Magic Study (Poison Study 2)

Before I could leave, though, I saw Bavol Zaltana heading toward me. I waited for him.

“Ambassador Signe requests a meeting with you,” Bavol said.

“When?”

“Now.”

Bavol led me out of the great hall. “The Ambassador has been assigned some offices so she can conduct business while a guest here,” Bavol explained as we walked through the Council Hall.

The entire Sitian government was housed in the vast building. Offices and meeting rooms hummed with the daily tasks of running a government. An underground record room stored all the official documents, although the local records remained at each clan’s capitol.

I wondered about the Sandseed’s moving capitol. Did they haul their records with them as they traveled throughout the plains? Remembering Irys’s lecture about the Sandseeds, I realized they kept a verbal record, telling history through the Story Weavers. An image of Moon Man painted blue and sitting in the Council’s underground room caused me to smile.

Bavol gave me a questioning glance.

“I was thinking of the record room,” I said. “Just trying to imagine how the Sandseed Clan reports information to the Council.”

Bavol grinned. “They have always been difficult. We indulge their…unusual ways. Twice a year, a Story Weaver comes to the Council and recites the clan’s events to a scribe. It works, and keeps peace in our land. Here we are.” Bavol gestured to an open door. “We will talk again later.” Bavol dipped his head and shoulders in a half bow and left.

The invitation had not included Bavol. I walked into a receiving area. Adviser Ilom sat behind a plain desk. The scratches on his neck had stopped bleeding. Two soldiers guarded a closed door.

Ilom stood and knocked on the door. I heard a faint voice, and Ilom turned the knob. “She’s here,” he said, then pushed the door wider and gestured me inside.

I entered Ambassador Signe’s office, noting the simple functional furniture and lack of decorations. Guards stood behind her, but she dismissed them. None of the soldiers had been Valek, and I wondered where he had gotten to. Ari and Janco were probably off-duty.

“You caused a considerable stir last night,” Signe said when we were alone.

Her powerful eyes scanned me. I marveled at her appearance. She had the same delicate features as the Commander, yet the long hair and the thin lines of kohl around her eyes transformed his face into her ageless beauty.

“I hope your sleep wasn’t interrupted,” I said, sticking to a diplomatic approach.

She waved away comment. “We’re alone. You may speak freely.”

I shook my head. “Master Magicians have excellent hearing.” I thought about Roze, she would consider eavesdropping on the Ambassador to be her patriotic duty.

Signe nodded in understanding. “Seems the Wannabe King has gotten hold of some wrong information. I wonder how that happened.”

“A miscommunication between several parties.”

“There will be no more false accusations?” Signe asked.

Her gaze pierced me as if she held a knife to my throat. She wondered at my ability to keep her disguise a secret.

“No.” I showed her my palm, pointing to the scar she had made when I promised not to reveal the Commander’s secret to anyone. Not even to Valek.

That thought reminded me of Irys’s suggestion that Valek leave Sitia. I pulled my butterfly pendant out. “Some rumors tend to smolder, and it would be best to make certain there is no fuel left to ignite another fire.”

Signe had to know about Valek. “I will take that under advisement. However, I had another matter to discuss with you.” Signe pulled a sheet of parchment from her black leather briefcase. She rolled it up, and held it in her hand.

“The Commander has sent a message for you. He has thought in depth about your last conversation with him. He decided that the advice presented was valid and would like to thank you for the suggestions.” Signe handed me the paper roll.

“An invitation to come visit us when your magical training is complete. We are planning on returning to Ixia in a week’s time,” she said. “Your response is required before we leave.”

A dismissal. I bowed to the Ambassador and left her office. I puzzled over her words as I headed toward the Keep. The Commander had signed an order of execution, visiting Ixia would be suicide.

I waited until I had a warm fire lit in my rooms before unrolling the Commander’s message. Staring at the dancing flames, I contemplated Commander Ambrose’s offer. I held the order for my execution in my hands. But tossing it into the fire would not be a simple act. A brief note had been written on the document.

Prove my loyalties to Ixia and the order would be nullified. Show the benefits of having a magician working for Ixia to the Ixian generals and an adviser’s position would be mine. Do these things and I could return to Ixia. Return to my friends. Return to Valek.

