as the girl’s power directly encountered his own. Despite his own considerable skills at concealment, she’d found him.
However, before Anson could even think of how to react, the King himself swept into the Hall, taking his place on the Throne itself.
***
“Royals and Commoners alike, I give you, the King!” called out Prince Garob, standing before the monarch’s raised Throne. Everyone in civilian clothes bowed or curtsied, while those in uniform gave a royal salute.
Scarcely able to contain her own excitement, Lydia barely remembered to hold out her skirt and bow down, her gaze remaining locked on the tall, strong recruit at the very end of the line.
Clearly he was empowered, living in secret among the population. Intellectually, Lydia knew this young man should be considered a criminal, her duty being to alert the Royal Guard to his presence.
But instead, Lydia found herself fascinated. Who exactly was he, and how long had he been in hiding? His whole life? That barely seemed possible! Plus, this boy was so quiet! Why, he was even harder to detect than those Demons she wasn’t supposed to be able to spot.
Her royal cousins were all so dull, their minds blaring out in all directions. But this boy was so subtle, yet very strong!
Biting her lip, Lydia found herself suddenly desperate to communicate with him, to see what his life must be like. And most of all, to find out exactly what his ability might be.
***
Irritably strumming his fingers on the ornate armrest, the King glumly inspected the neat line of recruits before him. As usual, the Court was suffused with regal riffraff, including aides, courtiers, and lesser nobility lacking any ability at all.
There were also no fewer than twelve empowered royals, including two teenage girls he barely knew. Idly, the monarch decided to bar all those not entirely necessary from these types of routine ceremonies. Sometimes such close concentration of ill-trained mental power gave him a headache.
But such things were far from the King’s most pressing concern. Still a robust 62, he’d ruled the Kingdom since the natural death of his own uncle fifteen years before. The previous King had lived until age 84, relying heavily on the current monarch to administer the realm during his final years. Thus, his own ascension to the Throne had been relatively smooth, merely codifying, in many respects, an already existing state-of-affairs.
However, the relative equanimity of his early reign was in stark contrast to these past few years. Karden incursions had become more frequent, resulting in fear and unrest to the north and west. A horrible storm season two years ago had destroyed many crops in the south and east, causing periodic famine and forcing him to raise taxes overall to make up the difference.
All this, of course, naturally led to increased resistance to the Crown itself. Yet an odd dip in the birthrate some twenty years before was making it difficult to fill the royal ranks with qualified recruits. So, just as his military forces became weaker, unrest was growing more pervasive, stoking fears of another open revolt.
And his own family was little help. Several of the royal ministers had become lax and incompetent, preferring indolence and graft to the proper performance of their duties. Yet these men were senior royals, close to the King socially and politically, making their ouster impossible.
Actually, in many ways things were coming to a head. There were even disturbing reports of discontent within the castle itself, some apparently feeling the King was unequal to their current difficulties.
Of course, sedition of that nature was extremely dangerous, particularly with the secret “Network” of empowered Demons reporting directly to the monarch. Still, one could never be sure these rebels had not recruited a skilled assassin of their own, or might count one of the more powerful royals among their supporters.
And then last evening, news of
However, before Anson could even think of how to react, the King himself swept into the Hall, taking his place on the Throne itself.
***
“Royals and Commoners alike, I give you, the King!” called out Prince Garob, standing before the monarch’s raised Throne. Everyone in civilian clothes bowed or curtsied, while those in uniform gave a royal salute.
Scarcely able to contain her own excitement, Lydia barely remembered to hold out her skirt and bow down, her gaze remaining locked on the tall, strong recruit at the very end of the line.
Clearly he was empowered, living in secret among the population. Intellectually, Lydia knew this young man should be considered a criminal, her duty being to alert the Royal Guard to his presence.
But instead, Lydia found herself fascinated. Who exactly was he, and how long had he been in hiding? His whole life? That barely seemed possible! Plus, this boy was so quiet! Why, he was even harder to detect than those Demons she wasn’t supposed to be able to spot.
Her royal cousins were all so dull, their minds blaring out in all directions. But this boy was so subtle, yet very strong!
Biting her lip, Lydia found herself suddenly desperate to communicate with him, to see what his life must be like. And most of all, to find out exactly what his ability might be.
***
Irritably strumming his fingers on the ornate armrest, the King glumly inspected the neat line of recruits before him. As usual, the Court was suffused with regal riffraff, including aides, courtiers, and lesser nobility lacking any ability at all.
There were also no fewer than twelve empowered royals, including two teenage girls he barely knew. Idly, the monarch decided to bar all those not entirely necessary from these types of routine ceremonies. Sometimes such close concentration of ill-trained mental power gave him a headache.
But such things were far from the King’s most pressing concern. Still a robust 62, he’d ruled the Kingdom since the natural death of his own uncle fifteen years before. The previous King had lived until age 84, relying heavily on the current monarch to administer the realm during his final years. Thus, his own ascension to the Throne had been relatively smooth, merely codifying, in many respects, an already existing state-of-affairs.
However, the relative equanimity of his early reign was in stark contrast to these past few years. Karden incursions had become more frequent, resulting in fear and unrest to the north and west. A horrible storm season two years ago had destroyed many crops in the south and east, causing periodic famine and forcing him to raise taxes overall to make up the difference.
All this, of course, naturally led to increased resistance to the Crown itself. Yet an odd dip in the birthrate some twenty years before was making it difficult to fill the royal ranks with qualified recruits. So, just as his military forces became weaker, unrest was growing more pervasive, stoking fears of another open revolt.
And his own family was little help. Several of the royal ministers had become lax and incompetent, preferring indolence and graft to the proper performance of their duties. Yet these men were senior royals, close to the King socially and politically, making their ouster impossible.
Actually, in many ways things were coming to a head. There were even disturbing reports of discontent within the castle itself, some apparently feeling the King was unequal to their current difficulties.
Of course, sedition of that nature was extremely dangerous, particularly with the secret “Network” of empowered Demons reporting directly to the monarch. Still, one could never be sure these rebels had not recruited a skilled assassin of their own, or might count one of the more powerful royals among their supporters.
And then last evening, news of
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