The Archmage Already Knew

The noblewoman who had caught sight of Ilya came toward them at a brisk pace. He had been standing at a careless slant; now he drew himself upright and set on the smile he wore for the world. He received her with the flawless face of an Archduke.

"It has been some time, Aunt. Have you been well?"

At that warm greeting, a satisfied smile rose on the noblewoman's face.

"What affairs could an old woman have? Your face has grown very bright, I must say. It seems you are sleeping well these days."

"After making a bed of mountains and plains, coming home feels like heaven itself. The bed in the Archduke's chambers is remarkably comfortable."

Sparks flew between the two of them the instant they met, and Naz watched with uneasy eyes.

Nasser was dead, and she was now Ilya's nearest blood—and yet the two of them had long been people who could not live under the same sky. It was no different now that Ilya had succeeded to the Archduke's seat.

"You seem to prefer the bed in the Annex to the one in the Archduke's chambers. I mention it only because I hear you seek the Annex every night."

Celis narrowed her eyes and studied Ilya. Those serpent eyes dragged over him without mercy—his hair, his eyes, his lips and jaw, the line of his throat. Feeling the weight of that gaze, Ilya let his long eyes crease softly into a smile.

"The owner of that bed... is my wife. Is there some objection to a husband seeking his wife's bedchamber?"

The face of the young Archduke, fallen into a forbidden love, was bewitching enough to erase every trace of his usual sharpness. The maids standing behind Celis stared at him in a daze, color climbing into their cheeks.

"To hold your wife so dear, even after that unpleasant affair in Tatar—Your Grace is truly remarkable."

Celis's face hardened to ice. To speak of Ilya's parents was an open taboo. She had been the one to provoke her nephew, true enough—but she had not expected him to answer so nakedly, and the bluntness left her disconcerted.

Ilya flicked a glance at the stairs leading down to the ossuary, then spoke to Celis.

"Aunt, would it not be better to pay our respects to Father first? Talk of my wife can wait until we return."

Soured by the exchange, Celis turned capricious.

"Those stairs make my head spin just to look at them. I don't think I can manage. Even if I got down somehow, however would I climb back up?"

Ilya, who had found her company unwelcome from the first, drew back without another word.

"Then I will go alone. We can have our heart-to-heart when I return."

"I think I shall go and beg a cup of tea from my nephew's wife. It has been too long."

He narrowed his eyes and held her in his stare. Then as now, she was a woman with a particular genius for getting under the skin. His gaze drifted to the footpath that led toward the Annex, and he pictured the soft woman waiting at the end of it. Memory brought back the warmth that had passed into his hand that night in the Grand Gallery of Eternity, and his chest drew tight.

"Do you mean to bar me from the Annex as well? While Your Grace was away, it was I, as an elder of this house, who looked after that child."

"How could I? My wife will be glad of it."

A thread of unease ran beneath his voice.

"I have kept a busy Archduke standing here while an old woman made a fool of herself. Until later, then."

"Yes, Aunt. I hope your time is pleasant."

When Celis vanished at the head of her flock of maids, Ilya gave an order to a knight of his personal guard.

"Send a man to the Annex. Tell the guards to keep their heads on straight."

"Yes, Your Grace."

Ilya glared after the noblewoman's retreating back for a long moment, then turned his steps underground.

At that same hour, Evelynn was not in the Annex. The moment Renee returned to the Archduke's castle, she had invited Evelynn to the Mage Tower—and today was that day.

"A mage's laboratory! Sir Bellina, have you ever been there?"

"Go there and invite some mishap upon myself... No. That is not what I meant. I have not."

Bellina laughed, sheepish. When the woman who was always so composed began to ramble, Evelynn burst out laughing.

"Did you not see it when you went to the Tower of Repentance? The two towers are built alike, so they are called the twin towers."

Evelynn shook her head. That day, rattled by Ilya's strange behavior, she had been too scattered to spare a glance for her surroundings.

"My lady, the sugar sweets and the cake you asked for are all wrapped up."

"Thank you, Sophie. You did well."

Sophie, back from the kitchen with the gift for Renee, gave a shrug.

"Hehe, it was nothing. Oh! Our young master looks so handsome today!"

She cried out at the sight of Liber, turned out like a little gentleman with his hair combed neatly back. Renee was the first person to have invited the child along as well, and Evelynn had been so delighted that for days she had made a happy fuss of dressing him, trying this outfit and that.

"Son, isn't it nice, going out with Mama?"

"Yeah!"

Evelynn took Liber's hand and left the Annex. The carriage soon drew up at the entrance to the Mage Tower, where Renee herself had come out to meet them.

"Madam, welcome to the Mage Tower."

"Thank you for the invitation. This is a gift."

