Sage and King by Molly Ringle

Author:Molly Ringle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Central Avenue Publishing
Published: 2021-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

AT LUNCH, COL SAT WITH SOME OF THE YOUNG-er sages, those initiated within the past year, all of whom he had tutored in magic at some point. They chattered to each other, occasionally asking Col about the king and what he thought of Heartwood. Col gave vague answers, while his mind sifted through his complicated emotions.

After the meal, he caught up to Lilam. “Can I speak with you a minute?” he asked.

“Certainly.” She beckoned him up the stairs to the Falcon Tower. “How goes it with the king? Seems he’s come around to enjoying your company.”

“Yes, we have…productive conversations.”

“Good.” She led him into her study, a large room with velvet-cushioned chairs and a crackling fireplace. Settling behind her desk, she asked, “So what is it?”

Col shut the door and sat in one of the chairs facing the desk. “I want to tell him about Orzei.”

Her kindly face pulled into a stonier expression. “What would that accomplish?”

“Orzei’s his brother. If it were you, wouldn’t you want to be told? I would.”

“If it were me, and I had only traumatic memories of said brother, and this news would cause me even more trauma, given he had likely killed my other remaining family members, then no. I don’t think it would help me.”

“But I think His Majesty would want to know, from what I’ve seen of him. Also he’s begun to trust me, and if I’m to work with him, I want to have earned that trust. I don’t like keeping it from him.”

Lilam leaned back, hands interlaced across her abdomen. “It’s to your credit to feel so. But sometimes if we tell the truth, it’s because we wish to ease our conscience, and we do so at the expense of other people’s peace of mind. Even their safety.”

Col took a breath, ready to protest, but stalled. Didn’t she have a point? Wasn’t he making this attempt mainly because he felt guilty? Hadn’t he made a similar error by telling his parents he could have saved Ellef if they’d sent for him?

“None of this was your fault,” Lilam added. “Your conscience should be clear, or at least clearer than all of us who came before you, who made the decision to keep Orzei’s time here a secret from the royal family. Even then, we did so because that’s Heartwood’s purpose: sheltering magicians and helping them, in a country where most people distrust us.”

“I know, and before the king came here, I agreed. But…he’s more intelligent than I expected. He’s interested in magic now, even admires it. And that could change if he finds out about this betrayal.”

“Betrayal? It’s protection.” Lilam leaned forward and set an elbow on the desk. “It’s early in your acquaintance with the king. I doubt you know him so well that you could say with certainty how he’d react. What if it doesn’t go well—what then?”

Col’s stomach constricted. Precisely the question he hated to ponder.

“What if it makes him turn against Heartwood?” she went on. “Dissolve the institution, banish us all? Jail us, even execute some of us? He’d be within his legal rights.

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