Some legends say that every major Royal family in our continent claims some sort of supernatural heritage. The fact that most of them gravitate around a certain theme lend some credibility to this claim. Some examples are Calanthe, where they are extremely good at plant magic, Yutis with its trademark Light magic, Heath and Earth magic, and Gohar with Fire magic, among others.
Excerpt from Legends of Our Continent
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Dawn looked at the huge Regalia Ring on her hand. The bloody thing would prick her skin several times each hour and draw a few drops of blood. Where was all that blood going? It was filling the insignia on the top. The lowest parts of the Yutis coat of arms was already red. She wanted to cut her wrist and fill the divine tool at once. It felt like it would stop once it filled. She finished charging yet another core and placed it together with the others. Skippy wasn't even trying to snag any now. The little dragon had his belly full and was taking a nap by the top shelf he took as his nest.
"I think we are done for today," Declared the Headmaster. Good job on your assignments. We'll meet here again for the morning, but we are going to the castle for lunch. And Dawn, do not remove the ring for any reason. Nobody else can take it off of your hand but you."
A glimmer of light showed in the girl's eyes and Astromelicus shook his head, "I promise you we can test later if Aidan can take it off or not. But not now."
She let out a cheerful laugh. "Of course. Tomorrow, then."
Aidan picked up the snoring dragon and they left for the dormitories. They moved wordlessly and quickly. Most students had already retired for the day or were enjoying their time off in the shops and taverns around the academy square. They need not talk to communicate and share their thoughts.
That was the reason those collars were virtually indestructible. The wolf-kin that fought with Dawn used two collars as shields and weapons of opportunity if he could loop one around the enemy's neck. A Divine Tool. A little known fact was that there were other gods than the Twelve. Minor ones. Deities and semi-Deities living in the limelight or geographically limited. Rarely one of them would try and make a bid for the higher echelons. Fate would have it that those that did would soon feel the urge to challenge the natural order of things. The Twelve shared their power among themselves but were not too keen on becoming the Thirteen. Or the Twenty-Something.
The person with two bodies could only grimace at the thought of having to fight a deity. Because fate would have it to put a gatekeeper to protect that natural order of things. Guess who? Unless their father miraculously surfaced at the dramatically right time, there was only one chance of guessing correctly who would be forced to do it.
They entered the dormitories and Dawn had to nod to some of the bowing students in the noble-only building before crossing the guarded doors leading to the royal wing. Glares and glances were sent at Aidan but he just ignored it. A set of stairs later and they were in the common room that led to their bedrooms. Dawn sighed and opened the doors to Lumina's bedroom fully intent in dropping on the bed without even disrobing.
There was no bed.
'That is what you get when you dismiss the servants', Dawn cursed internally. How would anyone know that the room needed a new bed if nobody entered the room to see there was no bed. 'To hell with it. Let Lumina fetch a new bed. It is her fault anyway.'
She had a bath and crashed on Cythrel's bed. Aidan washed after Dawn retired but stayed on his own bed. They were asleep before dusk.
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The next morning was another battery of exercises. Astromelicus forced Aidan to train repeat casting, a wizardry skill to keep the same diagram built and cast the same spell over and over by just supplying the mental construct with mana.
Dawn was back to the box of bleached cores.
"Pump the mana faster," Astromelicus told Dawn. "If you are not having a migraine you are not doing it right. You need to almost burn your mana conduits. You won't have any time to train after Brody arrives."
"What is going to happen at the castle this afternoon?" She asked, obviously concerned about her own safety. For Dawn, the castle was more and more hostile territory.
"You and me, we are going to present the Regalia Ring to the King. Speaking of which, is it full already?"
Dawn looked at the ring and found that all the embossing was now flooded with an opaque red material. Probably blood. She noticed that the pricking was no longer happening. "I think it is. It hadn't drawn blood for quite some time."
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"Good. You can try and see if Aidan can remove the ring now." They tried and no. Aidan could not remove the ring from Dawn's finger. "Well. This Regalia Ring is yours now, Dawn. However, the one that decides if you get to keep it or not is Helios. But this object is proof that you have Yutis' Royal blood. It might be enough to ease their paranoia."
The three finished their morning practice and boarded a carriage to the castle.
"What will the King do with the ring?" Dawn asked.
"Give a grieving father some peace of mind. Honestly, I am tempted to turn back this vehicle, get in that basement and return the Princess to her body right now. But this would spark a war we can't fight right now."
"I don't think Heath is too keen on upholding their side of the bargain. Maybe the war is inevitable."
"Maybe. But if they declare war on us because we broke our side of the agreement, the other countries would be less inclined to take our side. Everyone knows they are a bunch of conniving bastards, but nobody wants to take the first step. Their troops are strong."
