Alice’s wild, vibrant green

  aura exploded from her, crackling violently against mine. The little

  girl’s face was screwed up into a look of pain as she tugged as

  hard as she could to reel it back in. Her progress seemed to be a

  dance of two steps forward and one back, sometimes three back

  depending on the day.

  I very much still agreed with

  Mari bringing her back based on talent alone, but I wondered if it

  were at all possible to tame her abilities before they would need to

  be called upon. I had ordered a whole other room cleared out, what

  used to be an old study filled with books, at the behest of Busby and

  his concern that she was going to end up hurting the other recruits

  in her exploration of how to best control her power. It worried me

  that Feros had seemed to materialize out of no where to agree to be a

  secondary tutor without even having been asked, but it was a very

  convenient solution to the problem.

  I found myself wondering just

  how many steps ahead Feros was. It often felt like things just so

  happened to fall into place how he wanted a bit too commonly. Mistra

  has assured me that it had been her idea to pursue training again and

  her eventual decision to go down the path of usurping her father and

  Feros had just been a convenient means for her to do so, but the

  creature was suspiciously always there when he was needed, waiting

  like he had been the one writing the script and we were just actors

  in his ultimate goal.

  “Powerful release,” the

  creature commented, his own violet aura billowing out to push hers

  away from him, “but you’re just letting the dam burst all at

  once, you need to learn let it flow at a trickle first to build up

  your control.”

  “I can’t,” the girl said

  weakly, “I’ve been trying to this whole time.”

  Feros nodded as if he expected

  her exact reply. “I understand, but you have so much chaotic power

  to keep track of this way, you’re not able to focus on any one

  thing. For instance, should there be someone else in this room with

  us, you would not have even noticed their aura, would you?”

  The edges of the girl’s

  power flared and expanded, searching for anyone else. I stealthily

  contracted my own aura away from the searching tendrils to leave

  myself still hidden from her. I was certain that Mari and Evonia must

  have spied on me many, many times during my own training, but knowing

  they were would have filled me with nerves.

  The ceilings of the castle had

  been built very tall with walkways and high banisters above the

  central rooms. There had to have been unseen observation in mind for

  whomever designed it, though it seemed perhaps a bit overkill in the

  scope. Now that I found myself with the inclination to wander the

  castle unseen, it made me question just for what purpose the castle

  had been built for in the first place. I had assumed as a child that

  the castle had been built for Evonia and the start of the House Yser,

  but it was evident that it was older than Evonia, the floor worn in

  the common rooms beyond just her years.

  “I don’t feel anyone…”

  she said with uncertainty and raised her head from it’s

  concentration potion to look around. The gap in focus snapped her

  aura into a wild vibration, the edges expanding and contracting

  erratically, threatening to dissipate entirely.

  “Focus,” Feros reprimanded

  sharply, “you cannot afford to let your magic wander on it’s own.

  I have witnessed someone by consumed by their power and there was

  little left of them but a smudge on the floor. Never underestimate or

  take for granted what the power you harness can do, it cares not for

  your well being.”

  I have heard something similar

  from Busby during my early training, though it had always felt like

  something he was telling me out of an abundance of caution since I

  had never really had much trouble controlling the power I willed.

  Though I could see now how it could easily spiral out of a control

  for someone with lots of innate talent and no finesse.

  Alice let out a small squeak

  of fear and snapped her head back down, sweat beading along her

  forehead as she renewed her effort in constraining her billowing

  magic.

  “Good, now imagine you can

  extend your arms out all the way to where you sense the edges and tug

  it back in to a manageable size. Try to have it only extend to were

  it almost touches me, but no further,” he instructed.

  The edges flared for a moment

  as she confused which bit of her power to use, but after a frenzied

  moment, her aura began to slowly contract. Sweat poured down her

  forehead and her body shook with effort, like the power was

  threatening to tear her tiny body apart at the seams. After a few

  tense moments, she had brought it back into just between her and the

  trainer, though the edges wavered dangerously.

  Feros said nothing, watching

  the membrane of the aura in front of him with a serious and

  contemplative look on his face. His own aura reached out, expanding

  to encompass the little girl without actually interacting with her

  magic. His aura brightened to a shocking shade of violet for a split

  second, then he recalled it back to himself and nodded his head

  approvingly.

  “Release it back into the

  stone,” he instructed.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  With a loud sigh from the

  release of effort, Alice slammed the power away from her and into the

  castle, grounding herself once again. Her legs shivered and shook

  until they no longer could bare her weight and she toppled to her

  knees, breathing deep and labored.

  “I’m sorry to have to work

  you to this point, I really am,” the creature said with what seemed

  to be a real pang of empathy, “but someone with your abilities is

  going to have to work at least double what another magic user does to

  find their inner balance.” He paused a moment, contemplating his

  next words. “I must impress upon you the importance that you do not

  practice your abilities without me around, not even any other

  trainer, it is dangerous. Even if Queen Toria commands you to

  directly, you must disobey, it is very, very important that you

  understand this.”

