Royal Exile. Fiona McIntosh

is hardly a stronghold or much of a prize but my father heard through runners this morning that Barronel was set to fall — probably later today. We have to hope that some renegades somewhere are hatching plans for overthrow in the various kingdoms. It’s to those rebels we must look, find them somehow, link up if we can.’ Gavriel was thinking aloud. No one in authority had said as much but he believed there had to be survivors who were not prepared to succumb to the tyrant’s rule.

      ‘And so now he wants to rule Penraven.’

      ‘Yes, but …’ Gavriel stopped himself too late.

      ‘But what?’

      ‘What do you know about your family, majesty?’

      Leo spun around to face Gavriel. ‘That’s an odd question.’

      ‘Do you know its history?’

      Leo began reciting the Kings. ‘My father is the 8th. Before him, my grandfather, King Darros, and —’

      Gavriel interrupted him. ‘I mean do you know what makes the Valisar Kings so revered … and feared?’

      The boy shook his head, looked down. ‘A secret, no doubt.’

      Gavriel nodded. ‘You should be learning this from your father, not me.’

      ‘But you can give me a hint.’

      The eldest of the De Vis twins — by just three minutes — felt a stirring, a premonition perhaps. ‘It’s known as the Valisar Enchantment. I’ve never heard much about it to tell you the truth, but my father told me rumour abounds among the people.’

      ‘What is it?’ Leo asked, frowning.

      ‘I was told it is a powerful magic that belongs to the Valisar line alone.’

      Leo’s eyes were shining with the intrigue. ‘So father has it. What is it?’

      Gavriel shrugged. ‘The power of coercion.’

      The boy frowned, looked at him quizzically. ‘What does that mean?’

      ‘Well, with it presumably you can bend people to your will.’

      ‘Make them do what you want?’

      ‘You could put it like that.’

      Leo whistled. ‘Imagine that power!’

      Gavriel’s mind drifted momentarily. As Leo threw out suggestions of how it might be manipulated to their own ends, he imagined instead what could happen if such power fell into the wrong hands.

      ‘… and Sarah Flarty could never refuse you.’ Leo finished, breathless, grinning.

      ‘What?’ Gavriel’s attention had returned just in time to hear the last few cheeky words.

      ‘Well, you want to kiss her, don’t you?’

      ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business, your majesty. I should never have mentioned her to you,’ Gavriel replied.

      ‘She’s pretty. I like her. You should kiss her anyway and then you can teach me how to because I’d quite like to kiss Duke Grendel’s daughter but she thinks I’m dirty.’

      ‘Dirty?’

      ‘Says I always smell of horses and mud.’

      ‘Young girls can be a bit priggish, Leo. Older ones are more fun,’ Gavriel added with a wink. ‘Like that delicious new girl, Genrie.’

      Leo screwed his nose. ‘She’s hideous!’

      ‘Hardly.’

      ‘Old!’

      Gavriel shrugged. ‘Only to you.’

      ‘And you … ugh!’

      ‘Older women have experience, Leo. Something you can’t quite appreciate yet.’

      ‘She hates me.’

      ‘Ah, here’s the truth of it. She doesn’t hate you, she’s brisk with everyone, very efficient, very … desirable. I wouldn’t mind her ordering me around —’ He stopped, catching himself in time. ‘Er, where were we?’

      Leo didn’t seem to mind the abrupt halt and he hadn’t forgotten where they’d left their previous topic. ‘But if the Kings of Valisar have this … this power of —’

      ‘Coercion,’ Gavriel prompted.

      Leo nodded. ‘Why hasn’t my father used it to stop the tyrant?’

      Gavriel stood, dusted off his trousers and hauled a reluctant crown prince to his feet. ‘Because your father does not possess this power.’

      ‘But I thought you just said —’

      ‘I told you what the Valisar legend says. The reality is that we don’t know what it is or who possesses it, how it works, or how to stop it working. Your father told my father that he does not wield any magic that he’s aware of, cannot wield anything more dangerous than a sword.’

      ‘So it’s a lie, then.’

      ‘Not necessarily.’

      ‘Gav, you’re confusing me.’

      ‘It’s a confusing subject. Come on, majesty, we’re late. I promised Morkom I’d have you back to take supper with the queen.’ He gave the crown prince a gentle push. ‘We can talk as we walk but keep your voice low — what we discuss is secret.’

      Leo fell into step alongside his tall keeper. ‘So if it’s not a lie, what is it?’

      ‘No one knows. Your father believes that it is a contrary phenomenon, er … by that I mean it’s a thing that can appear whenever it chooses. No one knows for sure but I’m told it can skip generations, lie dormant for endless years if it wants.’

      ‘How does someone know if they have it?’

      ‘I presume, majesty, they can test it by trying to compel people to do their bidding.’

      ‘And my father cannot.’

      ‘He denies any ability and I think he would have used it if he did possess such a thing, don’t you?’

      ‘Lo sod it! I definitely don’t have it. But where does the power come from?’

      Gavriel shrugged. ‘Search me. Born with it, I guess. I learned today that the first Valisar king — Cormoron — who was supposedly bristling with this power — made a blood oath on the Stone of Truth at Lackmarin that he and no other Valisar king would ever be able to use their power against their own.’

      ‘Does that mean family?’

      ‘I think it extends to his people.’

      ‘Go on, this is good,’ Leo said, leaping onto a low wall and frowning as he listened, balancing alongside Gavriel.

      ‘When his blood was spilled upon the stone it is said that a serpent appeared and drank the blood. It told Cormoron that his blood oath was accepted and the magic would remain true to the Valisars and their heirs would be impervious to its power.’

      They’d reached the stairs that led to the royal apartments. Leo touched the carved pattern in the stonework that was a familiar design throughout Brighthelm. ‘Is that why we have a serpent alongside the winged lion in our heraldry?’

      ‘That is precisely why. It was incorporated by Cormoron in a proclamation that the serpent would join the winged lion on the family crest.’

      ‘Did the serpent say anything else to the first king?’

      Gavriel smiled. ‘I don’t know, majesty, I wasn’t there,’ he admitted, ending their conversation.

      He saw how Leo, while making his way up to his private rooms, acknowledged various servants who were passing them — one carrying linen,