Morwin walked the streets in a more somber mood. Galvin decided not to walk him back to his palace, so he had to go by himself. His hands stuffed in his pockets, his mind racing back and forth, he continued his stroll through the streets.

  Morwin wished the camps outside the city weren’t there. That way he could just leave and no one would really stop him. Out there in the wilderness, with the power of gems surging through him, he felt free.

  He could remember a time when the camps hadn’t been there. That’d been before the battle of Rathalin, when his father underestimated the power of rebels.

  He’d heard tales of that battle. Seen the effect of it with his own eyes. The rebels nearly won the day and captured the capital. If it hadn’t been for the bravery of King Rai’Shal, then the rebels may have won the day. After that battle, Lord De’Shai moved the camps from within the walls to outside, to ensure rebels wouldn’t try that again. One of the reasons they nearly won was because of the time it took to assemble the soldiers to fielding them. Thankfully people like his father, who care for the people of Agnius, exists.

  Why was he still thinking like this? After talking to Jules, why was he still hoping for the king’s success? Was he truly born like this, forced to be indoctrinated into this system? His instinctual thinking kept coming back to him, and he couldn’t help it.

  He could clearly remember his terror of watching as the sky darkened into an orange color, smokes rising in the distance, and the fear he’d had.

  No. The fear was misplaced. Justicar was never going to come and raid the capital like he’d thought.

  His mindless walking took him to the entrance of the palace. He didn’t even realize how far he’d come, since he was stuck in his endless loop of thoughts. Morwin was only snapped back to reality when one of the guards greeted him.

  Morwin simply gave a grunt as he strolled into the familiar place. When he walked in, one of the servants stood there, towel in pocket, hands clasped behind his back. It was one of the servants who accompanied him to Jovin City, although he did not know his name.

  However, he was the only one there. The palace seemed surprisingly empty. Usually at this point, there would be servants running around, and several guards roaming on watch. After the attempt on his father’s life fourteen years ago, there’d been much more guards in the palace. Lord De’Shai was a careful man after all. But apparently not today.

  “Young Master Morwin,” the servant spoke, and it immediately reminded him of Mr. Axwel. “Lord De’Shai requires your presence in his office. He says the matter is rather… urgent.”

  Oh great. Now he is to be reprimanded for staying out so late. He knew it would come, but he just didn’t know how to mentally prepare himself. He just wished he had his sapphire with him.

  He could go to his room and grab it real quick, but his father will see and be displeased with him for not following his instructions. So instead, Morwin dredged along the hallways, dragging his feet for most of the way.

  He’d become familiar with the palace that he could make his way around with his eyes closed. It didn’t take long for him to come to where his father usually resided.

  Morwin raised his hand to knock then hesitated. Something sounded out to him. It sounded of familiar heartbeats.

  He followed through on his knock and he heard his father’s voice from behind the door. “Come in, Son,” he spoke. His voice didn’t have the usual hardness to it.

  Morwin opened the door and pushed his way in. His father sat behind his desk, his table clear of the usual piles of paper that usually sat there, hands out and clasped, resting on top of the mahogany wood.

  “Am I… in trouble?” Morwin asked.

  “Close the door,” his father spoke, his voice low in volume, barely above a whisper. Morwin did as instructed.

  “Where were you last night?” his father asked.

  “I was out,” Morwin said. “Don’t worry I had one of my servants with me. The one that’s really good at swords and daggers.”

  “I’m just glad you’re safe, son,” Lord De’Shai spoke. “And I just wanted to know how proud I am of you, of what kind of man you’re becoming into. Going into Jovin City and negotiating with the Lord there who’s separated himself from us on purpose. It takes a real man to do something like that.”

  What was going on? His father never spoke like this, never paid him more than a tinge of attention. He knew his father. Knew his mannerisms, his behaviors, his tone. This was not him.

  An opal. It had to be. Someone had kidnapped his father and used the opal to disguise himself to not raise any suspicion. Morwin knew better. He strained his eyes to see past the illusion, willing for it to go away.

  Up near the desk, the rhythmic heartbeat sounded, all eight of them, clashing with one another. Rage, calm, free, ancient, grace, excited, mysterious, confident. All these heartbeats intertwined with another and made a cacophony of an ugly noise.

  Morwin moved a hand and reached for his dagger. What was going on? Who kidnapped his father?

  Morwin inched closer and closer. “What is it that you need to speak to me about, Father?” Morwin asked innocently, one hand behind his back, gripped onto the hilt of his dagger.

  Lord De’Shai moved underneath his desk and pulled something out. A brilliant golden case with glass covering it, revealing eight objects inside, glowing brilliantly, reflecting the sun’s rays, casting a rainbow of colors against all the walls.

  “Do you know what these are?” Lord De’Shai asked. Morwin could see the opal inside. He tried to focus and feel if more power was being drawn from the gemstone, but he isn’t as good as Galvin is. He couldn’t detect it. It still had all of its essence intact. None of these gemstones had been used. He’d Absorbed from full gemstones before and knew how much essence they held.

  But what about the size of gemstones? Did bigger ones mean more essence within them? These ones were pretty small, so it’d be easier to detect if it’s being drawn upon, right? Morwin frowned at his frustration. There’s too many things he didn’t know about Gemming to be useful to Galvin.

  “They’re gemstones,” Morwin spoke finally. “Objects banned to be carried around by the king.”

  “And do you understand why they were banned?” his father asked.

  “Because there are certain people in Agnius that’re able to harness the energy inside these gems to do something greater,” Morwin said, trying to dumb it down. He didn’t want to make it sound like he knew a lot about Gemming.

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  Wait, why was his father bringing this up? Did he know? Had one of the soldiers seen him Gemming outside the walls of Rathalin?

  His heart started racing. No, that couldn’t be.

