My body began to tremble as a torrent of panicked thoughts rattled through my mind all at once.

  "Magic. Lady. Pretty. How long? Did she see my magic? I look like a mess. Dangerous? Why is she here?"

  Rather than billowing or crashing around like mine tended to do, her magic was flowing through her lips in a steady, even stream, wrapping itself around her calmly. It smelled sharp, and cool, like a camphor candle.

  She was holding her parasol slightly askew, shading her from the light of the full moon, and wearing long white gloves. Her dress, also white, was plain, but adorned with round white stones on silver threads. Her hair was tied back with a silver-colored bow, and the entire arrangement combined with her white hair to make her seem almost ghostlike or ethereal, like she could fade into smoke at any moment.

  "I felt your outburst from the other side of the garden."

  Her voice was quiet, barely a whisper, but confident.

  "Are you alright?" she asked as she extended a hand out to me. When I took it, I realized that she was too weak to support my weight, so instead I just ended up awkwardly holding it while I stood up on my own.

  "I'm... fine. I'm fine."

  Her brow furrowed a bit, and her rose-colored eyes scanned me up and down quickly. I saw her eyes catch on the ripped hem of my dress, my reddening fists, and the dirt that covered pretty much my entire front.

  Her eyes snapped back to lock with mine, and I felt a piercing feeling close in as if I were a mouse trapped under a cat's claw.

  "No. You're not."

  I couldn't think of anything to say to that. What was I supposed to say?

  Her magic flickered a bit, and my magic nearly exploded out of me in reflexive fear. She was clearly using hers, whatever it was, but since everyone's magic is personal, it was a bit hard to tell what she was doing since it didn't seem to be anything I could see.

  "Ugh. I'm making such a terrible first impression," I thought to myself, before noticing that one, my hand had dirtied her white gloves, and two, she hadn't let go of it yet.

  "Don't say you're fine when you're not."

  She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And she was still holding my hand. At this point, I thought I might have been the weird one for not letting go of it, but I really didn't want to be the first to let go if she was going to let me keep holding it. It wasn't calming, like my sister's hand, but something else. Pleasant. Warm.

  She didn't say anything. Her eyes told me she was waiting for a response, but I had no idea what to say. This was probably one of the first real conversations I had had in years, and I was making a complete mess of it.

  My thoughts started racing again, and I closed my eyes, struggling to control my breathing. I didn't want to scare or upset her, but that feeling made me even more desperate, and even less in control.

  "Hey. Look at me."

  I forced my eyes open to look at her. Her piercing stare hadn't wavered at all.

  "I don't know what happened, but you need to let your magic out."

  Her eyes once again glanced me over, but the piercing feeling did not abate.

  "You aren't hiding your magic, you're storing it. It's a common beginner mistake. You're focusing so hard on keeping a low presence that, instead of letting the ambient magic pass through untouched, you're not exhaling anything at all. It's, frankly, a miracle that you're even alive, because with that much stored magic your body is liable to start shredding itself apart, if it isn't already. How have your tutors not told you about this?"

  My mouth felt dry.

  "I don't have any tutors."

  Her eyes narrowed in anger and I felt her magic flicker again, before her stare softened.

  "Well, you know now. You need to let this out. If you don't have anyone to help you right now, I will."

  With some embarrassment at my ignorance, I finally decided to stop holding her hand, only for her to refuse to let go. The feeling of being trapped suddenly heightened.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Apologies. I don't mean to alarm you, but letting go would be a mistake. I'm stabilizing you. Let out your magic."

  I swallowed, closing my eyes again. Constantly attempting to suppress my magic made it hard to let it out deliberately, but I felt some cool feeling creep over my arm, emanating from her hand, and when the momentary alarm took hold of me I simply let my magic free reflexively.

  It was the first time I had let it out in a long time, and the results were as terrible as always. I couldn't hear my own screaming, because there was now a roaring sound in my ears. I couldn't feel the world anymore, because my entire body felt like it was being torn apart in every direction. There was a strong feeling of vertigo, and I lost track of which direction was up. My body was using every bit of magic available to it to repair every part of me all at once.

  The cool feeling remained, however, and it slowly enveloped me like an embrace.

  And in a few short minutes, my stored magic was all spent, and what remained from my breathing came out in crashing waves with every exhalation. As I slowly opened my eyes, I realized that the embrace I felt was real, as she was now hugging me tightly.

