts the other day.”
Harcourt’s eyebrows rose. “Whose? If you don’t mind my asking.”
“Prince Sebastian’s, while we discussed horses.”
“I see. That is not altogether unsurprising. Mind-linking tends to be easier between powerful mages, and the Prince does have talent. Plus you were linked to him before. I believe it is time we begin working on your mental shields. They will allow you to block others’ thoughts and avoid prying.”
She nodded. “How do I start?”
“No mage creates a shield from scratch. Every person carries some amount of mental shielding naturally. Your job will be to make contact with it and learn how to strengthen it. Close your eyes.” Jenna complied, deepening her breathing as she did so. “Now, a mind mage can use the sight to view his or her own shields, but I will help you this time by linking to your mind and using my own sight to see them. Here.”
He grabbed her hands. “I know we’ve linked before, but remember to try to relax.”
“Yes, I remember that during Sebastian’s healing it was not that bad as long as we stayed in trance.” She deepened her breathing as she felt the odd itching sensation behind her eyes again.
“The link is formed,” said the high mage. “Here are your shields.” Jenna received a picture from his mind, similar to when she communicated with horses, but this picture was different. She saw a thin bubble around her head that she realized must be what Lord Harcourt referred to.
It doesn’t look like much, she thought, hoping the high mage could hear.
Your job is to change that, said Lord Harcourt using the mind-link to communicate. The weakest spot is here. Her vision of the shield was narrowed to a specific spot in front of her face. We’ll start with that. Mages like to strengthen their shields in different ways. Some like to imagine building walls, others like to ‘grow’ them or imagine them thickening. Just try something that feels natural.
The fact that she was having an actual conversation with another person inside her mind seemed odd, but Jenna did her best to run with it and strengthen her shielding as the high mage requested. She wasn’t sure about the best way to patch the hole in the bubble she saw. She thought about her recent healings and watching the wounds close up and so focused her mind magic and willed the hole to mend itself. It began to seal, and she grew heartened, but her heart pounded faster with exertion.
Good. We’ll try another, said Lord Harcourt.
Jenna sighed inwardly, but kept patching holes. Mind-linking and shielding would not be as easy for her as far-seeing, but she was determined to persevere.
After magic training, she headed to her favorite lesson: riding. She had asked Durand if he would be willing to give her some instruction on Kedar, but he did not feel comfortable doing so until Prince Dominic returned and gave her his final permission to keep the stallion. Despite this, she still thoroughly enjoyed her riding lessons on Bree. Aurelia had even turned the Jenkins saddle into the latest Ladies’ fashion. As more weeks passed, it appeared all of them would be given advanced instruction on some level.
Even with her riding lessons proceeding so well, Jenna’s favorite thing to look forward to in her daily life was self-defense practice. She always enjoyed giving her brother a good thrashing, but it was far more fun with Sebastian there too. Jenna quickly saw that fighting skills were not Sebastian’s forte, but he grew more confident with practice. He also shared more of the history of mind mages with both of them and even offered to practice magic with Jenna sometimes.
Her brother was also able to reassure her about her family’s reaction to the scandal. Her mother, grandmother, and aunt wrote letters to her stating that they did not blame her for anything. Her father had not written, but Peter told her that although he was not happy to find his heritage revealed to the nobility, his main focus was on securing the increased lumber trade with Khazaran, using Peter as his voice at the negotiating table. Fortunately, the Khazaran ambassador was not at all deterred by the revelation of her family’s mind magic. Perhaps it was due to the Khazars also having powerful mind mages in the past, but Jenna didn’t know.
With her magic, riding, and other lessons to keep her busy, Jenna found that time passed somewhat quickly. Soon the weather turned decidedly cooler, and one day as the first leaves began to fall from the hunting ground’s trees, Jenna awoke early. It was her thirteenth birthday.
She let one of the proctors know that she was going riding, but she didn’t say she had something a little different in mind from her normal ride. She went to the main stables and told Barrett she wished to ride Kedar that morning. Normally this meant that she would lead him down to the East Wing stables to be saddled, but instead, she led him straight into the hunting grounds. There she unlaced her dress, where underneath she wore her brother’s old breeches and shirt. She then put on a vest as she had the day she sneaked out to find her brother. But instead of wearing her hair down, for her birthday ride, with the help of a handkerchief, she wound hers up under her riding helmet. She then mounted Kedar bareback so she could ride him astride. He was highly approving and took off through the woods at a trot. She had ridden Bree this way before and always found it exhilarating. Without the saddle she found she relied more heavily on her mind-link to the horse. She felt it improved her sense of trust with her mount.