  “I think you’re one of the people that could Gem,” his father spoke.

  No. He would be turned into one of the people of Agnius that the king used against Justicar. He’d be a slave to this for the rest of his life. He had to get out. He had to do something.

  “Can you test it for me?” his father asked.

  Morwin sat down on the chair.

  “How do I do it?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Do you feel something from them? Close your eyes. Let your mind see.”

  Morwin did as instructed, but he could already feel the heartbeats before he’d even come into the room.

  No, his father didn’t know. He was simply putting his theory to the test. If he knew for certain, he wouldn’t have Morwin do this. Morwin could lie.

  “I don’t feel anything,” Morwin spoke as he drew upon the power of the sapphire. He focused on Mind.

  Believe me, he shouted, his words projected at his father.

  Lord De’Shai’s expression softened a bit. “No, you must be able to feel something. I know it for fact. You’re one of them.”

  Did his sapphire fail? Did his father become aware of what was happening? What’s going on?

  “I can’t feel anything.”

  “Try harder,” his father said, a bit of frustration on the edge of his voice.

  Believe me, believe me, believe me, Morwin thought over and over, projecting it more and more at his father.

  His expression softened again. “I’m sorry, father,” Morwin said. “I am not what you think I am.”

  “It’s alright son,” his father spoke, burying his face into his hands. Why had he hoped so hard for Morwin to have these abilities? If Lord De’Shai didn’t know the truth, and he really was testing, then why did he think Morwin, of all people, would be a Dragikiri?

  “All those years ago, when you were just a baby, I saw you do something. It stretched all the way back then, and it’s taken me this long to see if you could really do it. I must’ve been mistaken,” he spoke. “I’m sorry for this. Perhaps I just need to start over.”

  “Start over?” Morwin asked, but he could not get a response. The glass window behind Lord De’Shai shattered into a thousand pieces and a large and bulky figure darted in through, glass bouncing off his body.

  He landed right behind Lord De’Shai in a crouch and unsheathed a sword.

  His father barely had time to react. Morwin, however, did. He’d seen the shadow approach and had been prepared for this moment.

  With all sapphire essence expelled, he Absorbed in diamond and focused everything he had on Speed.

  He moved faster than he ever did before in his life. In the blink of an eye, Morwin was able to reach his father then pull him back. But the moment everything returned to normal, the essence was gone. Speed sure did take a lot out of him.

  The sword connected, slicing through the chair that Lord De’Shai just sat in. The wood of the chair shattered into a hundred pieces, dropping to the ground. There’d been a Dragikiri behind that strike.

  Morwin met the eyes of the attacker.

  “You’re not supposed to be here,” he said. This man wore the familiar mask of Justicar and had on the black cloak. Seems like Galvin was successful in obtaining more attire.

  But this man wasn’t Galvin, the other Dragikiri in Justicar. The voice sounded nothing like him. This man was Darius, another one of Galvin’s followers.

  “So you are a Dragikiri,” Morwin’s father said from behind him. Morwin pushed the older man back slightly, backing up as well.

  Darius met Morwin’s eyes and shot him glares of daggers. The hatred he’d seen behind Jules’s eyes was there, multiplied tenfold. If looks could kill, this would be it.

  “That’s not what we should be worried about right now,” Morwin said.

  “Guards!” Lord De’Shai shouted.

  “It’s not going to do anything,” Darius spoke. “I made sure to clear out the palace before I came in. There are no servants here.”

  That’s why the palace had been empty.

  “What did you do to my servants?” Lord De’Shai demanded.

  “Harm has not befallen them, that you have my word. My quarrel here today is not with them, but with you.”

  He raised his sword and pointed it at Morwin. “Get out of the way, kid,” Darius spoke. “You’re not the target of this attack. If you leave now, no harm would fall upon you.”

  Morwin gritted his teeth. That bastard Galvin. He promised me. He promised.

  “No,” Morwin spoke through gritted teeth. His body flared alive. Anger came to him in waves of powerful surges.

  Darius knew of the promise. Jules knew of the promise. Guenevir knew of the promise. Kaden knew of the promise. And they all knew Galvin would break it. He would never be a member of Justicar. It was never his place.

  His father’s tutelage had lied to him throughout the years, but at least they didn’t know they were lying. Justicar knew from the start that Lord De’Shai had to go. This had been a plot from the very start.

  But Morwin couldn’t fight against Darius. Not with his puny dagger at least.

  “There’s a sword, attached to the bottom of my desk,” his father spoke into his ear.

  Morwin unsheathed his dagger and launched himself towards Darius. The brutish man held his sword back and instead, raised a fist, and slammed it down to where Morwin was.

  Morwin twisted in the air to avoid the strike, but barely. The fist slammed onto the table, shattering the case of gemstones, and everything fell to the floor. Including the sword his father spoke about.

  Morwin regained his footing and scooped up the weapon, holding it and pointing it towards Darius.

  “Get out of here, Morwin,” Darius repeated.

  Galvin lied about how many Dragikiri there were in Justicar. What other lies did that man feed him? His resolve strengthened, a sense of foolishness passing through him. What was he thinking to believe the shallow words of dissenters? Did he really plot to help remove King Rai’Shal from the throne?

  Gemstones surrounded Morwin. For some reason, panic didn’t make his way to Morwin’s mind. His head felt… clear. He knew what he had to do.

  All eight gemstones started floating around him. Galvin had told him when your sense was strong enough and you can connect to the gemstones, they could bend to your will. Morwin hadn’t been strong enough to do that before, but something here, in this situation, forced him to adopt it. The gemstones encircled him, and he pulled all of them into his hand and shoved them in his pocket.

  “What’re you waiting for?” Morwin asked. “You hate my guts, I know that now. So why don’t we skip all of this and get down to it.”