The Assassin's Tale (Isle of Dreams) (54 page)

Mistral
frowned slightly, why did he need her opinion on his home? 

‘It’s –’

Mistral cast
around for the words to describe how she felt and thought again of her strange
sense of homecoming, but she didn’t want to say that in case it sounded
presumptuous.

‘– perfect,’
she finished honestly.

He nodded in
satisfaction.  Pushing himself off the door he walked over to stand behind
her and join her in looking out across the valley through the glass balcony
doors.

‘Good,’ he
murmured and slipped his arms around her, ‘because I was hoping you would want
to come and live here with me ... one day.’

Mistral
twisted around to face him, grinning, ‘Well I’ve got pretty much everything I
own with me right now – except my knife belt, but I can go back and pick that
up –’

Fabian laughed
softly then sighed, ‘Unfortunately we need to talk about the timescale.’ 

‘Oh?’ 
Mistral asked, not liking the sudden tension she saw in his face.

‘It’s cold in
here, let me light the fire then we can sit down and talk.’ 

Mistral
watched him move around the room, kneeling to light the stove, fetching a jug
and two cups from the dresser and setting them on a low table by the sofa.

‘Are you
hungry yet?’  Fabian asked, walking over to his saddlebag by the front
door to retrieve the parcel of food Floris had prepared for them that morning.

‘Not
yet.’ 

Mistral was
too concerned about what he was going to say.  Instinctively she focussed
on the air around his dark hair and his aura shimmered instantly into
view.  The same rainbow hues she had seen in her own aura in the Training
Room mirror were there, weaving in and out of a sea of contrasting light and
dark blues showing contentment and purpose.  Just as she was about to
blink and break the vision a streak of amethyst caught her eye; Fabian was
worried about something. 

Fabian finally
finished his chores, putting the parcel of food on the kitchen table and
returning to sit on the sofa.  He leaned back and stretched his legs out
in front of him before smiling so beautifully at her that she instantly forgot
her anxiety.

‘Come and sit
down,’ he said, holding out his arms.  She slid willingly into them,
curling her legs up on the sofa and sighing contentedly, watching the bright
flames now filling the stove.  They were silent for a few moments,
enjoying the pleasure of being together in front a warm fire on a cold winter’s
day.  Mistral felt a sigh leave Fabian’s body and knew he was about to tell
her what was worrying him.

‘You know that
the Divinus feels you being able to see auras is an indication of having latent
Sight?’  he began.

Mistral
nodded, ‘He told me when I first came to the Valley.  It was why I
originally wanted to stay on for a second year’s training.  Serenity was
going to help me develop my gift further.’

‘Was?’ 
Fabian asked more sharply.

‘I don’t want
to stay in the Valley any longer than I have to.  I can’t stand the
thought of a second year there.’

‘Is that
because of me?’  Fabian’s voice had taken on a hard edge that made Mistral
immediately sit up to look at him.

‘No,’ she
began then hesitated.  ‘It’s because of Leo actually,’ she continued more
cautiously.  Leo was, after all, Fabian’s brother.

Fabian
frowned, ‘Tell me what he’s done.’

Mistral pulled
a face, ‘It’s more what he hasn’t done, oh this is hard to explain but … I just
don’t trust him any longer, and the more time I spend in training is more time
I will have to work for him to pay it back.’

‘You’ll be
working for the Ri, not Leo.’  Fabian said firmly. 

There was a
brief pause.  Mistral frowned and looked at Fabian, trying to find the
right words to explain her fears about Leo Sphinx’s plans for her future. 

‘Phantasm has
this theory,’ she began carefully.  ‘He says that Leo plans to use their
skills … and mine … to help him achieve his ambitions to assume control of the
Ri, yes, I know it sounds farfetched,’ she said quickly seeing the look on
Fabian’s face, ‘and Phantasm does have a slight tendency to see conspiracies in
every corner, but there are a few things that just don’t add up.’ 

Mistral paused
and looked up at the beamed ceiling and took a deep breath.  It was
difficult to put into words exactly why she no longer trusted her Training
Captain.

