The Unmage Read Free Page A

select. Or who might accept him. But his mother had been thinking about it— planning it.
    He waved a hand at the mage lights that hung along the back wall, activating them so they bathed the small room in bright, white light. Carefully he scanned the room, looking for purple mage mist, looking for evidence that his mother was spying on him. Nothing. Good.
    Timo crossed to the chair and sat down. The bed was bare, the mattress rolled up at one end to reduce dust, but his desk and book case were clean and polished, no doubt thanks to Annya. The Server Guild woman had been in his mother’s service as long as he could remember, and she knew better than to neglect anything, even the unused room of her employer’s son.
    He would not be Journeyman to his mother. She’d told Rorik that she would make sure he had no other choice, but he would not let her control his life. He didn’t know Santos Nimali—wasn’t sure he could trust him—but he would take that chance. Because he knew he couldn’t trust his mother. If he was her Journeyman, it would be for her benefit, not his.
    Two years, that’s all he had to wait. When he turned sixteen he would be considered a full Guildsman, even if Rorik deemed him not ready for Journeyman status. If Santos Nimali agreed to teach Timo, he would have to give compensation—that was Guild Law—but after today Timo thought Santos would be willing. He was rich, richer than almost anyone else in Mage Guild—he’d heard his mother complaining about it to Rorik.
    What’s more, he owned the island of Old Rillidi. He was the only Guildsman in all of Tregella who didn’t have to rely on the Guilds, any Guild, for the place he called home.
    Timo’s old room was where he’d lived until he was apprenticed but it was not his home. He hadn’t even spent a single night here since he’d moved to Rorik’s over six years ago. A move his mother had arranged, just as she and Rorik controlled his education. But he had a right to see the Mage Guild records.
    He stood up, pushed the chair against the wall and lifted his right hand, watching as the soft mauve mist collected around his wrist.
    He would learn what he could from Rorik—he was duty bound to teach Timo, after all. But Timo vowed to do everything he could to learn what Rorik wouldn’t teach him. Things he believed were beyond Timo’s power and skill level, because just like unmagic, his mother and Rorik didn’t want to know he had strong magic.
    He concentrated, and the mist spiralled out from him towards the chair. There was a small puff of mage mist and the chair disappeared. A second puff and the chair re-appeared in the centre of the room. He grinned. The chair was much bigger than the stone Rorik had given him to practice relocating with, but the stone hadn’t seemed like any effort at all. Even the chair hadn’t taxed him. Timo eyed the bed, letting the power build and curl around his wrist again. He’d play with the stone later and he’d use that when Rorik tested him, but for now, he wanted a challenge.
     
    “ YOU’VE BEEN TOO lenient on him.” Arabella glared at Rorik. Annya had left, closing the door behind her. A steaming cup of tea sat ignored beside her chair. “I do not like the insolence Timo demonstrated today. You need to drive that out of him, I don’t care how.”
    “He needs to ask questions,” Rorik replied. “I need him to trust me if I’m to teach him the magic he needs.”
    “But not about his father,” Arabella replied. “He can learn all he needs to know about Valerio Valendi from me!”
    “Can he?” Rorik asked. “You knew the man for a brief time. I knew him for years. I knew him when he was Santos Nimali’s Apprentice.”
    “Are you implying that you knew the father of my child better than I did?” Rorik may have the title of Primus but they both knew who kept the council in check.
    “Not better,” Rorik said quickly. “But in a different light.” He touched a hand to his head.