The Black Mage: Apprentice (42 page)

"So did my brother. So did everyone."
Darren's laugh was bitter.

My hand fell away and I took a step back,
shaking. I had cried myself to sleep for the good part of two
years. My heart had shattered every time he looked at her.

Darren said the next words so quietly I
almost missed them. "I kept telling myself it was better than them
assuming the alternative."

"What was the alternative?"

"That I had never gotten over you." Darren
slammed his fist against the wall. "That I was still madly in love
with a girl who hated me by sight. That Shina loathed my brother
and cared for a young man in her home country. That we were both
trapped in arranged marriages, wanting nothing more than to find a
way out. That every time I fought with you I was really fighting
myself, wanting nothing more than to grab you and kiss you and tell
you that it was all a mistake. That I missed my best friend and the
taste of your lips and every night that I dreamed it was only ever
of your face."

My heart was slamming across my ribs and I
couldn't seem to breathe.

His eyes found mine. "Ryiah…"

I forced myself to speak. "You and Shina
planned this?"

"We grew up together. I knew she hated my
brother, she always had. When she arrived for her engagement and
told me she couldn't stand the thought of marrying Blayne, I told
her about you. The two of us were miserable. At first we would just
talk about how angry we were that we had to marry for duty, but
then it occurred to me that maybe the gods had intervened on our
behalf. The emperor wanted a new treaty with Jerar – he knows war
is coming, but who was to say the treaty had to be from an arranged
marriage? All my father ever cared about was a dowry. It took us a
while to convince the princess's father, we had to be careful in
our correspondence, but when I finally returned home after the
battle in Ferren's Keep, Shina pulled me aside to tell me he had
finally agreed. We still had to get my father's advisors to agree
to his letter, but it wasn't that hard when any fool could see it
would only bring Jerar more wealth than before."

Darren paused. "I knew we would have to wait
for the ascension. We needed to have the Council present and until
a few days ago they had been busy along the northern border,
meeting with local commanders and their regiment to make sure our
defenses were sound after the incident at Ferren's Keep."

"After you started talking to Shina," I said
quietly, "why didn't you say anything?"

Darren looked away. "I wanted to tell you,
Ryiah, but after everything I'd put you through, I couldn't bring
myself to say it….
Because what if it didn't work?
" He
swallowed. "And then that day at the Academy, you told me you hated
me. You wouldn't even
look
at me."

"I couldn't." The words were barely a
whisper.

"I believed you." Darren's voice cracked. "I
started to think you were better off if I left you alone. But then
that day at Ferren's Keep - you saw what I was trying to do and you
stopped me. You hated me, you had no reason to let me live, and you
still wouldn't let me die -
even if it would save you
. I
kept thinking about that when I left for Devon. I thought maybe I'd
been wrong. That you didn't hate me."

I held my breath as Darren stepped right in
front of me. "That maybe you still might love me." His hand found
mine. It was shaking. We both were.

"Because I still love you," he whispered
desperately.

"I…" I swallowed. "I never stopped. I wanted
to." I was rambling now. "I hated myself that I couldn't… That I
wasn't strong enough – that I-"

Darren pulled me to him and the rest of my
words fell to the floor.

He kissed me.

…And as he did I smelled pine. Cloves.

I tasted cinnamon.

There was only one word to describe it. One
word that came rushing back after all of this time.

Home
.

How could I have forgotten?

Darren was
home.

****

When we finally broke for air the non-heir
was grinning.

"Who would have thought," he teased, "that
the girl who tried to get me kicked out of the Academy-"

"That was Ella!" I shoved Darren and he
caught my hands in his.

"It was both of you." His smile was wicked.
"As I was saying, this girl who tried to get me kicked out of the
Academy, this girl who tried to light me on fire, this lowborn girl
I absolutely couldn't stand-"

I scoffed. "Please! You insulted me, mocked
me, tricked me, lied to me-"

Darren's hand lightly clamped over my mouth
so that the rest of my speech was muffled.

His eyes found mine. "Let me finish,
love."

My heart skipped a beat.

"That somehow, this insufferable girl would
become the one person I am forever, hopelessly,
madly
drawn
to against my will and possibly even my better judgment."

I smiled faintly. "I don't think either of us
had a choice in the matter."

"The higher powers are probably having a good
laugh at our expense." Darren touched the side of my face, eyes
gleaming. "Though perhaps they are right about this one."

I started to lean forward and paused. "Wait.
Does this mean you were behind my ranking tonight?" My heart
stopped. It was him. Of course it was Darren.
I should have
known Byron would never give me second rank willingly.

Darren's expression was amused. "I can assure
you I had nothing to do with it. I was as surprised as you were.
Not that you didn't deserve it, of course, but that Byron could
move past his… er, difficulties where you are concerned." He paused
and then a devious smile spread across his face as he caught sight
of someone behind me. "But I bet I know who did."

"Who?" The only person I could think of was
Commander Nyx and she detested the training master almost as much
as myself. There was also considerable doubt that a woman would
ever be able to influence a man whose reputation was built on a
hatred of their gender.

"Why don't you see for yourself?"

I spun around and found myself face-to-face
with none other than the Black Mage himself, Marius.

"Hello, Mage Ryiah," the man said smoothly.
"Did I not tell you we would talk again? Congratulations on your
engagement, if I might add."

"It was you," I stammered. "You convinced
Byron to rank me second?"

