“Now that you are in Duke Grayson’s hands, I shall,” Kairos mentioned easily, brushing himself off and bowing to us both.

I huffed, clawing at my dress the moment he turned his back.

“Stupid fucking dress, fuck you Kai,” I muttered, trying to remove it.

A sigh reached my ears, and I found magic twisting around me. The dress straightened itself, and I found myself unable to gain a grasp on it.

“I had been informed that you typically woke up earlier than this. I can see the reason you did not leave your room earlier was due to a struggle with your servant.”

“Bro why do I need to wear a dress? I’m wearing clothes underneath! Do you know how much exercise sucks with like fifty billion layers on?” I complained, turning to Silas and expecting an answer, crossing my arms and pouting up at him.

Silas looked stoic, but his tone felt degrading as he answered, “As a princess and the future queen of this country, you must uphold proper etiquette. The only women who do not wear a dress are commoners.”

I scowled, “That’s dumb.”

“How unfortunate that you are a child who cannot change tradition, then,” Silas commented, turning and walking off.

I chased after him, genuinely amused at being called a child. Right, I was sixteen, right? That was hilarious, because I was about the same age as Silas, “What are you, twenty-five? Twenty-six?”

“I am twenty-four.”

Oh. He was younger than me. I grinned at that fact.

“Ah. You’re kind of immature,” I mentioned, jogging next to him, “I mean traditions start somewhere, right? New traditions are formed when old traditions become obsolete. As the future queen of the country, is it not my duty to set trends within high society?”

Silas didn’t stop walking, but he didn’t seem to have a response. The dark halls passed quickly, and I felt more and more strength return to me.

Soon, we were outside, and I found a wooden sword being tossed at me.

I caught it by the handle, giving Silas a focused look.

“You say you have the strength necessary to wield a sword. In the exam, you will have to face a swordsman and either tie or win. Failure will lead to blood and scarring, if not death. Are you certain?”

Gotta fight some guy to the death. Got it.

“Dude going to dinner leads to blood and scarring, what’s there to be certain about?” I responded derisively, “Just teach me how.”

“Very well. For today, I will simply have you attack me. Your goal is to land a single hit on me wi—“

I attacked, running forward and swinging my sword. He dodged to the side. I forced the sword sideways, watching as Silas leapt up, white magic swirling around him.

Another wooden sword shot into the air, landing in his hand as I tried hitting him before he could land.

I kept the magic spells he used in mind, though. I didn’t know the equations to use, but once I did I was certain it would be useful.

I could always just run through all the equations I knew about every geometric shape, right?

My knees bent, his wooden sword just barely missing me. I lunged forward.

Rectangle. Four inches by ten.

The circle that appeared was red, and I moved onto the next equation as my lunge met air.

I somersaulted to avoid getting hit by his sword, spinning and doing a wide swing. He jumped over it.

Square. Four inches by four.

The magic was blue. It vanished as I leapt forward, my feet landing on the ground and taking me forward.

Cube. Four inches by four inches by four. That’s sixteen times four…

The magic was orange. My sword swung out, and I found an elbow in the way of my face.

I slid under it, the dewy grass helping me as my sword continued its path. Instead of continuing to dodge back, Silas stepped forward, sword flicking out.

A foot landed in my stomach as my sword flew from my hands. My hands wrapped around his shoe as the wooden sword he held was leveled at me.

“Maybe you should focus on the fight, instead of trying to replicate my magic,” Silas mentioned, stepping off of me.

I shrugged as I leapt to my feet.

“What do you mean? I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to fighting with a sword, I’m not at a disadvantage doing simple equations while I figure out what works. Your spell is great for mobility, which is what I need to overpower your skill.”

I turned, picking up my sword as I spoke over my shoulder. Once it was back in my hand, I ran back into the fight.

His sword blocked mine. What did that one sword fighting video I watched say? My sword flicked out, twisting under his to jab at him.

Silas danced back. I capitalized, continuing to run forward, using my height and slim figure to evade his swings while trying to attack him.

Box. Ten by four by two.

It was a vibrant green, instead of the light green of healing.

The moment the circle appeared, Silas stopped retreating, trying to capitalize on my distraction. I deflected his sword, mine sliding against his as it jabbed past me.

Unfortunately, his strength overcame mine, and I had to give up the proximity, ducking to roll to the side, under the sword.

My sword came out, trying to hit his exposed side, but it didn’t. I dived again to prevent Silas from capitalizing on my being on the ground, rolling to my feet and turning to continue attacking.

