The Traitor Queen (The Traitor Spy Trilogy #3)(96)

“You know what I heard, Lilia?” Bokkin asked. “I heard someone saying that novices haven’t united against someone like you for years. Someone who doesn’t know her place. Last time it was real effective, I heard.”

They mean Sonea, she realised. “Effective?” she replied. “She beat her rival in a challenge and became a Higher Magician. If that’s effective, I ought to encourage novices to unite against me.”

She held back a laugh at the surprise on the other novice’s faces.

Bokkin scowled. “Before then. Before—”

The door behind him opened and a black-robed magician strode through. Lilia felt a rush of relief, then quickly schooled her face. If anything had shown, she hoped they were too busy staring at Kallen to see it.

Kallen looked at them, his frown deepening as he took in the scene. The novices bowed. His eyes narrowed.

“Lady Lilia,” he said. “We only need one volunteer.” He scanned the faces. “Which of you would like the honour?”

Bokkin’s followers turned to frown at him. Kallen followed their gaze and nodded. “You’ll do, Lord Bokkin. Follow me.”

The novices flattened themselves against the wall as he moved past. Not wanting to trail behind Kallen with Bokkin, Lilia turned and led the way to the small room Kallen used for her training. When she reached the door she turned back, expecting to see that Bokkin had fled.

But the boy had obediently followed. He was pale and frowning. Worried, she thought, smothering a smile. I would be too. What on earth does Kallen want with him?

Kallen opened the door and ushered Bokkin inside. Lilia followed. Kallen pointed to a seat. Bokkin sat down, his eyes downcast.

“Thank you for volunteering,” Kallen said, taking the other chair. “Lilia has explained that it will not hurt?”

“Nnn—” Bokkin began, his eyes widening.

“Not yet,” Lilia injected. “I haven’t had time to explain much.”

Kallen looked at her. Though he was frowning in disapproval, she caught a glint of something else in his gaze. What is he up to?

He turned back to the young man. “In fact, done correctly the subject cannot sense their mind being read at all.” Bokkin’s eyes went very wide, but Kallen didn’t appear to notice. “Now, I did arrive a little late, and don’t want to delay your arrival at your first class, so we’d best begin.” He beckoned to Lilia. “Stand behind him.”

She was glad he’d given her a reason to move out of Bokkin’s sight, as she doubted she could have resisted smiling much longer. As she obeyed, Bokkin tried to turn to look at her.

“This wasn’t … I didn’t …”

Kallen leaned forward and fixed Bokkin with a challenging stare. “Changed your mind, have you? I guess we can always put the word out that we need someone else.”

Bokkin stilled. Lilia could imagine him weighing up the options. Be labelled a coward or have his mind read by one of the feared Black Magicians and Lilia. To her amusement, Bokkin stayed put.

“You won’t go looking through my memories?” he asked.

Kallen shook his head. “Of course not.”

Bokkin nodded. “All right then.”

Standing up, Kallen nodded to Lilia. “I will connect with your mind; you connect with his.”

Taking a deep breath, Lilia placed her hands on either side of Bokkin’s head and, as she felt Kallen’s hands press against her temples, started a simple exercise to clear and focus her mind.

—Lilia, Kallen spoke.

—Kallen.

All she sensed was his presence and mind-voice. In other lessons involving mind-to-mind instruction, he had discouraged her from imagining her mind as a room. Sometimes it made the lessons harder, but it meant her grasp of concepts was less conscious and more instinctive. It made using magic feel like moving a limb – as much reflex as deliberate.

—Bokkin will report us if you search through his memories, but I doubt he has much control of his mind. He’ll probably show us what he doesn’t want us to see anyway. If you remain alert, you may see something you can use to stop him harassing you.

Lilia could not hide her shock from him.

—But … we ought to ignore those memories!

—Yes. However, the Guild does allow some bending of the rules, in exceptional cases. We have learned that it is better to do so and stop the harassment of novices, than ignore it and risk those novices breaking rules and laws later.

—Because of Sonea?

—And conflicts brought about by opening the Guild to lower-class entrants.

—I’m not sure I could bring myself to use anything very private …

—You may not need to. The threat of it may be enough to deter him.

—I hope so.

—Now, focus on Bokkin’s mind. Sense his instinctive resistance to a mind-read.

She did as he instructed and sensed a surge of triumph from Bokkin as she failed.

—Now watch …

Kallen’s presence expanded and weakened, like a beam of light softened by passing through a window screen. Bokkin’s mind did not sense a focused effort at intrusion, and did not fight it. A moment later Kallen’s presence sharpened again.

—Now you. Clear your mind of everything but the one intention: to drift into his mind like smoke.