Read The Schism (The Broken Prism Book 4) for Free Online

you’re openly hostile with someone, others can use that against you when they’re formulating their own plans.”
    “So all of us Great Houses and other powerful people spend our time at parties with dozens of people we don’t even like, being as friendly as possible, just so no one else can get the advantage of us by knowing who we’re actually close to?”
    “In a nutshell, yes.”
    For some reason it didn’t sound as stupid as it had earlier today, perhaps because he was finally beginning to wrap his head around what it took to survive as an adult mage in the world.
    “You should get back to bed and finish your reading,” Mrs. Trout changed the subject abruptly. “I won’t go easy on you tomorrow just because you’re tired; we simply don’t have time for it.”
    Hayden nodded and stood up to leave.
    “There is a bathroom down the hallway to your left, if you’re still looking for a glass of water.” She pointed.
    “Thanks.” He walked to the threshold of the library before he turned and added, “Thanks for talking to me too.”
    She waved a dismissive hand in acknowledgement, not looking up from her book, and Hayden went to get a drink of water.
    He spent the next hour in bed finishing his assigned reading, which was nearly as dull as the first two chapters had been, careful not to wake Bonk with his page-turning. Finally he shut the book and slid under the covers, falling asleep before his head even hit the pillow.
    For the first time in weeks, he had no nightmares.
     
    Hayden sprang awake at the knock on his door and hastened to answer it, still dressed in his clothes from the day before. A startled-looking woman informed him that breakfast would be ready in fifteen minutes in the casual dining room, taking in his disheveled appearance with raised eyebrows. Hayden thanked her and closed the door, still blinking to focus his eyes.
    Given that he was up so late last night, he felt surprisingly energetic as he changed clothing and attempted to flatten his hair, prodding a sleeping Bonk as he passed the bed to wake his familiar.
    Probably because this is the first time in weeks I haven’t been woken every few minutes by bad dreams.
    “Come on, you lazy dragon, we’ve got breakfast,” he insisted on his second pass of the room, examining himself in front of the mirror to make sure he didn’t look too rumpled.
    Nothing could wake Bonk faster than the promise of food, and the dragon hopped to his feet and flapped his wings a few times to stretch them for flight while Hayden fastened the prism circlet around his forehead and put on his belt of other magical instruments.
    Bonk perched on his shoulder as Hayden left the bedroom and made his way down the hall, mentally calling up the path to the casual dining room from his tour the day before as he went. He was pleasantly surprised when he found the right room without making any wrong turns, and entered just behind Lorn.
    The casual dining room was much smaller than the formal one from the night before, and Hayden took his place at a table designed to seat six. The room faced the gardens on the west side of the manor, with the entire western wall made of paneled glass to allow the sunlight in. He immediately liked this room better than any of the others he’d been in so far, because it felt open and airy and not oppressively large.
    The three Trouts were already at their seats, though there was also a man Hayden had never seen before seated directly to Mrs. Trout’s right, who watched Hayden with interest as he sat down.
    He looks like a banker, Hayden judged mentally as he returned the man’s stare. The stranger was probably in his early fifties, his brown hair punctuated with streaks of grey around a thinning patch on the crown of his head. Reading glasses dangled from a silver chain around his neck, and he wore tan slacks with his fresh-pressed shirt tucked into them, even though everyone else was in casual clothing.
    “Hayden, I’d like you to meet