Page 89 of A Baron of Bonds
I’d been watching him carefully since his magic had sparked when he hit me, and I saw glimpses of it now in subtle orange flickers every few taps at his knee.
It was ironic to me that the Queen, who spoke of controlling tempers, raised two channelers whose magic came unbidden so often in a state of anger.
Mychael glanced back and forth between us and cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence. “What is the Fortress like in Felgren? Is it akin to the Castle of Hyrithia?”
Karus shifted next to me. “No. It is much darker. Black. Black everywhere, but it’s Felgren you’ll truly love.” She smiled at him, then turned her attention to Philius. “It’s spring there, in the forest. You’ll get to see Felgren for the first time at its loveliest.”
The Prince clenched his jaw and nodded to her, then stared at me.
Obviously, we were not done here.
“And the training?” Mychael asked, doing his best to settle the tangible anger coming from the Prince. “What will that be like?”
I cleared my throat and shifted my attention away from Philius. “Were you aware you held channeler magic, Mychael?”
He shook his head. “My companion, she was always the one with the magic.” He chuckled, “Solla always wanted to become a conduit. I used to wonder if Baron Heimlen would’ve given her an offering if she had not been born in Hyrithia at the time of the Treaty. She was so adept at helping in the fields and growing her garden.” He glanced out the window. “There was this one tree. An apple tree. She would sing to it in the spring, and I swear the blooms would respond.”
“What happened to her?” Karus asked quietly.
He exhaled heavily. “The Black Fever.”
“I’m so sorry.” Karus’s voice broke and she reached across the cabin to take his hand. “If you’d like, we could set up a memorial in her honor in Felgren. Something you can visit to remember her. A place with her name so that she can be a part of the forest she wanted to see.”
That was one way to pull on my heart, and I grabbed her waist, tugging her close, kissing the top of her head.
“If I could,” she continued, “I would have every single channeler’s name carved into a tall rock and placed in Felgren. To remember those who never got to see it, and those who died to save it.”
“Thank you, Karus,” Mychael rasped. “She would have loved that.”
“So,” Philius spoke, shifting in his seat, “whatistraining like, then? How do you plan to expose our magic when one of us didn’t know we had it and the other can only summon it occasionally?”
I liked his directness. Philius got to the point—contrary to his mother. I studied him for a moment. He was the tallest of us all with bronze skin and black coils that he tied at the top of his head, letting them spill out in a thick mass. His physique was lithe like Karus, toned, but not particularly muscular, and I didn’t doubt they’d both ran through the same fields and climbed the same cliff faces.
But where Karus held a humbleness, Philius did not. He was raised a prince, a future regent of the crown, a man whose purpose was to choose a queen and create an heiress for their family line. Life in Felgren was going to be immensely different for him.
“Felgren is the key to your power. I can teach you how to summon your magic from its roots. I can teach you how to listen to your truest self in its breeze. It may take time, but I have no doubts you both will find your channeler magic there.”
“I want to be trained by Karus,” he challenged.
I laughed. “I have no qualms with that. She is more than capable and can teach you things I cannot.”
“Philius, don’t be stupid. Rev can teach you better than I can. I myself need to train still. It’s been years of my magic just sitting there unused.”
“I trust you more than him.”
“Well, I trusthimmore than anyone, so there.”
“He’s a liar.”
“Oh, and you’ve never lied?”
“Not about something so important.”
“What about your magic, Philius? Hmm? What about the fact that you had enough power to collapse an entire castle wall?”
“I couldn’t control that.”
“But don’t tell me you didn’t know it was in you. You kept that a secret, admit it.”
