Page 31 of Stolen Princess's Secret

Lor had never steered him wrong.

And yet, if a falcon in his care had prompted this kind of uneasy feeling he’d be keeping it under close observation.

When the royal helicopter landed at the fortress that afternoon, he thought he might get his chance to catch up with Claudia that evening, but the helicopter spat out Ana and young Sophia and no one else.

To say he hid his resulting foul mood from his apprentices would be a lie. He tried to limit the damage done by giving them all an impromptu half day respite from general chores. Instead, he asked them to go home and write a two-page response to the idea of rotating them in and out of the Aergoveny manor one or two at a time for one or two months at a time while he continued to travel between the two sites. He needed people he could trust at both places, needed them to provide continuity of care for the birds and alert him to any problems. Two of his apprentices had young families to consider, two didn’t. No one would be penalised for speaking out against such a move. No one would lose their apprenticeship. They should consider their two-page spiels to be expressions of interest, or disinterest. He simply wanted to know what their circumstances would allow.

The silence that followed his announcement wasn’t encouraging.

Finally, his fourth-year apprentice spoke up. ‘What are your long-term intentions? As the King’s Falconer and now lord of your own lands?’

‘I intend to expand the King’s falcon breeding programmes and open up the Aergoveny manor to the public. I’m looking into housing other endangered birds and eventually reintroducing them into areas where researchers think they will survive. There will be monitoring programmes. Research opportunities. Learning and exchange of ideas because I sure as the sky don’t know everything. I know you’re all encouraged to leave at the end of your four years here. I know you can count on finding key positions worldwide. And if your goals and dreams have always lain elsewhere, I say go for them. I’m setting you up for success anywhere.’ He meant every word. ‘But I’m opening up two permanent positions immediately as part of my goals for the future. One here, one in Aergoveny. Maybe even four permanent Master Falconer positions in the years to come, and four apprenticeships offered each year. I’ve been given a sackful of money and the most beautiful raptor sanctuary location in the world and I’m going for it.’

Silence greeted his words. Silence, sideways glances and finally grins.

‘Whatever you want done, I’ll do it,’ his fourth-year apprentice replied firmly. ‘I want in on the ground floor.’

‘Mad not to,’ said his third-year apprentice. ‘Count me in too.’

‘And me,’ said Bran, the youngest, hurriedly. ‘I have family in Aergoveny. My father grew up there. I’ll go there any time and be happy about it.’

‘And I’ll go with him.’ His remaining apprentice smiled broadly. ‘Have you seen his cousin? She’s the prettiest woman in the world and sweet along with it.’

‘She lives in the capital, Romeo,’ countered Bran.

‘And when she returns to visit her family, I will be standing there flying falcons and looking majestic by association. King’s Falconer’s apprentice. Never fails to impress.’

Bran puffed up like a little barnyard rooster. ‘That’s an unfair advantage!’

Bran had been using that unfair advantage to devastating effect ever since he’d got here. Tomas didn’t bother to disguise his smirk.

‘Are you sure you’re all with me?’ He hadn’t expected such instant support. Was leadership always this easy with a vision in mind and the resources to make it happen? ‘Thank you, I’m humbled.’ He was also hungry to see what could be achieved and how fast they could begin to make it happen when working as a team and taking on extra responsibilities. ‘I’ll have new employment contracts for you to look over by the end of the week. I still want your thoughts on rotation planning. Add a paragraph on what you’re most looking forward to being part of. I’ll take looking majestic by association as a given.’

He was still smiling at that one later that afternoon when his apprentices were long gone and he was finishing the last of the weigh-ins and deciding that the time had come to properly embrace computer records in addition to the trusty notebooks that had served his father and grandfather so well. Especially now that birds and people would be travelling back and forth between sites.

He saw Sophia pause in the doorway to the weighing room, her trusty wolfhounds Jelly and Belly at her side. He saw her raise her tiny fist to knock on the doorframe and then pause, her gaze shifting from him to the eyas on the tray in front of him. Best not to knock right now and startle them. He liked the way she’d paused to think about that. Another falconer in the making, he decided with no little satisfaction.

‘You can come closer if you’re quiet,’ he murmured. ‘Make the hounds sit by the door.’

The King’s daughter did exactly that as he recorded the weight. ‘Do you want to feed her?’ he asked of the bird in his hand.

‘Yes, please.’

He pointed towards the bucket of meat and nodded. He liked this little girl with her affinity for animals and Claudia’s eyes, even if it had taken some getting used to her. It had been like seeing a ghost at first, and he hadn’t been the only one to think so. Cas had been blindsided by his daughter’s resemblance to Claudia too.

Claudia’s presence had gone a long way to making Tomas regard young Sophia as a person in her own right. It wasn’t Sophia’s fault that her looks and mannerisms sometimes left him spinning with memories of his childhood and Claudia’s.

He would do better by this child. They all would.

For starters, young Sophia knew her parents loved her and cared for her as they should.

‘Does she weigh enough?’ the little girl asked.

‘Yes. See how the numbers on the chart keep going up slowly but surely? That’s what we want to see.’

‘How old is she?’

‘Four weeks.’

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