News of the Elf King’s death spread like wildfire. Every kingdom heard the story and how king Ferius launched a full-on attack on Tordis. How it survived thanks to the king and young prince’s sacrifice that the Kingdom is still standing.
Because of this, they started to remember how Gija was annihilated and most kingdoms began to panic.
We went back to Thalia along with Stella and Kellar after attending the burial of the Elf King.
Stella has been enjoying accompanying King Luke in the greenhouse and sharing her knowledge with him. King Luke was pretty thrilled at the idea and I have this suspicion that he was picturing himself as a father figure to her. I guess, he kind of got that opportunity of becoming a dad seeing as how he treated Stella like his own daughter.
Kellar was being trained by Terrence in sword fighting alongside us. At first, Terrence wasn’t happy with the arrangement that he was going to teach a son of Ferius, but after a few words of convincing, he finally agreed.
As for the missing trap of the chalice, I already told Ren and Nate about it, which is why we were more cautious with the knights more than ever. It has to be one of them.
It has been decided that it would be best for Ace to be with his family for a while until we find a way to restore his memory. And it is also part of the reason why we left the orb with them so that they can hire some magicians to study the artifact.
It has been three days now and Custard still hasn’t returned, but I know that he is doing well. It is just a feeling on my part. I already miss the little guy. And I sure hope that he was able to ask Serena my question because I want to make sure that my hunch was right.
I don’t want to do anything that might further hurt Ace if I’m wrong. After all, IT is a powerful tool.
We have just finished training and I decided to visit King Luke and my sister in the greenhouse. But as I got there, I heard some bickering and decided to hide in the shadows for a bit to eavesdrop.
King Luke was hiding Stella behind his back while the magician that he hired to help him with his research was screaming his head off.
And he was screaming at my sister. I frowned immediately but decided to stay put.
“It’s your fault! You and your blood relatives are cursed! Blasphemy!.” The magician says as he screamed. Stella gulped and her hands started to emit cold mist. A reaction of when her emotions are in a jumble.
I know because this isn’t the first time that this happened. I gritted my teeth as I watched them.
King Luke grabbed her hands reassuringly despite getting frostbitten hands. He smiled at her before looking back at the old and haggard magician. “Get out.” He said it calmly.
“What?! You’re taking that bitch’s side?! If there’s someone that you should kick out, it should be-”
“Do not make me repeat myself.”
“-her!” The magician still continued. “If only the rogue king destroyed them all then the war would have ended. King Ferius wouldn’t launch an attack. Do you hear me, child? The blood of the elf king is in your hand-” The man didn’t even get to finish when King Luke punched him in the face.
“I SAID GET OUT!” I flinched when King Luke yelled at him. It was the first time that I ever saw him this angry. “Cabal, you are forgetting that Rose and Stella have the blood of both the King and Queen of Gija. And also a blood relative of MY WIFE!” His face was red in anger and his fist was shaking at his sides as if he was trying hard not to punch the man in front of him. “They’re my family. My children. If I even hear you berating them again, then I will have you banish and join the rogues that you are so afraid of! Go. Grab your belongings and never come back. You are just a magician and they are of royal blood. Know your place!” King Luke grabbed a bag from the table and threw it at the magician.
Cabal caught it and gave King Luke a look of disbelief. “My king, please reconsider. What you’re doing here can change lives. Don’t tell me that you are going to throw that away because of some...child.” He said the last words with distaste as he looked at my sister. My fingers curled into fists as I glared murderously at the magician.
Seems like someone doesn’t know their place.
“She’s not just a child. She has a brilliant mind. And I am not throwing away my research. My niece is all I need to complete this.” He says and gave Stella a reassuring smile and whipped away her tears. Then looking back at the magician and he pointed towards the door. “Get out. And never show your face to me again!”
The magician’s mouth was wide open with disbelief. He glared at Stellas one last time before walking away.
I hid further in the trees as I let the magician passed and glared at his back. I looked in the direction of the king comforting Stella. My anger slowly subsided when I saw them laugh and the king giving Stella some sort of googles for her to protect her eyes.
She seemed to have recovered a bit. But that still doesn’t mean that I felt better at what I had just seen.
‘Princess, he’s in the woods now.’ Viex informed me.
‘Go. Hold him there until I arrive.’
Viex bowed his head at my command and immediately ran outside as I gave him enough magic to morph.
I waited for a few seconds before I headed out as well. This sort of instance has been happening for quite a while now. Nobles or even people with a higher rank would come charging at us. Scream and blame us for what’s happening.
Personally, I learned to ignore them, but when they scream at Stella, that’s where I snap.
As I made my way to the forest I heard Viex growling very low and a man whimpering in fear. “Wow. There did all that bravery went?” I questioned as I appeared before the magician - Cabal. Viex had him pinned to the ground. His claws inches away from his neck.
