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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The Hospitis Affinitas neighborhood where Epileus and Gemma lived when they were home in Urbs Hostiae was a peaceful district filled halfway with silent, empty domuses waiting for visitors. Any Lightbearer belonging to Provincia Sicarii's Silvula Salutis curia could claim one of the mansions for their use when in the provincial capital for work or pleasure. And the Lightless families of circuit workers could live there year-round. The Praetor even made the domuses available to the Empowered, a custom not found in all provincias.
Epileus and Gemma were lucky Cerasus held their leases instead of a less progressive Praetor. If they'd been born or sold to another provincia, the local curia might have forced them to stay in a shoddy Empowered dormitory when home on assignment. There, they would have lived under guard and without the privacy of a personal domus.
In fact, unlike Trueborns in their curia, they didn't need to rent their housing or pay for their meals, entertainment, and the like. Some Praetors kept their Empowered slaves in line with constant surveillance and threats of punishment. Cerasus bought their obedience with lavish lifestyles.
Still, Epileus did not often get to enjoy the comforts his Praetor provided. Ever since he graduated from the curia conservatory a year ago, much of his time had been spent out on assignment as a circuit worker or consultant. Serenitas, his aedificans, made him a worldholder with her own donated prometus when he was four, and so Cerasus often sent him to the frontier to assist with mining, agriculture, or establishing new settlements.
He spent most of the last year preparing the land for the construction of a new village. He cleared hills and mountains to make space for fields and shifted the river system in the area to prevent floods. The majority of his time had been taken up with the tedious work of tweaking local weather patterns to make them more optimal for the colder temperatures in that part of Provincia Sicarii. It had been hard work, with strange wind streams and cloud formations sweeping out of the night-side that kept requiring other adjustments.
Most days when he came home, it was wonderful to return to the domus where his wife, Aracia, waited. Epileus and his sister Gemma got along well, but after the past few days together, he looked forward to a little time apart.
Besides, Gemma needed to go home and spend time getting acquainted with her new husband. And the Eternal Radiance knew Epileus did not want his little sister around when he paid his wife her long-overdue attention. Unlike many Promethidae, he had been fortunate the Praetor married him to a woman he liked and respected, and who enjoyed his company as well. They might take lovers one day—in fact, if Cerasus kept sending him away so often, Epileus would encourage Aracia to find someone so she would be less alone—but for now, they were happy together.
And if the Praetor would let him stay home a little longer one of these times, Epileus and Aracia might be able to start a family. After all, the Praetor had wed them to one another for that very reason. Aracia's starholder bloodline had produced no Trueborns for many decades and only a handful of Empowered. She herself was Lightless, a Promethides unable to make or carry prometus. But Epileus descended from two Lightless starholder bloodlines that had successfully joined to produce two Empowered and at last a Trueborn. The Praetor hoped Epileus and Aracia might provide the curia with at least an Empowered child. If the man would ever let Epileus stay home, the two of them would joyfully attend to their duty.
Today, however, Epileus did not go to his wife, and Gemma did not go to her husband. Neither of them even told their spouses they were home. Instead, they claimed a domus together and faced the task before them. A task Epileus wanted with all his heart to escape.
"Are we going to do this?" he asked Gemma, who sat on a chaise, her head in her hands.
"What choice do we have?" Misery choked her voice. "Do you want Dae to die? Or the Trellis to collapse because some oblivious kid keeps messing with Dae's prometus?"
"Maybe we can wait. Look into this more. There must be another way."
She lifted her head just enough to glare at him. "Leus, Dae melted part of the Trellis. On us. Not only on us, but on several villages. And let the clivias overrun the whole area. Thousands of people are dead."
"I'm aware," he said, voice tight. "I was there, remember? I'm not saying we should wait forever. Only a little while. We might be able to find another way, or Dae might learn better control."
Gemma sneered at him. "How many other villages have to die while you test those idiotic theories?"
She could be so scornful when she was stressed. "Sometimes you're a real jerk, Gemma."
She straightened and fixed him with a withering glare. It was at moments like this he often found himself half convinced he was the younger sibling instead of the elder. "I'm realistic. Sometimes it is kinder than wishful thinking. Lower body count."
He gulped. "Gemma," he said, "he's just a kid—"
"Exactly. A kid. One." Her tone was merciless. She shook her head. "I don't want to do this either. Eternal Radiance, if things had been different, we would have grown up with him. He would be our foster brother every bit as much as Dae. Still, this is the way things are, and I'm not willing to favor the life of any one person over millions of others. You need to think about what's at stake here, Leus. If the Trellis fails, we all die. If Dae dies, we all die. But if we deal with this one kid, we all live. Which do you want?"
"Eyes devour," he breathed. Resignation crashed into him like a punch to the gut and formed a heavy stone in his belly. There was no way out of this without someone ending up hurt or worse. His stomach swam with nausea. "You're right. I hate it, but you're right. So." His voice broke. He gulped and tried again. "So how do you want to... do it?"
"How do you want to?" Her voice was gentler now.
"If we can avoid killing him, I would rather do that." He didn't want to think about what taking that avenue would mean, though. He didn't agree it was worse than murder, but to attack someone... to maim a fifteen-year-old...
Gemma, of course, was more willing than he was to think about it. She always faced the business at hand straight on, however unpleasant. "Are you prepared to hurt him enough to change his body forever? Mother said that is the only way the prometus won't confuse his body for Dae's anymore."
"Y-yeah, if I must." He wished he didn't have to. Maybe his mother would invite them back into the Caeles any moment and tell them she had been mistaken. That she found another way.
"You must. We must." It was Gemma's turn to plead. "We can't let Dae die, Leus. Please don't make me protect him all by myself."
"I won't. Of course I won't, Gemma. We're in this together." He swallowed. "So, any ideas about how to... do it? And to be sure it will work? I'm not a lifeholder." He had no idea how to inflict a permanent injury without killing someone. As a worldholder, he would be far better at striking people with lightning, dropping mountains on them, or dragging rivers to their houses to drown them in their sleep. Subtlety was not a strength of his lineage.
"No, but I know a lifeholder who owes me a favor." She folded her hands in her lap, gaze thoughtful. "I'll make us a couple of spellblades and have her key the prometus in them for us. Even a minor cut with the spellblade should do the trick."
"Which spell?" Epileus asked, dreading the forgeholder's answer.
Her voice, when she responded, was small but firm. "Paralysis. I doubt the prometus will confuse him and Dae anymore if one of them can't use half his body."
