Page 53 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

TRUTH

T he dining hall was buzzing with whispers.

Everyone was talking about the Cursed Ones’ attack on the Castle—and how the General had sent them.

The General didn’t care at all. He was here, sitting alone at the head table that had been set up in his honor.

A pair of Watchers in full black body armor stood on either side of him, each one as still as a statue.

The General’s cynical eyes swept the hall, searching for threats he hadn’t invented yet. His gaze snapped to me the moment I stepped through the door. “Miss Winters.” His voice called out like a foghorn. “A word.”

I went over to the head table, stopping in front of him. I waited for the inevitable. I wasn’t kept waiting for long.

“You summoned a malevolent Phantom to the Castle.” He waited. He watched.

I lost my temper. “And you sent truckloads of Cursed Ones to the Castle.”

I was barely keeping my voice simmering below a bellow. I probably should have exercised more restraint when speaking to the General, but it was hard to think about restraint when he’d endangered all our lives by unleashing a horde of monsters on the Castle.

“A training exercise.”

“A training exercise?” I growled. “You risked all our lives so you could put us through a training exercise?”

“The life of every person on this planet is at risk for as long as the Curse remains. The purpose of the Knights is to defeat the Cursed Ones. How can you possibly know how to do that if you never practice fighting them?”

His argument made sense in the same way that setting a building on fire so you could test if it was fireproof made sense.

“Do you remember the Brotherhood of Earth?” I asked him.

“This has nothing to do with those traitors.”

“They also made a practice of unleashing Cursed Ones on innocent people.”

“Treacherous as they were, the Brotherhood taught us one thing: the Knights need to be more effective against the Cursed Ones. And they can only do that by practicing. You need to think about practicing your magic too, Miss Winters. The next time it goes wild, you might not be so lucky. Someone could die.” The General flicked his hand, dismissing me.

I turned and walked away. “How is this suddenly all my fault?” I grumbled under my breath. “I wasn’t the one who brought the Cursed Ones here.”

The General had. All today had proven was he would do anything, risk anyone, to achieve his goals. In order to reclaim this world, he would risk destroying it.

The General didn’t care about the Knights.

They were just tools to him, one of many weapons in his arsenal.

He didn’t mind sacrificing them for the greater good.

His greater good. Maybe Conner was right about him.

Maybe the General was working with the Order of Kings, selling them Apprentices.

After seeing what he’d just done, I didn’t think there was anything he wouldn’t do.

I joined my friends at our usual table. “What’s the latest?”

Bronte frowned like she didn’t understand my question. “Everyone was nearly mauled by Cursed Ones. You know that, Savannah. You were right there.”

“I know. I was just wondering what people are saying about the General’s part in it.”

“They’re saying he’s a crazy old man, of course,” Dante said.

“Surely, this latest insanity has finally given the Governor everything she needs to fire him.” Nevada looked to us for confirmation.

Ansel shrugged. “The General has powerful allies.”

“Powerful allies who, for all we know, signed off on this insane operation.”

“What makes you say that, Dante?” Nevada asked.

“The Government wants to prove to the Many Realms Court that we can handle ourselves.”

“He’s right,” Bronte said. “President Stout wants to establish Gaia’s place in the Many Realms. He wants the leaders of the other realms to respect us.”

“If we want to be accepted as equals by the leaders of the Many Realms, we really can’t afford this kind of drama,” Dante said.

“No pain, no gain.”

“I can’t believe you’re agreeing with the General’s asinine plan to send a Cursed horde to the Castle!”

“I said I understand why the Government would do it. I didn’t say I agree with it.”

“Bronte’s right,” Dutch said. “This sounds precisely like something the Government would do. They would do anything to impress the Many Realms delegates. Just consider all the bad press around the vampires’ deaths, which has tanked Gaia’s odds of joining the Court, by the way.

The Government is desperate for a big, flashy win. ”

Nevada grinned at me. “Savannah obliterated a whole horde of Cursed Ones in like five seconds. You can’t go bigger than that.”

“Actually, it was a phantom that obliterated a whole horde of Cursed Ones,” I told her.

“A phantom you summoned.”

I shook my head. “It’s not that easy. And in any case, it doesn’t matter. The Court won’t care that I took care of a problem the Gaian Government so obviously staged for their benefit. I bet the news stations are already broadcasting the drama all across the Many Realms.”

“Speaking of drama, what exactly happened to the Sorcerers’ art room?” Nevada asked me.