“You’re her, aren’t you? You’re the tamer.” The old magician gasped when he saw me.
“Tamer? But that’s not what I heard you call my sister. What was it again? Cursed blood? Bitch? I don’t remember.” I sat on the ground closer to him as if we were talking casually.
“What do you want?” He asked nervously.
“From you? Nothing.” I said. “I simply want to know why the realms feared Tamers once upon a time. Say, did you hear that royals can take away a supernaturals essence and make them...normal?” I crossed my legs and propped my head on my elbows as I asked him cheerfully. “His name is Viex and he is one of my contracted spirits. He’s very fast and agile.”
“Y-yes.” He nodded in agreement. “I-I can see that he is a magnificent creature.”
“Mr. Wizard guy? I have a favor to ask you. You are a researcher, right? What do you think will happen when a magician, who dedicated his entire life to knowledge and magic, suddenly losses his ability?” I asked. Then, as expected, I saw the fear in his eyes. “Apparently, I can actually take their magic. But I sadly need a subject. Would you care to volunteer?” I smiled sweetly and gave Viex a nod.
“No...NO!” The wizard screamed as Viex started to absorb his magic. “I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I WILL NEVER SPEAK ILL OF YOU OR YOUR SISTER! I swear. I swear on my life!” I snapped my fingers and Viex immediately stopped. The wizard was crying now. “I swear I will never….I will never dare to cross paths with you ever again! Forgive me, Princess….your highness!”
So now he was giving me respect. Interesting.
I feel like I have scared him enough that I waved a hand at Viex to take a step back. The wizard immediately sat up once he was free and started testing out his magic to see if it was there.
“Relax. I did not even touch the surface.” I informed him. “But remember this. If you ever disrespect my family again or tell anyone about this, then you do know what is coming for you, right?” The old man nodded eagerly. “You may go.”
At my signal, the wizard frantically scrambled to collect his things and ran.
I got up from my sitting position when he was gone. “Come out, Nate. I know you’re there.” I called out to him and glanced up at the trees. Nate appeared from the shadows and jumped down on the ground.
Then I looked at the bushes near it. “You too, Ren.” The werewolf prince came out when he heard me calling for him.
“That’s the third time you’ve done this.” Ren says. He wasn’t angry or sounded like he was scolding me. He was worried. And it was evident in his eyes.
“What am I suppose to do? Sit around and let them scream and call us names?”
“You could let us help you.” Nate sounded hurt.
I watched the two of them standing before me. It’s true that when I do ask for it, they would come for me and defend me. Or even without asking for it, they would always side with me.
But I have had enough of that.
I averted my gaze and focused on the ground instead. “I don’t want that.” I whispered as my mind flew to Ace. “The last time someone did, it didn’t end well.”
There was silence as we all thought of that one elf prince who would either yell at us or threaten us for our behavior.
“Rose, no one blames you or your sister. Not even his family.” Ren spoke softly.
I scoffed. “Yeah. Tell that to all the nobles who raised their voices and demand that they hand us over to king Ferius just to save their asses.”
“Rose, this has gone far enough. You’re not acting like yourself.” Nate came closer and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him with a sad smile and removed his grip.
“I’m fine.”
“There will be many visitors here in a while.” Ren says as he sniffed the air.
I had almost forgotten about the meeting that was going to be held today. All the royal families from every kingdom will be coming here to discuss the current matter at hand.
Stella and I.
I looked at Ren and Nate and my heart ached for them. If I stay any closer to them, they would surely get into trouble with the other nobles and royals later on.
Nate noticed me shying away from them and a look of hurt flashed in their eyes. “Rose?”
“Sorry, guys. Viex and I just...we just want some alone time together. To practice our moves and to increase the limit of my magic.” Having said that, I jumped onto Viex’s back. Before any of them could even say anything, Viex already took off into a run.
‘Are you okay, princess?’
‘Yes.’
‘Was it really necessary for you to brush them off? It’s been days now.’
‘If I don’t want any of them to end up like Ace then yes. We have to Viex. We have to fight our own battles from now on.’
‘That’s a very noble thing for you to say as a princess.’
I smiled. I closed my eyes and buried my face into Viex’s fur. “That’s because I am a princess.”
Viex suddenly let out a screech and abruptly stopped. Viex’s tails immediately secured me into place when at the sudden break. “What the hell?” I immediately sat up. “Why did you-”
Light laughter entered my field of hearing and I turned back to see a friendly face. “I expected to be seeing you around here, but I did not expect it to be this early.”
Of course. It was a meeting for the royals so of course, he will be here. Seeing his warm and welcoming face made me smile a bit. “Hey, Fred.”