Triangle? Four by four divided by two. Eigh—

I cut myself off before I could get the answer, but it was too late, the brown circle creating a small mound. I leapt off of it, thankfully, but even with my body weight I found Silas easily shoving me back.

I landed on my back, keeping the momentum and turning it into a roll. When he didn’t attack, I looked, realizing I’d lost my sword.

Fuck.

So easy triangles were earth magic. Got it.

I hardly noticed that I was breathing heavily, grabbing my sword and continuing. For a few rounds, I couldn’t get back into the flow, my sword flying from my hands before I could even think of trying magic.

Shaking my head as the sun rose, I grabbed my sword. Standing up, I stared at Silas for a long moment. He was sweating, but he wasn’t breathing heavily.

Another idea came to mind, and I found myself speaking as I ran forward instead of trying to figure out wind magic, “You’re really hot when you’re sweating.”

“Am I?” Silas muttered, not at all phased as he deflected my sword. I kept running forward, though.

“Yes, I’d love to lick the sweat off of your neck as you cried my name,” I agreed amicably, body-slamming Silas.

Before my sword could swing up to hit him in the back, white magic swirled up, and I found him back-flipping out of my range.

“You wouldn’t have to say my name at all, though,” I continued breathlessly as I ran.

I aimed, the brown magic circle at the tip of my sword, looking exactly like his white circle minus the color.

“Really I wouldn’t mind you saying nothing at all as I explored your body with my tongue.”

Triangle. Four by four divided by two. Eight.

“Not only are you attractive, but you’re also intelligent, so I’m quite excited to get into your classes at the Academy. Mm, hearing your voice as you teach a class while imagining my tongue tangling with yours?”

Behind Silas, a mound of earth appeared. He took a step back, eyes widening as he staggered. My sword swung out.

Both of our swords flew from our hands, and I found myself stumbling over the mound he did. We both fell, and I found myself straddling Silas.

He was panting, and his head relaxed, falling to the earth, “How crass. I hope you do not speak such filthy words to others.”

I grinned, chuckling as I stood up, reaching out and helping him to his feet.

I glanced around for the swords as I spoke, “How could I?”

Retrieving them, I held one out to Silas.

“That’s enough for today,” He rejected, running a hand through his sweat-slicked form.

My eyes trailed along his tanned neck as the sunlight touched upon it. Sweat made his skin glisten.

“Why?” I asked, my eyes returning to his after I swallowed, “Are you tired?”

“I had not expected you to use dirty tricks to do so, but you had hit me,” Silas muttered.

My attention caught on his bleeding hand, knuckles looking bruised.

“Huh? Oh,” I muttered.

I wasn’t great at mentally calculating square roots, but he wasn’t very injured. I imagined the healing circle that saved Kairos’ life.

Two inch radius. Pi-r-squared. Four times three-point-one-four.

I reached out, fingers brushing against his hand as I completed the equation.

Four times four is sixteen. Four times one is five plus one is six. Four times three is twelve.

“Twelve-point-sixty-six,” I muttered to myself, watching his hand heal. Then I hesitated, fixing my correction, “No, wait. Twelve-point-fifty-six. My mistake. Four times one is four, not five.”

His hand suddenly looked different in a way I couldn’t quite understand. I hummed, looking at it. Did I heal his nails? They looked really nice.

“You healed my scars,” Silas noted quietly, unintentionally giving me the answer I was looking for.

I glanced at the hand, flipping it. Then I reached out. He gave me his other hand, and I saw that he had a lot of them.

“Oh, sorry,” I mentioned, realizing the equation was still going on when his other hand lost its scars, too. I dropped the number out of my mind, the magic circle vanishing.

I took a step back, blinking at the odd wave of dizziness that overcame me. I didn’t bother trying to prevent myself from falling, landing on my ass. I set the two swords to the side.

“Man, I’m hungry. And thirsty,” I muttered, groaning as I stood up.

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The dizziness remained, but I ignored it this time, the small break I gave myself enough as I picked up the swords. Turning, I walked to the small bin full of other wooden swords next to a shack. A bit away were a lot of training dummies.

I guess this was where the training grounds were, then? Damn, if only I’d paid attention to where we were going… Damn it.

I had breakfast with Silas, him doing paperwork during the small break we’d had. We didn’t talk until we were back outside, more people using the training grounds now that the sun was fully above the horizon.