"So Yutis is basically stuck with buying time. Waiting for what? A miracle?"
"Waiting for something that can tip the scales. Like the death of a Prince or Princess from either side. Who do you suspect is behind the assault on Lumina? During the year you were in the hospital, Helios seriously considered promoting Claire and giving her to Brody."
"That would be catastrophic. Brody is not interested in marrying a Princess from Yutis. He wants to subjugate Lumina and show it to the world."
"I am well aware of that. We are arriving, it is better to keep our wits about us now. Speak as little as you can. Defer to me if you want."
The carriage entered the castle's outer walls and made its way to the driveway. Claire was outside waiting for them, something very unusual. As they reached closer, her face was pure distress. Aidan was the first to get off. He bowed and Claire offered her hand. He took it and kissed the air above the hand.
"Your Highness. I'm elated to have you here to greet us."
"Lord Aidan. We are happy to have you as our guest. Archmage, sister."
Claire waved her hand and the guards opened the double doors leading into the castle keep. A couple of maids followed them as she gave them instructions.
"I'll have afternoon tea with Lord Aidan in the garden gazebo. Lead my sister and the Archmage to the King's drawing room."
They separated and went to their respective places. Dawn and Astromelicus were sent to a waiting room until the King called for them, and Aidan led Claire to the gardens. Aidan sighed as he saw the topiary dragon in the same place as before.
"How are you, my friend," Claire asked. Her face was contrite, like a child that expected a scolding.
"Tired. Astro pushed us really hard these last few days."
They made silence until the butler finished serving the tea set. After the staff was out of hearing range, the conversation resumed.
"Do you have something you want to tell me, Claire? I promise I won't be mad and forgive you if you haven't killed my parents or something equally heinous. After all, we are 'friends' aren't we?"
"Let me know when they enter the drawing room." Aidan nodded at her request. Claire took a deep breath and started to speak sounding rehearsed, "I owe you so many apologies —"
Aidan cut her off, annoyed. "Really, Claire? Is that your approach? Look, I'm a subject of Yutis, whatever hardships I must endure to make sure the Princess is safe, I'll do," He spoke, also sounding rehearsed and very fake. Claire was probably trying to make amends for ratting them to the King. But given what Aidan knew now, it was inevitable that some Royal would inspect Dawn for the Regalia and would find her lacking it. Then things would be really bad, just like with Brian at the cafeteria yesterday. Of all possible outcomes, the current one was not better but was far from the worst.
She sighed. It seems things were not going as well as she expected. Words failed Claire, and she just stammered. Aidan looked around and nudged his nose at the staff waiting on them.
"Leave us," Claire commanded.
Aidan took a few scraps of paper from his academy blazer inner pocket and placed them on the gazebo poles along with the four cardinal directions. He triggered the ward without speaking and returned to his seat. He lifted his hand and conjured an orb of mana.
"This, Claire, is the reason you don't have to apologize to me. Do you know what Element is this?"
"I'm sorry. My magic studies are lacking severely. It looks like a starry sky on a very clear night, that is all I can say."
"I think it might be better than you don't know. This way you can claim ignorance. Now, your Highness, I'll tell you one rule you probably heard being tossed between Pearl and us."
"Friends don't keep a tally between them?" She coyly asked.
Aidan smiled, trying to dispel her anxiety. "Exactly. Did you take a good look at Dawn's hands?"
Claire nodded slowly without taking her eyes off of Aidan. "Yes, I know of the Regalia Ring sent to her. I also saw it fully charged. It proves that Dawn is of the blood."
"That was one of the things you wanted to include in your apology." He didn't phrase as a question. "I hate it, Claire. This formality, this distance. I got all the memories and feelings Lumina had while she was using my body. She loves you so much that it hurts me even now to think about her pain. And she thought of you a lot. A lot. When the rhinorses were coming at us, all she could think of were ways to save you. When she woke up in my body, the first coherent thing she asked was if you were safe.
"I also got the pain she felt at losing her mother. I could understand Lumina better after that. Even now, eleven years later, she is still grieving. Lumina can't let it go and move on. Worse yet, she blames her father.
"If you want to apologize, Claire, I have one thing to ask of you. After Lumina wakes up, keep her from snapping at us. We are probably going back to Gohar, to take Pearl home. But Lumina won't react well to what happened to her. She will try to pin the blame on someone, and that someone will be both of me.
Aidan sighed after his burst while Claire struggled to process what he just said. He finished, "I can't be angry at you, Claire. Lumina showed me how precious you are. You are forgiven."
She put a fist to her mouth and struggled to keep herself composed. "Thank you, my friend."
Aidan looked away at nowhere, "The King is summoning Dawn to the audience chamber now."