Free The Traitor Queen by Trudi Canavan Page A

too
     long. As her latest attack on the “enemy” scattered ineffectually off his shield, Black Magician Kallen called a halt.
    “Better,” he told her. He looked around the Arena. The tall spires supporting the invisible barrier of magic that protected
     everything outside from the practice bouts within were now casting shorter shadows on the ground. “That’s enough,” he said,
     looking at the trainee Warriors. “You may go.”
    They all looked surprised, but did not argue. Kallen waited as they left through the short tunnel entrance, then walked beside
     Lilia as she followed them.
    “Wait, Lilia,” he said as they emerged.
    He said nothing as the other novices strode away, but then sighed. Looking up at him, Lilia saw that he was scowling, but
     his expression smoothed as he noticed her looking at him. She looked down and waited for his assessment.
    “You’re improving,” he said. “It may not feel like it, but you are learning how to respond to different challenges.”
    “I am?” She blinked at him in surprise. “You looked so … disappointed.”
    His mouth thinned into a grim line and he looked over at the University. “I am merely annoyed at my own deficiencies.”
    Looking closer, she saw a tension in his face. Something about his eyes brought a sudden jolt of pain as a memory of Naki
     rose. Naki with that same distressed look about her, which usually led straight to the lighting of her roet brazier.
    A shiver of realisation ran down Lilia’s spine. She had smelled roet smoke on Kallen, wafting from his robes, once or twice
     before. Never before a Warrior lesson, thankfully. She did not like the idea of fighting against or relying on the shield
     of someone taking a drug that reduced their ability to care about their actions.
    If he hadn’t smoked any roet before this lesson, was he now craving it as a result? Was that why he’d ended the class early?
    Taking a step away, he opened his mouth to speak. “Well that’s all—”
    “I have a message from Cery,” she said.
    He stopped, his gaze sharpening. “Yes?”
    “He was attacked. Someone betrayed him. He has had to go into hiding and let people think he’s dead. You won’t be able to
     meet him for a while. It’s too risky.”
    Kallen’s brows lowered. “Was he injured?”
    She shook her head and felt a small pang of gratitude at his concern.
Not what I would have expected. Maybe he isn’t as cold and rigid as I thought
. “One of his bodyguards was, but he’s fine now. He asks that you not tell anybody that he is alive, and that you send messages
     through me and Anyi.”
    “You see Anyi often?”
    She nodded.
    His eyes narrowed. “You aren’t leaving the Guild grounds to see her, are you?”
    “No.”
    He regarded her thoughtfully, as if pondering whether she was lying or not.
    “Cery would like to know if you have made any progress in finding Skellin,” she told him.
    “None. We’re following a few leads, but nothing promising has come from them so far.”
    “Anything I can ask Cery about?”
    The look he gave her did not conceal his scepticism. “No. If I find out anything that he needs to know, I will pass it on.”
     He looked toward the University again. “You may go now.”
    Lilia suppressed a sigh at his dismissal, bowed, and walked away. After several paces she looked back, and caught a glimpse
     of Kallen before he disappeared behind the University building. From the angle of his path, she guessed he was heading for
     the Magicians’ Quarters.
    Off to have a dose of roet?
she wondered.
Did he avoid telling me anything about his hunt for Skellin because he doesn’t think Cery or I need to know, or was it going
     to take too long, keeping him from the drug?
    And why don’t I have this craving for it?
She hadn’t smoked roet for months. The smell of it sometimes made her want it, but not in a way that overcame her determination
     never to use it again. Donia, the bolhouse owner who had helped Lilia hide