Sophie passed the box, prettily bound in a blue ribbon, to the red-haired young man standing behind Renee. The sweet scent drifting from it sent Renee into a flutter of delight.

"Oh my, thank you! The sweets and the cake you sent before were delicious, too."

"Please, it was nothing special."

Renee greeted Liber as well.

"Young master, welcome to the mage's den."

Liber had always been a child who smiled easily, but before Renee his face was unusually bright. He broke into a gleeful peal of giggles, and Renee laughed just as brightly in return.

"Shall we go in?"

They followed Renee into the Mage Tower. She led the party to a great door, and the moment she set her hand to the handle, it opened of its own accord.

"Come in, all of you. My rooms are at the very top."

They had barely stepped inside when the door shut behind them with a clang. Stones of many colors were set into the wall ahead, and Renee laid her hand upon the blue one. The stone flared bright, and Evelynn felt her body yanked sharply downward. Dizzy, she clutched her son's hand. A moment later the door opened, and a broad space lay before their eyes.

"Here we are."

Renee stepped out first. Evelynn and her party followed, glancing all around, and after a long walk down the corridor a parlor came into view.

"When guests come, this is where I take tea. A little worn, but it serves, doesn't it?"

Renee said, indicating the tea table. The table and chairs had been wrought so that the roots of the tree remained as they had grown, and the wonder of it drew a gasp from Evelynn.

"It feels like a house where elves live."

Renee shrugged and offered her a seat. Evelynn and Renee sat facing each other across the tea table. Before long the red-haired young man brought in the refreshments, and what Evelynn had brought for tea was laid out with care on plates of every color. This time Renee took up her fork without a glance to see who might be watching, and Evelynn did the same. Liber sat pressed to his mother's side and was fed cake.

"Kah, kah—cake!"

Each time the fork went into his mouth and came out again, Liber cried out.

"Our young master eats well."

"He eats so much I worry. Even now I think his belly might burst."

Evelynn patted Liber's round stomach. He arched his brows in a huff. Watching him, Renee laughed until she bent double.

"That scowl—he's His Grace exactly! Only the size is different."

"Sir Naz said the very same thing."

"And he doesn't add that it's a mercy the boy didn't take after him in temper?"

Evelynn gave an embarrassed laugh.

"Little human."

An eagle that had reached the Mage Tower ahead of them came winging toward Liber.

"Little human, try and catch me."

"Ah—abu, abu!"

Liber shot to his feet to catch the bird in flight. The moment the child broke into a run, Arthurs was at his side.

"Bellies are full, and our young master has found a playmate. Time for the adults to talk."

"Was there something you wished to say to me?"

"Yes. There is something I must tell you, Madam, and it cannot wait."

Evelynn caught the eye of Bellina, who stood behind her. Once the two of them were left alone, Renee smiled, bright and fresh.

"It has been my wish to take tea in an elven forest. You can manage that, can't you, Madam?"

Evelynn stared at Renee, startled. She knows I'm an Illusionist? Too anxious to answer, she could only let her eyes dart, unable to rest.

"I am a mage, you see. Illusion, in the end, is only one kind of magic."

Her husband had said Renee was a formidable mage. Perhaps she can help me. Having made up her mind, Evelynn called to mind the elven village she had read of in a book. Great trees drove up through the ceiling. Flowers of every color, opened here and there, shivered in the wind. Birds perched along the branches began to sing, and the leaves rustled back as if in answer.

"Oho. Even more impressive than I thought!"

Renee rose from her seat. She tipped her head back toward the sky and spread both arms wide. Evelynn could not look away from her as she closed her eyes and murmured something in a voice almost too small to hear. If the elves of legend truly existed, would they look like this?

Renee said it as she sat. Evelynn gazed at her, wonderstruck.

"Why look at me that way? You're the one who made this miracle."

"This is... just a parlor trick."

"Illusionists are not so rare. Skill of this order is."

Renee's words lent Evelynn a little courage.

"Do you... truly think so?"

"Of course. I would like to claim you for the Mage Tower myself, to start. His Grace would throw a fit."

Renee drew a breath, then went on.

"I am curious how far your ability goes."

"I don't know how to do anything at all."

"When Arthurs fought that duel, you used an illusion on the giant, didn't you? I know it was you who saved him."

Evelynn's eyes went wide.

"I am the only one who knows this. His Grace doesn't, I am sure."

Evelynn hesitated, then spoke with care.

"The truth is... I can make nearly anything that comes into my head. So long as it isn't something that harms another person."

"You mean everything is possible, except dark illusion?"

Evelynn nodded.

"That much seems more than enough... Do you wish to learn dark illusion as well?"

"Yes! Even the very simplest of it—if I could use that much, I would be glad."

Renee narrowed her eyes and studied Evelynn.