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the people I’m looking for. You are my cousin. You are also Florian’s nephew and Rhianne’s full brother. Rhianne has wondered for years whether her parents had more children after Florian stole her, but they moved away from Rodgany and changed their names, even their professions. They did not want to be found again.”
    “Why?” Marius blurted.
    Lucien leaned back in his seat. “Because they didn’t want their children taken away a second time.”
    “You’re saying they moved and changed their identities because of me and Laelia?”
    “They didn’t want to lose you. I promised Rhianne that I would find you, if you existed. All her life, she has missed her parents and wondered about possible siblings. Florian raised Rhianne with every advantage of education and position and wealth, but in other ways he was not good to her. She’s in Mosar now, and far happier than she was here. She will be happier still if she can be reunited with her long-lost family. And Marius, you and your sister belong at the palace. Your mother says you’re not educated. Is that true?”
    “I’m a journeyman apothecary. I work for Appius—”
    “Do you know your letters?”
    “No, but...” He’d never needed them, and never thought he would. Appius couldn’t read either. His cheeks heated as realized how provincial he must seem to this man. When Lucien said educated , he didn’t mean someone who had learned a trade. He meant someone with a formal education, a scholar like they had at the universities. Marius couldn’t even read a street sign.
    “I can fix all that,” said Lucien.
    “You’re asking me to go with you to the Imperial Palace—”
    “I’m not asking,” said Lucien.
    Marius looked into those hard black eyes. His mother’s fears had been justified. The emperor did mean to take him away, and apparently Marius wasn’t going to have a say in the matter. He glanced out the carriage windows. Could he escape? Probably not with all those guards watching. Did he want to escape? He wasn’t sure.
    “I never knew your mother,” said Lucien. “She fled from Nigellus before I was born, and we met for the very first time today. I don’t know why she made the choices she did, but Marius, those choices have greatly limited your opportunities in life. When she separated you from the rest of your family, she denied you the education and the magic that should have been your birthright—”
    “I don’t want them,” said Marius.
    “Are you certain? You’re an apothecary. What led you to choose that calling?”
    He shrugged. “I like to help people.”
    “How effective are your herbs and poultices?”
    Marius bit his lip. For most conditions, not very.
    “What if you augmented the skill you already possess with the magic of a Healer?” continued Lucien. “Think how much more you could do.”
    Marius was silent. He knew Healers could help the people that apothecaries couldn’t. All his life, he’d envied those rare few with healing magic. The emperor had known just where to poke him to make him hurt. And to yearn for more.
    “I’m taking you back with me to Riat,” said Lucien. “But I won’t break up your family. All of you will come: you, your sister, and your parents.”
    He swallowed. “My sister’s...friend...may give you some trouble.”
    “If a situation develops, my guards will handle it,” said Lucien. “Let’s get started, shall we? It’s time this family was reunited. Did you know your sister Rhianne has children? You’re an uncle, and you didn’t even know it.”
    Marius couldn’t respond. He felt as if a dust devil had descended upon Osler, picked up the pieces of his life, and whirled them into the air, scattering them hopelessly.

Chapter 2
     
    After Lucien left to fetch Laelia, Marius was permitted to gather his things from his apartment atop the apothecary—under guard. While his parents rummaged through their home, making a more thorough packing job than the rucksacks, Marius