I poked my green beans with my fork and said nothing.

Luckily, Bronte was there to fill everyone in on all the gory details. “Savannah’s phantom disrupted our training. Her shenanigans are always disrupting our training. At this rate, we’re never going to find our Tribes.” She sighed.

Of course that’s what she cared about. I didn’t blame her for picking on me. Well, not much, anyway. Bronte had been raised to be the best at everything she did, and my ‘shenanigans’, as she put it, were standing in the way of her career plans.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to keep messing things up. I’m just really struggling to control my magic.”

“And to keep your nose out of everyone’s business.” Dante flashed me a smirk.

I tossed a strawberry at him. His reflexes were super-quick, so he caught it easily.

Nevada took a sip from her glass of pink lemonade. “Don’t stress, Savannah. We know you’re trying. Hardly anyone’s talking about you. They’re all too busy pointing fingers at the General for unleashing the Cursed Ones on us.”

“Is that true? For once, am I not the epicenter of the gossip bomb?” I looked at Dante.

He took that as an invitation to steal a piece of chicken from my plate. “Pretty much. A few people had way too much fun telling me that my sister blew up the art room.” He laughed. “But I figured that only added to your reputation.”

I leveled a hard stare on him. “A reputation that includes setting the General’s curtains on fire, apparently.”

He shrugged, then helped himself to another piece of my chicken. “As your brother, I reserve the right to take artistic license when sharing your tales of valor.”

“There’s nothing valiant about attacking curtains.” I swatted his hand away when it ventured too close to my plate again. “And there’s no honor in stealing your hungry sister’s food.”

“Sorry,” Dante said. But he only looked sorry that he’d been caught.

“I wish I had a brother,” Bronte said. “But he’d have to be a younger brother. I want someone to boss around.” Her hands flew up to cover her mouth, like she couldn’t believe she’d just admitted that.

Everyone laughed.

“Savannah is impossible to boss around. She’s too smart.” Dante met my eyes. “Much smarter than I am. That’s why Mom loves her the most.”

“Dante,” I gasped. “You don’t really think Mom loves me more than you, do you?”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” His eyes glistened with unshed tears.

I snatched his hand. “She loves us both equally.”

“Yeah, right. Sure.” He cleared his scratchy voice. “You are her favorite, Savannah. Clearly.”

“No.” I shook my head. “You can’t really believe that!”

“Of course I believe it. Because it’s true. Mom loves you more. I’ve always known that. Until now, I was just afraid to admit it, even to myself.”

“You are so wrong, Dante. I don’t know why you’d even say these things…”

I stopped talking. A terrible idea popped into my head—and almost broke my brain. No, it couldn’t be.

“Savannah, did you...” Ansel looked at me with big eyes.

Of course he’d jumped to the same conclusion as I had. He knew more about Alchemy than anyone here.

I shook my head. “No. I didn’t.”

Dutch’s eyes narrowed. “What is he talking about?”

“Ansel was wondering if…if I put a truth potion in everyone’s drinks.”

Everyone looked at Ansel. He said, “Truth spells, truth potions, their effects play out just like this. Everyone is completely unable to hide anything.”

“Why would Savannah give us all a truth potion?” Bronte asked.

Then everyone looked at me.

“I didn’t.”

But Ansel was right. It was like none of them had a filter on their mouth.

Truth potions had exactly that effect on people.

I hadn’t used one on my friends, but I had a pretty good idea who had: Conner.

He’d suggested this was the way to figure out which one of them was helping the General spy on me and helping the Government abduct Apprentices.

I’d told Conner not to use the potion, but he’d done it anyway, just like the Rebel he was.

“I didn’t do it,” I said again.

Dante laughed. “Why would you?”

“I wouldn’t.” I rose from my seat. “I, uh, have to go.”

“Where are you going?” Nevada asked.

“To the library. I’ve been doing research, trying to find anything that might lead me to Kylie and Asher.”

“Do you think you will?” Nevada asked me.

“I hope so. I think about them a lot. Especially Kylie.” I glanced at Bronte.

Her face twisted in pain at the sound of our friend’s name. “I miss her. I wish I knew where she is so I could find her and bring her back.”

“So do I,” I replied.

“Sometimes I think about Asher,” Dutch said. “He’s kind of weird, but he’s my friend.”

I paused for a moment, debating. The need to know won out.

“Kylie and Asher aren’t the only missing Apprentices,” I told them.

“What?” Nevada gasped.

“Who else is missing?” Ansel asked.