Mageborn The Line of Illeniel by Michael Manning (top novels of all time TXT) 📗

I left the room with an angry stride while Penny hurried to keep up with me. “You knew this was going to happen… Rose said as much,” she reminded me. “Did you make the earth shake back there?” she added.

“I don’t know exactly. I felt it, but it didn’t feel like I did it... I think. The man just told me he was abandoning our people! It’s not expedient to help them. What sort of king is that?” My tone was full of anger.

Penny looked around, “Keep your voice down!” she hissed. “We’re still inside the royal palace.”

She was right of course, but I was too mad to care. Adam stepped up from beside the doors, “If you’ll follow me my lord I’ll take you to meet the trainer.” He was as quiet as a ghost, were it not for my extra senses he’d have startled me half to death.

“Lead the way,” I replied without turning to look at him.

We followed him down several long corridors and a flight of stairs, till we reached another waiting room. A man waited there. He was big, I’ll give him that. He stood slightly over six foot tall, which meant he was looking me eye to eye, but where I was slender he was... not. He carried muscle on him the way a pig wears mud, meaning there was a lot more than anyone should find necessary. He had dark brown hair and brown skin that went well beyond a casual tan.

“So you’re my handler,” I stated. I was in no mood to mince words. Even as angry as I was I could not help but notice how he carried himself. He gave the impression of a coiled spring, ready to break loose into deadly violence without warning. I couldn’t help but wonder how he would match up against Dorian.

He shrugged, “At least we’re starting out with no illusions. My name is Cyhan.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Just Cyhan?”

“Any other name I had is long dead. If you’d rather call me something else that’s fine,” the man’s face gave away little in expression.

“Cyhan will do. Anything else we need to get out of the way before we get moving? I have a lot to take care of today,” I was impatient to get moving.

“Just one,” he replied. “Before we start you need to understand how things work between us. I’m not your bodyguard. I’m not your man-servant. I’m not your friend. I’m here to do a job, and that job is all I care about. If it looks like something is getting in the way of that job I’ll make sure it doesn’t get in the way for long. You cooperate and we get along fine. You don’t and this will be a short job.” Even as he essentially threatened me, his expression never changed. The effect was altogether chilling, but I’d be damned before I let him see that.

“Is that what you told my father?” I asked.

“Pardon?”

“You heard me. I know you trained my mother, so you must have had a similar conversation with him at some point. I’m curious how he responded to it.”

“He was younger than you are now, but he already knew the necessity, so we never had a conversation such as this one. Besides, we had already begun training the candidates. He merely had to choose,” he answered simply.

Curious, so he had chosen my mother from a set of candidates. “You trained more than one?”

“Back then there were still a number of wizards alive, we kept a small school going so there were always several ready when needed.” He stated it as a simple fact.

My curiosity got the better of me, “What happened to those not chosen?”

“Some became knights, some trained the next generation.”

“Like yourself?”

“Yeah, ‘cept after your father died we didn’t think there would be anymore.”

Something in his eyes made me uncomfortable, but I couldn’t put my finger on it so I pushed the feeling aside, “Alright, let’s go. Daylight’s burning.”

Cyhan picked up a heavy looking pack and we headed outside. As we went I caught Penny giving him an appraising look and a surge of jealousy went through me. Thinking back to the other day I guess I could understand her feelings about me looking at Rose a little better. I still didn’t like it though. The heavyset warrior spoke up, “Where are we headed?”

“The royal bank,” Penny put in.

Cyhan looked her over as if he had just noticed her. His gaze swept slowly up from her feet, taking her in carefully. I didn’t care for it. He looked at her in much the same way a butcher does when he’s sizing up a side of beef. “Pardon my manners, we haven’t been introduced...” he said.

“Penelope Cooper,” she answered quickly, “I’m to be his bond-bearer.” She pointed at me with her thumb.

Cyhan grinned, a big white toothed smile. It was the most expressive I had seen him be so far and it thoroughly unnerved me, “Pleased to meet you Miss Cooper. We’ll have a lot of time to get to know each other after this, but I doubt you’ll be glad of it.”

“What do you mean?” she asked uncertainly.

The big bastard laughed, “Oh you’ll see. No sense spoiling it now.” He clammed up after that and refused to answer her questions although she peppered him with them incessantly as we walked.

I decided to change the subject, “Cyhan, I have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know the way to the royal bank?” I asked.

As a matter of fact he did know the way. Several turns and a half hour’s walk got us there. A large building with a large stone facade in the front greeted us. “That’s it there,” Cyhan said.

“Ever been in there before?”

“Do I look like I have money?” he asked. I had to admit he had a point.

“How about me, do I look like I have money?” I turned the question around.

“Not really. We’ll see if they let you inside,” he replied.

“They turn people away?”