After a short ride to the eastern side of the grounds, Jenna dismounted to let Kedar drink from a brook. This also gave Jenna a chance to do some reading. She sat under her favorite elm tree and began to read about the history of mind mages. Sebastian had given her a new book that discussed more details about the mage wars with Khazaran.
She began to read in earnest, but discovered this author’s narrative to be quite dry, and soon her eyelids grew heavy.
“Get over here!” Jenna awoke with a start. The voice was somewhat far off, and she heard Kedar neigh. By the position of the sun, she had slept far too long, which was especially bad because the Queen expected her to sing that morning. She leapt to her feet and ran toward the direction of the noises she heard. Soon she was in sight of another rider, by all looks a nobleman and a knight. He had dismounted from his own horse and was attempting to gain control of Kedar, who was not being especially cooperative. She sent calm thoughts to her horse and ran over, prepared to merely own up to her bareback ride.
“Please, My Lord,” she said, with nothing better to call the man. “That’s my horse.”
“Your horse?” The nobleman turned and faced her for the first time. Jenna was stunned into silence as she recognized the Crown Prince from his portrait. “You took this horse from the stables, boy?”
Jenna fell to her knees. “I’m so sorry, Your Highness, I did not recognize you from a distance.” She kept her eyes on the ground.
“Failed to recognize me? You think that your only crime?”
“Highness, I can explain—”
“Silence!” The Prince’s voice boomed in anger, his green eyes locked with hers, forcing Jenna to stare at the ground again. “You cannot talk your way out of this. I know this horse, and he belongs to the Crown. Are you aware of the penalty for stealing Crown property?”
Jenna’s face grew red instantly. “But sir, I—”
“Answer the question.”
“No.”
“Thirty years in a Merrin prison.”
Jenna gulped. She didn’t know what to do by that point. He must think her a complete simpleton to attempt to steal a horse from the Crown only to come up to him later and admit it.
“I never thought to take the horse from the Crown—”
“Of course not, just thought you could take him out for a bit of fun, didn’t you?”
“Uh, in a way,” Jenna replied, still unsure how to proceed.
“I am taking the horse with me. You will return to Master Barrett, and we will discuss this transgression later.”
She now realized he thought her to be a stable hand. She stood up. “Your Highness, if you would just allow me one minute to explain—”
She never even saw it coming. The Prince’s strike was fast and hard. He hit her face, and she hit the dirt with a hard thud. As she clutched her cheek in pain, she found some blood on her lip and knew it would soon begin to swell. Kedar reared in protest, and even the Prince’s mount seemed confused, but Jenna continued to try to calm the animals.
“Do not contradict a direct order. Ever,” said Dominic. His voice had turned sinister. He mounted his horse and took Kedar by the reins to follow. Jenna sent Kedar a final image of him obeying the Prince’s wish for him to follow along. He resisted a bit, but bowed to Jenna’s will. Jenna herself just sat in stunned silence as her horse was taken from her.
She didn’t have time to process what had happened for very long, as she still wanted to get back to the palace as soon as possible to avoid angering the Queen as well. After brushing some of the dirt from her clothing and taking off her rid
ing helmet after it had been knocked askew, she took off for the palace at a run. She tried to think of a cover story for her face and thought of falling out of a tree. It seemed odd, but better than being slapped by the Crown Prince. She wished she could run faster, but her face was starting to swell and become painful. She heard a stream nearby and thought the water may now be cold enough that a rock from the stream bed could help the swelling. She veered over toward the water and stopped short. Another rider was letting his horse drink from the stream.
Jenna almost turned around to run away, but that would most likely look even more foolish.
“Miss, can I help you? What happened to your face, if you don’t mind my asking?” Jenna looked over at the rider and saw, much to her horror, that she also recognized this man from the same portrait. His blond hair had grown longer and had to be tied back, and he seemed to have grown even taller, but those handsome blue eyes could only belong to Prince Eamon.
“Your Highness, I… fell out of a tree.”
“And you come to these woods to climb trees often? May I ask your name since you seem to know who I am?”
“My name is Miss Jenna Mallory, Highness, one of the Queen’s Ladies. I admit I do like to ride in these woods.”
“Mallory? That name seems familiar.”
“I healed your brother, Prince Sebastian, recently.” Jenna’s voice was still quavering, but the Prince’s eyes began to soften.
“Oh yes, of course. And you said you went riding this morning?”
“I did, but my horse… seems to have wandered off after I fell.” Jenna silently cursed herself for the millionth time for not being a better liar.
“Is this a black horse with a white star on his forehead?”
“Yes, Highness.”
“My brother spotted him and went to go fetch him. Why don’t you ride with me back toward the castle? My mother will be expecting you shortly I’m sure, and we may catch my brother along the way.”