Trial of Fire (74 page)

Robert raised his eyebrows and looked at Jenn. ‘She’s your daughter, all right.’

Jenn’s luminous blue eyes betrayed a smile. ‘Don’t blame me, Robert. You’re the one who said she and David should know the truth. You suggested she should live in Marsay with her brother. Can I help it if she can twist you around her little finger?’

‘Well, you could stop giving her an example to follow,’ Robert replied, trying to hide his own smile. He turned back to his daughter and took her hands between his. ‘Don’t for one moment think I don’t appreciate what you are trying to do. I’ve had many advocates through my life, but never before have I had one who has acted so passionately from hearsay alone.’

‘But—’

‘Let me finish,’ Robert murmured gently. ‘You forget in your history the suffering my actions and inactions caused, the pain and confusion my people went through, all because I tried to run from something that was in my blood. This peace you so lightly value is something a lot of people in this country have never experienced before. We changed the face of the land, but there are still many people alive today who remember what it was like before, and what it cost them to banish the evil. So many didn’t live to see this peace – and many of those were people I loved.’

Ruel’s gaze didn’t leave her father. ‘Then you won’t let me publish it?’

Robert shook his head slowly. ‘No. I know it may sound harsh to you, but I want you to understand something. You’re right about one thing. There is a deeper lesson to learn from history, a greater understanding of who we are, and why. But you need to ask yourself: if Amar Thraxis had just told us what we were in the beginning, what would we have done? Would we have blindly followed instructions based on a magic we couldn’t begin to understand? We are, all of us in this room, the product of a work he began more than a thousand years ago. He knew it would take a long time – but he was wise enough not to tell us why.’

He drew Ruel to a chair by the end of the table and sat her down. He pulled out another one and sat opposite her, keeping hold of her hands.

‘You don’t think people will understand?’ Ruel asked quietly.

‘No,’ Robert said, ‘I think it’s too soon to ask them to. This goes back so many centuries, and we, as sorcerers, were created to be guardians over them. How will they feel to know they were left out? Will all the old prejudices and fears erupt again because they feel inferior?’

‘But you do think one day they will be ready?’

‘I hope so,’ Robert replied, lifting her hand to kiss it. ‘I’m so very proud of the courage you’ve shown in writing it all down, knowing we might be angry. It really is far superior to anything so far written about those years, and one day perhaps, when it
is
published, we will live to regret that because we’ve been plagued by all the questions it would engender. However, you’ve shown an insight not common in someone your age. There
is
a lesson to be learned: the most important lesson of all, that our differences are our strengths, and it is those strengths that keep evil away. It’s just that I’m not sure we’ve learned it properly yet.’

Ruel looked at her mother and Jenn came around the table. ‘In this, I agree with your father. Believe it or not, there are some things about which we do not constantly argue.’

Robert glanced over his shoulder, an eyebrow arched. ‘There are?’

Jenn laughed and stood behind his chair, placing a hand on his shoulder, which he grasped immediately. ‘But your work will not be in vain. Nor will it be lost.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘We will put it in the safest place possible, where it can be read when the time is right. Robert and I will code it for inclusion in the Calyx.’ Ruel’s eyes widened. ‘You can do that?’

Finnlay moved away from the fireplace and gently drew Ruel to her feet. ‘I’m quite sure you should have noticed by now that your damned parents can – and usually do – do anything they want to do. At least we won’t have wasted our time, even if you did get all the praise. I suppose my contribution will never be remembered.’

‘Nor should it be,’ Robert replied instantly. ‘I think that’s the penance you should pay for all those years you harassed me.’

‘See?’ Finnlay turned to Ruel for support, then to Andrew. ‘All that hard work, fifty years supporting a brother who never understood the meaning of gratitude. I spend two years helping his daughter write a book that makes him out to be a hero and what do I get?’

Andrew was already laughing. ‘As I said, you’re always happier when you have something to complain about.’

‘And,’ Robert murmured, coming to his feet with a smile, ‘what kind of brother would I be if I didn’t constantly try and give you the means to be happy? Really, Finn, what do you think of my sense of duty?’

He placed his arm around Jenn’s waist and favoured them all with his usual charming smile. ‘Come, let’s gather up the rest of our cursed family and go and get some dinner. Micah, Saìread and the boys should have arrived by now. I’m sure the Queen is tired of being beleagured by my
grandchildren running wild – not to mention those wayward grandchildren of yours, Finn; I don’t know how Fiona puts up with them.’

Jenn grinned at them both, ‘That’s because she knows where they got it from.’

Robert chuckled and turned to the boy in the chair. ‘David? Please put the book down and come play with your family.’

At twelve, David was only just starting to grow, but even so, his father towered over him. With a grin, the boy slid off the chair, tucked the book under his arm and ran out of the room ahead of the adults.

‘And you worry about
my
grandchildren, Robert,’ Finnlay murmured. ‘Personally, I think it’s
your
progeny who are going to cause us the most trouble.’

‘That’s as it should be, brother,’ Robert replied with a laugh. ‘Exactly as it should be.’

HERE ENDS THE FINAL BOOK OF ELITA