24. Rohak
Chapter 24
Rohak
T he walk home was quick, but much needed after the harrowing afternoon I had. The temperature was cool in the city, and the constant breeze chilled my body, but inside I was still an inferno of frustration.
Why would Alois do this without consulting me first? Fuck, even telling me first?
It seemed odd and completely out of character. We were close, closer than brothers, and told each other everything. I scoffed at myself.
I sound like a teenage girl .
I continued mulling over the information Lex gave me earlier as I approached the outer gates to the palace courtyard. The Mages recognized me and my magical signature, and immediately opened the gates. As I stepped into the modest courtyard, I barked a laugh at the image of a hundred-odd people, naked and talking about the utopia of trees. Which, honestly, didn’t make any fucking sense.
But what did I know.
I strode quickly through the courtyard, which was really just an open grassy space with a few benches interspersed amongst a random clustering of bushes and the occasional tree, and climbed the five steps that led to the front doors. While Alois and I called our residence “the palace,” the name was really an intimidation tactic for visiting dignitaries. It was, in all honesty, more of a modest manor house, similar in style and architecture to that of the manor in Hestin. Grey stone dominated the exterior of the building, weatherworn and smooth at this point, but beautiful nonetheless. The doors were a deep mahogany, carved with reliefs depicting the rise of Vespera and Alois’ line. Alois had the doors commissioned from unknown Elemental Mage artists in the inner city, which, after their work here, made them a household name for the elite in Vespera. They were also the artists who created the monstrosity of my desk, and I always got the strange sense that if I looked long enough, I swore I could see them move.
But it was just a trick of my imagination and phenomenal artistry.
The doors opened of their own accord—some sort of security measure invented by Art or Gene—and I made quick work of passing through the foyer and into the shared spaces on the first floor. The servants quickly bowed or curtsied, but I paid them no mind today. Usually, I was at least polite if not begrudgingly friendly, but I didn’t have the capacity for it after the news Lex shared. They clearly recognized this as they scuttled away quickly after paying their respects, not bothering to interrupt my brisk pace.
My boots clicked on the stone floor as I passed empty room after empty room.
Where is he?
The longer I couldn’t find Alois, the angrier I grew.
Was he hiding from me? Make this announcement that you knew I’d disagree with and then hide from me?
I threw open doors to studies and parlors, not caring about how the doors banged off of the walls or the noise I was making as I searched.
Finally, I reached the end of the main living space and found Alois sitting in a wingback chair, staring out of the massive iron-laced windows at the grounds that comprised the backyard.
“Do you think she’ll be disappointed with the lack of green space, Rohak?” Alois mused from his chair, not turning to face me. He sipped slowly from what I assumed was a tumbler of whiskey, his nightly drink of choice.
“Why didn’t you tell me,” I gritted through my teeth. It was less a question and more a demand. I was the only one who was able to call Alois on his shit, but I was probably toeing the line tonight .
“Because of this reaction,” he said, gesturing his tumbler back toward me, still gazing out the windows. “If you’re going to be barking mad either way, then I might as well do what I want and suffer through your anger after I’ve already made the necessary arrangements.”
I blew out a breath before taking another and holding it, trying to calm myself.
That was the problem with my focus of magic, I was always quick to anger, quick to wreck and ruin. Even now, my magic was calling for me to use it, to destroy what made me angry. I closed my eyes and heard the scrape of a chair as Alois turned to face me.
“It’s getting harder to fight, isn’t it?” he said quietly.
“No. I’m fine.”
He laughed, humorlessly. “You’re not fine, Rohak. You haven’t been fine since you Awakened. You’ve just learned to hide it better.” He sipped his whiskey again as I continued to take calming breaths and fingered the crystals in my pocket. Alois noticed the motion, of course. The bastard noticed everything. “Those crystals will only hold you for so long, my friend. You need to take a Vessel.”
I felt my anger rise again. “And you know why I won’t,” I spat.
He sighed and I opened my eyes to see him staring at me, relaxing back in his chair. “I do know why, but I also know that if you don’t, you won’t be here much longer, in more ways than one. I need you, Rohak. I need you whole. And if you can’t, or won’t, take a Vessel, I have to take measures to ensure that my rule is safe, secure.”
“Like telling Lex d’Talionis information that should be brought to me, first?” Oops , sorry Lex . “I’m still your second, not him. I’m still here.”
“Yes, but I don’t know for how much longer, Rohak. You’ve lasted longer than any recorded case in history, but how much longer will Fate be on our side? I need to make sure my assets are protected, even if that means sometimes bringing someone else into our circle.” All the breath left my lungs, my anger dissipating with it.
“You would . . . replace me?”
“If it came to it, yes. I don’t want to, Rohak, but I also need to be smart. I’m the ruler of Vespera and the Northern Alliance, first, and your friend second. That’s how it’s always been, and how it always needs to be.” His tone was gentle, even if his words cut sharply. “Please just think about the Vessel, Rohak. I won’t push you on it again. Not until it’s the end. I won’t lose you, Rohak.”
I dropped my gaze and absently picked at a callus on my hand. “I will think about it,” I admitted softly.
“Thank you, old friend. That is all I ask, for now.”
I nodded once and Alois gestured to the chair across from him. “Sit, have a drink. I assume this is going to be a long conversation that I will need to be slightly intoxicated for.”
I smiled tightly, our previous conversation still not settling, before grabbing the proffered whiskey and downing it in one gulp. It burned but in a delicious way.
