“Oooh. Fancy.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You still need a Diviner,” Sera noted.
I nodded, while simultaneously noting that Sera had not volunteered to join us in the spire.
Given how things had gone last time, I didn’t blame her.
I could ask her privately about it later.
“I have an idea on that,” I told her.
“Someone you can trust?” Elora asked. “That could survive in the spire?”
I considered that. “Better than any of us, in a way.”
“Who do you mean?”
I smiled. “It’ll be a surprise. I’ll introduce you later if she agrees.”
I was feeling pretty good about my plans when I heard a knock at the chamber door.
Elora went and opened it. One of her household staff was standing there, and he leaned over and whispered something to Elora.
She frowned, turned toward us, and said, “Magnus Cadence is at the front door, asking to see his son.”
Sera and I exchanged looks.
Patrick stood up first. “Corin, you want me to go talk to him while you take care of this?”
More than anything in the world.
I took a breath.
“Thank you, Patrick. But I should talk to him.”
Nonono.
I stood up.
Patrick took a few steps closer. “…Do you want me to go with you, at least?”
I looked at him quizzically.
I hadn’t said anything, had I?
How much did he know?
But I just shook my head. “Yeah… I think I’d like that. Thanks.”
Sera turned toward me. “I should probably go with you, too.”
I glanced at her. “If he said he wanted to talk to me, specifically, he probably doesn’t know you’re here. You’re probably better off keeping it that way. He’s not going to be happy about any of this.”
“Fair.” She frowned. “But I’ll be here if you need me.”
“Thanks.” I meant it when I said that.
But I was also relieved that she wasn’t coming along.
This was not going to be pleasant.
Sera hung back reluctantly as Patrick and I headed to the door.
Magnus Cadence sat on a couch in the guest area in the entrance, sipping tea.
He looked so…normal. Composed.
If I didn’t know him, I wouldn’t have been frightened in the slightest.
As it was, I jolted and paused in my step as soon as he set his tea cup down and stood up.
He stood, waiting for us to come closer, appraising.
When we were within arm’s reach, he nodded. “You seem mostly intact.”
“Hello, Father. I’m sorry we didn’t—” I began.
“Quiet, Son.” He raised a hand to silence me. “I haven’t given you permission to speak.”
This was not going to be good.
“Now, imagine you’re in my position. You receive a message late last night that the winter ball — attended by very nearly every student of Lorian Heights — has been assaulted by one of the most powerful monsters in existence.”
He clasped his hands together. “You listen, agonizing, as you learn that the main ballroom, where the first-year students were sitting, was the center of the devastation. You recall, of course, that your two living children are both first-year students.”
“And so, of course, you want to rush to the scene. But it’s late at night in winter, and there are no trains running. You hire a carriage. You arrive to find many wounded still being treated, and others rushed to the hospital.”
He winced, turning his head to the side. “You ask, but no one can tell you where your children are.”
His hands tighten. “You had hoped, at first, that they were simply not in attendance. But they are on the guest list. And one of the guards even remembers someone of Sera’s description entering the party with a summoned monster. Apparently, she made quite a stir. But now she’s missing. They both are.”
“You go to the hospital next.” His hands were fists now. “And then you go to the morgue.”
He takes a breath. “After looking through the bodies that were too badly burned to be identified, you believe your children are not there. You return to the hospital, and are fortunate enough to find an old colleague. Lord Teft informed me that he last saw you fighting with Mizuchi, a decision so irrational that I cannot even begin to comprehend how you came to that state. But, regardless, he believed you had survived. He had heard that you were helping Sheridan Theas with the injured.”
Father’s eyes narrowed. “You haven’t told me anything about having a healing attunement, so I assumed that was in error. Surely, you wouldn’t fail to tell me about something as significant as a second attunement? But Teft was correct about one thing, at least. Here you are. House Theas.”
He glanced from side to side. Father, Patrick, and I were the only ones in the room.
Father nodded to himself, and then punched me straight in the jaw.
I stumbled backward and fell.
My lip was bleeding.
“Corin!” Patrick stepped back, eyes widening. Then he rushed to kneel down and check on me.
At first, I was simply startled.
He’s never hit me in public before.
But that was followed by a moment of relief.
…Which means that someone finally saw him hit me.
My father took a step closer, wiping his fist on his coat. “Insolent child. You are lucky I didn’t use steel. I thought I’d taught you better than this.”
Patrick reached down and pulled me to my feet.
I took a breath, then looked away. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry. I should have—”
He hit me again, in the ribs this time. “I still haven’t given you permission to speak.”
I doubled over from the force of the blow.
But as much as it hurt?
It hurt a hell of a lot less than it had when I hadn’t had two shrouds and a pair of shield sigils.
I straightened, holding my chest and coughing.
“Sir, with respect, that’s enough.” Patrick stepped between us. “I’m sure that Corin didn’t mean any harm. He was taking care of the rest of us all night.”
Father raised his fist, but not toward me this time.
I caught his hand.
Magnus Cadence turned his gaze to me, then he raised his other fist. “Do not test me, Son.”
I narrowed my eyes, my pulse quickening. “Were you about to hit Patrick?”
He tensed his jaw. “I will discipline my children as I see fit, and I will not allow some peasant to question—”
Haste.
I was still getting used to using the Haste spell in a fight.
I wasn’t very good at maintaining my accuracy with it.
But when all I wanted to do was hit someone very hard, very fast?
It was great for that.
I punched Magnus Cadence.
I punched him a lot.
In a few seconds, he fell back, holding his stomach.
“You’ll regret—”
Don’t give him a chance to move.
No chance to cast.
No quarter.
Jump.
The ring of jumping activated. I slammed my fist into his jaw.
He didn’t budge in the slightest.
In the moment I’d taken to close the distance, his defensive instincts must have kicked in. His body was wrapped in a translucent field of energy now, visible to the naked eye. Not a mere shroud – a projection of armor, created with a Shaper attunement.