He would have to talk to Maya soon. And he’d have to write to her damned brother, informing him that all these lords would be under his roof, and would he want to take his sister back home—
He ignored the stab of dismay that followed that thought. It was only right that Nikolai von Rakhmonov would worry about his sister’s reputation. He might want her back home with him, where she would safe from foreign lords and gossip alike.
But he would miss her.
Luka quashed the thought, sitting down again with his steaming cup of tea and pulling a piece of paper and his quill closer to him. Better that he write that letter to Nikolai immediately and get it over with. He’d pulled rank the other day when he’d written to the Baron in training and told Nikolai that Maya would be staying longer with him at Kamenev, he knew the man would not be able to gainsay a prince of the realm.
But the situation was different now. He wouldn’t risk Maya’s reputation—though she seemed to care little for it herself—by having her stay in a house full of foreign lords with only a single maid for a chaperone.
He’d just sent his letter off via his mage letter box when the doors to his study opened, and Maya strode in.
“Maya!”
He got to his feet in reflex, and she rushed to him, her hands out to help him to his feet. She caught him by the upper arms, and he cupped her elbows in his hands. They looked at each other for a long moment, their position bringing to mind their sparring match the day before, and all that had followed…
She blinked, and took a giant step back from him, putting distance between them.
“The prosthetic is holding up well, then,” she said brightly, as if the previous few minutes hadn’t happened.
He took his cue from her, brushing the moment side in favor of resuming their normal relationship. He didn’t have time for awkwardness between them right now, not with all these diplomatic delegations descending on him tomorrow.
“Yes, but the true test will be tomorrow, I think,” he said. “And how I feel when I take it off tonight.”
Maya nodded, and then sat down at the chair across from his desk.
“The Crown Princess wrote to me,” she said without preamble, and Luka looked up at her. His sister had written to her. Why?
“She warned me about the delegations from our neighbors,” Maya said with a sigh. “Wanted me to keep my latest invention a secret so that they wouldn’t get wind of it.”
“The sock prosthetic?”
“No, that isn’t what she’s talking about,” Maya sighed, “thisis.” She drew out a little device, hexagonal in shape and made of polished brass. She flipped the lid open to reveal a crystal lodged in the middle of the box, with two wires running in spirals up and down the length of it. A faint blue glow in the depths of the crystal illuminated the spellchart that was inscribed into the lid of the device.
“What is it?”
“It’s a crystal resonance communicator,” Maya said, and instantly, Luka understood.
“Where’s the second one?” he asked.
She grinned at him, seemingly pleased that he had understood.
“With Volkov. This is the first one I’ve ever made, and God knows it won’t be easy to make more of them, mage crystals aren’t exactly easily available—but it’s a success, so far. I’ve been testing this for nearly six months now, and I’ve not had any trouble with it. The War Council wants to commission one each for the generals of each regiment.”
“It’s a good idea,” Luka said, his mind already racing as he pondered the massive advantage it would give their side if they could communicate with their command office without delay. Even messenger hawks were slower than such a device would be, and messenger birds could be shot down. Or burned to a crisp by an enemy firedrake. Or intercepted. But a device that would allow the message to pass directly to the recipient’s ear—it could change the way they waged war.
“But you’ll need to find twelve crystals, of course,” he said slowly. “One for each of the regiments.”
“Twelve crystals large enough to be broken into two pieces,” Maya said with a grimace. “The two-way communication won’t work unless the crystals resonate with each other. They have to catch the same frequency for the mage spell to work.”
Luka nodded. Yes, the communication spell would be the simplest part of the device, any ordinary stone mage could work it. They learnt as children, after all, that sound travelled fastest through solid matter, such as rock.
“This is a brilliant idea, Maya,” he said, running an admiring hand over the device that now sat on his desk. He looked up to see her shrug uncomfortably, and he frowned. “Truly. You’ve outdone yourself with this. Imagine if you could find a way to manufacture the crystals yourself, so you didn’t have to depend on the mage crystals…then every household could afford to have one!”
Maya smiled. “Now I think you’re being overambitious.”
Luka shook his head. “And I think you’re selling yourself short.”
“Be that as it may, I came here to ask you to keep this under lock and key. The Crown Princess wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less. She asked me not to trust any of our visitors this week, even though they are our allies.”