“Oh, so it’s that kind of night, huh?” Alois laughed and downed his own glass. “Fine! Let’s get into it, Rohak.” Alois set his glass aside and rested his hands loosely on his knees while I slowly turned my own glass in my hands, focusing on the way the light created rainbows in the depths of the glass.
“So. Ellowyn is staying here?” I questioned, softly, the fight slowly bleeding out of me.
“Yes, Rohak. She’s staying here,” Alois answered just as softly.
I thumbed my glass again before setting it next to Alois’ on the table between us. I assumed a relaxed position that mirrored my friend, even if I didn’t feel fully relaxed.
“Where?”
“In the guest wing on the second floor.” I figured as much, but was glad for Alois to confirm it. “I will give her strict instructions that she is not to enter the third floor unless she is invited, and she is not to be in your wing on the third floor for any reason.”
“Thank you, Alois.”
“Just because I’m fighting you on this particular issue, doesn’t mean I don’t respect you and cherish you, Rohak.” There was a lilt of sadness to his admission. “And I’m slightly disappointed that you think so little of me in this regard.”
“It’s not that I think little of you, Alois,” I was quick to rebut, “I just don’t get a great feeling about this girl, there’s something . . . not right with her. I fear that you’re too preoccupied with the Keeper’s visions and can’t see the potential traps on this path.”
“As always, I appreciate your concern, Rohak, but my order stands. I need her close for this to work. Every Keeper has insisted she is the key in one way or another, and I need to keep a close eye on her at all times.” Alois was firm but not unkind, and I knew that was the last time he would entertain me on the subject of Ellowyn d’Aelius.
I nodded once before changing subjects.
“So, the Academy, then? And the training grounds?”
“She needs to learn how to control and channel her magic. You know that as well as I. Her parents are also wealthy and in a position of power, no one will bat an eye at her attending the Academy and training with one of the most powerful Mages Elyria has ever seen.” His eyebrows rose at that last bit, pinning me with his stare.
I forced a smile.
“All well and good, but how do you plan on getting her family to agree to her attending the Academy? As you mentioned, they’re wealthy with resources and private tutors at their fingertips. Not to mention the fact that she’s betrothed to that Southern lord. There’s a lot of lines you’ll have to cross to get this to happen,” I admonished.
Alois waved his hand at me in a dismissive gesture. “Bah. You let me worry about that. Let’s just say that her parents are going to be begging me to take her here and do what I wish once I am through.” His grin was positively maniacal. “You just worry about the Academy and harnessing that power.”
Alois was affable, relaxed even, and I decided to push my luck a bit and ask for help.
“Speaking of the Academy,” I said, “I feel like I’m pulled in too many directions right now. I spent the afternoon in my office at the administration building and got nothing of importance done. I have a mountain of paperwork on my desk that is only growing taller, representatives from every part of our council stopping in to ask me mundane questions. It’s unbearable. I signed a petition today that we would not have wanted and only caught the mistake when Lex read it before leaving my office.” I ran a hand through my hair, tugging lightly on the strands.
“Mmm, so that’s where the anger is coming from, then?” As always, Alois understood.
“It’s a piece of it, yes.” I paused. “A large piece,” I begrudgingly admitted .
“And you haven’t been to the Academy or training grounds since before we left for Hestin.”
I nodded once. Alois leaned his head back and seemed to contemplate my words for a second.
“Sounds like you need a secretary.”
I barked out a laugh. “And here I thought it was going to be difficult to get you to agree.”
Alois’ smile was infectious at my forced humor. “No, in this I agree with you. I need you focused, especially with Ellowyn coming and with the rebels getting more aggressive. Any word on that, by the way?”
“If I have a missive, it’s buried on my desk somewhere,” I admitted rather sheepishly. “It’s my plan, first thing tomorrow, to update our maps from the intelligence reports.”
“We also need to discuss sending someone in the old-fashioned way, as we discussed on our way to Hestin.”
I scrubbed my face again and yawned widely, suddenly hit by a fresh wave of exhaustion. “Yes, we do.”
Alois raised his eyebrows at me before chuckling lightly.
“Go. Sleep. This can wait until tomorrow. We will meet first thing in the morning, then you will update our information on the rebels before heading to the Academy and training grounds. I will send out a proclamation to our territories in search of a secretary for you that I will want to double as a scholar for me. I have some important research that needs to be done and don’t have the capabilities to do it.”
“The book?” I asked as I stood, stretching my back and brushing my pants off.
Alois nodded once. “Yes. Amongst other things.” There was a gleam in his eyes that indicated there was more to his statement, but I decided not to press, he’d tell me when it was prudent.
“As long as my paperwork gets done, I don’t care if you find them from the NUT group.” Alois looked at me in apparent confusion. “Did you know we have a group called the NUT? Nudists for the Utopia of Trees or some shit like that. That was the petition I almost put through today. They wanted to host a naked parade in our courtyard, with us involved.”
Alois threw his head back and laughed until his body was shaking, and I felt a laugh tugging at my own lips in response .
“Good gods, Rohak! Can you imagine?” He wiped tears from his eyes, laughter still falling from his lips.
“Thing is, I’ve seen yours, often, and it’s not anything impressive,” I teased. Alois laughed again.
“Oh, you lie! I’ve never had any complaints before!”
I laughed as I turned to exit the room, the sounds of Alois’ mirth following me.
“Hey, Alois?” I called at the edge of the room. He grunted in response. “Did you steal that cask of whiskey from Hestin?” Alois’ laughter renewed, which was all the answer I needed before I strode from the conservatory and up to my wing on the third floor. I collapsed on my bed, barely removing my clothing beforehand, and sleep took me moments later.