"I merely reminded your headstrong master
what a fool he would look should a woman win the next Candidacy… I
must say I'm sorry I hadn't corrected his egregious bias sooner,
but as it is with most politics I am slow to catch on." The gold
hoop of his ear glimmered, dancing off the windowpanes behind us.
"As to second rank, well, my dear, he did that all on his own. I
suspect the Ferren's Keep commander would have made his life
difficult if he had shunned a northern hero."

I blushed. "I'm not a hero."

"My dear, each one of us is a hero. The
irony, of course, is that most will never receive the title. Bask
in the recognition, for I suspect it shall not last as long as one
might hope, especially with the rumors of Caltoth…" He cleared his
throat. "But enough of that. Drink. Dance. Be merry. You are a mage
of Combat and betrothed to a prince of the realm. What more could
you desire?"

Nothing.

But then a thought occurred. "A black robe
would be nice."

Darren gave me a sideways glance. "What are
you talking about? You are already wearing one."

My eyes were dancing. "Maybe like the one
Marius is wearing."

"With the gold lining? Ryiah, only the Black
Mage…" Darren stopped talking as he realized what I was
implying.

Marius smiled. "Yes," he surmised, "I believe
I was right to bet on you that day at the Academy. Your future,
dear Ryiah, has just begun."

Rachel E. Carter lives in Placerville,
California with her fiancé and their two spoiled pets: a feisty
feline named Charlie, and Zoey, an Australian Shepherd who gets
jealous of her own shadow. She loves to organize –and when she is
not color-coding her closet she is always looking for the next good
book. She grew up reading about magic, hot bad boys, and lady
knights.
The Black Mage
, her debut series, is a tribute to
all the things she never stopped loving.

The Black Mage: First Year
is the
first book in Rachel's four-book YA fantasy series with Astraea
Press. Rachel invites you to visit her author page at
www.facebook.com/theblackmageauthor. She loves to hear from other
aspiring authors or readers via email at
[email protected]. Follow her on twitter
@blackmageauthor and read her blog at
http://theblackmagegirl.wordpress.com.

CHAPTER ONE

"Don't look now," I said softly.
Did I
sound calm?
I hoped so. It was hard to tell with the frantic
beating in my chest. "But I think we are being followed."

My brother paled, hands freezing on the
reins. Almost unconsciously, his head began to turn in the
direction of my warning.

"Alex!" I hissed.

He jerked his head back guiltily. I hoped the
movement would go unnoticed by the four riders trailing a quarter
of a mile behind us. They hadn't appeared too concerned with our
procession thus far, but the fact that the men were still following
us after the last main road had ended left an unsettling taste in
the back of my mouth.

It was getting dark fast. At the elevation we
were traveling, there wouldn't be much light left for long. Already
the sun had wedged itself behind one of the larger outcroppings of
rock, and the rest of its rays were fading much too quickly for my
liking.

I had hoped the party would stop to make camp
at one of the few sites we had passed—after all, what weary
traveler wouldn't prefer the comfort of a well-worn pit and nearby
stream? I, for one, would have insisted as much if it hadn't been
for the uncanny appearance of those behind us.

"How do you know they are 'following' us?"
Alex whispered loudly. Our horses continued their steady climb into
the dark hillside. "Shouldn't we be stopping soon?" he added. "I'm
sure they'll continue on, and then you'll see your worry was all
for nothing."

"Alex," I said through clenched teeth, "their
saddlebags are far too light for a trek like this. That's not
nothing
."

"So?"

I forced myself not to let my frustration
show. It wasn't Alex's fault he didn't understand my concern. His
faction was Restoration. He cared about healing people, not what it
looked like to harm them.

"Only fools—or bandits—would travel so
empty-handed. Four grown men are not fools, Alex. Even fools would
have known to take that last main road to an inn…" I swallowed.
"But a bandit, they wouldn't need to bother with packs since, well,
because they would be taking our own instead."

My twin slowly mulled over my words. I
wondered if he would believe me. I wasn't exactly known for my
easygoing temperament. I hoped he didn't think this was just
another one of my "rash judgments" as our parents were wont to
assume.

As I waited for Alex's response, I pretended
to check the footholds, giving myself an opportunity to spy on our
shadow once more. Though the men were much harder to identify
without the broad light of day, there was still no mistaking the
glint of steel bulging from one of the men's hip. Only a soldier or
knight was allowed to bear such metal.

A chill ran through me. I doubted he was
either.

"Right," Alex said abruptly.

In as much nonchalance as one could muster
under the circumstances, I faced my brother stubbornly. "Alex—"

"I believe you."

Oh
. I paused.

"What should we do, Ry?" Gone was his relaxed
smile, and in its place a timid frown…and an unsure, flickering
blue stare. At first I didn't recognize the expression—he looked so
much younger than his fifteen years. But then I realized it was
fear producing the vulnerability in my brother's eyes.

My twin, the rational, levelheaded, sane half
of me, was afraid. What did that mean for the two of us? I refused
to contemplate the answer. Instead, I scanned the trail ahead,
trying to make out our intended route amid the lumbering pines.

Unfortunately, it was much easier to point
out the problem than come up with a solution.

We should have taken the main road
, I
acknowledged belatedly.
If I hadn't been so set on the fastest
route to the Academy, we would be on a nice, well-traveled path
instead of a desolate mountain range, about to be robbed.

But it was too late now.