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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"Where the hell have you been?" Cerasus roared the moment Valens limped, feverish and aching, into his domus after his nightmarish trip to the Eiulatus Vorago ruins. The Praetor had been sitting on a chair in Valens's entryway but now sprang up and charged him like an irate bull. "Do you have any idea how many messages your aedificans and I sent you? Why haven't you responded? I'm your Praetor, not someone you get to ignore whenever you bloody feel like it!"
Valens lacked the energy for this. He needed a long bath, an hour of breathing exercises, and an early evening's sleep. "Why are you in my home?" he asked dully.
"My home, you disrespectful arse! Have you ever bothered to pay rent, you—"
"Dominus," he said with as much respect as he could muster. Cerasus shut his mouth with a snap at the respectful title Valens so rarely bothered to use when addressing his old friend. "I'm exhausted. My skychariot almost crashed on my way home because the idiot Princeps Worldholder screwed up the Trellis again. Can you tell me what the messages say, and then leave me be? We can talk tomorrow." After he had a chance to rebind his clivia wounds and regain his composure. At least he had sent an initial report of his findings to the Rex while still on the skychariot; he had some time to rest before the next summons. He doubted he could string two words together in any meaningful order at the moment.
Cerasus opened his mouth, eyes glittering with ire, and then paused. He took in Valens's appearance with one long glower from head to toe. His face shifted from annoyed confusion to anxious concern as his gaze traveled over torn clivia blues and the uncomfortable way Valens held his injured leg.
"What the hell happened to you? Are you well?"
Valens waved off the concern and the humming promenia the lifeholder summoned. "Long story." And highly confidential. He had not taken the time yet to come up with a believable explanation for his injuries. At least, not one involving something other than battling clivias to capture a tower no one knew existed in the hope it might save a world none realized teetered on the brink of destruction. "I'm fine. Just an unexpected encounter with a clivia—" And all its friends. "—but that was hours ago. Please, share your news, and get out."
Cerasus's eyes narrowed. "Sure, I'll tell you." A vein in his forehead bulged. "While you were messing around in the oh-so-dangerous clivia farms of Vola Apertus or wherever the hell you really were, your alumna was stabbed and kidnapped. Oh, and now you've been summoned back to Vola Apertus by the Princeps Worldholder."
All thoughts of sleep fled like startled deer. "What? Domi was stabbed?"
Cerasus nodded. "Two assassins attacked him in your aedificans's greenhouse with spellblades. He's high-ranking enough that the promenia had no effect, but still. He was injured." The Praetor tapped his shoulder. "Here. Edera said the wound was deep."
"And now he's gone?"
"He vanished yesterday morn. We can't find any trace of him. A Pyrrhaei woman pretending to be one of Arbita's servants arrived with unknown herbs. We assume Domi drank them. He and another alumna have been missing since then. I've overturned every stone I can think of, but it's like the boys have no prometus. The Compendium can't locate them anywhere in Provincia Sicarii."
Valens clenched his fists at his sides. "How could you let this happen? I left for only a few days. I expected him to be safe." Eyes devour, the boy might have fared better with him in the bloody night-side Blightlands, even with all the bestias and rogue promenia storms.
"How is this my fault? You're his aedificans, yet you ran off to the capital or the Eyes only know where instead of staying here and teaching your alumna."
"I'm sorry, was I supposed to disobey the Rex's order to come deliver my report on the Trellis failure?" Valens ignored Cerasus's comments about the other work he had been doing. Over the years, the Praetor had managed to piece together that Valens often received secret assignments from the Rex himself. Cerasus also understood enough to realize Valens would not discuss those assignments. "You always accuse me of disobedience, but I do not violate royal commands."
Cerasus groaned. "Fine, can we dispense with the blame and start working on a solution?"
Valens offered a stiff nod and started for the door.
"Where are you going?" Cerasus bellowed. The man would suffer a stroke one of these days if he didn't learn to control his temper.
Valens glanced over his shoulder. "I'm going to go talk to my alumna's foster mother in the slums, if that's alright with you. She or her people may be able to offer some leads."
"No," Cerasus said. "I'll send someone to do that. You need to get on a skychariot and answer the Princeps Worldholder's summons."
"I need to find my alumna." Eternal Radiance, the boy might be dead already. Why was Cerasus still delaying him? "What could be so important that I should abandon the kid and go wait hand and foot on some royal idiot in Vola Apertus?"
"Besides the fact that, as you yourself pointed out, you don't get to ignore royal commands if you think they're unimportant?" Cerasus shook his head. "I don't know, perhaps the Princeps has something to say that is connected to Domi's disappearance."
Valens regarded his friend with a scornful sneer. "Really? Why would the two be in any way connected?"
"I don't know," Cerasus said again, lids sinking to surly slits. "You tell me. You're the one doing the Eyes only know what for the Rex. Might that be connected in some way to assassins attacking your student? Perhaps the Princeps knows something. I'm the one in the dark here."
Or perhaps the Princeps was responsible, Valens thought, a sudden chill sweeping through him. Perhaps the royal somehow discovered the secret the Rex and Valens were keeping from him. Domi might be a hostage to ensure good behavior.
"Now where are you going?" Cerasus's grumbling voice was calmer. He must have seen the grim resignation settle over Valens's face.
