Breaking Stars (Book 2) (21 page)

Ryker and Nolen lay not far off, already beginning to rise, but both were bloodied. Gabriel snapped a Lannon-seep and a declaration-pattern together, bent on murder, and flung them at the men as he ran forward. Ryker looked wild and angry for a moment, then pensive as he shot a shield up, ignoring the gashes in his thigh and shoulder. Rising to his feet, he pulled Nolen to his. Nolen’s scalp was torn open, spilling blood down his face, and he wavered on one leg.

“Y’ made yourself an enemy, boy, ac y’ best bet I’ll be coming par y’.” His hair and eyes suddenly turned frighteningly white, and his hands moved with black threads.

“Stand and fight me, coward!” Gabriel yelled and buckled the earth they stood on, but they vanished in a swell of black. He halted and gritted his teeth, waiting for a sneak attack that never came.

The palace seemed to move forward now that the battle was over, bringing the Mages from their spots. He watched as spots of colors convened, each Element grouping together.
‘It is a shame we are so divided.’

“What happened to Head Mage Casimir?”

“It is not obvious?” Councilwoman Adelaide snapped as she strode up, her tone calm but angry. “He used the Ring of Rebirth to bring you back.”

Gabriel sealed his lips tightly.
‘I suspected, but….’
“Why?”

“Have the Secondhand explain it.”

“That was a splendid kings-messenger,” Councilman Lewis beamed as he crossed the street. “I never thought I would see one. We should be thankful, Councilwoman Adelaide, that we have a Mage to stand against Arch Mage Ryker.” He extended his hand, and shook Gabriel’s warmly. “I am pleased to have you among us.”

“Thank you,” Gabriel replied, half as a question, but faces he recognized appeared, and he couldn’t ask any more.

His parents were the first to reach him, embracing him tightly. Aisling shed a few tears into his shoulder as Cordis slapped his back and shook his hand tightly. “Excellent defense, my boy; taught you everything you know. Ah, and they made me Councilman, so watch your step or we’ll have to duke it out. You can’t contend with the likes of my lofty position.”

“Ignore your father, he was hit too many times in the head during the battle,” Aisling sighed.

“Someone go retrieve Mage Tabor from the wall so we can go home,” Cordis yelled and marched off to do it himself when no one looked willing.

Gabriel looked for Robyn, spotting her surrounded by women who smiled and laughed. They inspected her hand and fixed her clothes and hair.
‘Ladies in waiting so soon? You’re not even Queen yet.’
He smiled softly as he watched her, ignoring something Mikelle said as she walked up and began to straighten his hair. “
I
don’t need ladies in waiting!” he exclaimed and brushed her off in a motion that made several people laugh.

“I brought your boots,” she growled. He grinned and turned his canvas shoes into stockings and slipped the fine leather boots on.

Robyn finally met his eyes surrounded by her posse, and the smile she gave him made her eyes glitter. She bit the corner of her lip in a terribly adorable way.
‘Whatever are you thinking?’
He looked for Mikelle. “Maybe you
should
fix it,” he said and gestured with his eyes to the mop of curled black waves. She gave him a glare that whispered ‘told you so’ and quickly adjusted the locks and straightened his collar.

“A higher collar. It’s all the rage in Rabier.”

“I’m not a peacock.”

From the top of the palace dais a procession of Mages carried Casimir on their shoulders, taking the steps slowly. Lael stood in the front in red, supporting the man’s head in symbolism of his job, and he looked solemnly forward. Mages trailed behind them, some weeping and others bewildered.

“What is to happen now?” Gabriel asked Aisling.

She smiled in a whimsical way as she watched the procession. “Head Mage Casimir left instruction. We will convene back in Kilkiny and pick a new Head Mage.” She looked up at him. “Are you prepared to battle Arch Mage Ryker again? You know the task will fall to you and you alone in the end.”

“I know,” he answered and exhaled. “I will need more instruction.”

“After what you just displayed, every Mage in Jaden will want to train with
you
.”

