Lucius Stoneheart

Lucius Stoneheart is the Archmage of abjuration: a first-class sorcerer, head of House Stoneheart, and one of the few wizards entitled to lead a great magical family. He wears blue and silver rather than Cerberus's traditional red and black. His doctrine is simple: Stoneheart magic exists to create order in a chaotic world.

Chaos found him first. Vlad Varanov broke through the Stoneheart home, killed its guards, tore Lucius from his cradle, and bit him. The dwarf Kaskad drew a forbidden weapon to save the child. A red ring raised a total Barrier, hurled Vlad through the walls, and kept Lucius alive. He grew up orphaned and alone, with parchments for company.

At twenty-five, Lucius joined Christophe Leblanc and Daviau Morin in the plot against Vlad. Christophe was the only person who saw past Lucius's magic, and died during the assault that ended the vampire's reign. The Varanovs have ruled Vlad ever since, leaving the two houses bound by an old debt neither has forgotten.

Lucius's abjuration does more than stop attacks. Stoneheart Contract imposes order by making betrayal impossible. He also forges protective rings—poorly—that defend both their wearer and the wearer's descendants. His barriers protected every apprentice during an Academy joust and can close around an enemy as readily as stand before one.

His masterpiece is Destruction Sphere, a bubble of absolute nothing that unmakes anything touching it. Lucius built the ultimate barrier from the conviction that, if reality rejected him, he could reject it in return. During the Nightmare War, Aldor broke it only by casting two opposing Gravity Crushes against the sphere and the man inside it.

Lucius once used the Sphere on his father-in-law, Émile Adelbrand, who was preparing to destroy the Alois tower while Catherine was inside. The council called Émile's death a suicide. Two days later Catherine learned the truth and killed herself before Lucius. He dropped his barrier for the first time, but reached her only in time to catch her.

Their children were told that a complex spell had turned against her. Lucius has repeated the lie for fifteen years.

Lucius teaches abjuration at the Academy but accepts few students. He is severe about rank, blood, and the isolation required to master Stoneheart magic. Yet he sold Aurelius Alidel a recommendation that allowed Aldor to take the Academy's aptitude test, accepting gold and rare dwarven cigars before making the merchant choose between protection for his family and a chance for his son.

His own children expose the limits of his doctrine. Jean abandoned the expected succession to become a cook and argued that Stoneheart barriers should protect ordinary streets. Charlie and Lucie entered the Academy because Lucius, who had grown up without ties, wanted them to form some. He still ordered Charlie to watch over his sister and judged their friendships by the hierarchy of their houses.

That hierarchy had a cost. When Ferothar burned the capital, the barriers maintained by Lucius and Cosimo Leblanc did not cover the poor quarters. It was a calculated sacrifice, not an oversight.

Cauchemar eventually broke Lucius through torture, strengthened him, and sent him against Gyllyn. The Sphere caught Gyllyn, destroying and regenerating his body without end. Lucius resisted at every opening. He used his last moment of control to cast Gyllyn into the Underdark rather than destroy him, warning that only his children knew how to defeat the Sphere. Even enslaved, Lucius could still choose what his barrier kept alive.