Bound
Table of Contents
BOUND
The Mirrors of Bershan, Book 1
J. Elizabeth Hill
Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental
Copyright © 2012 J. Elizabeth Hill
All rights reserved.
Dedication
For my mother, who taught me to read.
For my step-father, who taught me perseverance.
For Em and SJ, who helped me fly.
Thank you.
Chapter 1
The voices led Fay down the darkened corridor and she pretended not to notice them falter as she entered the small, sparse room that usually served as storage space. She walked casually to her place near the beginning of the line. It was alphabetical by first name since few students at the Voleno Academy possessed a surname. The chatter quickly resumed and the hum in the room rose with the passing minutes and growing excitement. Graduation day, Fay reflected wistfully. She already knew that she would be the only one walking across the stage solo, but that didn't bother her. She was used to doing things on her own after ten years of magical education. But she kept finding her hands twisting the fabric of her skirt, or playing with her loose dark blond curls and had to force them to stillness. Nerves like this were unusual for her and she wondered if it was about the future. Most of her peers had positions lined up already, but none of her inquiries had yielded anything more than polite refusals or deferment. She knew it was because she lacked a partner, and yet it didn't change her feelings on the matter. Something will come along for me, she told herself as she waited for the time to arrive and forced herself to stop tapping her foot.
Her teachers had remarked throughout her schooling that her magical talents were exceptional, yet there had always been a subtle pressure from everyone around her to choose a partner, something she had stubbornly resisted. Every other student in her year had chosen someone to bind their magic and therefore their life to, but she had not. Though she felt very determined about it, she sometimes found herself wondering why, more frequently during this final year at the academy. It wasn't that she didn't have reasons, ones she was certain would be accepted by anyone if she were to articulate them. Except in her own mind, her reasons felt thin, unconvincing. She had considered the idea that it was pure perversity on her part, her reaction to the way everyone insisted that she needed one, especially her father. Calder Derrion often reminded her in his infrequent letters that she was to select a partner worthy of her talents and not to settle for anything less, but she had decided years ago that he was more interested in the prestige and advancement of their House than her happiness. She no longer paid attention to any advice he gave her, and doubted this was the true source of her resistance. So what was, she wondered again.
Movement caught her attention as plump, smiling Professor Aliestra walked into the room and looked around. She nodded her head. "Come on, now. It's time to get into position. They're almost ready to begin."
The line started forward and soon they heard the headmaster, Professor Siveth, giving some specific notices regarding the school and the reception that was to follow the ceremony. The line quickly shortened as people moved to stand beside their partner. Several minutes that seemed much longer to Fay went by and then the line took a few more steps forward as Professor Aliestra moved the first pair into position at the edge of the curtain. They all heard Professor Siveth say, "And graduating from the Voleno Academy this year, I have the honor and pleasure of presenting," He paused, and Fay was certain he was consulting his notes. "Amira Friant and Soriol."
There was a polite applause, the line moved ahead a step, and then Siveth's voice called out Annesh and Zuri. Cianto and Koron Ollial, then Dagon and Inia. With each name called, she came closer to the front, mounting the few steps up into the wing. Eivan and Hallis. And then there was no one in front of her.
"Faylanna Derrion," Siveth called and she forced herself to step out from behind the curtain, her head held high. Keeping her eyes focused on the headmaster, she ignored the buzz from the watching families and friends of the graduates. With great effort, she kept her hands and arms still at her sides. She knew her father would be out there, but she would not turn to look for him. He wouldn't be smiling. He wasn't applauding her, because she would have heard it. No one was clapping for her as she made her way across a stage that hadn't seemed so large moments ago. She reached Professor Siveth, who shook her hand and smiled at her.
"I am so glad to see you here today, Fay. It has truly been a pleasure to have you at my school, and I look forward to watching you continue to confound the expectations of everyone who has underestimated you." She hadn't expected such a warm, personal comment and gave a stunned smile in response to his own. He reached up and placed the first two fingers of his left hand on her forehead. She had known this was coming, but was still surprised by the tightness stretching from one temple to the other along her hairline in an arc around her forehead as the spell settled into her skin. Then it eased and the headmaster drew his hand back, shook hers once more and released her to walk past him.
She had gotten only a few steps when a child's voice rang out above the still-buzzing conversation her solitude had evoked from the audience. "But I don't understand. Why is she alone? Doesn't she know you can't do real magic alone?"
Fay nearly froze as the child's voice was swallowed by a crescendo in the audience's babble. She forced herself to keep walking, though she could hardly feel her legs now, and saw someone waiting for her that made her heart swell with gratitude. Her mentor, Professor Samell Ganson stood with a rueful smile, yet she knew the pride in his eyes was for her alone. She resisted the urge to run the rest of the way to him, walking into the wing and he pulled her into a strong hug.
