The Bronze Mage (16 page)

As she threaded her way through the hedges, her heart sped up a little.
 
It occurred to her that this might not be a pleasant conversation. Could he be upset about what she'd told everyone at lunch yesterday? Or something she'd told Cameron about Xentia or Anya? It was a little ominous that he would wait until after dark, then call her to a private area where they weren't likely to be noticed. She tried harder to slow or stop. If this was to be any kind of confrontation, she wanted to enter by her own power. She had use of her hands, but hesitated to grab the hedges. If she failed to stop herself, her hands would be torn. More than she wanted to stop, she didn't want him to know she had tried to stop and failed.

Tabitha turned a corner and saw James ahead. His back was to her.

"James." Tabitha wanted to catch his attention, so he could release the spell before she collided with him.

The surprise in his expression confused her. Moreso, since he didn't release the spell, just turned and embraced her. Tabitha panicked as she realized the complexity of the compulsion spell. If he wanted her, she wanted him. She couldn't even try to push him away, instead her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer.
 

Though he lingered over it, his kiss was more tender than passionate. His arms didn't crush her against him as they had before, but actually held her slightly away from him. It would have been almost a proper kiss, if they had been courting, and if she'd had any choice in it. He must care for her. The relief overpowered her fear and annoyance at the spell, bringing tears to her eyes.

James noticed her tears and lifted his head. Instantly he released the spell and pushed her away, retreating a few paces himself. He looked...horrified? Revolted? Tabitha caught her balance and just stared at him, absolutely bewildered.

"What?" She was crying for real now, confusion and embarrassment adding to her swirling emotions. James was looking more intensely...something. Maybe angry? He walked back to her. She straightened her back and looked him in the eye, but his gaze was unfocused. "What are you doing?"

James froze her and slid his hand around the back of her neck. She fell asleep standing.

Tabitha was trapped in a dream. She knew it was a dream, but she couldn't wake. She was burning. The flames licked her skin and she watched it blister and peel away. She screamed, but no sound came out. The heat seared her lungs taking her breath away. The pain was indescribable.

She woke.

Keeping very still, she assessed what she could feel. There wasn't a square inch of her that didn't hurt. The air felt cool, so she must still be outside. She seemed to be seated on someone's lap. Probably James's. She found herself reluctant to open her eyes and deal with whatever mess he was leaving her with this time.

"I know you're awake: I woke you," he said.

Tabitha extricated herself from him, gasping as she rose. It really did feel like she was burned, though her skin showed no damage. James tried to steady her, but she flinched away. He winced like she had slapped him. The reflexive twinge of guilt she felt at his uncharacteristic emotion made her angry.

Her anger carried her around the corner, out of sight at least. The pain was too distracting for her to navigate well, though. She kept finding herself at dead ends. It wasn't a labyrinth, there were many exits. But tonight they evaded her. Eventually she circled back to the center. James was still seated on the stone bench. He looked miserable. Tabitha stood in front of him. After swaying there a few seconds, she carefully set herself on the grass
 
in front of him.

"Do you want me to hate you?" she whispered, looking up at him. "I don't yet. But I do hate having magic used on me without my consent. I hate that you can be normal to everyone else, but not me." She choked back a sob, trying to stay angry. "I'm sorry your plans got ruined, but that's not my fault. Why did you hurt me?"

James had no answer. He wouldn't even meet her eyes.

"Explain something to me," she said, speaking louder. "Anything. I dreamed fire and I feel burned. I never dreamed when you put me to sleep. Never. I've been wanting to talk to you, but you don't ask me to talk. You drag me around with a spell. Why were you surprised I came?" When he still didn't answer she continued, "Why would you kiss me like that, under a spell?"

James dropped his eyes but kept his silence.

The pain made speech difficult and Tabitha's voice lowered again. Perhaps James wouldn't hear her, but since he never responded, she didn't much care. "I can't even find my way out of this maze and I've walked through it nearly every day for months. Every part of me hurts. When I used to hurt myself trying to escape, you healed me." She asked again, "Why did you burn me?"

