Lessa was wearing a pretty bracelet of polished silver, which consisted of many rings linked together in a precise manner. When Helen inquired after the new piece of jewelry, the proper-mannered girl had admitted that her father had forced her to wear it.
“What do you mean?” asked Anice, who was looking at the bracelet with shining eyes. “It’s so pretty. Why would he have to force you? If you don’t want it, give it to me.”
“It’s the same with you,” she sighed, holding up her wrist so that the metal caught the sunlight in an attractive manner. “Truthfully, Mother caught me practicing magic a few days ago. When I woke up today my papa gave this to me and forbade me from taking it off.”
“What do you mean, same with me?”
“You know, to keep my energies stable.”
“Hold on. You can do magic? Since when?”
“Well, the only time I actually tried to use a spell, I almost drowned myself. That’s why Papa made me wear this.”
That bracelet’s just like mine.
Hearing the girl’s words, Alistar’s curiosity was roused to the extent that he completely overlooked the discomfort that usually came with conversing with the girls, especially Lessa, who was intimidatingly sweet and also looked very similar to Kaila. Slipping away from Jaden and Woods’s rematch, he walked over to his cousin and quickly joined in on the conversation.
“You tried to use magic?” he asked, eyes wide with anticipation. “What sort of spell did you try to use? How did it go? Did you feel sick after?”
“I…” began the girl, who looked taken aback by his sudden straightforwardness. “I tried to fill a cup with water from the air—there’s water in the air, you know—but I was near the pond in our yard and too much gathered around my hand, and then around my face. It just kept moving toward my head for some reason, I don’t know why. If my papa hadn’t run out and stopped it, then it could have been bad.”
Is that why her aura isn’t as noticeable?
Evidently what Caedmon had said about the dangers of magic hadn’t just been to scare Alistar. Was magic really so dangerous that simply practicing it could threaten one’s life? More importantly…
“So, you have a limiter, too?”
“You also have one?”
He held up his left arm, shaking it so that his own bracelet jangled around with the movement. “This one, too,” he said, showcasing the ring that Alder had gifted him for his Name Day. “Uncle says that he’ll be giving me more later on.”
“Why do you need more than one?” The long-lashed girl seemed perplexed, as if what he was saying made no sense. “I’ve never heard of anyone needing more than one. And if you’ve actually got one on, then how is your aura so strong?”
“Well, I’d imagine that some work better than others. I guess these two just aren’t that good.”
“Oh, I see.”
Anice stomped a foot in frustration, interrupting the two of them by snapping her fingers between their faces.
“What are you guys talking about? What’s a limiter?”
“You know, like your earr—”
“It’s nothing,” said Alistar, finally confirming that the earrings that Anice had inherited from her mother actually served the same function as his bracelet. “It’ll take a really long time to explain, at least twenty minutes.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Who cares enough to listen to that?” smirked his cousin, who put on a smile as she saw Woods and Jaden struggling in gridlock, no doubt due to the conception of a mischievous idea. “Hey, keep your eyes on those two. Watch this!”
Forgetting the conversation in its entirety, she sprinted over to the others as fast as she could and tackled both of the boys with a strong momentum, dirtying her dress as they all fell to the ground in a sprawl.
“Why didn’t you tell her?” asked Lessa, who stepped in close so that her voice wouldn’t carry. “Anne came into her energies a while ago, but she’s never mentioned anything about it. Does she not know?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think she does.”
“How can you not know something like that?”
Alistar shrugged. His cousin knew next to nothing about magic, since she never paid attention to any of Mrs. Dawn’s lessons and had never read more than half of a book in her entire life. If she had studied more on the subject, then she would have been well aware that the sixth sense that allowed one to perceive certain energies around them was part and parcel of the process of maturing into one’s magics.
Thinking back to how she had known of their friends’ arrival without having actually seen them this morning, he now felt that he had an explanation. “She probably thinks it’s normal to feel other peoples’ energies.”
“Still, you think you’d know…” After a moment’s pause, she continued on with a whisper. “Why don’t we tell her, then? She doesn’t say it often, but I can tell that it really bothers her that she can’t do magic yet. She’s the king’s granddaughter, after all, so she probably feels embarrassed about it.”
Giving Lessa a complicated look, Alistar decided that honesty was the quickest way to a coherent explanation. “Uncle Caedmon said it’s dangerous to practice magic on your own. I didn’t really believe him until I overheard you just now. I’m worried that if Anice finds out, she’ll take off her earrings and try to practice as well. I once heard Uncle say that auntie had an affinity for fire magics, so if Anne is the same…”
“You’re worried Anne will hurt herself?” Lessa looked quite surprised. “You’re a good cousin, Alistar.”
“Did you think I wasn’t?”
Sensing the hint of dejection in his tone, she rushed to clarify, “No, no, I didn’t mean that. You’re just a lot different when you’re at home than when you hang out with us. I mean, we attend mass together every week and you hardly ever talk, so I didn’t think you could speak the way that you do.”
“What way do I speak?”
“I…” the girl sighed, rubbing at her forehead. “I just didn’t think you were so smart.”
“I don’t think I am,” he frowned, suddenly sad. If he were truly intelligent then he would have saved Raidon by throwing his strange crystal at Bertrand before the man had slit his uncle’s throat.
Don’t, he told himself. Don’t think about that.
The two watched as Anice began cramming handfuls of dirt into Woods’s tunic as Jaden held the heavier boy down.
“Haha, I hope you saved some room for desert!”
“Leave off, Anne! You’re making me lose!”
Woods bucked like a bull and broke free from Jaden, his face red and his chest heaving with anger. Not caring for the adults around, he threw a handful of dirt at Anice’s face, which sparked an intense fight of the dirt-flinging nature.
“You’re smarter than your cousin, at least,” giggled Lessa.
“Is that supposed to cheer me up?”
They laughed together for a time, until Emely walked over and asked Alistar where to go to relieve herself.
“The closest privy should be in the western wing of the manor, right?”
Alistar shook his head. “It’s actually in the southern wing.” He turned to face the short girl, who he had a great impression of after she had praised his mother’s painting. “I actually have to go as well. Want me to show you?”
“Okay,” she said, doing a little dance that betrayed the urgency of the matter. “Hurry, please.”
It didn’t take them long to make their way to the first floor’s southern privy, which was divided into two rooms, one for men and one for women. Each of these contained four wooden seats that were separated by thin walls of polished wood, essentially a long bench with four holes carved into the surface through which to drop one’s waste. Each of the rooms also contained a big basket of aromatic flowers, which were meant to be thrown into the holes after use in order to mitigate any foul smells, as well as soft, broad leaves with which to clean oneself if necessary.
Alistar finished peeing and walked back out into the hallway only to find Emely waiting for him. Did all girls pee so fast?
“Hey Alistar, where does that lead?”
Following her pointed finger, he looked down a lengthy hall where a long expanse of well-wiped windows sat between several large doors.
“To the central gardens.”
“There’re more gardens? Can we go take a look?”
Seeing the excited glint in her eyes, he didn’t have it in him to turn her down and so kindly escorted her up to one of the doors.
“Please,” he said, opening it and standing aside. “Go on in.”
Seeing the cobbled walkways, the fountain, the birdbaths, trimmed hedges and beautifully arranged flowers, Emely was ecstatic. “What a big water fountain!”
“I come here a lot,” he said, following her as she allowed herself a tour of the floral arrangements. “I like these gardens more than the ones outside.”