She found the door of the dumbwaiter. The aroma of chicken broth and beef pie wafted into the parlor. She set down the tray of food on the low table next to him. Are you all right?
He grunted.
You dont want to eat anything?
No. He did not want to tax his stomach for the next twelve hours.
So what now? Are we going on the run?
He removed his arm from his face and opened
his eyes. She was sitting on the carpet before the low table, wearing his gray, hooded tunic, but not his trousers. Her legs were bare below mid-thigh.
The sight jolted him out of his lethargy. Where are your trousers?
They had no braces and wont stay up. Besides, its warm enough in here.
He was feeling quite hot. It was not unusual to see girls in short robes come summertime in Delamer. But in England skirts always skimmed the ground and men went mad for a glimpse of feminine ankles. So much skinboys at school would faint from overexcitement.
He might have been a bit unsteady too, if he were not already lying down.
You never answered my question, she said, as if the view of long, shapely legs should not scramble his thoughts at all. Are we going on the run?
No, we go back to school tomorrow.
What?
Had they managed to take you before we left the Domain, you would have been doomed. But now that danger is past, we must do everything in our power to preserve your current identity. As long as it remains intact, Atlantis can suspect me as much as it wants, but cannot prove anything.
But you said you hadnt managed to convince the Inquisitor of anything. She will come after you again.
She will, but not immediately. That interruption of yours was a blow to her. She will need some time to recover. Besides, I cannot disappear just like that. It is the law of the land that the throne cannot be left unoccupied. Alectus would be named the ruling prince.
And that would be the end of the House of Elberon.
She ladled herself a bowl of soup and dug into the beef pie. So we have no choice but to carry on at school?
For as long as we can.
And when we cant anymore?
Then we will be put to the test.
This earned him a look that was almost pure stoicismexcept for a flash of sorrow. She had such beautiful eyes, this girl, and . . .
His thoughts slowed as he realized her eyes might be the last thing he saw before he died.
You wouldnt have been involved in this at all if it werent for your mother, she said, yanking him back to the present. What if the Inquisitor is right?
What if the Inquisitor had been? Much of his mothers brief life was a mystery to him, as were many of her visions. Bear in mind the Inquisitor wanted to destabilize my mind as much as possible.
Did your grandfather kill your mother?
His face burned. Yes.
Her gaze was steady. Why?
To preserve the House of Elberonhe refused to go down as the last prince of the dynasty.
When given the choice by Atlantis between abolishing the crown altogether or offering his daughter, an active participant in the January Uprising, as a sacrifice, Prince Gaius had chosen the latter. It was not the most shameful secret of the House of Elberons long history, but it came close enough.
Did your mother really foresee her own death when she was a child?
I do not know.
Did she tell you anything before she died?
Only that if I ever wanted to see my father, I had to bring down the Bane.
He would never have brought his father into the discussion, but the blood oath obliged him to tell the truth.
She chewed contemplatively. If you dont mind my asking, who is your father?
His cheeks scalded hotter, if possible. I do not know that either.
Your mother never mentioned him?
She mentioned him a great deal. His love of books, his beautiful singing voice, his smiles that could raise the sun at midnight. But nothing that can be used to identify him.
How excited he had been at the possibility his mothers question implied. Do you want to see your father? He had thought it a question like Do you want a slice of cake? with the cake to be produced within the minute.
Fairfax swirled a spoon in her soup bowl. What did you say when you heard that you had to bring down the Bane?
He had not been able to say much for the fear and disappointment that jostled within him. And the angerthat his own mother would trick him so.
I said I was not going to fight the Bane because I did not want to die.
His mother had broken down and sobbed, tears streaming down her face to splatter upon her lovely sky-blue shawl. He had never seen her cry before.
But you agreed eventually, said Fairfax quietly, her eyes almost tender.
He could still see his mothers tearstained face. Still hear her muffled voice as she answered his bewildered question.
Why are you crying, Mama?
Because I hate myself for what I ask of you, sweetheart. Because I will never forgive myself, in this life or the next.
Something in him had broken apart at those words.
I was six, he said. I would have done anything for her.
There existed something in this world that bound a mage tighter than a blood oath: love. Love was the ultimate chain, the ultimate whip, and the ultimate slave driver.