"Come on," he said quietly as the ceremony continued and the audience clapped for the next pair of graduates. "Let's go to the reception. I've seen Calder here already, so we might as get it over with. He's not in a good humor from what I saw and that little remark won't have helped the situation any, I fear."
He released her from the embrace but took her elbow and began guiding her along the corridor leading away from the stage. As they were walking, he said, "I'm sorry you had to hear that, Fay."
She laughed but was dismayed to find her voice unsteady. "Why? Do you imagine I don't hear the things the other students say about me? That I somehow missed my father's comments on the few occasions I've seen him since I was transferred here? Or the ones in his letters? Professor Ganson." She stopped, forcing him to face her. "Do you think I don't ask myself the same question?"
Pairs of students were walking past them as they came from the stage, some running their fingers over the new narrow black strip of symbols imprinted into their skin. She could still feel the tingling of her own Mark, which told the world she was a fully trained Magicia. Pulling her attention back to this unexpected conversation, she forced herself to say out loud the things that had been running through her head constantly for most of this final year of her education. "I wonder every day why, with all the people out there, I can't bring myself to accept any of them as a partner. What am I waiting for? Am I being too picky, or just pigheaded? It's not like I haven't met others who would gladly take the offer if I made it. But every time I meet someone and consider it, something holds me back, some sense that they aren't the right one and I don't know why. I've already discovered that having a future rests on having a partner, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I simply can't imagine making the offer to anyone I've met or accepting one."
There was more to it, things he didn't know and she didn't want to say. Ganson reached out, took one of her clenched hands in his and said, "Come on. I just saw Merinda and Vroste go by, which means that they're nearly done in there. The reception will be starting soon and we will be expected to be there when it begins. There's time for this discussion later, perhaps tomorrow. I've wanted to talk with you about this for some time, yet you always seemed unwilling until now. I'd like you to join me for dinner before you leave the academy in any case, and we will talk about it then."
Fay allowed him to draw her along the corridor and into the large hall just outside the auditorium. The chamber's two-story ceiling echoed with the voices of the gathered graduates and most of the teachers. It was early evening and lessons were over for the day, allowing the entire faculty to join the celebration. Tables with food had been set up already on either side of the room. The thought of eating made her stomach clench. Her father would be coming out of the auditorium soon and she didn't know what to say to him. She was sure he would be angry after the child's remark. He had been angry every time she had seen him since the Council Magicia had announced their decision to transfer her here from the academy in Rianza. No one had explained the reason for the transfer to her, but it had felt like a small gift in some ways, though it took her away from every home she had ever known. Her father's constant reminders to seek only her equal to bond with had become tiresome long ago. Professor Ganson's immediate acceptance and regard for her had contrasted sharply with this, only intensifying her feeling of happiness at the time. He had been her only teacher in Voleno, as the lessons in the academy had begun to focus almost exclusively on bound magic at the time, something she was unable to study herself. Rather than feeling excluded from the other students though, she'd felt privileged by the attention of such a famous and accomplished Magicia.
By the time the double doors of the auditorium opened, Fay was too nervous to speak, even though the wait was only minutes long. People flowed down the steps from the doors and dispersed through the room to find their graduate. Many of them were trying to avoid looking at her without being obvious, but she pretended not to notice. She thought she heard that same child's raised voice through the crowd's babble, though mercifully not talking about her this time.
She looked up the stairs, waiting for her father to make his presence known. And there he was, appearing at the top. Their eyes met and even at a distance, she could see that he wasn't angry. His face was impassive as he walked down the stairs, but as he drew closer she realized it was anxiety she saw in his eyes. She could hardly credit the idea, but it was undeniable. His gaze flickered around incessantly as he walked toward her. She noticed shadows under his eyes that hadn't been there when she had last seen him a year earlier. Only when he stopped in front of her did his attention focus on her, but one of his hands still played restlessly with the cane he had carried with him as a curious affectation over the two last years.
His voice was steady as ever when he spoke, his tone disdainful. "Still hovering over her like a nervous guard dog, I see, Samell. As I have explained to you before, I seek only the best for my daughter."
Professor Ganson was standing a little behind her so she couldn't see him, but she wished she could. She was close enough to feel the tension radiating from him, so unlike his usual calm. When he spoke, he used the formal, dispassionate tone Fay had always thought of as his Ambassador's voice. "Yes, so you have said, Viscount Derrion, but I have seen enough evidence to the contrary that I am not about to leave you alone with this bright, independent young woman. You are not a man I would make the mistake of trusting."