Assassin of Curses: (The Coren Hart Chronicles Book 3) by Jessie Eaker (best novels in english TXT) 📕

to prosper, but Wynn had depleted ours. And we desperately needed myst users. With the state of things, recruiting them was going to be difficult, which left Zofie with no other option but to train them.

So Zofie was starting a school. Something she had been wanting to do for some time now. And I knew how important this was to her.

Zofie was smiling but looked a little worried as we made our way toward the dining hall. I had been around her enough to know she was composing her thoughts. She would have to address her guests. I had been afraid she would not be able to pull this off, especially with everything else that had been going on in the kingdom. But as I learned, Zofie was a master of organization and had made it happen.

She paused at the entrance where Eallair was waiting for her. The low murmur of friendly conversation drifted from inside the dining hall just beyond. The chamberlain frowned when he saw me, but then again, he always frowned at me.

“Is everyone here?” she asked him.

“We are missing one from Iron Landing, your highness,” Eallair said. “She took ill at the last moment, but her town sent a substitute, one Cabrina Bryst. We haven’t had a chance to test her yet, but she does have the gift.”

Zofie nodded. “The response was better than I expected. How about the ones that showed up without an invitation?”

His mouth tightened in surprise. “How did you know? We had one show up at the gate begging to attend.”

“And did you let Lashea in?”

The chamberlain paused in surprise, then nodded slowly. “We did, as you instructed. We told her she would have to meet the entrance requirements before being accepted. Also, we would have to contact her parents.”

Zofie rolled her eyes in his direction. “Only you found she was an orphan.”

Eallair’s mouth tightened a little more. “That is correct.” He glanced nervously at me. But I just shrugged. This was new to me too.

He looked back to Zofie. “How did you know?”

She smiled. “I didn’t. But I was hoping she would come. I owe her.”

I gave her a puzzled look.

Zofie put a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll tell you about it later. It happened before I met you.” She smiled. “We sort of helped each other.”

Zofie turned back to her chamberlain. “Anything else?”

“No, your highness. Everything else is in order.”

Zofie nodded. “You did well.” She turned back toward the chamber. “Now, let us get started.”

The chamberlain smiled, pleased at the compliment. “I will announce you.”

Zofie paused him. “No, I think for this lot, I would rather you didn’t.”

He tried to stifle his disapproving frown and nodded. “As you wish.”

Zofie took my arm and then took a deep breath—but she hesitated. She looked to me, concerned. “Is this really all right? The kingdom is in such a bad place now.”

I patted her arm. “It will be fine. As we well know, you have to grow your seedlings before you need the crops. Otherwise, you won’t have them when you’re ready.”

She gave me a nervous smile before standing a hair straighter and slipping on her princess face. I hoped I said something right for once.

So with Zofie on my arm, we stepped into the brightly lit room. The smell of spices and food made my mouth water. We had wanted to make this special despite the short supplies, so we had been saving up for this event. Getting a free meal was part of the deal for the school. That and two years of service to the crown after they completed training. It was a deal most families jumped at.

The conversation died as soon as we entered the room. You could have heard a pin drop. There was a single long table in the room with about twenty boys and girls, all in their early to mid-teen years. These were the first ones attending Zofie’s new school for myst users. Several adults sat with them, including Captain Milner and Master Rourke. Spraggel was strangely absent, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to.

Zofie took her place at the head of the table. I sat while she remained standing behind her chair.

“Thank you all for coming to our new school.” She scanned the audience. All the faces were turned expectantly toward her.

About midway down the table, I spotted Maggie de’Glougeman—the daughter of Mikney, the innkeeper of the Inland Sea. Zofie had spotted Maggie’s budding abilities during a stay at the inn, and had been determined to have her as a student. However, Mikney was extremely protective of his daughter and at first refused. Had it not been for us being Maggie’s rescuers from a potential kidnapping, the princess likely would not have been able to convince him.

Zofie continued her speech, “While we can only handle a few now, it is my sincere desire that we grow in numbers until we have to move out of the castle. I am hopeful you will learn enough to master the abilities in myst each of you have. Maybe even some of you will become teachers yourselves to help spread what you learn. You are our future seedlings. Please do everything you can to grow!”

Everyone, even the old chamberlain, applauded. She turned to give me a smug smile. She just used my words in her speech! Zofie turned a broad smile and looked at her audience. “Now everyone, eat up!”

Immediately, the servers came out and began laying out the plates of bread and bowls of vegetable stew. The girls and boys both tore into their meals. It was meager fare, but likely better than most of them had been able to get recently.

Maggie glanced in my direction, and even though she was a little ways away, I could tell she blushed.