The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (year 7 reading list .TXT) 📗

my resolve with a few choice words. I didn’t want that. Everything was finally starting to make sense.

But I had other matters to worry about. I knew who Whitley’s cousin was. I knew why it was alarming for him to be visiting.

“It’s Endell Gesh coming here?” I asked for confirmation.

“Yes,” Kataleya said. Then she told me quietly, “I’m sure my father will not want you asking him questions about it.”

Sometimes I didn’t like how well Kataleya knew me.

The first time I had heard of Endell Gesh was a while ago. It was soon after the king had first told us to look for signs of corruption in the capital. I had been walking down the street when a dark mage going the other way had bumped my shoulder. It was his arrogant attitude, the man wanting to fight me, that led me to sense for anything amiss. I had felt an essence of dteria on him, which prompted me to follow him.

I had watched him enter an inn, have a short discussion with the innkeeper, and leave with a pouch that turned out to have coin. After speaking with the innkeeper, a man named Mathew Plumb, I had learned that the dark mage was extorting the innkeeper. Mathew was too afraid to go to the guards because the dark mage had claimed that the head guard knew all about the extortion. It would only get Mathew killed.

I had brought this information to the king, who promptly removed the head guard from power. Endell Gesh was the name of that head guard. The king’s councilman had figured Whitley might have a problem with the king removing his cousin from power, but there had been too many tales of Endell working with dark mages. The king had claimed Whitley would understand.

I still remembered the fear in Mathew’s eyes as he very cautiously divulged this information to me. That was the last time I had seen him. I went back later to check on him, but his cousin had taken his place. Mathew had reached out to his cousin for help, and his cousin had murdered him and hid his body. He’d nearly killed me as well during one the bloodiest brawls of my life in the small office of the inn.

I still felt pity for Mathew. He had been so afraid, and his worst nightmare had come true. It was Endell’s fault that Mathew, and many others, had been taken advantage of and even killed by dark mages.

I didn’t know what the relationship had been like between Endell and Whitley before Endell’s removal. All I could see was that Whitley seemed to be in a hurry to prepare for his cousin’s arrival as we rushed back to the mansion.

I did have many questions, but I was hesitant to say them aloud after Kataleya’s warning. Fortunately, I had a moment alone with her when Whitley rushed off to his office to send a message to the king. Kataleya quickly took me upstairs to my room. This time she shut the door without hesitation.

“We must be brief,” she said. “I don’t want my father hearing this or spotting the door closed. I need to tell you that I wish I had more time. I’m not ready to make a decision. If I agree to Trevor’s marriage proposal, I will likely not be returning to the castle at all.”

“What will you be doing?”

“Seeing to his needs.” Her eyes flashed when she saw my reaction. “Not like that, Jon. Politically, I mean. I will help him with his duties.”

But there was a romantic element to their relationship as well, of course. I really didn’t want to picture it. I had made good progress distancing myself from these feelings.

“You don’t need to tell me,” I explained.

“I do, because you and the others will think of it as a betrayal. I need you to understand so that you can tell them. I want more time. I wish I had it. But if I deny his proposal, he will not ask again. It would be too much of an insult. Do you understand?”

“Of course I do, Kat. We’ll always be friends, and I’m sure Aliana and Remi will feel the same.”

She had a breath. “Thank you.” She started for the door.

“Can you give me that diamond now?” I asked.

She halted, then she turned on her heels to face me. “I couldn’t possibly right now. Please wait until after the visit.”

“Can you promise me that you will try to get it even if your father doesn’t allow you?”

She folded her arms. “Why is this witch so important to you?”

“Look what she did with that diamond, Kat. We had a conversation that was clearer than any conversation I could have through a callring. Who knows what else she’s capable of? We need all the help we can get, and she seems very powerful. I don’t understand why she doesn’t seem important to you.”

“She’s a witch, Jon. That cursed diamond might not be nearly as useful as you make it out to be. It could be messing with your mind.”

“Kat. I’m telling you, it’s not. Especially if I’m going to be losing you, I refuse to give up on possibly recruiting someone like her.”

“It’s just that…my father is…I’ve never gone against him like you are requesting. I don’t know what he’ll do.”

I didn’t reply, just held my pleading look.

She took a long breath. “After everything you’ve done for the rest of us, how can I not at least do this for you? Yes, I promise I will do everything I can.” She hurried to open the door.

“I do have questions about Endell,” I said.

“I can’t. We have to—”

“Kataleya!” yelled her father from downstairs. “You had better not be off alone with that boy.”

“I’m coming!”

Suddenly I was alone. I didn’t want to go downstairs because then I would have to be near Whitley again. I wished I could demand the diamond right now and leave.

Perhaps I would have, if I’d trusted that Endell