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COUNCIL AND FAMILY

W atching from the sidelines with one hand on Geoffroi’s shoulder and the other on Iga’s, Kazik observed and appreciated the genuine love and respect being showered on his sweetheart.

When her people escorted her to see the King, he knew she was in good hands, and he would see her again soon.

Speaking privately with her father should be her top priority just now.

Solara rustled her feathers, their music sending a tingle down Kazik’s spine. “If you all agree, I shall find Madame Euzebia and the Council to request their aid with the fox while you all rest and meet with the King.”

“No need, Solara!” A familiar voice preceded the speaker’s appearance by a heartbeat. “We have come to you.” Madame Euzebia and the entire World Magic Council stepped into view on the castle’s broad front steps.

Still magically projecting her voice, Madame Euzebia introduced herself and the other mages from distant parts of the world.

To Kazik’s amazement, the dignitaries all looked to her for direction.

Watching his once quiet and retiring mother manage a uniquely difficult situation with unexpected composure, even mastery, rocked his world.

Seeing her alive and well took a load off his heart, but she had yet to explain where she’d been for the last five years.

To address the crowd, Madame Euzebia magnified her voice: “Today, members of the Council will meet with King Ryszard, who, like most of you, has just awakened from the five-year sleeping curse of Castle Valga, which was broken this very day by none other than your own Princess Helena! Her kiss of True Love freed the enchanted prince and awakened all of you.”

His mother held the crowd rapt in the drama and romance, and Kazik felt heat roll into his face. No one looked his way, but after five years of almost complete solitude, he discovered that crowds made him uncomfortable.

The World Magic Council’s arrival at Castle Valga would precipitate world-impacting legal matters. But how and when could he gain a private audience with King Ryszard amid all this celebration and change? He couldn’t barge in on the king’s reunion with Helena. He wasn’t family. Not yet.

And maybe never. What loving king and father would give his daughter to the son of a shyster, thief, traitor, and aspiring emperor?

E uzebia was still talking: “Your king will soon appear to address you all, and later this evening, at His Majesty’s invitation, the World Magic Council will conduct an essential meeting in Castle Valga’s Great Hall—purely business.

However, the return of Princess Helena and the end of your very long nap is worthy of a great celebration! ”

She paused briefly while the crowd cheered, then added, “A few moments ago, His Majesty, King Ryszard, asked me to invite you all to a celebration supper tomorrow evening. His Majesty would have liked to celebrate with you tonight; however, we shall respect the kitchen staff’s request for a day’s notice to produce a banquet.

And never fear! Tonight, the castle kitchen offers all of you unlimited bread, porridge, honey, and milk.

Your fellow staff members are even now preparing to serve everyone. ”

Another roar of approval went up, no doubt mostly for the immediate promise of food, but Kazik also identified a growing sense of hope and new beginnings.

He glimpsed several boys sidling toward the castle, no doubt hoping to claim places at the front of the porridge-and-honey queue.

Amused, he was briefly tempted to join them.

His mother must have noticed the slinkers too, for she wrapped up her speech in a heartbeat.

“So, without further ado, I propose you all head inside to join Castle Valga’s porridge party.

” Her suggestion produced a laugh, and when Kazik stepped out of his obscurity to give a rousing (and slightly magic-optimized) whoop and threw his hat in the air, people all over the courtyard copied him, producing a resounding shout of enthusiasm.

No matter how lonely he’d been for five years of his life, he knew that bitterness and self-pity would only extend the misery and hurt his loved ones, so he deliberately junked it all. And he would do so again as often as necessary.

Minutes later, once the crowd had mostly dispersed, Kazik hurried to his mother and found her in the entry hall, unobtrusively using her magic to detect possible threats. “Mama!”

“Kazimierz!” She spun to face him, looked him up and down, and burst into tears. “Oh! How you’ve grown! I wouldn’t have recognized you in the crowd! But I sensed you were here. Bogumil confessed what he’d done to you and Castle Valga, but I couldn’t do a thing about it.”

Kazik simply wrapped her in a bear hug. “I know, Mama. None of this was your fault.”

“But it was! If I hadn’t been so stubborn?—”

“ C ome on.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders.

