Free Frost Prisms (The Broken Prism Book 5) by V. St. Clair Page A

drive him to ruin.
    Small wonder the man has become paranoid; he can’t trust anyone.
    “And how does driving Cal nuts make things better, aside from furthering your own political agendas?” Hayden asked boldly, ignoring the slight wince from Master Willow, who was always more diplomatic in his accusations.
    Laris pursed his lips in annoyance but Magdalene answered readily.
    “Calahan will never side with you. Even without us goading him to folly, he sees you as too much of a threat to his rule. He knows he has made an enemy of you, and he has been regretting that ever since the day you met, but knows it is too late to win your support at this juncture. Now he has no choice but to destroy you before you can destroy him—or so he believes. The sooner we can get him to commit a large enough mistake and remove him from his position, the better for you.”
    She looked like she was getting ready to change topics and continue the meeting as scheduled, but Hayden interrupted once more, knowing that he was pushing his luck but not caring.
    “And where are Tess and Zane?”
    Asher raised an eyebrow at him and said, “At Mizzenwald, preparing for the second day of final exams. Why?”
    “Laurren said the Council members don’t think I’d leave school without Zane and Tess. You don’t expect me to believe they’re just going to leave them wandering around free, do you? They’re going to be stalking them to see if my friends will lead them to me.”
    Kilgore chuckled at Laris’s raised eyebrows and said, “Told you the boy’s not dumb.” He turned to Hayden. “As soon as term ends they’re going to be tailed relentlessly. Reede has already instructed them to return home and act naturally until one of us comes to get them; we need to make sure they’re free of magical traces before we can risk bringing them to you.”
    Hayden knew that his friends would probably be going crazy having to go home for the winter without knowing what was happening with him, but as long as they didn’t run amok of the Council of Mages they should be safe, which was better than the alternative.
    “Do they know where I am, or do they think I just disappeared in the middle of lunch and fell off the edge of the world?”
    “They haven’t been told where you are, in case Calahan can trump up an excuse to have them magically interrogated, but they’ve been subtly informed that you’re alright.”
    Hayden nodded. It seemed like the best he could hope for right now.
    Not giving him the opportunity to interrupt again, Magdalene said, “Laris and I are doing all we can to exert pressure against Calahan without our hand being seen in it, and if we can get him to strip Hayden of his Medal of Heroism that will go a long way toward turning the public against him.”
    “We’ll have to time it carefully,” Mandra interjected. “We can’t begin floating the information that Hayden is being wrongfully defamed and is working to form a coalition against the Dark Prism too early, or Calahan will be able to back down in time to save himself. Conversely, if we wait too long, Hayden’s reputation will be too tarnished for us to recover it.”
    “There is a critical point at which we must put Hayden forth as a maligned hero, but we have not yet reached it,” Magdalene agreed curtly. “He needs to be stripped of his honors, and we need Calahan to publicly turn against him. Then we will be ready to act.”
    It felt really bizarre to have all of these people talking about when to deploy him, like he was a chess piece waiting to be moved around the board. Frowning, Hayden said, “You all are very flippant when it comes to deciding how much disgrace you’ll allow me to bear before doing anything about it. I wonder if you’d be so casual with your own lives and reputations.”
    Master Kiresa rolled his eyes and said, “The poor boy is feeling misused.” Then, as an aside to Oliver, he whispered, “I told them he wouldn’t have the grit for this,”