Erin looked at the blackened candlewick, biting her lip. Then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She sat still for a few minutes, trying to remember exactly what had happened when Jechrin had helped her light the candle. She remembered the magic moving inside of her and reaching down to the candle wick. But how had he started it moving? Erin furrowed her brow, concentrating on her memory of that moment. It had been a kind of gentle push—not really much different than reaching her hand out.

Keeping her mind focused on the fiery feeling of the magic inside her right arm, she tried moving it without actually moving her arm. Nothing happened. She tried a little harder and felt something brushing the bottom of her fingers. Opening her eyes, Erin saw that she had accidentally moved her hand down to touch the candle, which still wasn’t burning.

“I think maybe you’ve got the right idea,” Jechrin said, watching her closely. “Just keep trying—you’ll get it.”

She repositioned her hand and refocused her attention, this time keeping her eyes open and her gaze fixed on the candle wick. Concentrating on both the magic in her arm and on its destination, she tried to bridge the distance between them.

Again, her entire arm moved, and her hand bumped the top of the candle.

Frowning, Erin raised her hand and tried again. The same thing happened. She tried again, focusing as hard as she could on the magic, trying to convince herself that it was really her arm—not the flesh and bones that surrounded it—and willing it to move.

At first there was still nothing. But after a moment, with all her attention and effort concentrated on making the magic move, Erin felt it stir at last, running slowly through her arm toward the candle.

The surprise of it actually starting to work distracted her enough that she lost her focus and her arm jerked down, knocking the candle over. It rolled off the edge of the bench and landed in the grass below.

“You’re nearly there,” Jechrin said, bending down to retrieve the candle for her. “I knew it wouldn’t take you long. Try again—I think you can do it this time.”

“I thought you said it was easy once you figured out how to do it.”

“It is. But you’re still in the middle of figuring it out.”

Erin sighed. Jechrin had stood the candle back up in the middle of the bench, and she regarded it gloomily for a moment before raising her hand over it once more and focusing her attention on her magical 'arm.'

A minute later, she felt it start to move again. She screwed up her face, determined not to lose concentration this time. Keeping the magic moving forward, she stared at the candle wick, trying to picture in her mind her magic fire reaching out and igniting it.

The candle burst into flame.

Erin started and let out a small yelp of surprise, pulling her hand away. She stared down at the flickering candle flame, feeling stunned.

Jechrin laughed. “Well, what were you expecting to happen?”

“I….” Erin swallowed hard. “I guess I didn't think it was really going to work....”

“I told you that you could do it,” he said, grinning at her. “Maybe next time I tell you you’re brilliant you’ll believe me.”

“I’m not brilliant. I never would have figured it out if you hadn’t shown me what to do.”

“But if you weren’t at least a little brilliant, you still might never have figured it out. Come on, give yourself some credit. I didn’t help you that much, and not many people could have lit the candle on their fifth try, no matter how much help they had.”

“Well, if you say so,” Erin said, flushing slightly. “Of course, you never know, I might not be able to do it again.”

Jechrin picked up the candle and blew it out. “Well, there’s only one way to find out. Go ahead and give it another try.”

With his encouragement, Erin spent the next half an hour practicing her newfound magic skills. She was able to light the candle a total of nine times, and it became noticeably easier to use her magic each time she tried. By about the seventh time, though, she was starting to get tired, and it gradually began taking more effort to get her magic to move how she wanted it to. Jechrin noticed her struggling on the ninth attempt and suggested that she stop for the day.

“It’s not a good idea to overexert yourself with magic—especially not at first,” he said, picking up what was left of the candle and putting it back into his pocket. “You could hurt yourself. But we can practice more tomorrow if you want. You’re doing really well for only one day.”

“I guess we won’t have as much time tomorrow,” Erin said, leaning against the back of the bench. It was amazing how exhausting it was just to do something as simple as lighting a candle. “I don’t know how long I’ll have to stay at Zeiryn.”

“It will depend on how much damage there is. And it will take more time if they also get rid of your scars while they're at it. But it shouldn’t be more than a few hours altogether. You’ll probably get back before we do.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Jechrin had told her he was going out riding with his father and Kirchel in the morning. Teral apparently wanted Jechrin and Kirchel to get to know each other better.

“Do you think your father and Kirchel might actually...you know...get married or something?” Erin asked hesitantly. “I mean, they seem to really like each other.”

“I don’t know.” Jechrin’s expression was troubled. “It’s possible.”

“If they do, what will that make us? Step-second-cousins-in-law or something?”

“Something like that,” Jechrin said, giving her a weak smile.

Erin leaned forward to look at him more closely. “You don’t want them to get married, do you?” she said quietly. “Why not? Don’t you like Kirchel?”