“I know of a private little garden just through that door. We can chat while everyone else is enjoying their porridge.” He escorted her along a hallway and into a tiny courtyard with flowering vines draping its walls, where they sat on a wrought-iron bench.

One look at his mother’s face, and he drew a clean handkerchief from his surcoat. She accepted it and mopped her tears.

“Let it all out, Mama.”

More sobs followed before she could speak again.

“I did my best to be a good wife and a positive influence, but I was never enough for him. Oh, Kazik, he now has not only the heart but also the appearance of a beast! He has schemed and cheated and lied and who knows what else to bring about . . . what? Chaos and tyranny for our land? And I never once confronted him.”

“Mama, you are not responsible for your husband’s choices any more than I am responsible for my father’s.”

“But Kazimierz, I am responsible for my choices. I was so fearful . At home I lived a double life: the dutiful wife and the secret mage. I tried to protect you from your father’s evil influence while encouraging his positive traits, but I played control games instead of confronting him outright.

I thought I had convinced him that marrying King Ryszard’s daughter would be advantageous for you, but he simply humored me while all along he was planning your marriage to one of his nieces.

That last day, I intended to take you with me to my hiding place after the melee, hoping we could wait him out. But your father outmaneuvered me.”

“And he might have conquered me,” Kazik admitted.

“Now I know that Bogumil turned Father into a fox and stripped much of his power to protect me. As soon as I broke free, I searched everywhere for Helena, couldn’t find her, so I rode straight here, thinking she’d gone home with her father.

Nothing went exactly as anyone planned.”

“Yet now, here we are,” his mother said with a sad little smile. “Do you know what happened to Helena?”

“Not exactly, but the magical toy horse you convinced me to make for her became a lifeline for both of us. Or maybe a heartline.”

“Oh, I’m so glad! That is lovely. When Bogumil found Helena weeping in a golden-apple orchard confined in one of your father’s pocket worlds, convinced that you had broken your betrothal and no longer cared for her—no doubt through one of your father’s machinations—that foolish mage sent our dear girl to the king of Trinec’s palace, along with one of your father’s golden-apple trees. ”

“Why would he do that?” Kazik asked.

“Bogumil told me he thought she was a mistreated servant girl and hoped living in his beloved homeland would heal her heartbreak. How she stumbled into that pocket world with the orchard, I don’t know, but I suspect your father’s magic was involved.

Or maybe the trees took pity on her. Who knows?

What a tangled web we all created! When Bogumil told me about Helena, I sent word to Solara, and she and Geoffroi took over from there.

But without Helena’s honor and kindness, all our efforts would have failed. ”

While Kazik tried to grasp these new details, she continued, “You know, plotting conquests was a game for Warin and your grandfather. Neither I nor any of your other relatives could keep track of their magical maneuvers and deviousness. They hoped and plotted to marry you off to one of your cousins, and eventually your grandfather, as archduke, intended to claim all of Wroc?aw, including the three vassal states, Ostrów, and the archduchy all the way to the North Sea, forming a dynasty.”

Shaking his head, Kazik admitted, “I guess I focused my inherited devious tendencies on evading their plans. No matter what that pair of power-hungry dukes might have hoped, their scheming would certainly have brought about continental war.”

After a moment of thought, he tilted his head and raised one brow. “Which puts Bogumil’s curse into a very different light. Five years of treasure hunting, exile, and magical suspense seems like child’s play in comparison to what might have been.”

“Very true. We all owe a great deal to Bogumil. I did my best to hide away, but time and again, he dragged me back into the craziness.” She choked up but smiled. “My secret hideaway, the Crossroads Inn, became the gateway to his treasure hunt.”

“Bogumil messed up too. I expect everyone involved in this ordeal has regrets, but most of us did what we believed to be good and wise at the time. I felt utterly helpless.” Kazik laughed, shaking his head.

“Being labeled the Golden Princess was an ego-crusher—and yet I always held on to hope. My magical connection with Helena kept me sane, Iga helped too, and I knew you would never let me down.”

His mother nodded, still mopping her tears and swallowing hard. “I haven’t c-cried until now.”

He pulled her head to his shoulder, patting her back. “Then you’re due, little Mama. Let it all out before the inquisition. I know that you and the Council Mages will seek justice for all.”