Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Kian
Iwatch Boden escort Vladlena to the residence hall from the window of the Arcane Apéritif’s lobby.
I draw in deep steady breaths as their backs are swallowed by the campus’s lush foliage.
She’s impossible. Is she purposefully making things difficult?
At best, she’s trying to encourage dissent within the Cross-Kingdom Council, and at worst, she’s trying to get herself killed.
Her presence here tonight cannot be a coincidence.
It would be one thing for her to break curfew.
But to show up at the exact restaurant hosting our Cross-Kingdom Council meeting, at the exact start time? It can’t be.
Thank my lucky Stars we had a private room and the nobles didn’t see her.
I fist my hands, irritated at how close of a call we just had, with only a wall separating the nobles from Vladlena—on a date of all things.
I run through my breathing exercises, calming my heart rate and settling my stygian magic under my skin.
I waltz back into the council meeting, through the grand carved wooden doors of the private room. “My apologies for stepping out.” I offer up an appeasing smile to the nobles spread out around the sizable black marble table.
“I hope everything is resolved,” Regent Astor of the Throne of Light pries, trying to see under my perfectly tailored mask.
“You know how it goes, Regent Astor.” I shrug and take a seat.
“Someone accidentally orders the wrong tablecloth color, and it turns into an emergency phone call that requires my immediate attention,” I say with a chuckle, lying smoothly.
“Should we return to the topic at hand?” The warm lights of the chandelier reflect brightly off the glassware on the table, a lovely ambiance for such a portentous conversation.
“Yes. As I was saying, I have it on good authority that there have been incidents.” Regent Astor looks toward Chancellor Strom, who has been invited as a witness to speak on Vladlena’s integration into the institute. “She’s been causing trouble,” Astor says before sipping his wine.
“We’ve received complaints,” Chancellor Strom agrees. “But nothing of a violent nature. King Amani has ensured that she’s monitored at every moment she’s out of her room.” She tips her chin in my direction.
“Monitored by fellow students?” Courtier Afsoun scoffs. “Practically children.” The witch fixes the chancellor with a harsh stare.
“Princes Boden Lamont and Callum Fenwick are hardly children,” Regent Brianna Barlowe of Elementum counters, looking down her nose at Afsoun.
Brianna has not always concurred with my calls, but on this we agree.
At twenty-five and twenty-four respectively, both Boden and Callum are approaching the completion of their education; they are almost ready to rule.
And she couldn’t be happier to step away from the regency.
“As we agreed,” Chancellor Strom appeases, “if Miss Solis steps one foot out of line, she’ll be expelled.
” Students have a certain level of protection.
Her expulsion would set off a domino effect of catastrophic events, hindering my ability to protect her.
And damn, if Lena isn’t making that difficult.
“This goes far past her standing at this school. She should be sent to Ironnull Prison,” Regent Astor cuts in. “Let our mind readers interrogate her; we must have a full picture of what she knows.”
Afsoun clears their throat and readily agrees with Astor, “It has been decades since we’ve had this opportunity with one of Adrik’s inner circle. And with the threats from the Dark Suns, her interrogation is pertinent.”
“King Kian has sent her to school instead of to Ironnull, where she so clearly belongs.” Regent Astor raises his blonde eyebrows in challenge.
“Some may say, against the good of the realm.” Astor, Afsoun, and the other councilors who agree with them are clearly working their own agenda.
By all rights, as a Solis, Lena is entitled to one day hold a seat on this council.
She’s a vote Astor doesn’t know if he can control.
I meet his stare, sipping my whisky and letting the amber warmth soothe my rising temper.
I hate politicking. The victor of these battles of dialogue is determined by vague rules of verbal engagement that outline the intricacies of social exchange in the silences and the cracks in conversations—prioritizing what is not said as much as what is.
So I breathe through my frustration, sip my whisky, and wait for Astor to make his point.
“She’s seraphim. A Throne of Light Insignis.” Astor’s upper lip curls. There it is. “It is my decision what should be done with her.”
