Read The King's Sons (The Herezoth Trilogy) for Free Online Page A

mother might be famous,
but I haven’t a drop of magic. Not that my magic’s any concern of yours. The
king knows who and where I am. If it comes out I moved to Herezoth, I’ll make
public that I’m powerless. No one will attack me for my sorcery, Your
Highness.”
    “No magic?”
said Hune, with a warning glare at Neslan. “In truth?”
    “In truth.
Valkin, you never told them?”
    Kansten and
Valkin had found Zacry Porteg’s spellbooks while the princes were in Traigland.
They had tried to cast incantations, and Kansten had discovered her lack of
sorcery in front of the boy; she had broken down in stunned sadness.
    Valkin told
her, “I never said a thing.”
    She
sputtered, “Well, that…. That’s right decent of you.”
    The crown
prince’s smile was a bit too smug as he told her, “You’re welcome.”
    Wow. You can be both decent and a pompous ass.
    A contrite
Neslan walked up to shake Kansten’s hand. He said, “Never thought our paths
would cross again. Sincerely, though, you’re welcome here, at any time. You
found the spell that saved me from that snake venom. If Vane brought you, what
are you doing in the library?”
    “I’m not
sure. Vane’s with your father. I think there’s…. Something urgent’s come up. In
Partsvale.”
    Valkin and
his brothers shared a confused glance. Hune asked, “How do you know that?”
    The princes
already knew Kansten’s greatest shame. She might as well share another. “I
listened at the door until Vane cast a sound barrier.”
    Neslan
expressed approval with a tart “good woman,” while Valkin groaned out of
exasperation.
    “He always
casts those things. On scores of occasions we’ve tried to eavesdrop.”
    Hune
admitted, “We don’t need to listen in, though. Not really. Father tells us most
everything, all three of us, but to overhear his conferences with the
nobility…. We could pick up more. Potent pauses, odd turns of phrase….”
    Kansten
smirked. “You’re a curious bunch, aren’t you?”
    Valkin fired
back, “ We’re curious? You’re the one
who eavesdropped tonight. Seems I’ve unearthed the reason your mother called
you Kancat. Does she still do that?”
    “I hate
cats,” Kansten muttered. “And curiosity’s not why….” She peered at the eldest
prince, shocked. “You remember my mother calls me Kancat?”
    Valkin said,
“I remember our stint in Traigland distinctly. We all do, seeing Neslan was almost
killed. That damned serpent….”
    That sent
Kansten’s mind back. She remembered the snake attack more vividly than she had
in years: how the day had been so hot she’d twisted her hair up; how Neslan had
fallen, his hand sliding under a log; how the red and yellow bands on the coral
snake had glistened in the afternoon sun as Valkin, with a wave of his hand,
smashed them time and again against an oak.
    With a gasp,
Kansten pointed at the brothers. She whispered, “You have magic. I saw it;
you’re telekinetic. You’re all…. Do people know?”
    The royal
family—the king’s sons, and perhaps the king himself—had magic
powers. Kansten felt dizzy again, and retook her seat. The princes exchanged
uncomfortable looks. Hune’s beagle sniffed around Neslan now as Valkin sat next
to Kansten. He told her, his voice quiet, “Hune’s no magic, but Neslan and I
are telekinetic like our father. The public doesn’t know, of course. Common
citizens can never know. There’d be riots in the streets.”
    So there
would. As peaceful and prosperous as Rexson Phinnean’s reign had proved, people
would panic at the thought that he, like the dictator who had ruled before him,
could call on magic to aid tyranny at his slightest whim. Kansten was now party
to a secret that could destroy her parents’ homeland.
    Vane and the
king would never let her stay in Herezoth. They would send her back to
Traigland. Back to that festering pit of boredom where the only thing of value,
the only thing she cared the slightest bit about, was her