“Betrayal? I doubt she ever had any loyalty to this place so how could she betray it? She did what she was sent here to do. I must say I’m impressed with her dedication, all this time living a lie and she never faltered, never let her mask slip.”

“She said something, before she died. ‘Once there were seven.’ Do you know what it means?”

There was something there, some reaction but not the same recognition he had seen in Master Sollis, more like fear, but gone in an instant. “You have many questions today, Vaelin. It seems to be a recurring feature of our conversations.”

Another one who’ll tell me nothing. “Forgive me, Aspect.”

She dismissed his concern with a laugh. “After what you did for me I feel I owe you one answer at least. So, ask me, but one question only mind.”

One question only. It almost seemed cruel, as if she was playing with him. He wanted answers to every one of the myriad questions that plagued him, but after a moment’s frantic thought he settled on the one that had been at the forefront of his mind for months. “What do you know of my sister?”

“Ah.” She paused for a moment, sadness lining her face. “I know that she’s a very bright little girl. I know her parents love her very much. I know that she was born little over ten years ago.”

“When my mother was still alive.”

The Aspect sighed heavily. “Vaelin, I don’t wish to hurt you but you must understand that not every marriage is a happy story. Your mother and father loved each other greatly but they were also very different. Your mother hated war, she had seen enough of it in her service, but she accepted your father’s role as Battle Lord because she loved him and because he was a man of justice who strove to keep the worst excesses of the Realm Guard in check. But when the third Meldenean war came she found she could stomach it no longer. She knew what he had been ordered to do and she begged him not to. But he had to obey his King.”

“The city.” Men, women, children… screaming in the flames.

“Yes. It haunted them both and it ended their union. She turned away from him. He began spending more time away from home, how he met the woman who would give him a daughter I don’t know. But when your mother died and you were placed in the Sixth Order they were brought to live in his home. He asked for permission to marry and legitimise the girl but the King refused. The Battle Lord must be an example, a model for the people to follow. It was not long after this that your father left the King’s service.”

“Did my mother know? About the girl.”

“I don’t think so. Her health began to fail about the same time. She concerned herself with your future.” She reached up to smooth the hair from his forehead. “She had many hopes for you. All the good she did, all the people she healed, but you were the proudest achievement of her life.”

“Then I am glad she did not live to see what I have become.”

The slap was slow by his standards but so unexpected he failed to block it.

“Don’t ever say that!” Her voice was heavy with anger as he rubbed his stinging cheek. “What have you become? A brave young man who saved my life. Not to mention Sister Sherin’s. I know your mother’s spirit sings with pride at who you are.”

“I am a killer. It’s all I know how to do.”

“You are a warrior in the service of the Faith. Do not forget that. It may mean nothing to you now but it will in time.”

“It’s not what she wanted. Putting me in that place so my father could move his whore into her house…”

“It wasn’t his decision.”

“Another King’s order, then. A symbol of his devotion…”

“It was your mother’s dying wish.”

He felt he had been slapped again, only worse. His head spun, mind reeling. LIES! She’s lying! My mother would never have wanted this.

“Vaelin?”

He rose from the bench, staggering away from her, nausea and confusion boiling inside him, but his weakened legs could only carry him a few steps before he collapsed, crushing precious orchids and finding himself blinded by tears.

“Vaelin.” She was holding him, cradling him as he sobbed. “I’m sorry. You had to know.”

“Why?” he whispered into her breast. “Why would she do that?”

“Because she was brave enough to look into your heart and see the man you were meant to be. She prayed to the Departed you would inherit her gift, that you would spend your life as a healer, but as you grew she knew it was your father’s skill that ran in your blood. As your father’s son you would have had a very different life, a life of service true, but service to the King, not the Faith. The King had plans for you, did you know that? In time you would have been very useful to him. Your mother had lost her husband to his plans, she wouldn’t lose a son. As her health worsened she realised she would not be there to protect you and your father would always obey his king. She knew Aspect Arlyn well from her time in the Cumbraelin wars and asked him to take you. Of course he agreed although he knew it meant conflict with the crown. Your father raged when she told him, his anger was terrible, but your mother was dying and as his final service to her she made him promise he would give you to the Order when she was gone. It was his last act of loyalty to her.”

Loyalty is our strength…Loyalty to a king… Loyalty to a betrayed wife…

His voice came in a whisper, secrets rising from deep inside. “I heard her once, my first night in the Order as I lay shivering in fear. I heard her say my name.”

Her arms tightened around him. “She loved you so much. When I placed you in her arms she seemed to shine with it.”

He drew back a little, puzzled.

She smiled and placed a kiss on his forehead. “I delivered you Vaelin Al Sorna, and a big, squalling mass of flesh you were.”

Questions. Still so many questions. But somehow he felt content to leave them unasked. For now the answers she gave were enough. She held him for a while longer as his tears subsided then helped him back to the Order House. He left two days later amidst fond farewells from the brothers and sisters of the Fifth Order. Sister Sherin wasn’t present, her Aspect having sent her to the southern coast the previous day where fresh rioting left many people in need of healing. It would be nearly five more years before Vaelin saw her again.

Chapter 6

He recovered in a few days with no lingering ailments save a tendency to cough on cold mornings and a life-long suspicion of overly amorous women, something which did not concern a brother of the Sixth Order with any regularity. His return to the Order was greeted with studied indifference from the masters, a marked contrast to the joyous farewells he received from the brothers and sisters of the Fifth Order. His brothers, of course, acted differently, fussing over him with an embarrassing level of concern, confining him to bed for a full week and forcing food down his neck at every opportunity. Even Nortah joined in, although Vaelin detected a certain sadism in the way he tucked the blankets in and held the soup spoon to his mouth. Frentis was the worst, spending every spare minute in their tower room, anxiously watching over him and becoming agitated at the slightest cough or sign of ill health. He earned his first caning from Master Sollis for failing to appear at sword practice because he had been fretting over a slight fever Vaelin developed in the night. Finally the Aspect decreed their room off limits to him on pain of expulsion.