Without knowing it, Cahil had seen my possible future when he had called me a master spy at the Council’s session.

29

I GAZED AT THE FIRE AS MY conflicting emotions, my conflicting loyalties and my conflicting desires all burned and danced in my chest, mimicking the flames. Coming no closer to a decision, I hid the execution order in my backpack. It might be better to think about it later.

Remembering my promise to my parents, I headed toward the dining hall, hoping I would find them eating lunch. Along the way, I encountered Dax.

“Yelena,” he said, falling in step with me. “Haven’t seen you in days.”

“I’m sure you’re just dying to tell me all the campus gossip about me. Right?”

“I do have a life. Maybe I’ve been too busy to listen to rumors,” he huffed, pretending to have hurt feelings.

I looked at him.

He sighed. “Okay, you win. I’m bored out of my skull. Second Magician is busy playing detective, and Gelsi is neck-deep in some project and I never see her anymore.” Dax paused dramatically. “My life is so boring that I have to live vicariously through your adventures.”

“And since the rumors are so accurate—”

“Your adventures have turned into legends.” He swept his arms wide, laughing. “So where are you off to now? Going to slay a dragon? Can I tag along as your lowly squire? I’ll polish your staff of power every night with my shirt. I promise.”

“I’m glad my problems are keeping you entertained,” I said with some sarcasm. “I’m searching for my…ah, for the Tree King and his Queen. We’re going to plan our attack against the evil Tree Varmints who have assembled an invisible army in the Keep.”

Dax’s eyes lit up. “I heard about the Tree Queen’s adventures this morning.”

The game soured. I didn’t want to hear the students’ gossip about my mother. Before Dax could elaborate, I invited him to tag along.

I found my parents in the dining hall and we joined them. While we ate, Dax’s presence worked to my advantage. The topic of conversation stayed on school and horses and mundane matters, giving my parents no chance to question me about the Council session. And when my mother offered to distill a special cologne for Dax, I knew she was glad I had found a Sitian friend.

After saying goodbye to Dax, I went to the guest quarters with my parents. As Perl brewed some tea in the small kitchen, I asked Esau about the Curare. Irys had told him about the drug when she feared Ferde had kidnapped me.

He ran a calloused hand over his face. “I never thought it would be used like that,” he said, shaking his head. “When I discover something new, I always experiment with it until I know all the side effects and know how the substance could be used or abused. Then I weigh the good against the bad. Some discoveries never see the light of day, but for others, even though they might not be perfect, the benefits outweigh the risks.”

Esau stopped speaking when Perl entered the room carrying a tray of tea. The warning in my father’s eyes told me that my mother didn’t know about Ferde’s gruesome use of the Curare.

&nbs

p; She served the tea and sat close to me on the couch. She had worn her cloak during lunch, but had removed it when we entered their suite.

“What happened at the Council’s session?” she asked me.

I gave them a watered-down version of Cahil’s accusations against Adviser Ilom. Perl’s hand flew to her neck when I mentioned Valek’s name, but she relaxed when I told her Cahil had been proven wrong. Neglecting to mention Cahil’s claims about my involvement with Valek, I informed them about Goel’s murder.

“Good,” Perl said. “Saves me the effort of cursing him.”

“Mother!” I was astonished. “Can you do that?”

“Perfumes and scents are not the only things I can concoct.”

I looked at Esau. He nodded his head. “Good thing Reyad and Mogkan were already dead. Your mother has quite the imagination when she’s angry.”

I wondered what other surprises I would discover about my parents. Changing the subject, I asked about their journey to the Keep and about the Zaltana family, spending the day with them as promised.

When the hour had grown late, Esau offered to escort me to my rooms. At first I declined. I hadn’t been assigned guards since the episode with Goel. When he insisted and when Perl frowned, I remembered her comment about curses and not wanting to be a target of her ire, I agreed.

The campus atmosphere hung silent and empty. Moonlight glistened off the ice-coated trees. Only four more days until the full moon. My hand found Valek’s snake and I twisted the bracelet around my arm.

When we were halfway to my rooms Esau said, “I need to tell you another thing about Curare.”

“There’s more?”