James Islington - The Shadow Of What Was Lost

She knew she’d done the right thing by staying, knew that this was where she needed to be. It didn’t make it feel any less lonely.

Even as she had the thought, though, she summoned a small smile as a weary-looking Wirr hurried towards her.

"Representative Chaedris." He stopped in front of her, and though he smiled back, she could see the worry in his eyes.

"What’s wrong?" she asked him quietly, heart sinking even lower. She wasn’t sure she could handle more bad news. Not now.

Wirr glanced around, checking that there was nobody nearby to overhear. "Administration have asked to go through my father’s office. They phrased it as a courtesy to me, of course - to ease my workload - but they’ve started to realise that he must have known something about my being Gifted. They’re suspicious, and I couldn’t refuse them without looking like I had something to hide."

Asha paled. "I don’t know if there’s anything in there, but…."

"I know." Wirr clasped Asha’s hands in his; he made the gesture seem like a condolence, but Asha felt the hard, uneven iron of a key slip into her palm. "I can hold them off for maybe an hour. Make sure you’re done by then."

Asha nodded, and Wirr turned to go. Then he hesitated.

"Be careful, Ash. Try to stay out of sight if you can," he said in a low voice. "I’m trying to keep things in Administration under control, but there’s more than a little hysteria about the Shadows right now. It’s not official policy, but if an Administrator sees you and they don’t know who you are, I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to detain you. Especially since you’re an obvious target at the moment."

Asha gave a short, rueful nod. Most of the Shadows had melted away, unnoticed, within the first hour of the victory - along with their Vessels. By the time it had been brought to anyone’s attention, Asha was one of only a handful of Shadows left in the city.

She watched Wirr hurry away, then took a deep breath, moving out into a deserted corridor and heading for her rooms. Once there she quickly retrieved the Veil she’d hidden earlier, slipping it onto her wrist and watching pensively as it moulded to her skin. Everything shimmered for a moment, and when she moved over to look in the mirror, only an empty room stared back at her.

She nodded in satisfaction and then left again. The palace hallways were still mostly empty, and she had no trouble avoiding collisions with the few people she came across. Once at Elocien’s office she checked the passageway was clear in both directions, then used the key Wirr had given her, slipping inside and locking the door behind her.

She just stood there for a moment, looking around the room sadly. It felt… odd, to be in here without the reassuring presence of the duke. Her stomach twisted as she thought of him - wondered again how many of her conversations had been with him, and how many with Erran. Or if there was ultimately any difference.

She sighed, then moved over to Elocien’s desk, methodically checking through his drawers and scanning each piece of paper on his desk. There didn’t appear to be anything incriminating, much to her relief. It seemed that Elocien - or Erran - had thought to be careful, even in here.

Ten minutes had passed when a key turned in the lock.

Asha’s heart leapt to her throat and she quietly shut the drawer she’d been searching, moving back into the corner of the room. Wirr had said an hour, but it couldn’t have been more than half of that since they’d spoken.

She gave a silent sigh of relief as the door swung open to reveal Laiman Kardai standing in the hallway. The king’s advisor had known about the Augurs, was trustworthy. Was probably there for the same reasons as her, in fact.

She was just about to remove her Veil when someone called Laiman’s name. Laiman’s head turned, and he smiled as another man came into view.

"Taeris!" Laiman glanced around to check that no-one else was in the vicinity, then beckoned the heavily scarred man inside. “They decided not to keep you locked away, I see,” he said with some amusement.

Asha studied the newcomer’s crisscrossed features as he entered. This was clearly Taeris Sarr - the man Davian said had orchestrated the attack on him three years ago. She frowned as she watched Laiman’s and Taeris' body language. The two men appeared relaxed around one other, like old acquaintances.

Taeris smiled back, though his eyes were tired. “They’re still not entirely happy that I deceived them with the Travel Stones, broke into the Tol, or showed them up as fools. Particularly the latter. But Caeden’s little performance has changed a few minds, convinced them that there might at least be some merit to what I’ve been saying.” He sank into a nearby chair. “Enough for a reprieve from my cell, anyway.”

There was silence for a few moments as Laiman walked over to the desk, rifling through papers just as Asha had been doing. Asha stretched her muscles cautiously, unsure now whether to reveal herself.

"I hear the king has recovered," said Taeris.

"He has," said Laiman absently as he scanned a document, though his tone held a note of reservation.

"You don’t sound happy."

Laiman grimaced, looking up from what he was reading. "He remembers very little from the past two months."

Taeris frowned. "Control, then," he concluded. "We’re fortunate they didn’t try to take things further."

"That’s what has me worried." Laiman resumed his search. "If the Blind were really Controlling him, it doesn’t makes sense. I mean, I can see why they wouldn’t want him changing the Tenets. But they could have done so much more damage." He scratched his head. "And the timing of his being released, too - straight after the Tenets were changed…."

Taeris shrugged. "Maybe the Blind realised what had happened, and decided he wasn’t worth the effort any more?"

Laiman shook his head in frustration. "I thought that too at first, but he’s the king . He could have ordered the surrender - fates knows what would have happened, exactly, but I guarantee it wouldn’t have been pleasant." He hesitated. "Just think, for a moment. Given the way things turned out. Who benefited most from having the king act the way he did?"

"Aside from the Blind?" Taeris tapped his fingers together as he considered. "Well, the king looks a fool now, stubborn for not changing the Tenets. There’s no proof he was Controlled, and most people don’t even believe that power exists, so it’s not exactly something the palace can claim. So I suppose…." He trailed off, staring at Laiman in mild disbelief. " Us ? The Gifted?"

"Tol Shen, to be more precise," said Laiman, opening another drawer. "It’s no secret that Athian decided to hide in the Tol until the Tenets were changed. Shen, on the other hand, had people on the Shields healing the wounded from the start." He paused, rubbing his forehead. "And the only memories the king has that are recent, are of when Karaliene was away. When I insisted that Lothlar and some of his people accompany her, despite his protests."

Asha stared at the king’s advisor as he flicked through more papers, stunned that he would even hint at such an accusation. Taeris' sceptical expression, however, wavered. "You think they have an Augur?"

"No. If it was an Augur, the distance wouldn’t have mattered - and Kevran wouldn’t have had any physical symptoms, either. But we both know there are Vessels out there that can simulate Control, and it’s my belief that Lothlar has one."

Taeris was silent for a moment, looking troubled at the thought. "Even if he does, there still has to be an Augur involved for your theory to make any sense," he pointed out. "If this all started two months ago, then it was well before the invasion - which means that Shen knew about the attack before it started. And power-hungry though they can be, they won’t have aligned themselves with the likes of the Blind. Fates, if they really did plan this, they’d have needed an Augur to tell them ahead of time that we won !"