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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"What did you tell them about your journey here?" the Rex asked.
"Only that you summoned me to report on the Trellis incident, Augustus," Valens said.
They sat in the Rex's spacious study in Domus Iaspidis, the Jasper Palace. Outside the tall arched window, a riot of crimson snow blossoms in the royal garden crawled halfway up the palace wall. Their frosted petals and snow-dusted leaves took up most of the view beyond the glass.
"Good. If only that issue were our sole problem." The elderly Rex sighed. "You are aware this audience must remain confidential, as always. Only Aix may know."
"Of course, Augustus."
They had met in secrecy like this for eight years now, ever since an eighteen-year-old Valens had observed something troubling during a mission to the night-side: a daily ten-foot expansion of the outermost boundary of the Blightlands, several miles of ancient ruins where rogue promenia had run rampant for generations. He had shared his discovery with his aedificans, Aix, whose research into the night-side and rogue promenia were legendary within the curia, and Aix brought their concerns straight to the Rex. They had both been Decus's men ever since.
"If I may ask, has the new Princeps been notified yet?"
"Not yet." The Rex rubbed his brow, appearing weary. "This situation killed his mother. She couldn't bear to face it. Wouldn't face it any longer. With grief so fresh and all the problems the boy's been having adjusting to the Trellis, his fellow Princepses and I deemed it best to wait to brief Princeps Daedalus."
Valens gritted his teeth but held his tongue. Decus should have told the Princeps Worldholder. Young and grieving though he might have been, the boy bore the burden of maintaining the Trellis and possessed far more power to address this problem than any other sorcerer. Yet the Rex kept the boy in the dark as the situation requiring his attention grew ever more dire.
Out loud he only said, "I don't understand how he hasn't noticed yet." The Trellis was patchy over the night-side, but still, it ought to have detected such a massive area of promenia blight. The Princeps Worldholder should have sensed it.
"Princeps Buccina has been working tirelessly to prevent the boy from taking note of many happenings on the night-side," the Rex said. "We are fortunate that, with the Trellis so weak there, it has not been as difficult to hide as it would be if the issue were here on the day-side."
"It will be here on the day-side very soon if we can't find a solution, Augustus," Valens said. His voice sounded grim even to his ears as the dread stewing in the pit of his belly all these years grew heavier.
"True, my boy. I have marshaled all resources I can to resolve this quietly. And Aix's Garden Group produces several new night-side specialists for us each year, and a growing body of research." He grimaced. "Which he's compiling into a book of censored items I've released to him that he insists on calling A Garden of Fragrant Heresies."