James met her gaze. "I can't heal you. I'm sorry. I can get you back to your room. You'll feel better tomorrow."

"First answer my questions," she pleaded.
 

To her surprise, James agreed. "I was surprised to see you because I hadn't realized I'd called you."

"How could that be?"

"The spell is stronger."

Tabitha realized what that meant and her anger returned. "It's not a separate spell you use to call me. It's the permanent spell. The 'souvenir' you left on me is a compulsion spell?" She had started to rise, to clench her jaw, winced. Her emotions ran out like spilled water. Everything just hurt. She wanted to go to bed.
 
Somewhere there was indignation, but she couldn't harness it.

"How else could I trigger it from so far away?"

"Take it off." She sounded tired.

"No." He had the gall to look sad.

"Mage Crandall tried for weeks," she informed him. "He's still hoping to find some new trick in the old texts. Mage Edgar tried the first months I was here. He used to teach you spellweaving at the the magic college. He can't take it off either. You've won your point. You have the strongest spells in all three kingdoms. Please. Take it off."

"No." His face was now expressionless. Tabitha looked up at him. Why was he being so stubborn?

"At least tell me something about it. How far does it reach?"

"One mile."

"What will happen to me if I'm in a moving coach or in a boat or something?"

"The likelihood of that happening...."

"Just tell me."

"I'm not certain." When Tabitha kept staring, he admitted, "You might jump out."

"Why is it so important for you to leave it on me? You're hardly ever within a mile of me."

James resumed his familiar answering silence.

"Well," she asked, "how can you trigger it without even knowing?"

"It won't happen again."

"That isn't an answer," Tabitha complained.

More silence.

"What about everything else?"

"Tabitha, I'm not going to answer any more questions. You need to sleep so you can heal. Let me take you to your room."

Since she couldn't even exit the maze on her own, she didn't argue. She rose unaided, but knew her face gave away how painful even that movement was. James touched her lightly on the shoulder and suddenly they were standing in the hall outside her room.
 

Where his hand had been, her shoulder tingled, but didn't hurt. Her eyes widened hopefully. "That helped."

James smiled wryly. "Yes, definitely easier than walking."

"No, my shoulder feels better. Are you sure you can't fix this by magic?"

James looked sharply at her shoulder, then pressed his lips together. "Definitely not."

He lay his hand on the same spot. Tabitha felt the flames return. She cried out and James quickly removed his hand. "I'm sorry."

Tabitha slid into her room and closed the door behind her. Her maid was just laying a fire for the night. Tabitha shuddered. She went straight to bed and slept dreamlessly until mid-morning.

TWENTY-TWO

Preparations

James was wrong. In the morning, Tabitha felt worse. Her skin was hot to the touch and painfully sensitive. It was easier to claim a fever than to explain something she didn't understand herself. She spent the next two days in bed.

The first day James stopped in. He seemed worried, but said little. Whether he would have said more if her maid hadn't been chaperoning the interchange was doubtful.

 
The second day, Mage Edgar stopped by.
 

"I heard our visitor...What the hell has he done to you this time?" The exclamation was obviously not what the mage had intended to say. This worried Tabitha, because she was actually feeling slightly better.
 

"I'm not sure," she said.

"Well, of course you're not sure. You're blind. Probably have no idea what a mess you are." With that, that older mage stomped back out of the room. Tabitha guessed he intended to find James. She would have loved to hear that conversation.

The third morning, Tabitha felt well enough to join her friends for breakfast. She was sore, but not in pain. Besides, she was hungry. Her maid was a strong believer in starving a fever so Tabitha had eaten nothing but broth and crackers during her confinement. As she entered, she noticed James seated at the head table, talking with Prince Philip. He looked up, but didn't smile. She took her usual spot next to Carissa, across from Cameron. All four siblings were full of talk about the plan to make Cameron the crown prince of Xentia. Cameron was warming up to the idea, full of details about how the alliance would help both kingdoms and how they could work together to strengthen their northern borders. Tabitha mostly listened and ate. If the two kings could agree to the details, then Cameron would be married at the spring equinox.

