“Anne’s child had the notch. I saw it myself when they brought the babe out for the showing.” Alfred’s voice lowered. “The child found in the cradle the next morning did not.”
“A changeling,” commented Hugh. “Surely they knew?”
“Yes, they knew. We all knew. The baby appeared to be the same age as the prince, only a day or two old. But this baby was fair-haired with bright blue eyes, not the milky kind of blue that will turn brown. And the child’s ears were both perfectly shaped. We questioned everyone in the palace, but no one knew how the switch was made. The guards swore no one had slipped past them. They were good men. Stephen did not doubt their word. The nurse slept in the room with the baby all night and woke to take him to the wet nurse, who said that she put to her breast Anne’s dark-haired boy. By this and by other tokens, Trian judged that the child had been placed there by magic.”
“Other tokens?”
Alfred sighed. His gaze strayed outside. Bane was standing on a rock, peering intently into the distance. On the horizon, black clouds flecked with lightning were massing. The wind was beginning to rise.
“The baby had a powerful enchantment woven round him. Anyone who looked at him must immediately love him. No, ‘love’ isn’t the right word.” The chamberlain considered the matter. ” ‘Dote on,’ perhaps, or ‘become obsessed by.’ We couldn’t bear to see him unhappy. A tear falling from his eye made us feel wretched for days. We would have parted with our lives before we parted with that child.” Alfred’s voice fell silent and he ran his hand over his bald pate. “Stephen and Anne knew the danger of taking this child as their own, but they-all of us- were helpless to prevent it. That’s why they named him Bane.”
“And what was the danger?”
“A year after the changeling was delivered to us, on the birthday of Anne’s true child, a mysteriarch from the High Realm came among us. At first we were honored, for such a thing had not happened in years-that one of the powerful magi of the Seventh House should so humble himself that he would deign to leave his glorious realm above and visit with us below. But our pride and our gladness changed to ashes in our mouths. Sinistrad is an evil man. He took care that we should know him and fear him. He came, he said, to do honor to the little prince. He had brought him a present. When Sinistrad lifted the babe in his arms, we knew-every one of us-whose child Bane truly was.
“No one could do a thing, of course-not against a powerful wizard of the Seventh House. Trian himself is one of the most skilled wizards in the kingdom, and he is only Third House. No, we had to watch with smiles plastered on our faces as the mysteriarch slipped that feather amulet around the baby’s neck. Sinistrad congratulated Stephen on his heir and left. His emphasis on that word sent shivers of horror through all of us. But Stephen was helpless to do anything except dote on the child more fiercely than ever, even though he began to loathe the sight of him.”
Hugh tugged at his beard, frowning. “But why would a wizard of the High Realm want a kingdom in the Middle? They left us cycles ago of their own free will. Their own kingdom is wealthy beyond anything we can imagine, or so we’ve heard.
“As I’ve said, we do not know. Trian has theories-conquest is the most obvious, of course. But if they wanted to rule us, they could bring an army of mysteriarchs down and defeat us easily. No, as I said, it doesn’t make sense. Stephen knew that Sinistrad was in communication with his son. Bane is a cunning spy. The boy has learned every secret in the kingdom and has passed it all on, of that we are certain. We might have lived with that, for ten cycles have passed and our strength grows. If the mysteriarchs wanted to take over, they could have done it before this. But something has happened that made it urgent for Stephen to rid himself of the changeling.” Alfred glanced outside to see the boy still occupied in scouting out a city, though he was obviously tired and now sitting on the rock instead of standing. The chamberlain motioned Hugh near, whispering in his ear. “Anne is with child!”