“No, I like her fine so far,” Jechrin said, shaking his head distractedly. “But I’ve only known her for one day. My father’s only known her for one day. The idea of them getting into a romantic relationship so fast...I...it just bothers me....”

“Well, maybe they’re just made for each other. Don’t you believe in love at first sight?”

Jechrin shook his head but didn’t say anything.

Erin sighed. “Fine,” she said with a touch of irritation in her voice. “If you don’t want to talk about it, then don’t.”

“It's not that I don't want to talk about it,” Jechrin said quietly. “I just don’t want….” He hesitated, as though searching for the right words. “I don’t want to say too much without knowing I’m right. If my father and Kirchel really do care for each other, I don’t want to ruin things for them. But I’m not entirely sure that they do. Let’s just say…well...let’s just say I’m not sure about their motivations for going into this relationship.”

Erin frowned at him. He wasn’t saying that Kirchel was trying to deceive Teral or take advantage of him, was he? Kirchel would never do anything like that.

But as she thought over Jechrin’s words, the image came back to her of Kirchel sobbing into Arturyn’s shoulder, and she suddenly understood what he might be trying to say.

“You know, don’t you?” she said slowly. “About Kirchel and Arturyn?”

“Not really.... But I saw the look on his face when he was watching Kirchel dance with my father last night, and I know the law requires him to marry a woman of royal blood. That was enough to make a guess. And if you combine that with what I told you last night about Kirchel being the first woman my father has shown an interest in since my mother died….it’s enough to make a person wonder, don’t you think?”

Erin nodded. “Yes, I see what you mean.” She stared down at her hands. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that...."

“Don’t worry about it,” Jechrin said with a gentle smile. “I know I wasn’t being very open with you. I can understand why you might have been frustrated.”

They were both quiet for a few minutes. Jechrin slid off the bench and went back to sitting on the grass so that Erin could prop up her leg again. He also conjured two more anaurians—a brown and gold one and a blue one with violet-tinged wings. The violet reminded Erin of Kirchel. She was just thinking about her cousin and about Teral and Arturyn when she suddenly remembered something she had been going to ask Jechrin about.

“Hey, what’s Noquana?”

Jechrin turned from watching the anaurians chasing each other through the air and looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Where did you hear about that?”

“Arturyn mentioned it this morning. He said that two of the soldiers escorting him back from Suviel were members of Noquana and that they tried to kill him.”

“Tried to kill him?” Jechrin sat up straight and stared at her, looking startled. “Are you sure? When?”

“He said they tried to slit his throat. It happened just a few days ago, I think. He said that’s why he was alone when I met him.”

Jechrin shook his head, looking sober. “I did wonder how he'd gotten separated from his attendants like that. And I’ve heard rumors about Noquana becoming more active lately. But trying to assassinate the Emperor….”

“So what is Noquana? Arturyn was late for a meeting and didn’t have time to tell me.”

“It’s a secret organization. No one really knows who’s in charge of it or who the members are. They’d be hunted down if the government knew. But Noquana has let everyone in Silmar know what their goal is—to overthrow the existing system of government and reorganize Silmar as a single kingdom.”

Erin let out a low whistle. “A single kingdom with them in charge, I suppose.”

“Naturally.”

“I don’t get it, though. Why would they kill Arturyn? It’s a really risky thing to do, and it wouldn’t help them that much, would it? I mean, wouldn’t there just be a new emperor put in?”

“No, it wouldn’t really help their cause.” Jechrin looked thoughtful. “Unless….”

“What?”

“Unless they could control who the next emperor would be,” Jechrin said slowly. “It would be a tremendous help to them if one of their own people could get the throne. Emperor Sil-Isáran is the last of the existing imperial line, you see. If he were to die, there would be no one left who has claim to the throne by blood. By law, then, the new emperor would be selected from among the Silmarith monarchs. The Council would meet and decide which one of them was best suited to take the throne.”

Erin stared at him. “Are you saying you think one of the Silmarith kings belongs to this Noquana group?”

Jechrin shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s purely conjecture on my part. But it would certainly explain why they might have wanted to kill Emperor Sil-Isáran.”

Erin bit at her lower lip, watching the two anaurians playing together without really seeing them. “Maybe you should tell him.”

“I would be very surprised if it hasn’t already occurred to him. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who understands politics better than he does. I’m sure he’s considered the possible motivations and consequences of that assassination attempt very thoroughly.”

Erin didn’t reply. Arturyn was right, she thought, he really had been having a terrible week....

“It should be getting close to dinnertime,” Jechrin said after a long pause. “Do you want to head back in?”

“Oh.” The question made Erin realize for the first time that she was hungry. She had been too busy thinking about magic and Noquana to notice before. “All right.”

Jechrin climbed to his feet and held out a hand to Erin to help her up. Then they walked back toward the palace together, the two anaurians circling and swooping over their heads.