  I raised an eyebrow in

  surprise and intrigue, it was not every day that someone would be

  willing to demand disobedience to a monarch while they knew said

  monarch was in the room. There would be a very interesting reason why

  he would do so, at least for his sake there better be.

  “But I-”

  “No,” he said, cutting off

  her words, “you must promise to me right now that you will no

  longer explore magic outside of when I say it’s okay.” His face

  had lost it’s normal mask of barely contained mirth, instead it had

  been replaced by a commanding countenance that exuded how serious he

  wanted her promise to be.

  “I- I promise.” Her eyes

  were wide and he had her full attention despite the fact it seemed

  that she was struggling to stay conscious.

  “Alright, see that you truly

  mean it,” he said with a much more gentle tone. He leaned down and

  took the little girl’s arms and helped her to her feet. “Do not

  just go straight to bed now, stop at the kitchen and tell them your

  trainer told you to ask for a snack of something with meat and

  something fatty. If you skip this step you are going to be too weak

  later to rise for dinner and if you miss both the snack and dinner,

  you are going to be in no shape to train tomorrow. In fact, after

  today I will speak with the servants directly and have them ready

  with something immediately when we’re done for the day. Your

  physical body will need more nourishment now, do not ignore it’s

  need for food, even if you think you’ve just ate and it was enough,

  eat more.”

  She nodded at him wordlessly,

  eyes locked onto his face, though I didn’t think he was forcing her

  to do so. He gave a very light, low chuckle and patted her shoulders

  before turning her towards the door and reminding her one last time

  to visit the kitchen first. As soon as the door closed behind her,

  his head swiveled up to where I was concealed in the shadows.

  “I’m assuming you have

  questions,” he chuckled.

  “Many,” I replied and

  stepped forward into the candlelight of the room, “I don’t think

  it’s often any monarch could say that someone would be so brazen as

  to command a subject to ignore their direct orders.”

  As soon as the words left my

  lips, I sensed a strange popping sensation in the room that raised

  the hair on the back of my neck. The creature looked up at me with a

  crooked half smile and in an instant was standing next to me. I

  blinked and let out a small huff of surprise before I could gather

  myself to react less impressed than I did.

  “If you fully understood

  what I am trying to prevent from happening, you would be very

  grateful,” he said, smile never having left his lips. “That girl

  is more dangerous than I think anyone in this castle understands at

  the moment. Busby could sense that she was out of his league and for

  that he deserves a lot of credit, but he might have banished her all

  together if he had picked up on why she is so problematic.”

  “And so conveniently, you’re

  here and know exactly what to do about it,” I accused with a crook

  of my eyebrow.

  Feros’ half-smile widened

  into a full, toothy grin. “I will have to apologize sometime for

  passing you off as possessing only the typical human level of

  awareness. I think I fell into the trap of stereotyping all humans as

  the same, when there can be a clear difference. There is a reason the

  demons chose your family line, after all.”

  “I want you to expand on

  what you mean by my family being chosen, but I have a feeling that

  you are saving that for a time you’ve already worked out in your

  head,” I sighed.

  “Right on the money,” he

  said gleefully, “besides it behooves you right now to understand

  exactly what is going on with that child and why I need to keep her

  pinned down.”

  I nodded in agreement and

  motioned for him to continue.

  “I’m sure you have

  considered that there are other beings beyond human and demon?”

  “Of course, I am no fool,”

  I replied. “For instance I am entirely certain that you are

  neither.”

  “Very perceptive,” he said

  approvingly, “and therefore I am assuming you sense that the girl

  very much is human and you would be correct. However, you would also

  be a tad bit incorrect. Well, maybe more than a tad.” The creature

  ceased speaking for a moment, building up the suspense. “Have you

  ever heard the old wives tales of children wandering away from their

  mothers into a field or the woods and being abducted and replaced

  with a fae child?”

  “Yes,” I answered.

  I could remember it being one

  of the things my nursemaid had warned against whenever we left the

  castle to play in the field behind the walls. Though it was something

  that more level-minded servants had scoffed at her for even

  suggesting and I had assumed that it had just been something made up

  as a scare tactic to keep me within easy line of sight.

  “Well don’t worry, she’s

  not a fae,” he assured, “as I said she’s very much human, but I

  have a theory and I think I’m right. Though, I will check my ego

  and send word to a few others for their opinion,” he explained. “I

  think she was touched by fae when she was very young and going to be

  abducted, but was left instead for whatever reason. I can’t say

  I’ve really seen it before, but I think it’s the most likely

  scenario why fae magic would be imprinted on her.”

  “So she’s a human girl

  with fae powers?” I couldn’t help but express a bit of wonder

  about the prospect.

  “Precisely, which as you can

  infer, means she is not built to contain that kind of power in such a

  frail form, which is problem number one. Number two, and definitely

  the biggest, is that catching fae attention is not something that any

  human wants. They are powerful beings who are as manipulative as they

  come and they would be more than delighted to take whatever advantage

  they could squeeze with having a door into a kingdom. They would

  likely consider this kingdom a small blip on their power radar, but

  any power for power’s sake might as well be their universal motto.”