My mind races as I make my way back to my rooms. I’m confused by his motives. He wants something from me, or maybe wants me to discover something specific. My immediate reaction is that whatever he wants me to do, I need to do the exact opposite. Unfortunately, with Thayaria on the line, I don’t have the luxury of ignoring good advice about my research, regardless of where it comes from.

As I get ready for bed that evening, I continue replaying every moment of the conversation in my mind, trying to uncover Mazus’s aims but coming up completely blank.

Laurel

The strongest of light channelers can create weapons from the light, carefully honed intense beams that will slice through almost anything. The ability is rare, and very few light channelers throughout history have been able to actually fight with these weapons. Conjuring them quickly and consistently in battle takes extreme strength and control.

The Unabridged History of Magical Orders, Volume I

The Council chamber is thick with tension. The guards on duty at the palace cells immediately reported to Carex that they saw the rebels break out prisoners, and that the rebel group knew exactly where to go. Carex acted quickly, accusing the Velmarans of aiding the rebels. When he tried to arrest them, I reminded Carex and the Council that, as Velmaran citizens, we weren’t technically permitted to arrest them. I’m not even sure if that’s true, but stating it confidently worked—a strategy I’ve learned to deploy well in my time as Queen. I suggested that we instead detain them in their rooms until we can ascertain what happened.

They are there now, with six of Carex’s best guards keeping watch. Carex, Admon, Aria, Margery, Nathaniel, and several other advisors sit around me in the Council chamber, listening to the guards recount what happened down in the cells.

“There were three rebels,” a guard reports. “We didn’t notice them until after the prisoners had been broken out. They waited for us to make our rounds of the lower levels. They knew our rotation schedule and waited for the exact moment we left. The bars of the cells were bent wide enough for the prisoners to walk right out. They had to have had a powerful metal channeler with them. None of the metal channelers in our Royal Guard can even make a dent in the bars in that prison with all the iron around.”

“And the Velmarans just so happen to have the most powerful metal channeler in history here in Thayaria,” Carex adds. I give him a reprimanding look, one brow raised.

“Please, continue,” I say to the guard. “What happened after you found the opening in the cell?”