Evaristestilled.
“She seems rather duty-bound as well. She’s searching for you, youknow.”
Don’t let her see.Evariste nonchalantly leaned against the solid pane. “You’ve already saidthat.”
“I know, and you feigned apathy then, as well—which is rather more revealing than you’d like, given that you don’t often bother to censureyourself.”
Evariste set his jaw but purposely kept his stance relaxed. “Oh?”
“She’s going to be crushed,” Liliane said. “Without you there to shield her, all it will take is a few whispers and some quietly voiced suspicions. Given her magic, she’ll be hauled in for so much as a sneeze.” She was quiet for a few moments. “We don’t have to physically attack her to ruin her, Evariste. In some ways, perhaps a physical attack would be a kindness toher.”
She was right. Angelique was already so suspicious of other mages and faced so much prejudice, it wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge or to convince the Council that she was adanger.
But they cannot exile her or place any significant punishment on her without me there…unless they decide to handle her differently because of mycapture.
“And when the moment comes, I can imagine her despair,” Lilianesaid.
Evariste’s fingers twitched against his will.Steady, he told himself.She’s testing me forweaknesses.
“The master she has so sought to find is still gone, and the other mages are uncaring of her situation. There will be no one with her, no one for her as she struggles to fill the duties you so faithfully taughther.”
Don’t move. Don’t give her any more power overme!
Liliane sighed. “All of that power, snuffed out, strangled by the weight of expectations and the cruelty of thisworld.”
Evariste roared as he threw himself against the mirror, making it shake and rattle. “Leave heralone!”
Liliane daintily held a hand to her mouth. “Oh, my. I thought she was just your student, but it seems you haven’t been entirely honest with me, hmm?” She winked and glided to the cavernentrance.
Evariste kept shouting long after she was gone, yelling until he was hoarse. He tried yanking on his magic, but only the numbness envelopedhim.
Hours later, he slumped to his knees, his entire body shaking from fatigue and barely-held-in-checkemotion.
Angelique…please…Angelique.
Chapter 8
Unfortunately for Angelique,combing through Evariste’s library yielded nothing helpful. (At least, nothing that was within reach of her abilities.) A yearpassed.
Angelique was invited to Lady Gabrielle’s wedding to Kronprinz Steffen of Arcainia, making her Prinzessin Gabrielle according to traditional Arcainian titles. (The handwritten note included with the invitation mentioned that Steffen was the peeping prince Puss had grumbledover.)
She continued her research but also spent her time going out on covert missions, furthering her search for Evariste under the guise of searching for more magicbooks.
Her unusual lifestyle of travel was how, roughly two-and-a-half years after Evariste was captured, Angelique learned of the massive storms that were springing up off the coast of Ringsted, making travel to the countrydifficult.
What was worse, Angelique received word from Firra and Donaigh—the war mage and fire mage Evariste and Angelique had asked to watch Princess Rosalinda—that there were signs Carabosso was beginning to look for the hiddenprincess.
“Perfect, just perfect,” Angelique groused as she fit a telescope to her eye and peered at the angry swell of clouds crouched over the ocean. “Because there’s not already enough bizarre things happening, now we have to have a potential threat to an entirecountry.”
As she watched, lightning streaked through the clouds, followed by a peal of thunder. Standing on Erflauf soil, she was safe from the storms. But the weather made passage from Erlauf—or any other country on the continent for that matter—to Ringsted, ratherugly.
Angelique collapsed her telescope and scrunched up her face as the wind relentlessly yanked and pulled at hercloak.
Winter had just arrived, but it seemed determined to sweep across the continent with a vengeance as it kicked icy, stinging snow into Angelique’s face while she watched thestorm.
She coughed and brushed the snow off and continued to scowl at thestorms.
Ringsted was the southernmost country of the continent and boasted a great deal of shoreline. It was cut off from the rest of the continent, however, by the giant mountain range that spanned the northern length of thecountry.
