Brightly Woven

behind him. North whirled back around to face his mother, his cloaks billowing out behind him.
    “We’re leaving the city tonight,” North said stubbornly. “I’ve given you my information. I’d rather go back and defend the sacrifices than stay here and watch you get yourselves killed.”
    North took a step back just as Hecate reached for him.
    “Don’t,” he told her, and her hand fell away. “Just…don’t.”
    “You have no choice,” she said firmly. “They’re closing the gates and restricting access, in order to set up the city’s defense. I have other plans for you and your friend.”
    North didn’t say a word—just picked up the wooden chair beside him and threw it against the ground. My lips parted in surprise.
    “How very mature of you,” Hecate said calmly. She sat down again, folding her hands atop the desk.
    “I’m not ranked, so you have no control over my magic,” North seethed. “You won’t use either of us!”
    “You should have thought about that before coming into the city,” she said. “If you won’t listen to me as the Sorceress Imperial, then you will listen to me as your mother.”
    “You haven’t been my mother in twelve years,” North said. “Not since Father died.”
    She didn’t even flinch. “You have no idea how difficult this has been for me, Wayland. This title and position weren’t handed to me. I had to fight my way up every single day to bring honor and power back to our family. Funny how living with your magister all those years has caused you to forget that.”
    “I’m sure Father would love to have seen you like this, destroying the country he cherished to take more power for yourself,” North said cruelly. “What a waste—just like it was a waste that he died saving me, correct? Just like I’m a waste, because I haven’t been ranked or done anything with my life. Isn’t that the real reason you’ve been fighting so hard to bring honor back to the family?”
    “I knew it was a mistake to send you to Pascal,” she said, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t have honored your father’s request. I should have kept you here, where I knew you’d be raised properly.”
    “We’re not staying in the city,” North said again.
    “You will, or I will throw you both in jail,” Hecate said. “You won’t take a step out of the city with that girl before I send every wizard at my disposal after you.”
    North looked murderous. “Is that all?”
    Hecate sat back down at her desk, picking up a piece of paper. “I expect to see you at the castle tonight for dinner, Wayland. Find Oliver to see where you’ll be quartering.”
    “Yes, Mother,” North said mutinously.
    He took my hand in a crushing grip and pulled me along after him. I glanced back over my shoulder, unsure if I should say something. I saw Hecate press her hand to her eyes just before North slammed the door shut behind us.
    We practically flew down the hallways. I now knew why the wizards around us stopped to stare; it wasn’t simply because of our appearance or the anger radiating off North. It was because North was the son of the most powerful wizard in Palmarta. Everyone knew his story—his past, his failures.
    Everyone but me.
    I let North lead me outside and around the building, through a small back alleyway, and into a small, neglected garden. There were marble benches and statues, but the fountain in the center of the small enclave was dried out and filled with dirt, and the flower beds around us had withered to brown.
    He sat down heavily on the nearest bench and finally released my hand. For a moment I was too stunned to doanything other than watch the labored rise and fall of his chest. I wished I could see his face, but it rested in his hands.
    “Forgive me,” he said through his fingers.
    I knelt beside him, gently pulling his hands away. “What’s there to forgive?”
    “I never should have brought you here,” he said. “If I had been thinking clearly, I would have kept you somewhere safe.”
    “And you think I would have stayed there willingly?” I gave him a look of disbelief.
    North shook his head. “Of course not. What was I thinking?”
    “I wish you had told me about your mother sooner,” I said.
    “And what would I have said?” he asked. “Mummy dearest is the Sorceress Imperial, she likes to drag others around by their hair, her husband died as Sorcerer Imperial and left her a powerless widow, and she hasn’t talked to me since I refused to