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...
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Valens and Arbita were arguing. The betrothed couple were cross at one another because of him.
Their raised voices carried to Domi in the salutatio hall, where he sat alone after his aedificans banished him once again to practice his breathing. Only this time, a headache pounded in his skull, and a whining bubble hovered around him. The two adults sent the promenia to monitor his health and ensure, as Valens put it, he didn't "screw anything up."
Domi struggled enough to focus on his breathing exercises, now more critical than ever, with blood still drying on his collar and the need to learn control looming over him. Their argument made it a thousand times harder to concentrate. The two Promethidae weren't wed yet, and they already bickered like an old married couple.
The situation would be laughable if the argument centered around anything other than him and his future. Worse, neither of them bothered to ask Domi's opinion about anything.
"It's not unreasonable for me to just suggest it, Valens. If you let me re-suppress his prometus, that might buy us time to—"
"Out of the question."
For once in his life, Domi found himself agreeing with Valens. He became a Lightbearer only two weeks ago. He might be able to do so much with the magic later if he learned how to use it. All that would wash down the drain though if he let Arbita take away his prometus. She was a fool if she thought he would let that happen.
"He's a worldholder," Valens continued. "None of us may be impaired, even him. We're far too rare and the only sorcerers the world needs."
"Wow, you arrogant arse. How do you think Domi would be doing if I, a mere useless lifeholder, had not healed him? Twice now, in fact. The world would be short one of your precious worldholders, Valens. But if we don't suppress him until he learns control, a lot of other sorcerers might be in danger, including other worldholders."
Valens scoffed. "Please. Other worldholders can deal with him if he causes problems."
"Can they? Can they really? Have you looked at the Compendium yet? Because I did right after he kindled, and you wouldn't say something so stupid if you'd seen what I saw."
"Let me see."
Domi cringed as the ringing of promenia in the garden rose to a shrill whine. How did Valens and Arbita tolerate the incessant noise all the time? A trickle of blood dripped from his nose, and he grimaced, wiping it away. His headache peaked and then, with a purr of the promenia around him, eased.
In the garden, Valens snapped, "What the hell?"
"That's right," Arbita said, her voice flat. "Somehow, he's now ranked just below Serenitas. I realize you don't like her, but she's still an aedilis, Valens. She didn't become a master for no reason, whatever you may think of her. There is a good chance nine out of ten worldholders won't be able to clean up any messes Domi causes because his promenia will bypass their own if they're lower rank than him. And he will cause trouble, you know that."