He looked down at her. “But why
me
? Why was
I
born a Class Ten when there are a hundred Mages with a better bloodline?”

“Firstly, you have an excellent bloodline, don’t insult us, and secondly, Casimir once said the world has a way of creating what it needs to survive. Anomalies are born all the time.”

‘No, they aren’t. They wouldn’t be called Anomalies.’
“They are as rare as Creators, and I happen to be both.” He hearkened back to the words of coincidence the strange man Arding had spoken. “People will blame me for his death.”

“They may look on you unfavorably, but they will see you for your worth in time.”

“I look forward to seeing it,” Councilwoman Adelaide stated in a challenging tone as she brushed past him to join the procession.

The procession reached them, and the men bearing Casimir stopped to wait. It did not take long for Cordis and three other Mages to bring Mage Tabor. They strung between them half a dozen patterns to keep him from laying or escaping. A man led Kindle behind them by her hand, but she looked relieved.

“I will
not
go quietly, and you can bleeding-well forget that. I was King of Anatoly, I will charge your memory to recall, and I will not go parading through the streets nor will I be ordered about. You and your cult can silence your tongues or have them bleeding-well torn out for all I care. I answer to no man. My wife is Queen and—” Tabor Novacula stopped short as he was presented to Gabriel. Gabriel, free of the vestiges of slavery and brokenness, stood much taller now without drooped shoulders and a lowered head. With his posture straight and confident, his head high and their eyes meeting, Tabor was silenced. Gabriel stood still, his arms folded over his chest, and his legs spread in a steady battle stance.

Tabor held his eyes, and the Mages fell silent as all watched. Gabriel’s sharp and hard gaze bored into the Mage who could not bear to break contact.

“My son will…” he began, though his lip trembled. “You answer to him and….” His voiced faded as Gabriel bored unblinking into him. “Mercy,” he whispered at last.

“And why do you deserve mercy, Tabor Novacula?”

The man’s mouth moved silently. “I do not.”

Gabriel held his eyes a bit longer. “That is correct. You will lay the Air sidestep, and the Mage Council will deal with you upon arrival.”

An Air Mage dressed in a long coat of gray stepped up with an amplifier-pattern in his hand and held it up to Gabriel’s mouth without his asking. “Join up. Everyone make connections. We are leaving presently,” his strong voice said to the masses. The Mages immediately started joining hands and a dozen laid on him. “Mikelle,” he muttered, “
kindly
move your hand off my—that is not a better place—that is acceptable.”

Chapter 21

Robyn’s world reeled, and she felt stuck in a dream with her feet not quite on the ground. She sat across the table from Gabriel in the Queen’s anteroom as he talked with Council Members, giving what information he could offer on Nolen’s dealings with Ryker. Cordis sat on his left cracking jokes to alleviate the tension all still felt from Ryker’s sudden appearance, and the laughter seemed to calm everyone.

She touched the tips of her left hand fingers to her thumb, reminding herself with each connection that she had a hand once more. It was flawless, not a mark, spot, freckle, or scar; creamy as the rest of her skin. It seemed strange to her to have such perfect skin since the rest of her was flawed. It had everything her previous hand had, though it felt newer and less tight in the tendons. She loved it.

Gabriel looked thinner than she remembered, and there was something in his eyes she could not remember seeing before, a certain wildness perhaps or a bewilderment, but he looked hale and healthy. From time to time he would bring a hand up to strike a finger down his neck, and he would return the hand over the opposite wrist as if protecting it. She did not pity him, but she felt sorry in a sense. Though, when his eyes met hers, as they did often, she was reminded of their years alone and comforted in knowing he would be fine no matter what he endured.

Behind him, she watched servants moving quietly in the corners as they packed up Queen Miranda’s things. Word had quickly spread of Robyn’s claim to the throne and Miranda’s legitimacy. Once questioned, the library was a flutter of historians trying to uncover Miranda’s true line, but nothing could be found. They took the Queen on her word. Further research was done on Robyn to assure she
was
the heiress. A coronation was already in the works, though it had taken Gabriel clarifying her claim to get people moving.