“Right, let us begin with magic. You seem to already know how to set parameters for your spells, as well as how to alter spells to change the element. In the exam, there are three categories. There is power, there is variety, and there is the spell itself,” Silas explained, hesitating.

His shoulders were really broad, and his muscles looked really nice. He was in a t-shirt and pants, wearing boots. The black pants weren’t as tight as I’d have liked, but the dark t-shirt was practically skin-tight, clinging to his chest.

I wondered if the pants were tight on his—

Thwack!

“Ow!” I whined, a stick having come out of nowhere and hit me in the head. I glanced up, but we weren’t under any trees. I pouted at Silas, the only possible culprit with a stick in hand, “What was that for?”

“Maybe had you been paying attention, you would have been able to avoid falling sticks,” Silas mentioned dryly, crossing his arms as he dropped the stick, “As I was saying…”

I watched as his muscles flexed. While our sweat had dried, it was still nice to watch—

“Ow, hey, stop it!” I whined, holding my abused head, “I’m stupid enough, you don’t have to give me further brain damage.”

Silas sighed, giving up, “I will cast magic, and you will copy it.”

“Huh? Oh, okay!” I agreed easily, grinning. Yes! I’d finally learn magic!

He cast a spell using the blue element. I watched as water swirled out, pulsing forward and slamming into a far-off tree.

What was blue again?

…

I looked at the ground. Well what shapes had I done the math for? There was square, rectangle, triangle, cube, box, circle, and cylinder, so far. It wasn’t triangle, because that was earth. It wasn’t circle, because that was healing. Was it square?

Two inches by two inches—Oh! It was!

My excitement made it vanish, and I grinned as I tried again. Two inches by two inches was four.

My magic twisted out, and I watched as it landed pathetically about halfway to the trees.

Whoa! I did magic! Me! Oh my god did you see that? A circle appeared and water went whoosh and—

Silas hummed, “That was quite weak.”

My heart broke and the image of a kitten crying appeared in my mind. Aw.

“I’ll try again, then,” I muttered, tilting my head. I pouted at the circle.

What… other equations could I do? It was a square, right? Two inches by two inches, which is four as an area and eight as a circumference.

Magic pulsed out, and I watched as the water slammed into a tree. Huh. So wait, if I did both circumference and area, the magic would be stronger?

“I don’t see how water could get much stronger than this, if that’s the case,” I muttered to myself.

Was there any other square equations I could come up with? Oh! Wait, didn’t my magic grow stronger if I thought facts about whatever I was doing?

I hummed, “Okay, then,” I muttered, the magical circle spinning idly as it awaited my command.

So what was water, and what did I want to do with it? Well water was a base of atoms together, specifically two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. It was a liquid, but it could be a solid, and if it was shot hard enough, it would be as rough as a solid.

So for a spear-like spell like this, I would want it to be ice, right? Which is done by either compressing the water molecules into an ice format, or done by slowing the water molecules down significantly.

So for a square with an area of four and a circumference of eight, each side being two…

My magic shot out, and I watched the ice spear straight through the tree I was aiming at.

Oh! Wow!

“Okay. Cool!” I agreed, glancing over at Silas.

“You made ice,” Silas noted, staring at the tree I’d assaulted.

“Well yeah, ice is just water,” I agreed, feeling bad for the tree. Could I shoot a healing spell it’s way?

So the circumference of a circle with a diameter of two inches is 6.28, and the area of such a circle is… 3.14, right?

And trees are made up of cells and atoms just like humans, right? So trees worked by absorbing nutrients and water through their roots, gathering sunlight through their leaves and photosynthesizing.

That turned their energy into sap. That sap worked as a tree’s blood, running all throughout the tree, and it’s skin was like bark, with wood being like the flesh and muscle underneath.

I watched as a bolt of green energy shot out. The tree looked slightly less assaulted.

I shot a few more healing spears at it, then adjusted my aim and tried hitting the tree Silas did. After a few tries I managed it, and both trees were healed.

“Ayy! Okay. What next?” I asked, looking up to Silas as my hand dropped, the circle fading as well.

“Could you do that with electricity?” Silas pondered.

“Huh, sure,” I agreed, focusing.

The circumference of a cylinder was the area of its’ circle times two plus the circumference of the circle multiplied by the length. So if I wanted a two inch bolt of lightning that was six inches long…

I took a few moments to complete the equation, getting an answer of 43.98 inches for the circumference, and 18.84 inches squared for the area.

CRACK!

The lightning bolt struck out, slamming into the tree. Oh, shit, that was fire.

