“You shouldn’t laugh at me, Isabel. It’s disrespectful.”
She started laughing again.
He clenched his jaw, fury building in his golden eyes, but he retained his composure, glaring at her until her mirth subsided.
“Are you quite finished?”
“For now,” Isabel said, focusing her thoughts on the coming moment. He’d already demonstrated that he was unwilling to kill her, a powerful advantage in any fight, especially since her goal in life at this moment was to end his.
“I believe I have a way to persuade you, though I don’t expect it to arrive for several days, so we’ll resume this conversation then. In the meantime, I’ll see about more suitable quarters. You are Lady Reishi, after all, and that must be respected.”
“I’m Lady Reishi because I’m married to Alexander, and yet you insist that he’s a pretender. How does that make any sense?”
“Simple, Alexander is Lord Reishi. He’s bound to the Sovereign Stone, and by long tradition of the Reishi family, that fact makes him Lord Reishi, but admitting that to others wouldn’t help me, so I’ve labeled him the pretender.” Phane shrugged. “Once he’s dead, it won’t matter.”
“So it’s just one more lie then.”
“Deception is often more powerful than magic,” Phane said, flashing his boyish smile.
When he turned, Isabel started casting her spell. Just before he reached the threshold, her light-lance fired, but it was refracted into a brilliant burst of light before it reached the back of Phane’s head, diffusing its power in a thousand directions.
He didn’t even turn around, chuckling. “I told you I was well protected.” The door closed on his last word.
***
Several hours later, the door opened again. Isabel was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room staring at the door. She stood when she saw it wasn’t Phane, but several other people instead.
The first was an elderly man dressed in simple brown robes. He had sharp features, flat grey eyes, and long silvery white hair but his face was clean-shaven. With a word, he dismissed the magic circle and smiled insincerely at Isabel before bowing formally. “Lady Reishi, welcome to the Reishi Army Regency headquarters fortress. I am Wizard Enu. Prince Phane has assigned me to complete your education in the arcane arts.”
A rather severe-looking woman stepped up beside him. She was middle-aged and slender, her hair was pulled back into a tight braid and she wore the drab clothing of a maidservant. “Lady Reishi, I am Headmistress Dierdra. Prince Phane has assigned me to manage your house staff.”
“I have a house staff?”
“Yes, Prince Phane has expressed his desire that you should be afforded every comfort. You currently have twelve servants assigned to provide for your needs.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Isabel said, looking from face to face, searching for some hint of what was really going on.
“I assure you that I am not,” Dierdra said, completely unfazed.
Isabel looked past her to the three men standing in the hall. Two were big battle-scarred soldiers wearing armor and carrying spears. The third was slight of build and wore no armor, yet he carried himself with disdain for those around him as though none were his equal. When Isabel saw the ornate black dagger on his belt, she understood-he was wraithkin.
Wizard Enu gestured toward the two soldiers. “A company of the finest Regency soldiers has been assigned to provide you with security. They’ve already taken up their posts around your chambers. Additionally, Prince Phane has assigned Wraithkin Issa to be your personal bodyguard.”
Isabel smiled without any humor and nodded to herself before walking confidently past the wizard and headmistress, stopping in front of the two soldiers and meeting the eyes of the ranking man.
“Take me to my quarters.”
“Yes, My Lady,” he said with crisp, detached professionalism, before bowing slightly and turning on his heel. Isabel followed without a word, her new and very much unwelcome retinue following behind.
Her quarters were quite some distance from the cell where she’d awoken. The soldier led her out of the building into the afternoon sun. It wasn’t a warm day but the air was still and the sky was clear. She breathed deeply, relieved to be out of the confined space of her cell.
The Regency headquarters fortress was really a small city surrounded by an immense stone wall measuring a hundred feet high by a hundred feet thick. Within, the city was laid out on a grid of roads with most blocks occupied by a single building, those on the outskirts constructed in very utilitarian fashion, while those nearer the center were taller and more ornate.
In the very center rose a black tower, two hundred feet on a side and well over two thousand feet tall. It was completely unadorned, the only break in the smooth stone walls being the few windows scattered in seemingly random fashion.
The soldiers led her toward the black tower, but then turned when they reached the base of it, instead taking her to a pyramid occupying the next block over. It rose two hundred feet into the air in five-foot steps toward a large flat top filled with a manicured garden surrounding a beautiful house. Steep staircases ran from the street level to the top on each of the four sides. Soldiers stood guard along the base of the pyramid as well as around the wall surrounding the estate at the top.
Soldiers manning the gate opened it without a word when Isabel approached, bowing deferentially and averting their eyes. The gardens were beautiful yet somehow cold, as if the meticulous grooming made them unnatural and inaccessible. It only served to remind Isabel of how much she missed the Great Forest and all of its wild and untamed beauty.
The house was lavish, gaudy even, filled with works of art from all over the Seven Isles, no doubt looted in ages past. The place was altogether too much. Isabel would have never chosen a house like this. She shook her head, stopping in the foyer to marvel at the ostentatious nature of the whole place. It looked like it was built to display wealth rather than to be lived in.
“Is this not to your liking?” Dierdra asked.
“Doesn’t this seem like a little much to you?” Isabel said, motioning to the clutter of mismatched artwork covering the foyer walls.
“You are Lady Reishi. Prince Phane insisted that you be given the most lavish estate in the city.”
“I’m surprised he doesn’t live here,” she muttered to herself.
“Prince Phane resides in the tower,” Wizard Enu said, stepping up alongside her. “It is his wish that you be made as comfortable as possible. You are, of course, free to make any changes to the décor that you see fit.”
Isabel snorted, shaking her head. “Honestly, I really don’t care. What I would like is a bath and a meal.”
“I will see to it at once, Lady Reishi,” Dierdra said, bustling off into the expansive house.
“Your quarters are this way,” Wizard Enu said. “Once you’ve had a chance to settle in, I would like to discuss your training … at your convenience, of course.”
Chapter 6
By the following day, Isabel was about ready to pull her hair out, except she was quite certain that if she tried to, one of her servants would materialize nearby and offer to do it for her. The entire staff assigned to her seemed terrified that she might have to lift a finger on her own behalf. When her maidservant tried to cut a slice of ham on her breakfast plate, Isabel lost her temper, standing so quickly that her chair tipped over backwards.
“Stop it! I am not an invalid. Nor am I a child. Stop hovering over me …” When she saw the expectant look on Wraithkin Issa’s face, she stopped abruptly. He was watching her like he thought she might lash out at one of the servants, as if he hoped she would.
The young woman waiting on her stood stock-still, her face white as a sheet, trembling as she fought back tears.