Abaddon's Call

Chapter Ten

Alena wrote an urgent letter to her mother during class and had it sent immediately after.

Terror, horror, embarrassment, just one after another of the more concerning emotions that normally led to stupid decisions.

Like writing her mother about her husband's torrid affair with a war mage who he took as shield.

Theon's words had struck her like an open hand.

Kal wasn't of the mage lines. His magic was new to his line, or his mother was a Seven woman. He was big and strong and had magic. He could do all the things that would be every other part of Trild's life. All she got were dinners and time spent over children, perhaps.

A shield was supposed to have his time. Not everything else.

It wasn't fair.

And she had foolishly thought her mother would understand that this was something another woman might understand. Before her next class started, she knew how stupid sending the letter was.

Her feelings didn't matter. Trild carried strong blood, and the marriage contract would protect her and her mother. There would be no better possible life for her. All she might carve out was whatever knowledge she could absorb while at the university.

By lunch she had a chiding response from her mother, reminding her that she had duties as a wife to keep her house even if it was nothing more than two rooms adjoining a study. Her job was to stop such rumours, not write them down on paper for all to read.

Alena was on the verge of tears when a boy sat across from her.

She looked up at the mismatched eyes of a second year who looked vaguely familiar.

"Hullo," he said.

"Have we met?" she asked.

"A long time ago," he said with a smile. "You probably wouldn't recall much. You visited with your father. He brought you to show you the tapestries at your mother's request. Your stitching bored you, and she wanted you to see something made with stitches that might be beautiful. Instead you spent the entire trip asking about every spell you saw. 'What's that?' you'd say, and then your face would light up like it was the most interesting thing in the world, even when you were told about the pest deterrent spells."

He appeared younger than she was. Alena had visited the university when she was six. She remembered it being a massive, amazing place filled with wonder. Selifer couldn't have been more than three if her guess was correct.

"Mages begin retention at a younger age," she murmured as she frowned at the second year, trying to gauge his age properly.

"We also take the same Basic Care class. I've got a memory problem, and Basic Care is really important, so I had to start over."

"Oh, well, that was just this morning. I'm surprised I forgot."

"I have a face like that," Selifer said. "Most people end up saying it at some point."

"What, oh, what have I forgot?" she asked without thinking.

"That your mother doesn't have the privilege of your education," the boy said. "That's a letter from your mother, and it upset you on a personal level. You thought she'd understand, but she gave you the duty byline that mothers like to use. Lay back and think of your kissing cousin, I think was the strangest one I've heard yet."

Alena stared back at him in shock.

After a moment, he winced.

"I feel it necessary to clarify that the mother was chastising her son about a final exam. The self-levitation classes aren't as popular now... probably because a lot of them would get up about ten feet, and then their magic would just cut out. Just mages falling out of the sky. They'd land on their backs—only way to self-levitate they're taught—so they're a bit like a turtle on its back, just arms and legs in the air."