‘Yes,’ he said through gritted teeth, avoiding Jewd’s eyes.
‘For how long?’ Jewd pressed. Kilt could hear the pain in his voice.
Kilt sighed. ‘Does it matter?’
‘To me it does, because you’ve been lying.’
Now he did look at Jewd and saw the anguish in his friend’s face, recalled promising the man just the day previous that he had no further secrets. ‘Jewd, please listen to me. I didn’t know that Loethar was even Valisar. How could I? None of us did. I learned about the powers of the ageis at the Academy. I sensed my powers were more than just a trifling magic around the time of my mother’s death, but essentially they felt like tricks for most of my life.’
‘I don’t believe persuading people to spill their private knowledge is a circus trick, Kilt,’ Jewd interrupted, his voice hard. ‘What you’ve admitted to being able to do is hardly trifling. It fills me with both awe and dread. And anger — because you chose to keep it from me.’
‘I told you, I have not used those powers until just days ago when I went in search of Lily.’
‘Well, at least you admit that she means that much to you!’ Leo cut in archly. ‘We will find her and we will get her back, Kilt, I promise you that. But right now we have to understand what we’re up against here. We are not your enemy, so stop treating us as if we are. Jewd and I need to share as much as possible with you or we can’t protect you.’
Kilt laughed sadly. ‘Protect me? You have no idea what you’re dealing with.’
Leo was not to be dissuaded by the disdain in his friend’s voice or the low threat that underpinned his words. ‘That’s the point I’m making. We don’t have any idea and so we wish to understand. I know what an aegis does, what he or she is born for. I’ll be honest, I’ve never felt mine present.’ He gave a hollowgrin. ‘But, my understanding is that as a Valisar I should feel that person and only that person who was born for me.’
Kilt sighed. ‘That’s right. The Valisars are only aware of their own aegis,’ he lied, grateful for Leo’s obviously weak powers. ‘However, an aegis who comes too close would be aware of all the Valisars, which is why it’s so dangerous.’ He felt bad for lying, but knew it was necessary. ‘The magic inside me recognises you even though I am not your aegis. Your presence sickens me, Leo.’
Leo looked at him, open-mouthed.
‘That came out the wrong way,’ Kilt backtracked. ‘What I’m trying to say is that what you saw me experience with Loethar is, to some degree, how I feel around you.’
‘I make you feel ill?’
Kilt nodded. ‘I have worked very, very hard to overcome it. But it is always there. Your father did the same to me. The first time I saw the king from a distance my magic responded to him; that’s how I knew what I was. That’s why I made my home up here in the highlands, so I could avoid the towns and city, live as an outlaw, keep to myself and only have people around me I could utterly trust.’
‘And that’s why you’ve been avoiding me.’ Kilt watched the young king throw a glance at Jewd.
‘I have kept my distance, Leo, but I have not avoided you. Apart from your dealing with Freath, I am proud of you and what you have become. I just find it hard to be around you for long periods.’
‘And it’s different with Loethar?’ Jewd asked.
Kilt gave a snort of despair. ‘Wildly different. I lose control. He nearly undid me back there,’ he admitted. ‘And he knew it. If he has another attempt at me, I won’t win. I was only able to resist this time because all of you came to my aid.’ Kilt shook his head with disgust. ‘Loethar’s a Valisar!’ he spat. ‘Incredible! He murdered his own brother.’
‘Half-brother,’ Leo corrected. ‘And he would take you to task over that. My father killed himself to prevent Loethar having the satisfaction.’
Kilt shrugged. ‘Half-brother, full brother. Did your father know they were related, do you think?’
Leo shook his head wearily. ‘I don’t know the answer to that. My heart says no, but Loethar seems to think my father was aware of him. My father was a man of secrets. It’s possible he could have known — that might explain why he went to such lengths to have the plan in place for me should Loethar overrun the Set.’
Kilt agreed. ‘I didn’t know Brennus in the way that many did but my instincts combined with what I’ve learned over the anni suggest that he was perfectly capable of having this information and acting upon it.’
‘Why didn’t he just send an army in and kill Loethar if he knew?’ Jewd wondered.
Leo shook his head. ‘That would not be his way. My father was not a coward but confronting Loethar on his territory, with nowhere for an army to take him by surprise, no familiarity of the lay of the land or helpful knowledge of what the enemy was capable of, would have definitely made him reluctant to take that approach. And perhaps he wasn’t completely sure of Loethar’s birthright, so he waited for Loethar to come to him.’
‘Very costly,’ Jewd remarked.
‘In hindsight, yes. Too costly,’ Leo admitted. He frowned and turned back to Kilt. ‘So in Loethar’s presence you will always feel nauseous and without control?’
‘In his presence I will be at his mercy. I will be made well again, of course, but only when he’s bonded me.’
Leo nodded and looked at Jewd, who wore a quizzical expression. ‘The Valisar must consume part of his aegis to trammel him.’
‘Consume? As in eat?’ Jewd qualified, a look of dismay on his face.
Kilt nodded at the same time as Leo and Jewd looked away, disgusted, then stood. ‘Well, that’s going to happen only over my dead body, Kilt.’
Kilt smiled sadly. ‘I don’t deserve you, Jewd.’
‘No, you don’t,’ the big man replied. ‘You don’t deserve Leo or Lily or any of the people who support you.’
Kilt nodded in acknowledgment. ‘There’s more, and you might as well know it, now that I’m being forced to bare my soul,’ he said. As his companions threw a worried glance at each other, he continued, ‘I don’t know what it is but I’ve felt a disturbance.’
‘Disturbance?’ they asked together.
Kilt considered how best to explain himself. ‘Not so long ago I suffered a sort of dizzy spell. I thought it was still part of the same response to Loethar but I’ve been thinking about it and it was not. I have no doubt now. It had a different signature … it felt different. I don’t really know how to describe it and while this might sound fanciful, the only way I can pin it down is to say that it felt very clean … a really pure sort of magic.’
‘Loethar’s is tainted, you mean?’ Jewd tried.
Kilt shook his head. ‘No, not exactly. Loethar and Leo possess no magic of their own. Neither of them is empowered in the way that say I am or any Vested is. But both are Valisar and a Valisar can respond to the magic of the aegis. I should also tell you, Leo, that your Valisar magic is very weak. I’m grateful for that or I would never have been able to live around you.’
‘Trust me to be the weak link in the family,’ Leo replied quietly but savagely. ‘I suppose Loethar is strong?’
Kilt nodded.
‘Go on,’ Leo said, his mouth twisted in private disgust. ‘What about this new feeling you’ve experienced? Who or what is it?’
‘I don’t know. I can only use the word pure because it feels like it has its own source, its own reason. But beyond that I don’t understand it.’
Each of them paused to consider this new revelation but it was Leo