She smirked. People were already looking to him as some kind of leader. His powerful Class put him above all the others. She would outrank him in Anatoly, but outside her borders he would be her overseer.

The Arconian, Mikelle, sat beside Robyn, a teacup perched on the tips of her fingers as she watched and listened to the Council. The tea was getting cold and remained full, though she twirled her fingers every so often, and steam rose from it again. Robyn did not quite know what to think of the woman. Mikelle watched Gabriel with a gentle intensity under her narrow eyes with a look Robyn knew all too well.

“You love him, do you deny it?” Robyn asked quietly.

Mikelle turned with a calm look. “Not the way you do.”

“You say that to make me feel better.”

“Highness, I had many occasions to steal his heart and…the
rest
of him…” she smirked slyly and gave a sigh, “But I would not. You need not worry.”

“Oh, but I do,” Robyn answered coolly. “I know why the Arconians are here.”

“I didn’t lie with him,” Mikelle offered softly. “I love him truly, but as a dear friend not a lover. I do not wish to make enemies with you, Highness. In fact, I think we have similar intentions and could be friends.”

‘Well, I don’t have any friends yet.’
“What are these intentions?”

She jerked her head in Gabriel’s direction. “See him succeed and recover—and get him out of his shirt.”

Robyn had taken that moment to sip her tea but found herself coughing it up as Mikelle smirked satisfactorily. Gabriel looked at the two of them and furrowed his brows. “You two shouldn’t be talking.”

“On the contrary,” Robyn replied and dabbed at her lips with a napkin. “I think we should be. How do you propose we do this, friend Mikelle?”

“I don’t want to know,” Gabriel muttered and returned to his conversation.

Mikelle sat there chuckling for a few moments and flicked her fingers making her tea steam again. This time she sipped it. “I have my ways. I will inform you when I have something planned—fear not.”

They sat in silence, listening to the various conversations around them. Aisling and General Calsifer talked in hushed tones with a Castellan. Galloway, Adelaide, and Markus discussed reinforcing Kilkiny with patterns. Now and again a servant approached Aisling, and she directed them.

“That bowshot was expert.” Mikelle offered a conversation.

“Hardly. I missed. Though I suppose his heart is a small, shriveled thing and would be hard to hit at any distance.” They chuckled and sipped their tea.

“What happened to him?” Robyn asked Mikelle, her eyes never off Gabriel.

“Specifically when?”

“When he was tortured, for starters.”

“I was not here for it,” Mikelle replied.

There was one question she wanted an answer to but dared not ask it. Mikelle put a brow up when Robyn fell silent and waited with an expectant face. “Did he lie with your people?” she asked, her voice hardly a whisper. Mikelle had to lean in to hear.

“That is a question for him to answer,” she replied and looked in his direction. “But I could not say either way.”

Robyn breathed easier. “Tomorrow I am going to visit judgment on Queen Cathlyn, but you are exempt.”

“There are three others in my party.”

“Then they are exempt. They are welcome to stay as long as Gabriel permits it.”

Lael finally stood. “Let us give Mage Gabriel and Princess Robyn back their families until supper,” he announced to the room.

Robyn rose. “I hope you will all join us in the King’s Hall at sunset.”

The people agreed and bade her a pleasant afternoon. Cordis, Aisling, Robyn and Gabriel were left to themselves. Balien had been out all afternoon re-orchestrating the Air Guard with Lieutenant Lex and had not seen fit to join them yet.

“You must all have a lot of questions,” Aisling said as she came to join Robyn.

‘Some that cannot be asked in front of you.’
Robyn searched her mind for more questions. She would be raised to Queen in a week. Miranda’s titles would be removed, along with Princess Kindle’s and Prince Nolen’s, and the women would be sent to one of the Novacula estates to live out their lives far from Anatoly City. Orders were given to kill Nolen if he showed his face, and a decree was being drafted for his capture. The Arconians would be banished on the morrow, and Robyn would move into her new apartments that evening.

“Where will I be required to live?” Gabriel asked before Robyn could find a question.

