The Fire Mages' Daughter Read Online Free PDF Page B

offered me sweetmeats which I was too choked with misery to eat. For herself and Cal, she poured wine.
    “Now, Axandrina, I want you to answer me one question, and you must tell the truth, do you understand?”
    I nodded mutely.
    “Good. The truth, then, and I shall know if you lie. Did you leave the water to run deliberately, or was it an accident?”
    “Deliberately, Highness. But I am very sorry. I never meant to cause so much harm.”
    “But why? What did you hope to achieve?”
    I chewed my lip, but there was no point in prevarication. If nothing else, I wanted her to know how determined I was about this.
    “I thought if I did something bad, you wouldn’t want me as your heir. And then I could go home to Mother.”
    “Oh, Drina,” Cal said sorrowfully.
    But the Drashona smiled. “Do you know what qualities I am looking for in my children, Axandrina? What makes one or another of you interesting to me as a potential heir?”
    I shook my head.
    “Well, it is not good behaviour, that much is certain. It is not docility. I have no interest in a child who is meek and always does exactly as she is told.” Did she mean Zandara? I wasn’t sure she was quite as meek as she appeared, but she was certainly well-behaved.
    “Nor am I interested in foolishness,” she went on. Well, that was Axandor out, as well. Bother. That left me, of the three eldest. “If you had simply forgotten the water – that would have been foolish. No, I look for intelligence. Not just book-cleverness, but the sort of mind that looks for alternative ways to solve problems. Diplomatic ways. Most of all, I am looking for someone with spirit, someone who makes things happen. Even if that might be quite unconventional. Can you see why you interest me, Drina?”
    So she was choosing to interpret my bad behaviour as creativity, the work of an original mind. I sighed.
    “But Highness, I don’t want to be your heir.”
    It was Cal who answered. “But what is it you object to? Don’t you like it here, Drina? You sound very settled from your letters. You have a friend, you like the book-work, you’ve always enjoyed the formal aspects. And you’re so well here.”
    “Yes, that is most encouraging,” the Drashona said. “I do not understand it, but it is a good sign, I think. Drina’s health was always my greatest concern.”
    “Kyra thinks it may be the magic here,” he said. “The whole town is steeped in it, emanating from the Imperial City, but the Keep has some magical properties too. It may be that Drina is benefiting from that.”
    “Whatever the cause, she is well here, and for that reason alone she should stay. But I cannot have the Keep half destroyed because you miss your mother, Drina. You like challenges, so here is another one for you. You can exclude yourself from consideration as my heir by making yourself indispensable to the realm in some other way.”
    I sat up straighter. “I could be a mage!”
    “That would certainly be one way. Mages renounce their inheritance rights when they achieve that status, so you could not possibly be my heir.”
    “And I could go home to Zendronia?”
    “That would be one option. But it will be hard work. Kingswell has no scribery with organised training, so you would have to study with tutors and books. Five years of such study.”
    “I don’t mind that. Will you let me try?”
    “Of course, if you wish it. You will have to wait a year until you reach thirteen, but then you may try.”
    Finally, something I could work towards that would, in time, get me away from the Drashona’s clutches. I didn’t notice at the time how cleverly she’d manoeuvred me into staying quite happily in Kingswell.
    And in all the excitement, I forgot to mention my unexpected ability to understand Icthari.
     

4: A Setback
    FIVE YEARS LATER
     
    The Master’s eyes were wide with fear. “It is quite true, Most Powerful. I am so sorry, but… but I had to tell you.”
    “It is a lie !” I hissed. “How