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When I return to my room, my body is sweaty and my hair is unkempt. But there is no time for me to clean up because when I walk into my room, Slyth is waiting for me.
Despite my discomfort, my mood lifts instantly. Slyth smiles and his hood widens slightly.
“Are you ready?” I nod eagerly in response, and he takes me back out the way I came.
The castle is quiet after lunchtime. It feels almost empty as we walk through the castle.
I cannot help but look around for Vippera as we walk, but Slyth seems completely confident.
At the dining hall on the main floor – because there are three apparently – Slyth turns left and as I follow him, we walk into a sunlit courtyard.
The sun feels good on my skin, and as we leave the courtyard, we enter a beautiful garden.
But as beautiful as the garden is, it cannot compare with the beauty of the gardens in my village. I am hit with a sudden sense of homesickness, and I inhale sharply, as Slyth picks up the pace and turns a corner.
“Are you coming?” he calls as I follow him around a hedge of short Tiphe trees.
A gasp escapes me as I step around the hedge, and a small manor house comes into view.
It is beautiful, and the dangerous numiscu blossoms creep up the side of the manor.
We enter the manor, and Slyth takes me down a flight of stairs to a large, empty room.
“You should change here,” he tells me. “It is best to be comfortable while practicing.”
I nod gratefully at him and walk into a side room, where a set of black, cotton clothing waits for me.
I pull it on and then join Slyth in the large room.
The room is not empty when I walk back into it. Instead, there are different kinds of training equipment on the edge of the room.
There are weapons and even human-shaped figures made out of cloth.
“Show me your magic,” Slyth tells me, and I take a deep breath before I step into the center of the room.
It feels wrong to let out my magic when I have spent so long concealing it.
Especially in front of a naga.
Especially in the royal castle.
And I also know that I cannot trust Slyth and Zalith. Not yet.
My magic curls from my fingers in a shade of green that excites me and calms me in equal measure.
This is right. This is where I’m supposed to be.The words float through my mind unbidden, but they feel right.
It has been three months since Prince Zalith’s engagement agreement with Princess Vippera was announced.
It has been three months since my life was turned upside down by the news.
Three months since I realized that the minute Princess Vippera and Pince Zalith were married, my life would be in danger forever.
And now here I am, training to use my magic in the naga royal castle.
How did we get here?
“Your magic is arcane. That is what we call it. Arcane magic manipulates the energies around us,” Slyth explains.
