if nobody else did, and how would he manage without her friendship?
She dragged her gaze from the dangerous rocks below and looked up to the blue skies. The buzzards had disappeared, but ahead she saw a sight that made her heart lift. A lone kestrel, golden in the rising sun, hovered overhead. Its tail feathers fanned out and its wings were perfectly balanced to keep it almost motionless in the air. Leveret’s thin face broke into a rare smile – maybe the kestrel was an omen.
The early morning walk didn’t make her too late for school although Maizie was angry that she’d disappeared again and had missed breakfast. It was during Religious Studies, when she was grappling to understand how anyone could worship such strange gods in such bizarre ways, that the intercom phone buzzed and the teacher informed her she was to go to Yul’s office immediately. Tansy and Skipper whispered at this and several people looked at her strangely. Many forgot that she was Yul’s sister, which was just how she wanted it. But incidents like this reminded everyone and then she had to put up with more ostracism. It wasn’t that the young people of her age didn’t like their magus; rather it put Leveret into a different league to them.
Leveret stood in the doorway, her heart thudding. She wasn’t scared of Yul but of the power he had over her, over what she could and couldn’t do. He’d never hurt or torment her the way Sweyn and Gefrin loved to do, but ultimately he could make or break her life with just a few words. He held all the power and she had none.
Yul stood with his back to the door, looking out of the French windows at the gardens beyond. Leveret observed how his broad shoulders drooped. He still wore his riding clothes and she’d noticed lately how he was out and about very early every morning on Skydancer. Several times she’d had to hide in the bushes to avoid him seeing her. He seemed even taller than usual, although maybe he’d lost some weight. His dark hair was quite long now and she saw how it curled exactly the same as hers did with tiny bits of twig and leaf caught up in it.
There was something quite desolate in the way he stood lost in reverie, so large and powerful and yet so very defenceless. Leveret felt a sudden rush of her old love for him, for the big brother she’d once adored. He was still the same Yul. She had an entirely unexpected urge to run over and fling her arms around him, hug him very tight, kiss his cheek and gaze into his deep grey eyes just like she used to. To tell him that whatever was the matter, she still loved him and always would.
He turned, his eyes sad and mouth vulnerable. But when he saw Leveret his expression changed abruptly and he glared at her.
‘Stop lurking in the doorway, Leveret! Come in and shut the door – you and I need to have words.’
Her rekindled affection was promptly extinguished. She shoved the heavy door closed and stomped across the room to stand before him. He looked down at her, his face hard and closed. She glowered up at him through her mat of curls, green eyes insolent.
‘Well?’ he barked. ‘Do you know why you’re here?’
‘Because you sent for me.’
He nodded slowly, the lines around his mouth sharper than ever.
‘So that’s how you want to play it – fine by me. That’s exactly the attitude that has upset Mother so much. She’s at her wits’ end with you and it’s going to stop. You have to start behaving yourself as of today.’
She continued to stare up at him, not lowering her gaze, not looking contrite or in the least bit scared. He felt his fingers flexing and was shocked to realise he wanted to slap the insolence from her face, to grab hold of her shoulders and shake her hard. How dare she defy him like this? What could he do to stop her, to make her fear him and scare her into submission?
Then it hit him like a blow between the eyes – this was exactly how Magus had felt when, as a boy, he’d shown neither respect nor fear. Yul took a deep breath to steady himself at the enormity of this revelation. He’d never, ever even contemplated hitting a child. How could he have considered it now? It