The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,70
at all as I imagined mages to look. And not one of them had so much as bowed since my arrival.
"Martin," said the third man. That must've been—
"Simon," Aric greeted with a nod of his head.
"And Your Highness, welcome," Simon added to me, tipping forward in a jaunty maneuver. He was a stocky man, with unruly hair in shades of blond and red and gray, and a beard that actually looked as though he'd burnt the end and not bothered trimming it since.
"Sir!" Kenneth cried.
"Oh, go and get back to counting stores, Ken. She's not going to make the palace explode just by seeing the conduit," Simon barked at the younger man.
"She broke the ward," Kenneth snapped back.
"Seeing as how that was my little test, I don't see why you're so offended," Simon answered back.
"Enough! The both of you. Your Highness, how may we assist you and see you on your way again?"
Aric was shaking with barely repressed laughter, and Nathan's cheeks darkened as his own impertinence caught up with his good sense.
"That is to say—"
Aric cleared his throat before I could think of the right way of cutting this mage down to size. "I am, as usual, to blame for the disruption. I thought the princess and I might speak to you on the nature of the source."
"Absolutely not," Nathan said as Kenneth gasped.
"Sounds like a better use of my time than recording this week's temperature," Simon said with a shrug, earning a glare from the others.
Angered by Nathan's words and Kenneth's expectation that at any moment I might set the roof caving in on them, I acted impulsively. Aric would have his revenge on me later, but that was half the fun.
I reached for the prism conduit, the magic thrumming in response, a brief tug of war between my Hunger and the prism's.
I reached into my pocket with my other hand, pulling out a pocket watch I'd tucked away there.
"Bryony!" Aric and Cress both snapped.
But I was already a current of magic, greedily stealing a great mass from the conduit and letting it rush through me. It wasn't as comfortable as my own, more electric, like when Aric had placed glamours to disguise me, but it didn't hurt, and there was a kind of harmony to my magic and what I'd taken from the prism. We were related after all, this magic and I.
The pocket watch in my palm whirred and clinked and disassembled in my palm, the men's eyes going wide. Kenneth overcame his fear and rushed closer, held back from me by Aric's arm. The pieces of cogs and metal multiplied until there were too many to hold in one hand. I cupped my palms together as the collection grew and pieced itself together in new ways, aimlessly guided by my own petty spite for the mages and their rudeness.
I knelt and at last, the men bowed, their eyes tracking the creations in my hand. Three little miniature men. One tall and thin and gawkish. One stooped and toddling with a cane. One rounded and leaning back with his belly displayed proudly. Three golden mechanical mages marching about in useless circles on the tiled floor as their inspiration watched from above.
"Clever," Aric said, a soft, relieved whoosh of air accompanying his praise. A hand dangled in offering out of the corner of my eye, and I reached for it, letting him pull me up and into his side.
"I'm fine," I said softly. "I took more than I really needed so those little buggers aren't likely to stop anytime soon."
Simon was the first to recover after the miniature clockwork Kenneth marched determinedly into the toe of his boot over and over. He did so with a roar of laughter, standing up straight and slapping his thigh as Kenneth and Nathan continued to gape.
"You—you can't just…" Nathan trailed off, undecided on what I could not do.
Simon grinned, bending over to send little Kenneth in the real Kenneth's direction before picking up his own replica. "How much intention did you have?"
I startled, realizing he was speaking to me even, as he set the Simon toy into his palm. The little golden man sat down with thick legs hanging over Simon's fingers, kicking aimlessly.
"None to start, and then only a little," I admitted, embarrassment starting to outweigh indignation. "I was showing off."
"I should say so," Nathan hissed, but he was fixated on the toys and not me.