(Path of the Dragon Mage: Exiled) 20. Interlude (Patreon)

Cipherus - The Palace

Within one week of his wife's disgrace and banishment from the court with her son, Prince Cipherus remarried.

The girl was nearly two decades younger than himself and rather  pretty which was a benefit, not a requirement. The important thing was  that she had the breeding from a fine noble house with hints of magic  passed down from a previous royal marriage some generations back.

Her personal talents were of water and earth. Nothing extraordinarily  powerful such as fire like himself, but respectable enough.

It was written into their marital contract that she would provide him  with a suitable heir within two years. If she proved unable to do so  despite the assurances of the healers… Well, there would be penalties  levied on her former noble house, and he could cut her free to try  again.

Cipherus was unconcerned. Vesper had conceived early in his first  marriage, and remarrying, he had been laboring… most ardently. He  expected his efforts would soon bear fruit.

As for the remains of his first marriage…

Cipherus assumed that his ex-wife's son had gone along to live with  his mother. Surely, the noble Shield House would welcome the boy, if  nothing else but for his few scholarly achievements. Or perhaps they  would grow weary of him and arrange an accident.

It mattered little. Corvus had been officially stricken from the  Royal scrolls. If he someday had children, they could not be considered  Royal, either.

As such, Cipherus did not think of the boy once until he received  supercilious summons from Lord Shield, the head of his former wife's  house.

It was quite the bold move, considering the Shield House was  currently within disgrace at court. But the Shields were quite wealthy.  Even as a prince, Cipherus could only put off the meeting for so long.

Lord Shield was Vesper's own father. He was old and crooked with age,  being in his ninth decade. However, he had not shown a hint of slowing  down.

"Vesper has been most distraught," Lord Shield said as he passed  Cipherus a letter from the woman, "over the whereabouts of your son."

"Of her son," Cipherus corrected absently. Curiosity made  him glance over the contents of the letter anyway. It was filled with  the typical venom he had come to expect from Vesper.

Really, she had nothing to complain about. Yes, they hated each  other, but Cipherus thought several times if it weren't for the  disappointing child, he and Vesper could have developed a satisfying  working relationship… If only she allowed him to express his other needs  outside their bedroom chambers.

But the boy had been a failure at every level, and Vesper had often  enjoyed using him as a weapon against Cipherus. Was it any surprise,  then, that he had grown to resent the whelp?

He skipped over the first few lines of the letter; typical complaints  he knew so well he found it easy to read in Vesper's shrill voice.

The letter quickly moved to more interesting subjects.

Raising his eyebrows, Cipherus looked up at Lord Shield. "She is  accusing me of taking her son away from her. I made it very clear I  wanted nothing more to do with the boy." He could not resist twisting  the knife with what they both knew was a lie. "He is not of my blood.  Let his true father deal with him."

Lord Shield leveled Cipherus a very unimpressed look. "Then why did you direct your sister to find an apprenticeship for him?"

Years of training kept the surprise from his face. "I did no such thing."

It could not be more plain that the man did not believe him. "Keep in  mind, Prince Cipherus, that Vesper has not contested the terms of the  divorce—"

"She cannot. The King approved it himself."

"She can still make a public spectacle," Lord Shield said, which was  certainly the case. If there is anything his former wife was good at, it  was making a scene that would capture both attention and sympathy.  "Instead, she has retired to our family's estate. With grace and  dignity," he added pointedly.

Cipher snorted. As if his former wife could do anything with grace or dignity.

But as he did so, he realized that he had allowed his dislike for his  former wife and son to blind him. "Then… Vesper truly does not know  where the boy is?"

"That means you do not as well?" Lord Shield shot back.

No, he did not. And until that moment, he had not cared.

It was not as if he harbored any secret affection for the boy. He was  a true disappointment through and through… But Corvus had once been a  prince in name, if no longer in legal blood. That should make him  useless.

Yet, his sister, Sunli, had found value in the boy.

If there was one thing Cipherus knew after a lifetime of dealing with his sister was that she let nothing of value go to waste.

Cipherus rolled the letter back into its tight scroll. "Vesper claims  that my esteemed sister apprenticed him out? I will look into the  matter."

"That would… put her much more at ease," Lord Shield said in a dry  tone that made Cipherus certain that Vesper had been throwing tantrums.  Well, better there than at the palace.

Rising, Cipherus signaled an end to the interview and strode out the door.

* * *

Of course Sunli looked him straight in the eye and claimed she knew nothing of where Corvus was, and of course she was lying.

Cipherus hoped she had gone ahead and killed the whelp. They both  knew Corvus could not compete with Sunli's daughter Starella, but one  could not be too careful.

No matter. Cipherus had his own plans for Starella, too. Though those  plans would have to wait until after his new wife gave him a suitable  child.

Still unconcerned and only mildly intrigued, Cipherus completed some  basic investigating on his own, paying people off to find out who knew  what. It was not difficult. There were more than a few who would prefer  to see the crown fall to the male line.