Afterwards, Tabitha retired to the solar with the princesses. She had decided to wait one more day before returning to training. James found them there before lunch.

"I am leaving for Xentia now," he told them. "I am glad to see that you are feeling better, Princess Tabitha. It was very nice meeting you, Princess Irene, Princess Carissa." He bowed and left, without giving anyone a chance to respond.

"If he's pining over you, he sure hides it well," Carissa commented.

Irene sighed. Tabitha suppressed the urge to do likewise.

The winter passed at its usual pace. There was enough novelty in Westphal to keep Tabitha distracted, enough friendship to keep her from growing homesick. Still, the weather seemed to hinder her visiting the hedge maze more often than it prevented her riding her mare, which she did by herself in the afternoons, braving the bitter winds to watch the waves crash against the cliffs. Although she occasionally had nightmares about the pain she'd felt in the hedge maze, James was no longer in any of her dreams, or was only there in the same way other characters were. It left her feeling oddly abandoned.

She saw Cameron less too. Shortly, he would leave Westphal for good. He might visit it again, but it would cease to be his home. After all, Xentians wanted a Xentian king. He wouldn't even be able to visit Westphal for two years. There were also many smaller restrictions that were intended to hasten his transformation from Prince Cameron of Westphal into Cameron, Crown Prince of Xentia. Because of this, he had dropped out of training. He spent his mornings in the library. Tabitha teased him about trying to memorize the entire history of Westphal. He agreed: he would lose access to the royal family's private journals after his wedding. At meals he ate with Philip and his father, and he often disappeared with one or another of his other siblings in the afternoons.

In the evenings, though, he still rode with Tabitha. Sometimes he was pensive, barely noticing she accompanied him. Other times, he would tell her story after story about his life, what that spot reminded him of, what had happened just over that hill. It was as if he were giving her his memories for safekeeping, afraid that he would lose even those once he wed.

But both lands needed this alliance to discourage the Northern Empire. Tabitha admired Cameron's sacrifice and marveled at his lack of ambition. The change in station from third son to crown prince would have been inducement enough for most young men. It seemed painful to Cameron.

She also wondered at the chain of events that had led to this. Surely Xentia would have been as safe from encroachment having a mage king as having an allied one. Why was King Fenril so set against his daughter marrying James? If he trusted him so little, why keep him around at all? She found that puzzling. The intricacies of politics were beyond her. James himself was beyond her understanding. He was so strange with her. What had really happened in the hedge maze? She wanted to believe that the kiss had been sincere, that his reaction had been to the spell. But what had he done that had caused her so much pain? And why? And why was he so cold to her around others? James was the only one who could answer her questions, and that was something he seldom agreed to do.

TWENTY-THREE

Affinity

The day of Cameron's wedding approached. Preparations were nearly complete. Tabitha's parents planned to attend and her sister would be traveling to Salbren with Cameron's family, since the Mage College was in Westphal. Her mother had written Tabitha giving her the option to remain behind. She cautioned that James would definitely be present for all of the official wedding events.

Tabitha had never considered not attending. It wouldn't be right to skip her friend's wedding, and it would hurt the feelings of his sisters. Despite her loathing of the Xentian gossips, Tabitha was looking forward to the trip. It was the first royal wedding she'd ever attended, and she liked both the bride and groom. She was also curious to see James in his element. There was no chance they could speak privately in the crowded castle. She knew that. Nor would she run away again to facilitate a meeting on the road. But he might dance with her at the wedding. Maybe even act for once like he knew her. Tabitha laughed at her wistfulness. It was more likely that she would grow a second head...hopefully one with a brain in it.

Melanie arrived the evening before they were to all leave for Cameron's wedding. One of the mages at the college had transported her to the solar where everyone awaited her. As soon as she'd finished the requisite niceties with their hosts, she drew Tabitha aside.