Selena lay on an enormous bed in one of the palace’s many guestrooms. It was getting late, but she did not extinguish the light that caused a ring of shadows to dance upon the paintings and tapestries adorning the walls. She was tired, but her busy mind would not permit her to sleep.
There came a knock at the door, and Selena went to answer it, fully expecting to find Godfrey Nelesti on the other side. She was wrong.
“Ambassador Theta, what a surprise!”
“I realize it is late, but I have only just learned of your arrival,” he said. “Might I come in?”
Selena crossed her arms, flashed the ambassador a crooked smile, and said, “Sir, it would not be proper for me to accept your company at so late an hour.”
“Ah, yes,” Theta said. “Using my own words against me, are you?”
Selena stepped aside. “Please come in, Ambassador.”
“And please call me Delincas,” he offered, “or Theta if you prefer. Magi never address me by my title.”
Selena escorted the man over to a sitting area, took a seat in one of the stiff-backed chairs, and indicated he should do the same.
“Do you know a lot of spell-casters then?” Selena asked in mock surprise, facing the ambassador once more.
“I deserve that,” Theta said flatly. “But my lies did not fool you for one second, did they? I got your letter, Selena. The Assembly has not deigned it necessary to fill me in on everything, but I trust they have sent someone to collect Latimer Lanthrop?”
“Yes,” she said. “Four wizards, covered entirely in black, even their faces.”
Theta blanched. “They sent Stalkers? Interesting. I had not imagined Master Lanthrop was dangerous enough to warrant their intervention.”
“He was on the verge of murdering me, so I suppose it was a good thing they came when they did,” Selena informed him—and a good thing I found the will to write the letter before Latimer returned from the Seminary, she thought. “Yet I cannot help but wonder how they knew when to strike, seeing as how scrying is an invasion of privacy and, therefore, qualifies as breaking the Third Restriction of Magic.”
Theta stroked his short-trimmed beard. “Latimer lost his right to privacy when he himself violated a Restriction. The Assembly was spying on their emissary, not on you, Selena.”
“It amounts to the same thing, though it all turned out right in the end.” She frowned. “Or did it?”
Theta waited for her to continue.
“Our paths crossed a few days ago, and Latimer was ready to pick up where we left off. He is dead now.”
Theta shook his head in remorse. “I only just learned he escaped. It is just as well he is dead, I suppose. He would have been executed for his latest crime, murdering the wizardess who helped him escape.”
“Someone had freed him?”
“Yes,” Theta said. “I suspect he had used that charm ring on her in the past. She risked everything to save him from his lifelong imprisonment at the Seminary, and he repaid her by literally stabbing her in the back.”
“What about that stone in his chest?” Selena asked. “What was that about?”
Theta considered the question for a moment. “The Assembly has not told me everything that transpired, but I imagine that you are referring to the seal of magical death.
“One of the most severe punishments doled out by the Senate is to strip a wizard of his magic. There is a mineral that, if manipulated in the right way, can extinguish any spell. Really, it absorbs magic. It has been used to make armor and weapons over the ages. The Assembly brands heretics with it.
“As long as Latimer had the anti-magic stone in his chest, he would never be able to cast another spell.”
Selena chewed her lip. “That explains why the Stalkers were unable to locate him with a spell as well as why Latimer did not attack me with magic. He could not remove the seal of magical death without killing himself in the process?”
“Correct.”
Selena decided the Assembly had done right in sentencing Latimer Lanthrop to magical death and incarceration, yet she could not help but feel a sorry for how far her mentor had fallen. Will the charm spell ever wear off entirely? she wondered.
“Your father tells me you are intent on returning to Castle Nelesti.” When Selena nodded, Theta said, “You are welcome at the Seminary, Selena. You are no longer an apprentice…unless Latimer was lying about how talented you are with the gift, though I cannot imagine why he would have.
“You are a journeyman now. Perhaps by getting to know some of the wizards at the Seminary and seeing what paths they have chosen to pursue, you too will find your forte…and your place within the Assembly.”
Selena chose her words carefully. She had not yet discerned how much of what Latimer had told her about the Assembly of Magic was true, but she needed to know one thing before she made any decision concerning the organization.
“Latimer insisted the Mastermage and High Masters wanted me to remain in Superius, practicing my magic openly to encourage understanding and trust between magi and those without the gift.”
Theta smiled. “As the daughter of a Superian nobleman, you do serve a purpose simply by being seen in those red robes, which, by the way, suit you.”
“Thank you.”
“If you choose to remain in Superius, you will continue to serve that purpose. However, you have a lot of potential, and the Assembly realizes this. We are always in need of strong, intelligent magi at the Seminary, where you could work to hone your skills.”
Selena thought for a moment, then asked, “The choice is mine to make?”
“Of course.”
She saw in her mind’s eye the colossal libraries Latimer had described to her. She imagined conversing with other wizards, exchanging theories and spells.
At Castle Nelesti, she had always felt like an outsider. In Superius, she would be an outcast as long as she wore her robes of red.
But at the Seminary, she would be surrounded by those who cherished the gift of the Goddesses as much as she did.
It was a very tempting offer.
“I must look after my family…for now,” she said at last. “When I am ready to go to the Seminary, I will let you know…that is, if the invitation is open-ended?”
Delincas Theta smiled. “You are a Daughter of the Moon. So long as the Goddesses grant you their power, you will always be welcome.”