The Unmage by Jane Glatt Read Free Book Online Page B

can’t be more dangerous than staying here.”
    “I suppose,” Timo said. He met Mole’s gaze. He seemed sincere, but Timo would expect an Assassin to lie convincingly.
    “Every month Kara and Santos request that Mage Guild allow you to visit.”
    “They do?” Timo asked. “I assumed they didn’t want to anger Mage Guild and were waiting for me to turn sixteen.” He didn’t want to be a Mage Guild runaway. They would never stop trying to kill him.
    Mole snorted. “Kara angers Mage Guild just by being alive. If they can get you to Old Rillidi returning here would be optional.”
    “I didn’t know,” Timo said and frowned. “My mother kept this from me.”
    “Sure, sure,” Mole said. “But she’s also been keeping you alive.”
    “She has?”
    “You study a lot,” Mole said and smiled.
    “So?”
    “When you’re studying I go looking for more . . . interesting things to watch.”
    “You spy on my mother?” Timo asked. Then his curiosity overcame his surprise. “What does she do?”
    “Mostly tries to control council,” Mole replied. “But none of them trust each other, and they especially don’t trust Arabella Fonti. Not with her daughter sheltering on Old Rillidi and Mage Guild unable to kill her after years of trying.” Mole’s smile was grim. “Then there’s you.”
    Timo forced his hands flat on the table, hoping they wouldn’t shake and betray his fear. “Do they know?” He looked up and met Mole’s serious gaze. “That I’m like Kara?” If the council knew he had unmagic he wouldn’t live long. He wouldn’t be dodging traps and tricks set by Apprentices and Journeymen—he’d be dealing with deadly spells created by powerful and experienced Master Mages.
    “No, thanks to your mother,” Mole said. “They’ve used spells on her to make her tell them the truth. She doesn’t know. She suspects but she doesn’t know .”
    “She never wanted to know,” Timo said. He dropped his gaze to his hands. She and Rorik had made it clear that he was never to mention if he had anything like his sister’s talents. And he hadn’t. But the council had used magic on the Secundus. That frightened him.
    “Smart,” Mole said, and Timo looked up in surprise. “She made sure she could pass their tests. And you’ve helped,” Mole continued. “Council argues about you. They know about the magical pranks—some of them encourage them. But because you don’t avoid all the traps, and often are hurt by them, the majority on council believe that even if you are like your sister, your magic is so weak that you can’t affect the spells.”
    “You said the majority,” Timo said. How by Gyda’s star had Mole managed to listen in on the Mage Guild Council? “Who doesn’t believe it?”
    “Inigo,” Mole said.
    “Of course,” Timo said. “He’s behind Hestor’s request.”
    “Yes,” Mole agreed. “A worm like Hestor wouldn’t have the courage to contact Warrior Guild on his own. Inigo doesn’t believe you’re what you seem to be.”
    “He cursed Rorik,” Timo whispered. “Kara removed it.”
    Mole nodded. “I’m not surprised. He’s ambitious. He’s very obvious about that in council. And he hates that your mother—a woman—is Secundus over him. Blames your father for that.”
    “Is he to blame?” Timo asked.
    “Probably,” Timo said. “Rorik too.”
    “Rorik?” Timo asked, surprised. Rorik always followed his mother’s direction—but she wasn’t the first Secundus Rorik had appointed. Had Valerio Valendi engineered Rorik’s ascendancy to Primus? He had cursed Santos, the previous Primus.
    “Santos trusted Valendi,” Mole said. “But the council at the time was divided—he felt he couldn’t appoint him Secundus. Rorik was Valendi’s suggestion.”
    “My father cursed Santos and had Rorik appoint him Secundus,” Timo said. Even after decades as Primus, Rorik was weak. If Valerio Valendi had helped him become Primus he would have done whatever was asked of