He was more amused than anything else to find that the boy's dragon  egg was missing. Normally the eggs were disposed of, thrown into the  larder pit when the royal died or married into a non-royal line. Such  things were well documented, yet somehow it had been overlooked when  Corvus's room was cleared.

Cipherus had not so much as looked at his own dragon egg in years. To  hatch a dragon was a foolish child's fantasy. He was an adult, and he  lived in the real world.

With the disappearance of a dragon egg, it became a simple matter to  request the aid of the palace guards. Treason against the crown had the  highest priority.

The problem of his disappointment of a son would solve itself quite  neatly. Even the might of the Shield house could not save him.

Cipherus should have felt satisfied, but one last concern tickled at his mind.

His sister's fingerprints were all over the scheme to remove Corvus  from the palace. That much was clear. However, Sunli also currently held  the King's ear. Had she acted alone, or had she hidden Corvus away from

Cipherus and Vesper under the king's orders? And if so, why?

* * *

Vesper - Shield Country Estate.

"The messenger has arrived," Vesper announced.

Lord Shield, her father, looked vaguely annoyed. Like her, his  magical talent was Air, but his skills were minor. The winds did not  speak to him as they did with her.

Sure enough, within moments there was a knock on the door to the Lord's office.

"Enter!" Lord Shield snapped. When the man walked in, he took the  proffered message scroll. The servant saw himself out with a hasty bow.

Vesper waited with thinly disguised impatience as her father read  through the message. After he was done, he snorted, rolled it up and  stood from his table to go take in the view by the large window.

Outside, the land was verdant with ripening grapes on the vine. It  was pretty enough, Vesper supposed, but every glimpse of the countryside  was a reminder of her exile.

If life was fair, she would be back in the palace. She would be  secure in her place as the next queen, not fiddling her time away  managing vineyards.

Lord Shield still had not spoken. Finally, Vesper's patience wore thin. She snapped, "Well?"

"That was a report from our spymaster. It is as exactly as you said  it would be. Cipherus has ordered palace guards to hunt the boy down."

"Of course he has. Cipherus is nothing but predictable." She flicked  her fingers, and the scroll rolled to the other side of the desk in the  new breeze.

Lord Shield turned a wary eye on his daughter. "Cipherus now has  ample evidence to charge my grandson—who is now a member of this noble  house—with high treason."

"Which is why you have sent our finest men to tail Cipherus's."  Vesper's smile was acid. "Our search has yielded nothing. Cipherus has  the might of the crown behind him. Let him do the work for us. Myself  and my men will intercept them once they have located my son and the  dragon egg he carries."

Her father favored her with a sharp look. "I said nothing about the dragon egg."

"You told me Cipherus is charging him with high treason. There is  only one conclusion that can be drawn: Corvus intends to hatch the egg  and claim the throne." She smiled, satisfied and proud. "He is, after  all, still half Shield. Ambition is in his blood."

"The boy has no magic. How can he possibly hold the throne?"

She flicked her fingers again. "He has lived a sheltered life within  the palace. He has never been given adequate incentive to show his  worth."

"And if that is not the case?"

Vesper shrugged. "With enough enchanted artifacts surrounding him, he  can approximate the appearance of magic. Plus, it will hardly matter if  he has a dragon by his side. Who would stand before him?"

"Have you forgotten the tragedy of Zriah the Foolish?"

"Her selfish father could not stand a third born daughter on the throne—"

"And her royal dragon could not stop its master's execution," Lord  Shield interrupted. "Spare me the history I taught you as a child. " He  sighed and reached up to rub between his eyebrows. "Vesper, you are  playing a dangerous game. I fear the consequences may come back on this  house."

"I have been playing dangerous games since I married into the royal  family," she snapped, peeved. "May I remind you that, even as a royal  exile, Corvus is still your only living grandson? Why do you think Sunli  went to such lengths to separate us? If he is not royal, then he is  your heir. Unless you have changed your mind and named me as heir in his  place…"

"That path closed to you when you married Cipherus." He slashed his  hand through the air, cutting off that old argument before it could  begin again. "And we both know Corvus's rise to rank amounts to the same  thing. You would wield power through the boy."

"Yes, and within a few years he will be a man dangerous enough to  threaten Sunli's daughter. A man with the support of the strongest noble  house and a hatred for the royals who abandoned him." She smiled. "I  will make sure of it."

Lord Shield raised an eyebrow. "Daughter, it sounds to me like you  intend your son to challenge the throne, with or without hatching the  egg."

"Only if I feel he needs to," she replied.

He thought about that for a moment, then frowned. "There is still the  charge of treason to contend with. We can hide him within this estate,  but not forever."

"If Corvus cannot hatch the egg within a reasonable time frame, I  will dispose of it. Even Cipherus cannot convict with no evidence.  Especially considering " She shrugged again. "You know the proverb: Many paths lead to the same future."

"A man of Shield blood on the throne at last…" Lord Shield thought  for a moment and then nodded. "Go. Bring my grandson back home."