“Here,” she replied while Aisling answered “Jaden,” and Cordis stated “Not Urima.”

Aisling gave a gentle but authoritative smile. “The Mages will need you in Jaden to protect them.”

“Jaden has unbreachable walls,” Robyn cut in.

“It is not so simple. Lael will discuss it with you later,” Aisling nodded to Gabriel.

‘But, but he is supposed to be mine. He is supposed to marry me and stay here and give me Princesses and Princes of my own.’
Heat rose in her neck, and she swallowed to keep it back. She could not leave Kilkiny to be with him, and he could not leave Jaden, so how could they be together?

“Mage Tabor will not agree to sidestep as your Air lackey will he?” she asked quickly. The man remained secured in the dungeons in the room his son so prized.

“He will not need to. Lace may agree to stay.”

“An Arconian?”

Gabriel nodded. “I can be here in a moment.”

She nodded thoughtfully though noticed he fixed her with a gentle look a little longer than he usually paid a face. He must have felt her concern.

“I will remain here with Robyn, but your father will accompany you to Jaden.”

“We got the sweeter end of that deal, believe me,” Cordis whispered. “No women and a castle full of hop houses—we’ll get in a wicked lot of trouble the first night, believe me. You know each hop house has its own brewery?”

“
Hop
house—hops—I figured it out….” Gabriel shot his eyes to the ceiling. “And there are plenty of women in the castle.”

“Yes. Yes there are,” Cordis grinned. “But don’t worry, Roby, I’ll keep him out of trouble.”

“Locked in his room would be best,” Aisling interjected.

“Little good ever happened then,” Gabriel muttered, his gaze far off for a moment, but Cordis laughing at Aisling prevented either parent from hearing.

“My lady,” a servant said approaching, “the rooms are ready for your approval.”

Aisling set aside her tea and followed the woman to Robyn’s new rooms. She had yet to see them herself, but had fond memories of her mother inside. In fact, Robyn swore she could smell her mother’s perfume still lingering about.

“You will stay here while you remain in Kilkiny, won’t you?” Robyn asked Gabriel and pointed to his room.

He raised his eyes. “Of course.”

Cordis interjected, “I’m not sure it’s good to have you two so close to each other—Roby stop using contractions, it’s not Queenly—so we should probably move you, my boy.”

Gabriel gave his father a pinched look. “I spent two years alone with her in a various range of small cabins. If I did not take my pleasure then, I won’t now.”

“You never know. The lust after battle is well known by fighting Mages.”

“Neither of us want to know what you do, Cordis,” Robyn replied with a smile. Gabriel ran a hand down his face with a grimace and a shudder.

“I need a nap,” he muttered and stood, leaving the two of them alone.

Cordis fixed her with a pleasant grin like he used to back in the better years. “Ready to be Queen, little Roby?”

“I am.”

“I can still call you Roby, can’t I?”

She grinned. “Of course you can.” She looked over her shoulder at Gabriel’s closed door. “You’ll—you will—be sure to take care of him in Jaden, will you not?”

Cordis looked at the door. “He needs help only he can find. To endure what he has, no man can ease that burden, so he will have to find a way to cope, and I will bet you will play a part in it.” She raised her brows. “The best way to recover is to divulge, and seeing as you are his closest accomplice, he will come to you first. Be ready to hear him, and be strong where he cannot be.”

“How can I, Cordis? I’ve heard stories and rumors enough to turn my hair white. What happens when I hear them from his own tongue?”

“Can’t tell you, I wouldn’t know. The important thing is to accept them as past events and move on. No one can change what happened, so why ruminate over the facts?”

She felt tears in her eyes. “Cordis, did he?” she paused to collect herself, her vision watering. “The Arconians—did he?”

Cordis shook his head. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “But you need to prepare yourself if he did.”

She nodded and dabbed at her eyes with her cloth napkin. “I know. It’s selfish of me to be so emotional over it.”

“It’s an emotional thing,” he agreed. “But I won’t get into details.”

She grinned. “I don’t want to know what you do, Cordis.”