Amily rose, and Mags saw at that moment, the final bit of irony that the heavy skirts of her gown had concealed. She was lame, and had to use Jak’s aid to get to her feet. Her right leg was twisted all wrong—

Herald Nikolas reached the group, and put both arms around Amily, embracing her and steadying her at the same time.

“Hello, my scheming darling,” he said, dropping a kiss on top of Amily’s head. “Have you finished terrifying the poor lad yet?”

“I’ve only just started,” Amily said cheerfully. “Father, as I am sure you know, this is Mags, the boy from the mine, the one that uncovered that cheating merchant for Master Soren. Mags, this is my father.”

The King’s Own reached out and shook Mags’ hand. “Good to meet you, Trainee,” he said. Mags looked up at him.

If you didn’t know he was the King’s Own Herald, you would never have guessed. He had that same ability to fade into the background that his daughter had, only in his case, this was clearly a skill honed to perfection. His face was no particular shape, his hair no particular color, and his eyes were a kind of washed-out neutral. He wore his Whites with no particular air. If you had to pick him out of a crowd, you couldn’t.

“I hadn’t yet gotten around to telling him what you wanted out of him, Father,” Amily said with a smile. “Other than that Soren thinks he can be our eyes inside the new Heralds’ Collegium.”

Nikolas held his daughter carefully and regarded Mags out of those unreadable eyes. “Amily has put it quite succinctly. Soren thought you might be amenable to acting as a set of eyes for us, if we told you what to look for,” he said, in a soft voice that was neither high nor low. “Doing what I presume you just did for Lydia and Jak, since I am sure they quizzed you about those mercenaries. His plan was to not ask you for anything you would feel uncomfortable about. Merely observing and reporting.”

The Herald paused, and Mags felt that more was coming. “Aye, go on.”

Nikolas inclined his head. “But I have just been speaking with Herald Caelen, and he has a high opinion of you, Trainee. The Companion that Chose you is one of the brightest, and your Gift is strong, mature, and under remarkable control. We think you can do more than that. We think you can be an impartial set of eyes on the Heralds themselves as well as the Trainees. In fact, we think you can report to us about all the Trainees, as well as the Bards, and the Healers.”

Mags felt as if someone had just doused him with a bucket of ice water. “M-me?” he stammered.