“Excuse me, Your Excellency.” 

Vidar looked up from a rare, quiet dinner peeved by the interruption. He had been meeting with a steady stream of leaders, chieftains, and representatives since taking the throne. Some were angry, others so terrified as to be nearly subservient. All reassured him of their loyalty by the time they left. He had that effect on people. 

“This had better be important,” he told Jonathan. By his nervous expression, it was, though Vidar was cranky enough at being disturbed that he felt no need to make the man’s job any easier. 

“There is news of the trackers, your excellency.” 

Vidar set down his spoon and turned his full attention on his chief advisor. “And?”

“They were attacked by mages, your excellency. Crayton and Festolo died. Biltens survived, though he was hurt. The princess escaped.” 

Vidar swore. “Mages! But why? No one knows what happened here. The news can’t have spread that fast. What reason could they possibly have to attack Crayton and his men?” 

Jonathan swallowed. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but…”

Vidar lost patience with his advisor’s hesitation. “Spit it out, man!” 

“Kazreena is a mage.”

“What?! But she can’t be! She wasn’t one before.” 

“Sometimes mages come into their power suddenly.” 

Vidar glared at Jonathan, willing this news to be a mistake somehow. “Are you sure?”

“Biltens saw her shoot lightning from her fingers. And that’s not all,” continued Jonathan, with the air of getting the worst over with. But what, wondered Vidar with a chill of foreboding, could possibly be worse? “She was with a young man. Biltens said it was like he shot strands of darkness at them, like black lightning. It knocked him out, and when he woke up a day later, the other two were dead.” 

Vidar sat, fingers clenched, absorbing this. Only one element could be responsible. But how was that possible? Ch’usaj didn’t have any mages. Did she? And if she did choose mages, why hadn’t she chosen him, her champion, to wield her power? He wrenched himself out of his ponderings to glare at Jonathan again. 

“So you’re telling me that not only is Kazreena suddenly a lightning mage, but she’s also accompanied by a void mage?”

“It appears so, Your Excellency,” said Jonathan. 

“Do we know anything more about this - boy?” 

“All the messenger said was that he was blind. He had a dog. Oh, and he was the shaman’s son.” 

“A shaman’s son? Interesting. Where is Biltens?” 

“He’s on his way back. Moving slowly because of the attack, Your Excellency.” 

“Send him to me the moment he returns. And find out whatever you can about void mages.” 

“Yes sir,” said Jonathan, bowing slightly. He looked up, his eyebrows betraying his anxiety. “Your Excellency?” 

“What?!” 

“There’s more.” 

“More? How can there possibly be more?” 

“All of this happened at the messengers’ hut during a storm. I didn’t get the whole story, but it appears that Kazreena, uh, well she modified your message.” 

At this, Vidar actually rose partway out of his seat. “She did what?! I thought the messengers weren’t allowed to change a message once it had been sent. ” 

“She found a loophole. Apparently they can add on to the end of an existing message. Basically she added what happened here and she said there would be a reward for anyone who helped any surviving member of the royal family.” 

Vidar sank back into his chair, closing his eyes and placing his fingers over the spot in his temples that had begun throbbing. 

“That woman is entirely too intelligent. Of all the people to escape, why did it have to be Kaz?”

“Who else would it have been?” 

He opened his eyes and returned Jonathan’s wry smile. He had a point. They had both held a great amount of affection for the rebellious tomboy princess. She had learned a great deal of what she knew from Vidar, and Jonathan had known her for her entire life. One of the hardest parts of formulating his plans had been coming to terms with the necessity of killing her. This all would be so much easier if she had just died when she was supposed to, instead of throwing his deeds back in his face like some living embodiment of his conscience. 

He sighed and closed his eyes again. “Is there anything else I should know, Jonathan?”

“I think that about covers it, Vidar,” said Jonathan, humor lurking in the fading remnants of their moment of familiarity. 

“Thank you. That’s all then, Jonathan. Please leave me. I need to think.” 

“Of course,” said Jonathan, before retreating quietly from the room. 

It took Vidar a minute to open his eyes and return to his meal. He had to wrench his mind away from unwelcome memories of teaching Kaz to hunt, to track, to fight. Memories that still came with a pang of fondness, no matter how much he tried to distance himself. 

Ch’usaj. The boy. Why, oh why had Ch’usaj chosen someone who was obviously positioned to oppose him?

Vidar made a low, angry growl. Hadn’t Ch’usaj caused him enough pain? He had gone from popular and respected to shunned practically overnight when she had chosen him. Only his father’s insistence that their enemies would flee before a general chosen by Ch’usaj had kept his place in training, and later his high rank in the royal army. 

When Ch’usaj had revealed the pattern that was destroying the empire, he had seen an opportunity to once more command the respect that he had lost. As well as removing the stigma associated with her chosen all over the empire. She had chosen him to restore order among both the elements and the human empire. 

But then why had she given this boy her power? Was she turning her back on him too? Did she have a change of heart? After all he had done for her? He would have to confront her. And he needed to find Kazreena - and the boy now, too. He had gone too far, done too much to turn back now. 

Vidar ripped into a roll, enjoying the feel of his teeth tearing the soft dough. He would make Ch’usaj see reason if he had to. And he would kill Kazreena, even if she was a mage now. And even if he had to tear the empire apart in the process. 

It was, he told himself firmly, the only way. 

Next Chapter: 40: Owen - Duet