Page 73 of The Princess of Portals

“Why not?”

“Fenris. Long ago, he stole the spellbook. I couldn’t sense it anymore. He’d locked it away inside of a special box that kept it hidden from my magic.” The book appeared in her hand. She handed it to me. “Here, take it. Let it help you, Savannah. Let it guide you.”

“Why me? Why give this incredible book to me?”

“You have so much potential, Savannah. You will change the Many Realms.”

I held the book to me; it hummed with power. “When most people look at the pages, they see nothing.”

“You are not most people.”

“I’m a Polymage. But so are Kato and Conner. And they can’t read the book.”

“Your ability to read the book has nothing to do with your being a Polymage.”

“Ok, then what does it have to do with?”

Portia didn’t answer. She merely smiled, then disappeared.

The door to the room swung open, and this time it was the General who stepped through. “The members of the Court have come to a decision.”

We followed him back to the ballroom. Vela stood there, in front of the twelve gold thrones, eleven occupied, one empty. That empty throne was a painful reminder of why I was here. Of why I had survived. Queen Seriana had fought her son so that I could live. She’d protected me, but she hadn’t died for me. She had died to save the Many Realms. She’d died so that I could stop Fenris. We were about to find out if she’d died in vain.

“The Court has reached a consensus,” Vela said.

I waited, hardly able to breathe.

“The Court has decided that Gaia did not kidnap your own Apprentices,” Vela said. “You are not waging a war against us. Consequently, we will not take your Knights from you. And we will not send our armies to invade Gaia.”

I finally exhaled.

“We have taken Prince Fenris into custody, and we will get to the bottom of everything he has done. We will find all of his accomplices.” Vela’s hard stare panned across the many members of the Court. “They cannot hide from us.”

The Court adjourned for the day. The doors to the ballroom flew open. Members of the Court filed out in smooth, unbroken lines, as regal as always.

I watched them go, wondering just how many of them belonged to the Order of Kings. “Now what?”

“Now, you go home and get some rest,” Kato told me.

“But this isn’t over.”

“It’s over for now.”

I frowned.

“For once, Kato is right,” Conner said. “You’ve been through a lot these last few days. Get some sleep. Recharge your batteries so you can fight another day.”

“I wonder when the next battle will be.”

Conner gave me a big smile. “Oh, that’s easy. It’s in two days at the Castle.”

I blinked in confusion. “In two days at the Castle?”

“The Castle’s annual Masquerade Ball, Seven. The day you become a Knight.”

I couldn’t believe I’d even needed the reminder. Becoming a Knight was the whole reason I’d come to the Fortress in the first place. It’s what I’d been preparing for my whole life.

It’s just that, well, after all that I’d been through, after all that I’d seen, I couldn’t shake the feeling that becoming a Knight was just the beginning of my story.