4: That child

Lorcan sat down at the breakfast table at his usual seat next to the Duke and across from his older brother Ahren who were both reviewing documents as they ate.

"You're late." The duke gave Lorcan a stern look over the top of his newspaper.

The servants poured his coffee and placed his meal in front of him.

"My apologies." He said and unbuttoned his cloak letting it fall to the floor. A butler quickly came to collect it for him.

The Kantheus masters sat at the table and were served while the servants stood on standby at the corners of the room ready to act if their masters needed anything.

"I was expecting for us to hold a funeral soon, but it seems that child is still very much alive." Lorcan said wanting an answer for the situation. The last he heard the child was on her deathbed. Yet the defiant little creature he met in the garden was still very much alive.

"She recovered this time but she has always been sickly. There will be another relapse in the future." The duke scowled at the mention of Elio's daughter. "There is no point in raising her."

"I wouldn't be so sure, father." Lorcan stabbed his slice of meat a little too hard making the plate underneath it crack."

Ahren set down his documents and glared unimpressed at the broken plate under his younger brother's breakfast.

"What do you mean?" Duke Amaris eyed his youngest son.

"I found that creature in Elio's garden, looking at his roses. She didn't seem sickly at all." Lorcan couldn't remember the last time a person besides his older brother and father looked at him so defiantly.

"She probably burned her hands in the fire trap." Ahren smirked as he brought a teacup to his lips. "That will teach her not to roam around here so freely."

Lorcan shook his head lightly. "No. She was about to touch the roses but stopped herself when she saw the silver magic circle in the soil. If nothing else she has good instincts." He mused.

"If she had touched it, her whole body would have went up in flames. And I doubt I could have found the energy to help her." He chuckled darkly thinking about the child's bright blue eyes that looked to similar to Elio's. He did not want to be reminded of his brother when he looked at the girl.

"What a pity." Ahren sighed. "We could have gotten rid of it for good if she had just touched them."

Duke Amaris folded his newspaper away and regarded his youngest son.

"Was she alone?" He asked.

"Yes." Lorcan nodded while tucking into the new plate of food set in front of him. "Alone, and walking around the garden barefooted. What are her servants thinking doing…"

Duke Amaris frowned at this. A mere week ago the girl was bedridden and expected to die but now she was wandering the gardens alone. Even before this when she was not as sick, the child hardly ever left her bedroom. Where did this new energy come from? And could she have made such a tremendous recovery after being bedridden for an entire year? And what was this about her wandering around barefoot…?

Perhaps there was a chance of her being rehabilitated…

The duke shook his head giving up on the idea. It was his kindness that allowed the girl to live with the main family in their castle in the first place, he wouldn't give the girl the same privileges as his other grandchildren when she was so weak and of tainted blood.

"Even if she recovers she is still a mute. A useless thing." He muttered angrily thinking of how much a disappointment Elio and his daughter had turned out to be.

"That's the other curious thing." Lorcan's words interrupted the Duke's thoughts.

"She spoke to me." He said. "Were you exaggerating her condition when you told me she couldn't speak?"

Duke Amaris's astonished expression was something his sons had not seen in a while.

"That's not possible." The duke shook his head firmly. "She hasn't uttered a word since she came to live here. Not even her maids heard a word from her. She's definitely a mute."

"Excuse me, father but you are mistaken. She speaks as well as any child." Lorcan said. "She was confident enough to inform me that her name was Seraphine during our little chat in the garden. She knew how to greet me properly as well."

Duke Amaris and Lord Ahren frowned at Lorcan perplexed by what he said.

Seeing that the two were not going to talk, Lorcan spoke up again. "You cancelled her engagement previously because she could not speak. Since it's evident that she can be useful now, you should reconsider the marriage offer."

For the first time in a while Duke Amaris thought about the young boy whose engagement to Seraphine he had put on hold. If Seraphine was no longer sick and capable of speech then he could go ahead with the marriage.

"Are you having second thoughts about engaging her to a cripple?" Ahren glanced at his father's troubled face, amused that the duke was growing sentimental in his old age.

"You've gone soft, father." Ahren chuckled.

"Nonsense." Amaris dismissed them. "Our meeting with Belsante will be held soon. You both need to prepare well for that. Don't focus on trivial things like this." The duke stood up from his chair and exited the room.

The two sons continued their meal.

"Belsante." Ahren muttered and shook his head. "The kingdom of golden fools. It is only a matter of time before they collapse, now that they have murdered their strongest mage." He said.

Lorcan felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He was reminded of the day he heard that Jane Devoe had died. The spies he planted in Belsante confirmed that she had been set up by Belsante's royal family and the board of mages for a trial she would lose. They tried to enslave her, but they underestimated her pride. Instead of going along with their will she cursed herself to death with dark magic and died a free woman.

He had never said as much out loud but he thought her actions were honourable. Instead of being taken captive she chose to end her life. She had a knights honour.

In all the continent, Lorcan felt that only Jane Devoe was real competition for him, but now she was gone. He had no relationship with her besides a silent rivalry but he could not stand the thought of those golden fools snuffing out a talent much greater than theirs. He felt that he would enjoy cutting down the people who forced the brilliant mage to her death.

"The question is do we let them implode, or should we actively take part in their demise?" Ahren pondered the thought while drinking his tea.

"We will wait for orders from the Imperial family." Lorcan said as he placed his cup down on the table. Ahren noticed the crack in the porcelain and chuckled darkly.

"Are you sure you can wait that long?" Ahren asked his younger brother.