‘I suppose it
all started with the Contract he gave us to meet with Mage Grapple and then
travel to The Desert Lands.  We all knew that it was beyond us – three
unqualified first year apprentices sent to meet with the Head of the Mage
Council, then travel by unspecified means to The Desert Lands!  Why didn’t
Leo go?  I know he’s having an affair with Golden but surely the safety of
all of the warriors was more important than her?  Well, Phantasm thinks
that Leo wanted us to fail so that he could save the day at the last moment,
making us eternally grateful and placing us in his personal debt.’

Fabian said
nothing but watched her intently, his expression inscrutable.

‘And there’s
been other things … insignificant on their own, but when you add them up … I
tried to get thrown out of the Valley,’ she admitted.  ‘But Leo wouldn’t
let me go, even though I caused fights, got involved in a midnight wolverine
hunt he had specifically banned us from going on and ended up getting shot by
elves.’

Fabian closed
his eyes , ‘I am never, ever leaving you alone again.’

‘But Leo
practically laughed at me when I tried to own up to the hunt and then told me
to get better because I was no good to him the state I was in.’

Fabian gave
her a sharp look, ‘What did he mean by that?’

Mistral sighed
and avoided his searching look.  She had no desire to talk about the last
couple of months. 

‘Mistral?’

She stared at
the fire and refused to meet gaze, ‘He found out that I lost the ability to
read auras when you were gone … just for a while.  It came back when I –’
she faltered, letting her voice tail off into nothingness, keeping her gaze
fixed on the fire.

Gentle hands
wrapped around her face, lifting it to meet his tortured black gaze, ‘If you
don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to.  I am sorrier than you will
ever know that I caused you so much pain.’

Mistral looked
into his eyes for a long moment, drawing strength from the depth of emotion she
saw there. 

‘Do you know
about Bonding?’ she asked in a whisper barely audible above the crackle of the
fire.

Fabian nodded
and smiled. 

‘Is that
what’s happened … to us?’

Fabian nodded
again and raised one dark eyebrow, the mocking villain, ‘Scared?’

Mistral
abruptly giggled then shook her head, ‘No … well, not now anyway.  But it was
a bit of a shock when I finally realised that you and I had, well, you know –’
she lowered her gaze, suddenly shy.  ‘I sat for hours in that big mirrored
Training Room on the third floor and read my own aura, trying to work out what
was going on and then I suddenly thought of you for some reason and … well,
let’s just say it was an eye-opener.’

Fabian laughed
and pulled her into his arms, ‘I envy you the convenience of being able to see
your emotions.  I had to work it out for myself with good old-fashioned
soul-searching.  Those wretched treaty negotiations were unbearable. 
All I wanted to do was walk out and find you, see you, talk to you … and then
when I finally escaped I had to ride across half a continent to find you.’

‘When you put
it like that I suppose spending a night sitting in front a mirror was the
easier option,’ she laughed, her embarrassment forgotten.  ‘I couldn’t
believe it when I saw it.  I think the twins always knew but they never
said anything.’

‘What gift do
the twins have?’  Fabian suddenly asked.

‘They call it
their Gemini gift.  It only works when their minds join.  Then they
can influence the way people feel … they reckon that with training they’ll be
able to develop it so that they can actually bend a person's will to their own.’

Fabian
exclaimed softly, ‘The twins have the potential to control the thoughts that
you would hear as a Seer.  That’s a very powerful combination of gifts
Mistral.’ 

He fell
silent, deep in thought.  At length he sighed.

‘This changes
everything.’

‘About
what?’  Mistral asked, looking up at him curiously.

‘Leo,’ said
Fabian, stroking her hair absently.  ‘I know what Phantasm believes sounds
a bit melodramatic but it’s actually not totally inconceivable.  Leo is
fiercely ambitious and in some respects he can’t be blamed for that.  Look
at who his father is.’

Mistral
shrugged, ‘I don’t care if he wants to rule the world.  I’m fed up with
him trying to control my life.’

Fabian went
suddenly still.  His hand rested, unmoving, against her hair.

Mistral looked
at him, ‘Whatever is troubling you better not be about Leo,’ she warned
darkly.  ‘I’ve really had it with him.’

‘It is, I’m
afraid,’ Fabian admitted with a sigh, before adding quickly.  ‘But it
doesn’t have to be if you don’t want.’

‘Explain.’ 
Mistral demanded shortly.  She sat up and moved down the sofa to face him,
drawing her knees up and tucking her arms around them defensively.

