Chapter Twenty-Two

The man bowed low. “I am Joseph, yes. Leader of my tribe. I would offer a thousand apologies if I believed for a second, they would take away a fraction of the injuries and trauma caused at the hands of my men, Your Highness,” he said as he straightened. “Alas, that is out of my power, although you can be sure I will seek out the identity of the fourth man you mention, and he shall meet his end much like these three.” He waved a dismissive hand at the statues.

“You didn’t know about this place? This cave? What happened here?” Jasper shook his head. “I’m not sure I believe you. These people invoked your name – claiming they’d come to you demanding my death. If you are entirely blameless, then how did you come to be here, in this place, in this moment?”

“I had suspected Mordake and his cronies had been up to no good a few months before. Their claimed discussions with me were blatant lies. From what I can piece together, I imagine their unsettledness occurred around the time you were abducted by them. But at that time, I had no proof, and was simply waiting until more facts came to light.”

“But surely you could’ve done something,” Avalon protested.

“I heard you used the word ‘proof’ yourself,” Joseph said. “I realize this might be difficult to understand, but I felt a disturbance in the energies within our tribe. That didn’t mean I knew the source, or reason for it. The magic in our tribe is considered a collective entity, an energy hub if you like, passed through from one generation to another. But because it is perceived that way, it is often difficult for a leader like me to pinpoint specific individuals who are causing issues – ripples in that magic - until their actions give me the proof I need.”

Avalon snorted, although Jasper thought he understood what Joseph was saying. His own magic was a lot more specific, but his abilities in that area were not something Joseph needed to know.

“As to how I came to be here, in this time, it was not their actions that brought me here, but your magic, Your Highness.” A small smile hovered around Joseph’s lips. “You are incredibly strong and powerful – something that I guess you have only recently learned, as indeed I am now newly aware of you. In case you didn’t know, your element is water, and it is fitting that you married someone who spends so much time on the sea. Your affinity with water is very similar to your natural mother’s abilities. The ripples of your magic through the ether were a truly beautiful thing to experience. A true credit to my sister who carried you beneath her heart.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Jasper said, the response automatic. “But I still fail to understand. Your men claimed all three of the royal siblings in Lowenthorp were carried by your sister, I’m assuming, and yet Luigi and Felicity don’t have magic, and magic is rarely mentioned by anyone in the castle.”

Joseph tilted his head to one side. “Luigi, I believe, learned of his true lineage not long after his father died. The Queen had sent me a message, letting me know she intended to tell him the truth as he was due to marry, and she expected, or at least hoped, he would conceive children of his own. She believed that he should be aware of the possibility that his offspring might be born with some magical ability.”

“Is that possible?” Avalon didn’t sound happy about the idea.

But Joseph shook his head. “No. Unless his bride has magic in her own right, Luigi will not sire magical children as he does not have any. It was my sister who had the magic. The King of Lowenthorp did not. The King was always aware there was a possibility that one of the offspring he sired might have magical abilities, and our agreement was, that if the child tested positive for magic immediately after birth, the child would be raised by the tribe, and would never be seen at the castle. We strongly protect the magic born within our tribe.”

“But why…” Avalon started, but Jasper grabbed his arm, excited as some of the situations in his life were suddenly seen in a shifted light.

“That’s why she hid me. The Queen. Don’t you see?” Jasper wanted to dance around in excitement. The Queen loved me as a mother should. “That’s why she kept me behind the castle walls. She had always raised me as her own, and my magic didn’t start to show itself until after I was walking. She thought you were going to take me away.” Jasper met Joseph’s eyes who was nodding. “The Queen always cared for me. She wanted to keep me with her.”

“That’s why…” He turned to Avalon. “It all makes sense now. That’s why she called in the guy from the Magical University when Luigi made his outlandish claims about me being possessed when I was a teenager. My magic was still settling, strengthening most likely, and Luigi had always been jealous of me for some reason.

“Luigi wanted me locked away, and she could’ve done that. Don’t you see? The Queen could’ve contacted the tribe, told them I had magic and had me returned there, but she didn’t. She called in a disinterested third party to investigate the claim that I was possessed, which the man from the Magical University was quickly able to prove I was not. Case closed.”

