Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War by Christie Golden Read Free Book Online Page B

struck. He was more somber than she had ever seen him as he met her in the Purple Parlor, a special place accessible, as far as she knew, only by portal. After pouring them each a drink of sparkling Dalaran wine, he sat beside her and regarded her intently.
    “Rhonin,” Jaina had asked quietly, not even taking a sip of the delicious beverage, “what is it? What has happened?”
    “Well, let’s see,” he replied. “Deathwing is loose; Darkshore has fallen into the sea—”
    “I mean with you .”
    He smiled faintly at his own dark humor. “Nothing is wrong with me, Jaina. Merely—well, I have a concern that I’d like to share with you.”
    She frowned, a small crease appearing between her brows, and put the glass down. “Me? Why me? I’m not one of the Council of Six. I’m not even a member of the Kirin Tor anymore.” Once, she had been, working closely with her master, Antonidas. But after the Third War, when the scattered members of the Kirin Tor had reformed, it hadn’t felt the same to her.
    “And this is precisely why it’s you I must speak with,” he said. “Jaina, we’ve all endured so much. We’ve been so busy—well, fighting and planning and doing battle—that we’ve fallen behind on another, perhaps even more important, duty.”
    Jaina gave him a bemused smile. “Defeating Malygos and recovering from a world shaken like a rat in a mastiff’s mouth seem pretty important to me.”
    He nodded. “They are. But so is training the next generation.”
    “What’s that got to do—oh.” She shook her golden head firmly. “Rhonin, I’d like to help, but I can’t come to Dalaran. I have my own challenges in Theramore, and even though Horde and Alliance have been equally harmed by the Cataclysm, we still have so much—”
    He held up an interrupting hand. “You misunderstand me,” he said. “I’m not asking you to stay here in the Violet Citadel. There are enough of us here—but too few out there in the world.”
    “Oh,” she said again. “You… want me to take an apprentice.”
    “We do. If you’re amenable. There is one young woman in particular I’d like you to consider. She’s extremely promising, intelligent, and fiercely curious about the world outside her limited view of Ironforge and Dalaran. I think you’d be a very good match.”
    And then Jaina understood. She reclined in the comfortable purple cushions and reached for the wine. She took a small sip and said, “And someone who’d do a fine job of reporting back to you too, I presume.”
    “Come now, Lady Proudmoore. You can’t expect us to leave so powerful and influential a mage all alone out there in Theramore.”
    “Honestly? I’m surprised you haven’t sent along an observer before,” she said.
    He gave her a rueful look. “There’s so much in chaos now,” he said.“It’s not that we don’t trust you. It’s that we simply need to… well…”
    “I promise not to open any Dark Portals,” Jaina said, lifting her hand and mockingly swearing.
    That made him laugh; then he sobered. Placing a hand on hers, he leaned in for a moment. “You do understand, don’t you?”
    “I do,” Jaina said. And she did. Before, there had been no time for anything other than simple survival. Any mage, anywhere, who had not actively allied with Malygos had been a threat to him. Now, with the world splintered, old alliances were splintered as well. And Jaina was both a powerful mage and a respected diplomat.
    Thoughts of Antonidas, who had—after much badgering on her part—taken her on as an apprentice what seemed like ages ago, filled her mind. He had been a wise and good man, with a strong sense of right and wrong and the willingness to die to protect others. He had inspired and shaped her. Suddenly, Jaina very much wanted to give back to the world what it had given her. She was quite aware that she was a mage of no small ability, and now that the subject had been broached, she thought it might be a good thing to