Fabian
hesitated and pursed his lips.  Mistral’s eyes tightened while she watched
him; it wasn’t like Fabian to be unsure of himself.

‘After I left
you last night, Leo spoke with me,’ he began quietly.  ‘We talked about
your gift and the potential it has.  You’re right, he is keen for you to
develop its full power,’ he paused and looked sadly at her.  ‘He told me
that emotional changes upset your ability.  I didn’t know whether to
believe him or not, but from what you told me about losing your gift when we
were apart I can see that he was telling the truth.’  Fabian stopped and
drew in a deep breath.  ‘Leo has asked that we wait until you have
mastered Sight before we begin our life together … completely.’

‘Leo Sphinx
has the nerve to tell you that we can’t be together?’  Mistral demanded in
an incredulous tone.

‘No, Mistral
he’s not saying that we can’t be together,’ Fabian paused and sighed
again.  ‘Leo has politely requested that we take the physical side of our
relationships a bit more slowly.’

‘How
slowly?’  Mistral asked suspiciously.

‘For the
second year of your apprenticeship, or until you have mastered Sight, whichever
happens soonest.’

Disappointment
bloomed in her.  She eyed the stairs leading up to his galley bedroom and
sighed. 
More waiting.  Waiting to leave Nevelte, waiting to for
training to start, waiting for Qualification, waiting to leave the damned
Valley, waiting for Fabian ... and now this ... waiting for some royal command
from Leo to be allowed to –

There was a
short pause while Fabian watched the anger growing on Mistral’s face and waited
patiently for her to erupt.

‘I can’t
believe that man!  I don’t give a damn what he wants!  And if he
believes I’m going to become a nun just to be his personal mind-reader he can
think again!  This is the final straw!  I’m leaving the Valley, and
Leo can stuff his ambitions right up –’

‘Mistral,
listen to me,’ Fabian interrupted in a calm voice.  ‘I’m not too keen on
you being beholden to Leo either.  However, I will not rob you of the
chance to fulfil your destiny.  We have already started our life
together.  Nothing can change that, and the rest we can wait for.’

Mistral
glowered at him, ‘And you’re happy to do what Leo wants are you?’

Fabian frowned
and reached across to pull her into his arms but she resisted and remained
stiff and unyielding at the far end of the sofa, refusing to be appeased. 
Fabian sighed and moved across the sofa towards her, sliding an arm around her
tense shoulders. 

‘No, I’m not
doing what Leo wants,’ he said.  ‘I will do whatever you want.’

Mistral stared
angrily at him while she digested this piece of information and then she grinned,
her anger vanishing instantly. 

‘Good, because
I’m sick to death of the dratted Valley.  I want to come and live
here.  I can get work as a hunter.  It won’t matter that I’m not
fully Qualified, I’m good enough for most kinds of work –’

Fabian’s face
suddenly clouded with anger, ‘Mistral!  Will you please just consider all
of your options for a moment!  This is the rest of your life you are
blithely throwing away!  Do you have any idea how rare Seers are?’

Taken aback by
the sharp tone of his voice Mistral stopped mid-flow and looked at him,
‘Seers?’ she repeated blankly.  ‘Well, they can’t be that rare can
they?  There’s the Divinus and supposedly me, but that’s not going to
happen –’

‘The Divinus
is the only known Seer alive, and he is over two hundred years old,’ said
Fabian quietly. 

Mistral gaped
at him.  

‘If the
Divinus feels that you have latent Sight I think you should at least try and
fulfil your potential before you commit yourself to a life of doing low-grade
work.’

‘I quite like
chopping the heads off things,’ she retorted flippantly.

‘Do you like
chopping the heads off people too?  Because assassination work usually
falls to low-grade warriors.  They have to take any Contracts on offer
just to make what little money they can.  If you are unqualified you will
never have the option to turn down work because you don’t agree with what it
entails, and believe me, most assassination work is dangerous.  Nice
people don’t tend to get Contracts taken out against them.’ 

Believe me
…
Mistral looked at him with fresh eyes.  There was so much she didn’t
know about Fabian’s dark past.

‘Mistral, I
want to spend my life with you, preferably in one piece.  All I am asking
is for you to please just consider the possibility of training for a second year
before you consign yourself to a short life of shady work.’