Titus too felt as if the ground had shifted underneath his feet. “Did you call me prince?”
The boy sounded taken aback. “My apologies, Your Highness. At school we did not closely observe protocol. But I will be sure to accord you all the respect due the Master of the Domain.”
The Master of the Domain.
He gripped Fairfax’s arm, not sure whether he could even understand those words.
Or whether he wanted to.
The boy scanned the sky. “Night patrol from the base—excellent. I can hitch a ride with them and we don’t have to wait until my carpet is ready again.”
“You are sure we can trust them?” asked Fairfax.
He folded his carpet, then rolled it into a tight tube and fitted it into a slender bag that he strapped diagonally across his back. “They are Amara’s cousins, so yes, I’m quite certain they are not Atlanteans masquerading as rebels.”
When the rebels landed, the boy presented the two women as Ishana and Shulini. When it came time to give Fairfax’s name, he asked her, “Should I introduce you as Fairfax, or by your real name?”
Fairfax hesitated. “My real name.”
She sounded almost afraid. Titus felt afraid. Would learning her true identity be as unhappy an experience for her as learning his had been for him?
“Iolanthe Seabourne,” said the boy.
Iolanthe Seabourne—a name of both structure and strength, yet one that brought no recognition, from either of them. She took his hand. She was relieved, he could tell. But mixed in her relief was perhaps also a slight disappointment that she remained unclear on who she was.
“Pleased to meet you,” said Titus to Ishana and Shulini.
The women inclined their heads respectfully. “A pleasure to meet Your Highness again,” said Ishana. And then to Fairfax. “We saw you earlier too, but you were asleep on the back of the sand wyvern.”
Titus’s eyes widened. “You were at the oasis?”
They laughed softly. “We were the ones who grabbed the rifles, sir. It’s much less suspicious for us to go around as nonmage men,” said Shulini.
Fifteen seconds later, they were airborne. The carpet that carried Shulini, Ishana, and the boy was, if possible, even faster than the boy’s had been. But this time, Titus did not mind. He deliberately fell a few lengths behind. Fairfax held his hand and said nothing.
Miles passed. The desert night air cut hard against the exposed skin of his face, but he was almost glad of the numbing pain, for the distraction it offered.
“I do not want to be the Master of the Domain,” he said, after a long time. The Master of the Domain was not someone to be envied at the best of times. The Master of the Domain as a fugitive from Atlantis was an untenable position. “Is it possible for me to arrange to become his stable boy instead?”
“You should try,” she said, her fingers tightening over his. “I really like stable boys, especially when they smell like the muck they have been shoveling all day.”
He was halfway between laughter and tears. “I cannot think of anything I want to do less than being responsible for an entire realm.”
“Well, if you take care of the Domain half as well as you have looked after me, both you and the Domain will be all right.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, I do. Not to mention, now you know of at least one girl who would kiss you even if you weren’t a prince—isn’t that what all princes are trying to find?”
“This has been such a terrible shock,” he said slowly. “I will need kisses by the dozen to help me deal with it.”
“I was going to hoard my kisses until I see that fifty-ton slab chiseled with unspeakably bad verses. But extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures, so you may have one kiss now.”
He managed, just barely, not to send the carpet into a tailspin.
“Better?”
“One more, and I might be able to carry on.”
But one more was not in the cards. Up ahead, Ishana shouted, “Your Highness, the base is near. We must start our descent now. Please follow closely.”
CHAPTER 30
England
“WHAT’S THE MATTER?” CAME FAIRFAX’S voice.
Titus started—he had not even noticed she had arrived in the laboratory. “I see you are still determined to not listen to me about not venturing abroad after lights-out.”
She sat down across from him at the worktable. “I never listen to you when I know enough to make up my own mind.”
Her tone was light, but the truth of her words struck him hard: she relied on her own judgment. He, on the other hand, was accustomed to running his life according to directions his mother had left behind. Which was all well and good when he did not question those directions. But when he did, it plunged him into a state of paralysis.
“Is it something Lady Callista said?” asked Fairfax.
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