“It’s time,” he said. “You will be the King’s Wizard.”
“But—”
“Don’t argue with me, Morgan. You’re ready.”
“But what about you?”
He smiled. “Retirement will look good on me until you find an apprentice of your own. Then we’ll give him hell and make him a great wizard.”
THEY ARE already calling him Good King Anthony of Verania.
He’s young, but his heart is pure.
He will do well.
SHE CAME to me.
From the desert.
Vadoma, and she spoke of a prophecy.
HIS NAME is Sam.
It’s a good name.
I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mentor. What if I mess up? What if he doesn’t listen to me? What if I turn him Dark?
I can’t do that to him.
Gods, I don’t know if I can do this.
IT HURTS. Leaving him in the slums. Randall says it’s necessary, that he needs to be allowed to be a child before we step in and change his life.
I don’t agree.
He needs to know what he’s capable of. What he’ll be. Who he’ll become.
Maybe if I just… I could just talk to him. To his parents. I could—
No. Randall’s right. I need to wait.
I’VE BEEN summoned.
He’s presented.
There are boys made of stone in an alleyway.
How… wonderful.
HE TALKS. And talks. And talks.
Randall laughed at me when I told him as much. “You reap what you sow.”
“I’m worried.”
“About?”
“What if I don’t do right by him? Randall, we’re already withholding so much from him—”