Before I could react, water gushed out, and the tree I’d only just healed was damaged again. Man. I healed the tree again, slowly chipping away at the charcoal parts. It took longer to heal the tree than it did to figure out the area and circumference of a cylinder.

And that’s if I even did my math right for the lighting, since clearly the magic allowed for some leeway, as I’ve gotten it wrong more than once.

“So magic seems to be the culmination of the spell itself, the equation to declare its’ parameters, and the knowledge of the element and how it works,” I mused after a long moment of staring at the tree.

“Yes, that is correct. Had you paid attention to me earlier, you would have heard that,” Silas agreed, voice stoic, “Are you prepared to continue?”

“Sure. Can you tell me what the wind equation is? Is it a rhombus? A parallelogram?”

“I do not know what you’re speaking of,” Silas dismissed, “You will have to figure out the element on your own.”

I hesitated, looking at the tree. I pulled up the spear spell, but Silas reached out.

“You have more spells you must learn.”

“Hm? Oh, okay,” I agreed, keeping the healing spell and Val’s lightning spell in mind. I couldn’t remember the wind one that Silas used, already.

It wasn’t like I had perfect memory, or anything. It was just very easy to remember the healing spell, since it was my first sight of magic, as well as connected to trauma, and Val’s spell was equally as memorable because it looked really cool and I traced it a bunch when I was unable to read The Curse of Perfection due to work.

After many spells with various elements, Silas asked me to bring up the spear spell again.

I hesitated.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh….” I agreed hesitantly. Spear spell. Right. Cool. I reached out. Spear. I want a spear.

Square. One side is four. Area sixteen. Circumference sixteen.

I pulled my lips into my mouth as I stared at the water that fell to the ground, no circle appearing.

“You forgot it,” Silas uttered.

It was around mid-afternoon by this point, and we’d both had lunch. His arms were crossed, his fingers tapping at his biceps.

“Well, hey, man, I have two spells in my hard-drive and enough space for one in my RAM. You can’t expect me to memorize spells just by seeing them once, you know?”

“RAM? Hard-drive?”

“Uhh RAM is… Recently Acquired Memories, it’s stuff that doesn’t stick around. Hard-drive is, you know. More permanent storage,” I explained awkwardly, gesturing at my head, “Anyway, uh… What was the spear spell again?”

Silas sighed, shaking his head, “Your ability to cast a spell after seeing it just once is impressive, however you will need to memorize more than that.”

“Or I could just have a spell-book,” I mentioned, “Draw the appearance of each spell on paper and label it with what it is and what element works best with it.”

“That would be considered cheating, on the practical exam. You will not pass unless you know ten or more spells without reference.”

I hesitated, “Lance isn’t going to show me his lightning spell again. I don’t wanna forget it trying to remember more,” I complained.

Silas scoffed, shaking his head as he turned. I followed him, wondering why we were going back inside.

“I am certain he would be much more willing if he knew you’d planned to draw it in an undefended book. If one of the spells you’ve memorized is his, then what is the other you have memorized?”

We walked passed the training grounds, where someone was yelling at others, instructing them in a militaristic style.

“The healing spell I used to save Kai’s life,” I explained, half-jogging to keep up with the tall man’s quick strides.

“Can I see it?”

“It was the one I used on your hands,” I mentioned, the gentle green circle flaring to life at my fingertips even though I hadn’t given parameters for it yet.

“He must not have been very injured, for that to have worked,” Silas mentioned.

Blood slowly pooled around the corpse. The Demon King turned to me, eyes glowing red.

I swallowed, feeling sick, “He was practically dead.”

“It may have seemed so—“

“Stop,” I ordered, trembling hands reaching up and rubbing at my face.

The very solemn reminder that this was real hit me, and I suddenly wanted to see Kairos. I really wanted to see him.

“Hey, James,” I called when I saw him, seeing the plain man turn to me, “Where’s Kai?”

“Resting, your highness. Do you wish for me to retrieve him?”

Yes, “No,” I refused, shaking my head, “He looked exhausted. Let him rest.”

“Of course. If you would excuse me,” James nodded, continuing to wherever he was headed after I waved him off.

Red eyes turned, staring at me.

I stared at the ground as it passed, the sick feeling not passing. The memory of his injury reminded me of screams as gunfire echoed out.

Next to me, a woman’s head exploded, bits flying everywhere as the corpse collapsed to the ground. I ducked down, eyes wide.

Silas’ voice cut through my memories like a hot knife through butter, “You must get used to seeing blood and injuries, if you wish to do well in the Academy—“

Annoyance filled me. This bitch.