  She immediately released me once my outburst was over. Now standing a few steps back, she nodded in a confident, satisfied manner.

  "That was something to behold. My favorite part was watching you turn pink."

  I looked down at my hands, and realized that my entire body was now flush. I felt hot, or maybe a bit feverish, and way too sweaty. Looking at her, I felt a spike of embarrassment drive itself through my heart when I saw a wet spot on her dress from where she had held me.

  Magic was still flowing out of me, but I held back the urge to start suppressing it again.

  "Since you haven't had any tutors, I'll do my best to teach you what I can while I'm here. Meet me out here again tomorrow night."

  As she turned to leave, I reached out to grab her hand again, but my confidence failed at the last moment. Instead, I called out to her:

  "W-wait! What's your name? I'm Sophia."

  "Diana."

  And with that, she walked out into the moonlit garden, towards the guest house.

  "Diana," I whispered to myself. The smell of her magic still clung to me, and I spent the rest of the evening wrapped up in it.

  ---

  The next morning, I wondered if the whole thing had been a dream, and at breakfast I spent more time distractedly pushing around the withered grapes that constituted my breakfast than eating them.

  "Sophia, I clearly remember telling you to suppress your magic at all times."

  My breath caught in my throat, and I looked up to meet my father's eyes.

  "My apologies, Your Grace. I will do so now."

  "In through the mouth. Hold in the magic. Out, normal air," I recited in my head as I did as he had taught. "But if this isn't how you suppress your magic, how is it really done?"

  "Do not forget again. You know that the privilege of bringing your personal maid to the remedial academy is very easy for me to revoke."

  I nodded quietly, and after he finally stopped glaring at me to resume eating his own meal I turned my gaze back down to slowly eat my slightly soured grapes.

  Today, Agnes was wearing the ugliest, most voluminous pink dress I had ever seen her wear, with extra fabric sewn in to accentuate her bust and hips. She looked to me like she could barely move, and her hair was some overcomplicated mess of braids and jewels. This was, from what I understood, her new "walking attire", and her walk this morning had put her directly through the front gardens of the guest house. Several times.

  She was also agitated, chagrined, and frustrated. I hoped, uselessly, that she would not make it my problem, but I knew better.

  Hugo was making an awful mess of his plate, chewing loudly and bragging obnoxiously to Agnes about a "truly fearsome sword technique" he intended to perfect with his swordsmanship tutor that afternoon, which only further exacerbated her foul mood.

  William had already left the table long ago for his morning lessons. He had barely touched anything on his plate.

  Duke Printemps left to attend his affairs, once again leaving me alone with Hugo and Agnes. I almost wished that he had send me to my room for my mistake earlier, since that would also have given me a reason to leave breakfast before them.

  The moment the door shut after Duke Printemps, Hugo stood up. Anticipating the danger, I had also begun to stand, and in the back of my mind I worried that this was going to start becoming a routine.

  "Am I going to be running from them every morning and every evening from now until they get a chance to let out their frustrations on me again?"

  This time, however, Hugo didn't wait for Agnes' orders. In a few lengthy bounds, he was the first to reach the door, and my escape was blocked.

  "Now now, Mutt. I still owe you a lesson from yesterday," I heard Agnes say, as her hand caught a fistful of my hair and yanked, hard, to drag me down to a kneeling position in front of her.

  "Ever since you did whatever it is you did to seduce Adrian, he hasn't paid me any mind at all. Am I going to have to ruin your ugly face so that he can't bear to look at it any more?"

  Hugo came up next to Agnes with a knife, an awful grin wide on his face. We all knew that any harm they brought against me wouldn't last the hour, but that never seemed to stop them. All that mattered was that it would hurt.

  It was just so unfair.

  When Hugo held the knife down to press against my face, I took the opportunity to grab the blade with my hand, wrenching it out of his grip. The pain made me gasp and the knife, now slippery with blood, fell to the ground out of both of our control.

  Agnes stepped back reflexively, hoisting up her dress to move it out of the way of my blood, which required her to let go of my hair.

  I breathed in. I breathed out. I cycled magic and felt my hand burn as the deep cuts began to close. Instead of reeling back from the pain, I instead chose to barrel forward onto my feet, headbutting Hugo in the groin while he laughed at the mess.

  He stopped laughing rather quickly, and I once again made my escape. I knew that next time would only be made worse by this act of defiance, but that was a problem for next time.