The Perilous Sea Read Online Free PDF Page A

I had a great deal more respect for the nonmages afterward—I mean, the hardship these people endure.”
    Leave it to Wintervale to talk like this within easy hearing of at least half a dozen boys. Words such as “discretion” and “caution” held no meaning for him. He knew enough to not announce outright that he was a mage, but otherwise his inclination was to continually blurt out the first thing that came into his head.
    It was part of his charm, that he was so frank and unguarded.
    â€œIn any case,” Wintervale went on, “Kashkari doesn’t—”
    A chorus of “Fairfax!” and “We heard you made the twenty-two, Fairfax!” drowned out the rest of Wintervale’s sentence.
    Titus gripped the banister and slowly, slowly turned around. But through the space between the balusters, he could only see a huddle of junior boys in their waist-length short jackets.
    He took a step down, then another, then two more. All at once there she was, in a senior boy’s uniform of a crisp white shirt and a black tailed jacket, playfully scolding a boy who barely came up to her shoulder. “What kind of question is that, Phillpott? Of course I will be one of the eleven. In fact, West is going to take one look at me and quake in his brogues, because I am going to wrench the captaincy from his grasp.”
    The jauntiness in her eyes, the certainty of her tone, and the innate gentleness as she fluffed the boy’s hair—a fierce gladness swept over Titus. “Are you ever going to acquire any humility, Fairfax?”
    She lifted her head and gazed at him for a full two seconds. “I will, the moment you come into some social graces, Your Highness.”
    Her retort was accompanied by a smile, not the wide grin she flashed for the junior boys, only a slight lift of the corners of her lips. All at once he felt her relief—and behind that relief, a trace of exhaustion.
    His chest constricted. But the next moment, she was beaming again, and poking the arm of the senior boy next to her. “Don’t just stand there, Cooper, say something to His Magnificence.”
    Cooper bowed with a flourish. “Welcome back, Your Highness. Our humble abode is honored by your august presence.”
    Of all the boys in the house, Cooper was probably Fairfax’s favorite, because he was as silly and enthusiastic as a puppy, and because she enjoyed Cooper’s wide-eyed awe at Titus’s princely aloofness.
    Titus upheld that princely aloofness. “One could say my august presence is diminished by your humble abode, but I will not think too closely upon the matter.”
    Fairfax laughed, the sound deep and rich. “ Your humility, prince, shines like a beacon in the darkest night,” she said as she ascended the stairs. “We can only aspire to be so great yet so humble.”
    Sutherland, behind Wintervale, cackled so hard he almost choked on the apple he was eating.
    She drew up even with Titus. The pleasure of her nearness was almost painful. And when she set her hand on his shoulder, the sensation was all electricity.
    â€œGlad you made it, Fairfax,” he said, as quietly as he could.
    Now he could breathe again. Now he was whole again.
    Â 
    When Iolanthe Seabourne came to in utter darkness, naked and in agony, she had not been remotely alarmed: the pain was par for the course for resuming human form after the effect of a transmogrification spell wore off. Her lack of recollection of the hours she had spent as a tiny turtle also did not bother her—without a blood oath binding her to the prince, there was nothing to preserve continuity of consciousness while metamorphosing from one form to another.
    Titus’s absence, however, brought a sensation of cold completely unrelated to the temperatures of the night. Where was he? It was unlike him to leave her without a blanket for warmth, or a note to explain his movements.
    Had he been taken by