Shattered Dreams Page 3

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  Bang, bang, bang.

  When all Cedric heard from the inside of the room was a soft groan and the rustle of sheets, he knocked again.

  "Get up!" he called through the still closed door. "You have until I count to one hundred to get out here, or I'm coming in to haul you out, dressed or not!"

  He was well into the nineties, his hand on the latch, when a sleep-tousled young prince appeared.

  "What time is it?" Henry wanted to know as he used his fists to scrub sleep from his eyes. "I feel like I've barely had time to sleep at all."

  "Is that a complaint?" Cedric asked in way of answer. "You're going to be reaching your five year anniversary in just a few months, and you're nowhere near ready to take your journeyman test. Do you want to pass or do you want to sleep?"

  Cedric watched Henry's eyes darken at his disrespectful tone of voice, and the older boy waited to see what would happen. He knew as well as Jerome did that Henry felt unjustifiably entitled to a lot of things, and he had no intention of letting the prince get away with any inappropriate behaviour or comments.

  "Pass, I guess," the boy muttered finally, and Cedric nodded as if he hadn't expected anything different.

  "Come along then. I'm going to tutor you before morning chores for the next little while, and we're going to start with dividing your focus between two spells."

  Cedric turned on his heel and started to walk briskly down the hall and away from the small sleeping chambers. Caught by surprise, Henry had to scamper to catch up, and when he did, the apprentice needed to practically jog in order to keep pace.

  "Why are you doing this?" he asked, his voice sounding just a little breathless from their quick pace. "Why are you giving up sleep to tutor me?"

  A few different replies flashed through Cedric's mind and he considered each of them before stopping outside one of the shielded workrooms and turning to face Henry.

  "You are my master's apprentice," he began, "and your performance reflects on all of us. I have no desire to look foolish because you weren't able to pass your test." It wasn't the entire truth, but it was part of it.

  Henry nodded, his expression conveying understanding, and Cedric had to school his features in order to avoid showing his disappointment. It saddened him that the boy could so readily identify with such a self-serving answer. He hadn't really expected anything better of prince, though, as much as it pained him to admit it, even if it was only to himself.

  "So what are we going to do first?"

  Cedric opened the door and gestured the prince inside. "First we're going to work on getting your thoughts shielded a lot better than they are currently. Then we're going to make sure they stay that way."