To the family specifically, I am not sure. But the Banes displeasure was great, and the entire realm suffered a battery of retaliatory measures. My mother believed that the Banes failure to obtain the boy caused a loss of vigor on his part, which in turn led to a slackening of Atlantiss grip on its realms.
Mages did not quite notice at firstnot for yearsbut when they did, they began to test the leashes. There were minor infractions, which became rebellions, which became full-scale uprisings.
The January Uprising.
Baroness Sorren timed it to take advantage of the general chaos. The Juras was already a bloodbath, with heavy casualties on both sides. Atlantis was also having trouble with both the Inter-Dakotas
and the realms of the subcontinent. And there were rumors of discontent in Atlantis itself. The leaders of the January Uprising thought they would be the straw that broke the camels back.
But they themselves were crushed instead. Atlantis must have found a way to harness a new power.
Or an old one. My mother believed that the Bane had to deplete his own life force, something he had been careful to preserve throughout the long centuries of his life. Which would explain why he is so desperate to locate you.
She turned the cricket bat around a few times, her motion growing more steady and deliberate. I am not his to be had. And someday, he might just regret coming after meafter usand not leaving well enough alone.
It was not until Titus was in his room, changing, that he realized the significance of what she had said: she meant to wrap her hands around the reins of her destiny. Around the reins of their destiny.
An unfamiliar emotion surged in his chest, warm and weightless.
He was no longer completely alone in the world.
Titus stood a long time outside Prince Gaiuss door. Beyond awaited his mothers murderer, who had died comfortably in his bed, in the full of old age.
Even now anger and hatred simmered in him. But the Oracle had said that he must visit someone he had no wish to visit, and he could not think of anyone, other than the Inquisitor, whose presence repelled him more.
He shouldered open the heavy door. Music spilled out, notes as sweet and succulent as summer melons. A handsome young man sat on a low white divan, surrounded by plump blue cushions, plucking at the strings of a lute.
Where is Prince Gaius? Titus demanded.
I am he, answered the young man.
But you are supposed to be an old man. All the other princes and princesses looked as they had close to the end of their lives. Hesperia in particular, though the gleam in her eyes remained undiminished, was as wrinkled as a shelled walnut. How old are you?
Nineteen.
Only a few years older than Titus. And you are qualified to teach everything you listed outside your door?
Of course. I am a prodigy. I was finished with volume two of Better Mages by the time I was sixteen.
Titus had not yet progressed halfway through volume one of Better Mages , the definitive text on higher magic. Gaius teased another few bars of music from his lute, each chord more plummy than the last.
How can I help you? asked Gaius, who clearly believed in his own superiority, but was not particularly tedious about it. In fact, there was a glamour to his assurancea charm, even.
The hard, grim old man Titus remembered had once been this winsome, carefree youth.
Do you know anything about your daughter, Ariadne?
Please, laughed Gaius, I am not married yet. But Ariadne is a lovely name. I should like a daughter someday. I will groom her to be as great as Hesperia.
He had hated the petitions that landed on his door yearly for him to abdicate in her favor. There had been a huge chasm between father and daughter.
Do you know anything of your future?
No, except I am set to knock Titus the Third out of the triumvirate of greats. There is nothing anyone can do to dislodge the first Titus and Hesperia, but I should easily surpass the third Tituss achievements. What do you think they will call me? Gaius the Grand? Or perhaps Gaius the Glorious?
They had called him Gaius the Ruinous. And he had known it.
Care to hear a piece I wrote myself? asked Gaius.
He began without waiting for a reply. The piece was very pretty, as light and sweet as a spring breeze. His face glowed with enjoyment, blissfully ignorant that he would later ban music from court and destroy his priceless instruments one by one.
When he was done, he looked expectantly at Titus. Titus, after a moment of hesitation, clapped. It was good music.
The princewho would someday have no music, no child, and only tatters of his youthful dreamsgraciously inclined his head, acknowledging the applause.
Now, Your Highness, said Titus, I would like to ask you some questions about Atlantis.
CHAPTER 
20
It was enjoyable, the repetition of the spells. It would have been meditative had his aim been perfect. But his success with moving objects hovered stubbornly at 50 percent. He would hit a few targets in a row, then miss the next few.