Abaddon's Call

Chapter Twelve

Jasor entered the salon and walked past the barely cleaned mess from Naena's maelstrom the year before.

Plaster had been ripped from the walls. Cracks appeared in what remained. Underneath the plaster, the older stone showed through, carved with spells. Fine and deep and without a single hesitance or error, the room could not have been carved by human hand, only magic.

Magic, green if viewed with knowing eyes, still clung to the edges of the plaster, seeping into it where the cracks exposed the interior of the plaster, which didn't carry the protective spells of the completed walls. Static flickered where the magic hit hardest.

Such things needed time to be cleaned properly. Cleansing after Naena apparently took longer than expected, though no one could explain if it was because she was a girl or something to do with the Hell magic.

Salord blood certainly had never taken so long to clean up after, not since the instrumental discoveries made nearly ten centuries before in which it was learned that a good dousing of Seven blood could cleanse any mage magic from anything.

The rooms normally set aside for families were now set aside for betrothed pairs to visit, though each room had a Kaulu chaperone carefully watching every move of the mages.

Fathers were brought to the salon for their meetings with their sons.

So they might all witness what she had done.

The Seven wanted to show off the destruction. They wanted every mage in that school to know that Naena was capable of destruction because she would become their spearhead shield, much like Theon of the past.

They had even pivoted on their history, now claiming that Graydon had been brought up to be the sword of the Seven rather than the executioner, rather than allow rumours of Pan reborn to swirl. The young man was a great number of things, dangerous being one of them, but Jasor held no place in his mind for rumblings of the secret seed the Seven held, only acknowledging that some fools believed such a rumour.

The magic of the Seven was far too powerful to be explained so simply.

Naena entered in trousers and robes. Her hair was braided and pulled back out of her face but still hung long down her back. The iron three-armed spiral necklace sat over top of her robes, unadorned by the hand of Pan. There were no pins, beads, rings, bracelets, or patches to declare her allegiances.

Nillon spoke of seeing her in the restricted section. She had shown off a pin at that time. However, there was no sign of it.

There was no need for a Pan marking because Graydon came behind her. Tall, cold, blond-haired, grey-blue-eyed Graydon Pan, the Dragon Prince, publicly named as heir to Lord of the Seven, once executioner, now sword and new rumours swirled that Lord Pan sent Graydon to either bring Theon in or put an end to him and Graydon had done the impossible.

Talked Theon into turning himself in without so much as drawing a blade.

This was a man that Jasor needed to avoid.

Graydon had the destructive tendencies of Theon, the long, slow-burning rage of his father, and the benefit of both of their tutelages, along with tens of tutors who only Pan could afford.

Naena sat across from Jasor as Graydon took a nearby table. He sat, producing a little book from his pocket, which he opened and began reading.

No greetings were exchanged or quietly spoken warnings. Jasor didn't receive so much as a sidelong glance in warning. Graydon seemed almost relieved as he focused on his book. The cover appeared blank, giving no indication of what the heir might be reading.