“But your eye.” Avalon’s touch on the side of Jasper’s face was so gentle. “Surely you were born with your unusual eye. Wouldn’t that have indicated to the tribe that you had magic?”

It was Joseph who answered, shaking his head. “The eye is just a genetic abnormality. My mother had it, and she wasn’t magical either. No one was surprised when Jasper was born with a similar eye shade.”

“All right then.” Avalon nodded, and Jasper could see he was ready to take command, every inch the regal figure he’d been raised to be, despite the ad hoc covering over his lower face. Jasper felt something stir deep inside of him, even as his magic was still humming, and his thoughts were scattered thanks to the new things he’d learned. “So, as we stand now, my husband is still a Prince of Lowenthorp. He is also now Crown Prince Consort of Cijan. Are we going to have future troubles from your tribe?”

“No, you will not.”

“How can I be sure? Because I will have it put on record that the treatment my husband suffered at the hands of the deviants from your tribe was cruel, inhumane, and barbaric to the extreme. Not only at the time the assaults occurred, but Jasper carried the threat made to the Queen close to his heart for weeks afterward, desperately worried about her safety, exacerbating the trauma, even as he was trying to heal. You can be assured I will have your entire tribe incarcerated by the World Council if I believe more trouble is coming either to me and my family or to the Lowenthorp royal family.”

“There will be none. I swear on my magic.” Joseph laid his hand over his heart. “Our deal with the royal family is coming to a natural close as it is. Two siblings are married, with just one to go. The terms of our agreement with the late king will expire once Felicity finds her husband.”

“You might be waiting a while. She was raised to have a full understanding of her worth as a royal princess who is both beautiful and intelligent. She will wait, for as long as necessary, until a suitable match is found for her, as she should,” Jasper said. “Regardless, you need to go now,” he added. “My magic tells me my husband’s friends are approaching at speed and they are not likely to be in a conciliatory mood.”

“Agreed. I doubt we will meet again.” Joseph bowed low a second time. “However, if I could ask one small boon as a kinsman as such. In your position as a Crown Prince Consort with the magic you have, if you could help educate in some small way, the magical academics at the World Council. Perhaps let them know that the barbaric beliefs of old, such as thinking that magic resides in a specific body part, or can be stripped from a person during aggressive acts – if those beliefs could be debunked by someone with social ranking, then there might come a time when people who live in tribes like me could mix more in open society, rather than suffer abuse similar to that which you suffered.”

“It was men from your tribe that inflicted those atrocities on my husband. Where else did they get those ideas from, if not from your teachings?” Avalon lunged in Joseph’s direction.

Jasper quickly stood between them. “They didn’t have magic. They didn’t understand either,” Jasper said quietly, catching his husband’s eyes, refusing to flinch at the anger he saw there. It warmed his heart to know how much Avalon cared for him already. “Nothing said now will change what was done. The woman I’ve called Mother my whole life is safe, I have my answers, and thanks to you, I no longer have to hide who I am. Weren’t you the one who said we would teach people about magic one person at a time? I’m sure Merlin would love to write a treatise on magic in modern days in his spare time on my behalf, wouldn’t he?”

“He would enjoy the process, definitely.” Avalon let out a long breath. “Joseph is gone,” he added, glancing over Jasper’s head. “Just vanished. Disappeared without even a puff of smoke.”

“I felt him leave, and Duncan and the others are about five minutes away. Let’s meet them outside. I want to take this covering off my nose and mouth, and there really isn’t anything in here anymore they need to see.” Jasper looked around one more time, seeing it from a different perspective.

When it was all said and done, the place was just a bunch of caves, in a mountain, caves that stunk. Jasper longed to feel the fresh air on his face. “Thanks to you this place holds no fears for me now,” he said as Avalon took his arm.

“Then we did the right thing.” The tip of Avalon’s sword scratched at one of the statues as they moved past them. “That was quite handy, what you did there. Are they fully stone right through, or could Joseph’s magic free them at some point?”

“They’re solid.” Jasper surprised himself as a chuckle bubbled up within him. “Apparently, my magic is very thorough.”

“Your magic is incredible, just like you are.”

Jasper’s sure his cheeks were on fire as he made his way out of the cave.