“Our decision,” I correct. “We must agree, Regent Astor. That is how the dual throne functions.” I keep my face stoic, even as I rage internally.
“Here we go again,” Barlowe mumbles into her drink.
“I didn’t agree to sending her to the institute. And don’t you lecture me on how the thrones work.” Astor’s face turns cherry red as he leans across the table. “I was there when the Dual Throne Accord was signed. I—”
“Regent Astor,” Queen Aurora Nox Komarov cuts in, effectively stopping what would have been another tangent.
“What’s done is done. We stay the course.
” As she is the most senior member of the Council, her opinion ends the argument.
“If something changes or we receive new information, we will revisit. Until then, the decision has been made. Vladlena will stay enrolled unless her contract is broken or she presents an immediate or irrefutable danger to the other students.” Aurora casts an intimidating glare around the room before nodding once. “Council, we are dismissed.”
The room clears out quickly, no one wanting to stick around and interact after the awkward exchange between myself and Astor.
As I am walking to the elevator, Aurora calls to me. “Kian, a word?”
I join her in front of the same window in the lobby that I was watching Vladlena from earlier.
“More members of the Council are aligning with Astor every day,” she whispers, placing a cool hand on my arm. “You should not have worked with Chancellor Strom behind their backs to enroll her here.”
“I’m aware.” I grind my teeth. “Aurora, you know what Ironnull is like. It’s not…
It’s awful.” I adjust my cuffs casually, while internally I fight against the battering ram of my magic as it slams upon my chest, trying to break free as it always does whenever my thoughts travel down this path.
“You know what those mind readers do. It is not a pleasant perusal, and that is not a place magicae leave unscathed. I will not subject her to that.”
Her dark brown eyes, a mirror image of Nik’s, shine with empathy.
Her eyes aren’t the only thing Nik inherited from her; he also received her talent for mind reading and compulsion.
As the most proficient in the realm, Aurora knows better than anyone the dangers of clumsy mind reading and how abusing such powers can leave someone broken.
“We’re only likely to stall them. They will get enough votes eventually.
They’re only three short as it is.” Her expression’s deeply etched with concern.
“We need to know everything she knows before they do if we are to control any backlash on you and the princes for not immediately handing her over to the Council.”
“Nik’s working on it.” I let out a deep sigh.
At the time of Lena’s collection, we understood we were taking a risk going behind the Council’s back.
We didn’t know who else knew of her location, and I wanted the advantage of having the Solis heir on our side with the upcoming transitions of power.
However, it was never my intention to entirely withhold her from the Council.
But then she strutted into the hotel suite with her radiant aura aglow, and I just knew I could never let them have her.
Aurora’s perceptive eyes flash with momentary shock.
“Oh, Kian, no.” She grips my arm, her face cracking with sorrow.
“I’m sorry.” Being such a skilled mind reader, she just sauntered through my mental shields, maybe not even intentionally.
“Do the princes know?” She strokes the back of my hand, such a comforting motherly touch that would make me homesick if I had a home to be sick for.
I shake my head.
“Of course I won’t say anything. Well, this sheds light on your recent actions,” she muses. “Why didn’t you leave her be?”
I take a step back, looking out into the dark night.
“It was too dangerous.” This was the best chance I could give her.
The older she becomes, the more powerful she’ll become and the easier she’d be to find.
Her power will become a beacon to others.
Sure, we brought her into the sea-lion’s den, but better she learns to swim here than the open ocean with the sharks and killer whales.
I clutch the windowsill, my knuckles turning white.
“And the Dark Suns?” Aurora asks.
My breath fogs the glass of the window as I breathe out. “Just confirmed that they were behind the attempted kidnapping. They’re after her. Unconfirmed if she has a relationship with them.”
“This is an extremely delicate situation,” she says, as we both stare into the dark beyond. “She needs to toe the line. You need to do whatever you have to do to keep her in line, Kian.”
“I know.”
“Even if it hurts.” She squeezes my shoulder once before walking out.
“I know,” I sigh, as I clear the condensation from the glass to better see the bright golden light glowing from the northeast turret of Havard Hall.