The Ambassador's Mission: Book One of th - By Trudi Canavan Page 0,29

said, his wrinkled face creasing into a smile. “Could I speak to Lord Lorkin for a moment?”

“Of course, Lord Rothen,” Dannyl said, smiling broadly. He looked at Lorkin, then nodded toward the old magician. “Go on.”

Lorkin suppressed a sigh and rose. “I’ll be back as quickly as possible,” he told the others, then walked to the doorway and stepped past Rothen into the corridor outside. As the door closed, Lorkin crossed his arms, steeling himself for the lecture that was bound to come.

Rothen, as always, looked both stern and amused. “Are you sure you want to go to Sachaka, Lorkin?” he asked quietly. “You’re not just doing it to spite your mother?”

“Yes,” Lorkin replied. “And no. I do want to go and I’m not trying to annoy Mother.”

The old magician nodded, his expression now thoughtful. “You are aware of the risks?”

“Of course.”

“So you admit there are risks.”

Ha. Outsmarted! Lorkin found himself having to resist a smile as a wave of affection for the old man swept over him. All the years of Lorkin’s life, Rothen had been there, looking after him when his mother’s duties called her away, helping him when he needed defending or support, lecturing and occasionally punishing him when he had done something foolish, or broken Guild rules.

This was different, and Rothen must know it. Lorkin wasn’t breaking any rules. He had only to convince his old friend and protector that he wasn’t doing anything foolish.

“Of course there are risks – there are risks to everything a magician does,” Lorkin replied, mimicking something Rothen liked to say to novices.

The old magician’s eyes narrowed. “But are they too great?”

“It’ll be up to the Higher Magicians to decide that,” Lorkin said.

“And you’ll accept whatever decision they make?”

“Of course.”

Rothen looked down, then when he met Lorkin’s eyes again his own were full of sympathy. “I understand that you want to do something with your life. You’ve certainly got a lot of expectation to live up to. You know Sonea and I have never wanted anything for you but a safe, happy life?”

Lorkin nodded.

“There will be other ways you can make your mark,” Rothen told him. “Ways that are as satisfying, with far less risk. You only need to be patient, and ready to grasp opportunities when they come.”

“And I will. I have every intention of surviving Sachaka and returning to do whatever else comes my way,” Lorkin said firmly. “But for now this is what I want to do.”

Rothen stared at Lorkin in silence, then shrugged and took a step away. “So long as you’re sure, and you’ve considered the full consequences … oh, and before I forget, your mother asked me to say she would like you to join her at dinner tonight.”

Lorkin swallowed a groan. “Thanks. I’ll be there.”

As if I have a choice, he mused. He had learned the hard way that refusing a dinner invitation was something his mother would not easily forgive. There was one missed dinner from five years ago – not entirely his fault, either – that she still managed to make him feel guilty about.

Rothen turned to go. Lorkin turned back to the door, then paused and looked over his shoulder.

“Will you be joining us, Rothen?”

The old man paused to look back, and smiled. “Oh, no. She’ll have you all to herself tonight.”

This time Lorkin did not manage to suppress a groan. As he sent magic out to turn the door handle, he heard Rothen chuckling as he walked away.

Sonea regarded the man sitting across the table from her and wondered, not for the first time that evening, why he had bothered coming to see her. Seeking to sway the vote of the Higher Magicians on the petition was normal and expected for both petitioners and opposition. But surely it was obvious how she would vote, when her origins and sympathies were clearly with the lower class. Why waste the time, when his efforts would be better spent persuading other Higher Magicians to take his side?

“The rule has clearly been applied unfairly, most often in the case of lower-class novices,” Regin conceded. “But the fact is, some do come from families involved in criminal activities.”

“I regularly heal people involved in criminal activities,” she told him. “And I know people in the city who earn money in less than legal ways. That does not make me a criminal. Neither does a magician become a criminal because a relative happens to be one. Surely it is enough that a magician – or novice –