Disciple of War Disciple of War (Art of the Adept #4) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,60

time comes.”

The room fell silent, and Lustral stared at him as though he’d grown a second head. After several seconds, Will spoke again. “I asked a question a moment ago. Am I understood?” The lords sitting around the table answered with a quick chorus of ‘yes sirs.’

Chapter 17

Two hours later, Will was walking home by himself, following the short road between the palace and the college. His father had tried to talk to him after the meeting, to warn him about the enemy he had made, but Will was too nervous to listen. It was all he could do to escape before the exhaustion that comes after too much adrenaline caught up with him. His legs felt shaky as he followed the familiar route home.

As he reviewed what had happened, it was hard not to doubt himself. He’d made a few allies and at least one dangerous enemy. Overall, he’d followed Selene’s advice, but he wasn’t sure that he hadn’t gone overboard in how he phrased things. She’d had a lifetime training in the art of diplomacy. He’d also been caught off-guard by the strength of his emotions when Lustral had mentioned the destruction of Barrowden.

Did I go too far? he wondered, but just then a strange feeling swept over him, as though he was being watched. Will lifted his gaze from the path and looked around. There was no one nearby, but something drew his eye to the trees to the right of the lane. A large owl sat on the limbs of a graceful elm, watching him with viridian eyes.

He’d seen the owl before, when Tailtiu had shape-changed into one, one with the same green eyes. Stopping dead in his tracks, he stared back for half a minute and then his lips muttered, “Tailtiu.” As soon as the name left his lips, he felt the connection. There was no doubt, it was her.

With a flash of wings, the owl lifted off and vanished through the trees, and within seconds he had lost sight of it.

He stared after her for several seconds. What was that about? he thought silently. She came to spy on me, but she won’t answer my call? No matter how long he considered it, it didn’t make sense. Unable to do anything else, he finished walking home, where he found Selene waiting for him.

He entered the house without a word, though she was standing just inside the door. From the side of one eye, he could see her watching him intently as he patiently scraped his boots before removing them. Although her outward expression was one of calm composure, he knew Selene was anxious to hear how the meeting had gone. Feeling contrary, he innocently asked, “Do you feel like some tea?”

“You’re tempting fate, you irksome man,” she growled quietly.

Will smirked. “You seem tense.”

“Spill it! How did it go?”

“I really would like some tea,” said Will, turning toward the kitchen door.

“Jeremy! Tea!” barked Selene, her voice carrying clearly through the reaches of the house.

Will silently envied her ability to make herself heard so easily. Because of the lower register of his voice, he had to yell twice as loudly to be understood, but her clear tones were intelligible from anywhere within their home. With a sigh, he told her, “You really take the joy out of things. I rather like making tea…”

She took him by the arm and led him toward the parlor. “Jeremy can get it. I want to hear everything that happened.”

Somehow, her anxiety dispelled the remnants of his own. What was done was done. Will carefully related what had happened, beginning with the conversations beforehand and leading up to his confrontation with Duke Lustral. Selene merely nodded at that point without commenting, which surprised him. She waited until he had summarized the more mundane matters of planning and logistics that had occupied the end of the meeting.

“That went relatively well,” she remarked at last.

His brows went up. “That’s it? You have nothing to say about my argument with Lustral?”

She shrugged. “You made a powerful enemy, but that was expected. I already knew the two of you would never be friends. Putting him in his place early on was the best outcome we could expect.”

You could have warned me then, he thought dourly. “They seemed surprised at the suggestion of getting the Mothers of Terabinia to assist with logistics. I was tempted to tell them you and Laina had already agreed to it.”

Selene shook her head. “It’s better this way. Your next meeting