Abaddon's Call

Chapter Twenty-Five

Maeno was walking toward Nendan's study, knowing something was wrong, as the other man rounded the corner and nearly walked into him. Nendan turned him around and pushed him along ahead.

Nendan's head wasn't moving, but his eyes darted over everything they passed. Every open door earned a glance as Lord Lugh's hand settled in the small of Maeno's back.

It was an intimate but firm touch.

"This is going to sound strange, but I need you to stick to Naena and Lukdon," Nendan said.

Lugh wanted Maeno to make excuses to get closer to Theon's bastard. The mother had no known mage relatives. There was no way to guess the boy's heritage besides Lyleon, which was too new to say much beyond its Mikent foundation.

He hadn't had a chance to make an excuse, but Nendan ordering him to go certainly made that simpler.

"That's... well, a little strange," Maeno said with a shrug.

"That's not the strange part," Nendan said. "I also need you to remember that nothing is wrong. At all. Not a single—well, the Trathor thing. The conclave has reached out to the Lord of the Seven. Officially, they want the Lord of the Seven to deal with Trathor because they can't remove him as dean by our decree. Kind of an important place for him to be, for his spell to work."

"Unofficially?" Maeno asked.

"That's not the issue at hand."

They hadn't gone over what a non-issue was, but Maeno felt more like he should have been running in the other direction. He wanted to find Naena before the trouble found him, not to chatter, but to use her as a shield.

"The issue that's not an issue," Maeno responded as they stopped in front of Theon's study.

A few of the representatives, including Trild Kaulu, walked past, murmuring about an evacuation. They said something about calling it a drill as they disappeared around the corner.

The representatives walked with purpose but no urgency.

When Naena had exploded in a maelstrom the year before, everyone else had felt it but for Maeno. There were some things that only mages could feel, and he began wondering if the non-issue was one of them.

"That's... not an issue?" Maeno asked.

"Exactly," Nendan said. "But unofficially, the conclave approached the Lord of the Seven. They said they want his position to deal with it, but they don't know if he's allowed to, given his son's involvement. I'd say hand it over to Theon, but he supposedly agreed that a fine would do."

"Theon's voting for the lesser punishment?"

"Yeah."

Nendan sounded almost dismissive as if asked whether the sky was blue.

Maeno made a desperate motion before him.

"And that's not an issue?" he demanded.

"No," Nendan said with a laugh as Naena approached. "Partly because Theon, at the same time, said if they make it about shields, he'll be digging a grave for each of them. He also said they think he's a non-person, and non-persons can't be held to law because only people must follow laws. Then he said he should take the hands of anyone who voted to protect Trathor. So, there's no issue because the rest was said. Ulert's presence, agreeing with Theon, kept the idiots from speaking, which stopped violence from spilling over. Thus, it's not an issue."

Maeno muttered a curse as Naena stopped beside them. She frowned, having only caught part of the conversation. Every issue of her spoke of suspicion.

Nendan's fingers digging into his back were an unnecessary reminder not to mention the non-issue.