An abandoned boy, a grieving prince, and a reclusive sorcerer find themselves caught in a web of peril and mystery...
Domi, a young thief abandoned on the street at birth, just wants to save his dying foster mother. But first, he must survive the m...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It took Valens three days to work up the courage to face his new alumna.
On the first day, he tried to visit Cerasus, but the Praetor avoided him as surely as Valens avoided the kid recovering in the infirmary.
He had hoped an eve alone with his thoughts might persuade Cerasus to see reason. Yet Valens had no luck when he returned the second Brightening in a row to the Praetor's hillside domus to make a proper appearance at salutatio.
In fact, he could not even get past the palace's promenia-reinforced outer gates, let alone convince the guards to let him enter. Trying to step within the palace's courtyard resembled walking into a fierce wind that shoved him back no matter how hard he tried to walk forward. Yet other Promethidae strolled right through, unhindered. The barrier was just for him.
He could have called a little wind of his own to help him shove his way through the impediment or dissolved the promenia generating the gale, but the message from his Praetor would remain. He was not allowed to enter. The Armati guarding the gates eyed him above their blazing crimson laurels, waiting to see if he would make a scene. He didn't bother.
How dare the arse do this to him without so much as discussing the matter? Yes, Valens had refused for eight years now to accept a student and get married. Yes, the law required him to marry. Still, he could hardly be the only Trueborn to pay the annual fines for failure to comply with the eugenics program and move on with his life.
The Praetor was an opportunistic bastard. If Valens had not witnessed Cerasus's surprise over the attack against Edera, he might have thought the man lured him into assaulting a Lightbearer on purpose. After all, the crime provided a handy excuse to slap Valens with this ridiculous punishment. Under normal circumstances, he would have been sentenced to some day-side work camp for three months for his crime. But if he failed to comply with this absurd alternate punishment, the consequences would be far worse. There were no mere fines for refusing the Rex's direct royal order. When Decus Astralis issued a subject a personal command, it was either obey or spend two full years in a dangerous night-side work camp.
Cerasus likely considered marriage and an alumna better fates than the traditional sentence. Valens disagreed. Unlike sorcerers of other lineages, worldholders found work in the day-side camps—whether mining, diverting waterways to new aqueducts, or preparing soil for farming—easy. And the time passed in the blink of an eye. Three months, and Valens would have been done. Instead, he would soon be stuck with a wife and an alumna for the rest of his life.
The first matter could wait for a time. He and Arbita had six months to comply with the Rex's orders. However, the other matter must not wait, much as he hated to deal with it at all.
The boy he put in the infirmary would get out again in a couple of days, and then he would be Valens's problem. Arrangements must be made whether he and the boy liked it or not. It would be one thing to neglect his unwanted betrothed for a few weeks, but neglecting a Lightbearer child was out of the question both legally and morally.
