Page 12 of Prince of Shadow and Ash

Gaius bowed as they passed, the stiffness in his smile making him look uncomfortable. Adelaide and Mother’s handmaids followed a short distance behind them, while the knights helped the servants with the horses and their belongings. As they walked up the stairs, Adelaide admired the intricate knots carved on the wood paneling lining the walls.

“How are you feeling?” Mother asked.

“Oh, better now,” Minerva said. “I was ill most mornings for a while, but lately I’ve felt much better and less exhausted. Gaius’ mother has been very kind and helpful.” She leaned her head on Mother’s shoulder. Her voice softened, a warm whisper. “But she’s not you.”

Minerva led them to a wooden door carved with peacocks and led them inside. “This is your room, Addie.”

Adelaide half smirked, half scowled. “You know I don’t answer to that.”

Minerva winked. “As youroldersister, I can call you whatever I choose.”

“Be nice,Tha Lonri,” Mother said with a smile.Little Fox.Mother always said Minerva was playful like a fox, and Adelaide was bold like a tigress.

Minerva kissed Adelaide’s cheek. “See you in the morning,Adelaide.”

Chapter 4

THE NEXT FEW DAYS WEREheavenly. Adelaide had missed her sister even more than she’d realized, especially laughing together. The Drummonds were amicable. Minerva convinced Adelaide and Gaius to play checkers, and her victory in the first game sparked a competition. They played a few rounds each night. By the end of the fourth day, she was up by three, and Gaius had relaxed into the friendly, if serious, man she remembered from his visits during Minerva’s courtship.

Lady Drummond recruited Adelaide and her mother into helping with a tapestry depicting Saint Melvius’ taming of jaguars. Adelaide was a fair embroider, but it wasn’t her favorite hobby. She preferred sewing clothes to embroidery. Far more exciting, Lord Drummond granted her unrestricted access to his library.

One cloudy afternoon, Adelaide ran her fingertips over the book spines. The scents of old parchment, worn leather, dusty tapestries, cold stone, and old ash in the fireplace combined into a comforting musty smell. She sank into the large leather chair in front of the fireplace and looked around at the four large bookshelves, all lined with books. So much knowledge. So many stories. She grinned to herself. What would she find? What did she want to read? Where to start?

She turned and surveyed the three floor-to-ceiling walls of books, enjoying the silence as motes drifted in the muted sunlight slanting through the window. Finally, she began perusing the books. Some were stiff and old. Some new. A prayer book sported a gold-overlaid cover. She took a bestiary featuring color paintings. A book of heraldry caught her eye, and she flipped through the colorful illustrations before returning it to the shelf. She found a collection of romance poetry and added it to the bestiary. Only the crinkle of parchment and muted protest of leather and the shuffle of her bare feet on the carpet broke the silence. She bent down to a bottom shelf and pulled out a book with an iron-bound cover. Something shifted behind it.

Down on her knees, she peered into the empty space on the shelf. She could just see a worn leather cover. She moved some other books out of the way and freed the trapped book. The plain leather back had been facing her. She flipped it over and ran her fingertips over the embossed metal image of a man enwreathed in swirling flames. He held his hands out to his sides, his expression calm.

She opened the book and read the blue ink of the title page.A Compendium of Known Magical Abilities and Tales of Mages of Legend. She gasped. A book on magic? She clutched the book to her chest, looking around furtively. No one watched her. She was as alone as she had been when she first entered. Still, her ears burned, and her spine tingled with anticipation at the discovery of her new treasure.

After all these years...finally.Mother would return home in a week, leaving Adelaide unsupervised. She could read this book and learn how touseher magic. To be a real mage. She did feel a little guilty. Mother and Father just wanted to protect her, and she used to agree with their reasons for keeping her abilities secret and inactive. She didn’twantto be murdered. Even if she often wished she hadn’t spent three years of her childhood alone with Mother in a cottage learning to hide her magic, she never blamed her parents for their protectiveness. But over twenty years had passed since mages were eradicated from Monparth. If The Shadow still hunted mages, wouldn’t it have found her by now?

A few years ago, Adelaide had tried to argue the threat was in the past. She had never seen Mother so angry, ranting in Khast about murder and foolish risks. Even if The Shadow didn’t find her, did she have any idea how many people would want to use the only mage in Monparth for their own ends? Did she want people to view her as a commodity, a weapon? Adelaide had learned several new Khast curse words that day and didn’t use her magic for months. But the energy inside her begged for release. So she practiced in her room, with the curtains drawn and the door locked. And she tried not to think about getting murdered by an unknown threat.

If she could learn to control her power, she could protect herself. Right? Unwanted images of bloody, glassy-eyed bandits popped into her mind. She pushed them away. Maybe she could defend herself without killing. It might be easier with magic. And she might not always have her dagger and knives. Now she had a way to learn. So far, she had managed to create blue-tinted light, fire, and on a few occasions, a solid blast of light capable of knocking over a heavy object, like a full trunk. But she had no idea what else she was evencapableof doing and finding time to test herself when no one would catch her was difficult.

Mother wouldn’t approve. But...it was part of her, wasn’t it? Mother taught her to use daggers and throwing knives, just like every other Khastallander mother, all the way in Monparth, because Mother was Khastallander. Mother would not deny her culture, her identity, even after marrying Father and moving to Monparth.And I am a mage. Whether or not my parents like it. Whether I am the last mage alive in Monparth or not.Etiros had seen fit to make her a mage. How could she deny a part of herself?

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