“Do you want to ask the king what happened? Or my brothers?” I asked, turning to him, “That’s a great idea, actually. You know them. Let’s ask Pelias, he clearly has no issue with killing people, let alone blood.”

Looking around, I called out to a servant. Reaching out, I grabbed Silas by his hand, and soon I was standing in an office much like mine.

We were served tea as we waited, and I healed the servants that were around, trying to keep my mind occupied.

The Demon King was in front of me, face dripping blood.

My hands didn’t stop shaking no matter how many servants I healed. I wanted to see Kairos. I really, really wanted to see him.

The door opened, and I glanced up, seeing someone with blond hair and white eyes. The blond slowly shifted as he walked closer, and I realized that I was looking at Pelias. It had been so long since I’d seen him I had forgotten what he looked like.

“I’m surprised you wanted to see me, seeing as how you’ve been avoiding everyone ever since Aphrodite spilled some soup on you,” Pelias said dryly.

“You were the one who carried me when I’d healed Kai, right?” I asked, not quite certain as I stood up.

Pelias’ annoyed expression faded, and he nodded, not sitting down, “Yes.”

“Did you see Kai’s injury beforehand? Or if not do you know anyone who did?”

“Why?”

“He says I’m overreacting,” I muttered, gesturing at Silas, “That because of the spell I used, he must not have been very injured.”

Pelias glowered in the direction, eyes glinting dangerously. After a moment, he turned back to me, sighing.

“No one saw the injury, we only arrived after he was partially healed. It looked like the injury was a sword through the heart, though, and there was enough blood that some of the servants started wondering if you’d used necromancy to bring him back to life. I… I saw the spell you used, so I know it wasn’t, but…” Pelias looked uncomfortable, shaking his head as he looked away, pink rising on his cheeks, “I didn’t realize you were so good at healing. That you could take such a weak spell and save someone’s life with it. If I ever get into a fight in the Academy, will you heal me?”

I nodded, shrugging, relaxing now that someone told me I wasn’t overreacting. He wanted me to heal him? After what he did to his servants?

Seeing an opportunity, I took it.

“Yeah, of course. If you do me a favor.”

Red eyes.

I shivered at the light reflected in Pelias’ eyes.

Pelias looked back at me, his white eyes no longer reflecting red, “A favor?”

“Stop treating your servants like shit,” I offered, “And send all of your injured ones to me so I can heal them. If I see more bruises or bodies coming from your rooms I’m not going to heal you at the Academy. This includes if you try keeping it hidden.”

Pelias’ expression twisted, and he looked disgusted, “What? Why are you defending that trash?”

I sighed, “I didn’t realize you cared enough about the servants to call them trash. If you truly thought they were worthless, wouldn’t you just ignore them? So stop being a bitch to your servants. They’re living creatures that breathe and think just as we do.”

Pelias scoffed, crossing his arms. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.

“That’s all I wanted. I need to get back to studying—“

“Wait!” Pelias reached out, and I found myself turned, “W-well, I will if you do something for me! You never come to dinner anymore even if father demands it, so Mercury and I never get to see you.”

My eyebrows scrunched up, “I’m not joining dinner. Last time I went Aph threw a tantrum.”

“And? You used to throw tantrums all the time! Please? I miss—I mean, I’m tired of Mercury whining about you all the time,” Pelias begged, giving me a very earnest look.

“As I will be attending the dinners, I will ensure she joins them as well,” Silas butt in.

I hesitated, reaching up and feeling at my face. It had felt glossy and warped, when she’d thrown the soup at me. I’d tried leaving so quickly because I knew the soup had been hot enough to give me severe burns. I didn’t want Percy’s brothers to worry.

I also didn’t want to hear her bullshit. I sighed heavily, feeling like crying. I really wanted to help some of the servants while I was here, though.

“Only if you genuinely stop hurting your servants. Don’t even lay a finger on them, okay?” I agreed, finding it hard to breathe.

My chest was tight, and my eyes burned. I didn’t want to go. But if there was anything I could do for this world, I could at least help those suffering under the tyrannical second prince Pelias.

Pelias looked happy, nodding eagerly, “Of course! I’ll keep my end of the deal so long as you keep yours. We can even have dinner together at the Academy!”

I laughed, trying to suppress the emotions stuck in my chest, grinning, “Yeah, we can.”

I managed to, and Pelias left, content, saying he’d send his servants to me to be healed.