Traitor Savant (Second Seal of the Duelists) by Jasmine Giacomo

yes. I’ll arrange for one of the junior chanters to look in on him—”
    “I’m sorry, Headmaster,” witten Oost said. “I’m afraid you misunderstand. I’ve received the sense that Theo’s condition is being caused by too much time in a direct magical clash. In short, being around elemental magic, being here on our very campus, is affecting his mind. It won’t be long before it affects his magic as well. I believe the only place that can help Theo now is the Temple of Ten Thousand Harmonies.”
    “Send him back, like damaged goods?” Langlaren asked. “Theo has saved the lives of untold hundreds of duelists. Before that, he roamed the empire at the will of the emperor, giving his services wherever they were needed, and was especially vital during the Raqtaaq Wars. The man can be credited with the success of four separate battles all by himself. I am not shipping him off. We can request a singer to portal here, if you think it will help.”
    Master witten Oost frowned. “I can see how you’d think that will be a sufficient substitute, Headmaster, but the Temple is perfectly suited to The o’s needs. He doesn’t need us. He does need the singers. In fact, he specifically needs to avoid us. You, me, and every other duelist in the room—our magic is what’s causing this problem.”
    Langlaren sent a stricken look at Doc Theo, who had allowed himself to be distracted into arranging his peas into concentric circles on his plate. Fingering the stem on his glass, the headmaster shook his head. “I’ve never heard of such a malady. I’ll want to conduct some research before I agree to any such order.”
    Witten Oost pursed his lips. “Very well, Headmaster, if that is your decision. But I fear your delay may cause further irreparable harm. That is all I shall say on the matter.”
    Diantha led Doc Theo from the table, promising him chocolate when they reached his home. Since Bayan’s table was next to the one that seated the staff, he doubted any other students had heard much of the teachers’ discussion. He looked into the faces of his hexmates. “Is there anything we can do?”
    “I canna tell if we should do anything,” Calder whispered back. “You remember what he was like. What Diantha said.”
    Bayan poked a fragment of cabbage with his fork and swirled it through its sour dressing. “Kiwani would be devastated if he left.”
    Tarin took a drink from her cup, then nodded as she swallowed her lemonwater. “Aye. He saved her life the night you two dueled.” Eward added a more critical point in a whisper. “And he’s the only person in the empire, aside from Kiwani’s parents and us hexmates, who knows everything about that night.”
    Bayan remembered the blond assassin, Kiwani’s blood on the rocks, and the secret not even Kiwani saw coming, revealed in Doc Theo’s emergency healing session on the floor of his home: she possessed no Waarden blood, and was not her parents’ daughter, nor the child the old emperor Hedrick had blessed and made a ceremonial ward. Such a secret possessed political ramifications that, in the wrong hands, could weaken the emperor’s image and give power to his enemies at court.
    With Doc Theo potentially leaving campus, taking with him Kiwani’s secret and the knowledge of how to deal with it, Eward’s point drove painfully into Bayan’s mind. “I’ll talk to Kiwani about it when she comes back. It’s her secret.”
     
    ~~~
     
    Overnight, a lot more changed on campus. Bayan, Eward, and Calder woke to rumors shouted up and down the hall, though to be fair, they were being shouted by Taban and Cormaac as a way to wake everyone up a little early for breakfast.
    Someone kicked repeatedly on the door next to Bayan’s, then Cormaac’s boisterous voice rang out. “Did you hear, you lazy ingrates? Doc Theo’s killed the headmaster!”
    Eward slipped off the edge of his bunk with an annoyed growl and yanked open the door. Bayan and Calder joined him. Taban