Chapter 68
Voice
Far too soon after sunrise, someone knocked on the door to Evelyn and Leo’s suite.
“I’ll get it,” Leo whispered. “Keep sleeping.”
He kissed Evelyn’s cheek before getting out of bed. She had nearly drifted off again, but Haydn’s voice shocked her awake.
“Good morning, Alexander! Is your lovely bride here?”
“The queen is asleep,” Leo said. “It would not be appropriate for you to wake her up.”
“But I have a gift for her!” Haydn sounded cheerful, like this was the best part of his day.
“You can give it to me,” Leo growled, “and then you can leave.”
“I can’t, actually. The magic of the Bargain dictates I hand it directly to her.”
Bullshit. If it’s the dragon scale, that wasn’t even part of an actual Bargain. He’s doing this to upset Leo.
Evelyn leapt out of bed and rushed into the main room only somewhat off-balance. “I’m up! It’s fine.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and blinked rapidly, convincing her body to be as awake as her mind.
What is that look Leo is giving me? Disappointment?
Magic forced Evelyn’s mouth into a smile. “Good morning, Councilor Ritter. You have something for me?”
Haydn wore a devilish smile that Evelyn didn’t trust. Her face heated at the memory of her dream in the library. A phantom pressure between her legs recalled exactly how he’d pounded into her.
He can’t possibly know about the dream. Right?
“As you requested, Your Majesty.” Haydn pulled the gift out of his pocket. His eyes glinted at her awed reaction.
The dragon scale was larger than his hand, pointed on one end and curved on the other. The iridescent purple color shimmered in the early sunlight.
Evelyn very carefully took the dragon scale. “You really found one.”
“I promised you I would.” Haydn cleared his throat. “I look forward to increased trade between Lochmatten and Carrowmore.”
“Wha—Right! Yes. I will speak to my father about it once we get home.”
“Wonderful. I’ll see you downstairs for breakfast.” Haydn winked at her, then left without acknowledging Leo.
Evelyn placed the dragon scale in the top drawer of the nightstand.
This is the most amazing thing I own! But also… What the hell am I supposed to do with a dragon scale?
When she turned back around, Leo was fuming.
“I’m sorry,” Evelyn said. “I didn’t know he would come by so early.”
“And you didn’t want to put on a robe before talking to him?”
Oh. I didn’t even think about that. Haydn has seen me in a nightgown before. He’s also seen me without it, but that’s a different problem.
“You don’t have a shirt on,” Evelyn replied.
“Ritter wasn’t leering at me.”
“I wasn’t awake enough to think about what I was wearing.”
“Are you done with him now?”
“Yes. The tattoos aren’t gone yet, but there’s nothing really to be done until the next time we attend the same ball.”
“Thank the gods for that,” Leo grumbled.
Thank the gods he doesn’t know my bracelet is freezing cold from all my lies in the last few minutes. Actually, Leo doesn’t even know what my bracelet does. He didn’t bother to ask. He was just mad it came from Haydn.
Moeller explained the plan for the morning during breakfast. “Alexander, you will train in the greenhouse with an assistant of mine. I need to work with Evelyn outside to see how far she can push her Air magic.”
“That sounds fine,” Leo said. “Thank you, Councilor.”
“Where outside are we going?” Evelyn asked. “Will half of Lochmatten show up to watch me practice on the front lawn?”
“If you’re shy, we can go to the private courtyard. You’re less likely to start a forest fire there, anyway,” Moeller sneered.
“I have perfect control over my Fire!” Evelyn argued.
“But can you stop flames that you’ve sent out on a gust of wind?”
“Probably!”
“Perhaps your Water wielding guard should help supervise this session.”
“I can help, too,” Damien added.
Moeller frowned. “How can you possibly be of assistance during a lesson on Elemental magic?”
“Why is she only practicing with elements? Why not see if she can create illusions?”
“Because a tornado is more useful in a battle than music.”
“You forget that I’ve fought battles with Auditory magic,” Damien said proudly.
“The ability to distract your opponent for even a few seconds can save lives. Creating a sound shield to block the noise of your forces, especially combined with invisibility from Vision fae, lets you sneak up on the enemy. My favorite is mimicking the voice of an enemy’s commander and telling their side to retreat. ”
“Fontaine the Fearless,” Haydn complimented.
How does Haydn always look like he’s planning something? Doesn’t that get exhausting?
“Point taken,” Moeller said. “But Evelyn can’t create illusions if she can’t detect them.”
“I can now,” she told him. “The illusions are faint, but I can sense them.”
Moeller drummed his fingers on the table. “Interesting. We’ll try it. But if your illusions are worse than your Earth magic, I’m not going to waste my time.”
After breakfast, Moeller led Damien, Evelyn, and her guards to the courtyard.
Cobblestones filled the center of the large area, with walkways branching off to various sections of the castle.
Grass and shrubs lined the outer edges between paths.
Evelyn and Moeller stood in the middle, while Damien, Rory, and Simon leaned against a wall to observe.
Moeller began by embarrassing Evelyn, which may have been his intent all along. Her Earth and Water magic were even weaker than the day before. But her Air was stronger, and everyone had to brace themselves to stay upright against the wind.
“All right!” Moeller yelled at her. “Calm down!”
Evelyn decreased the gale to a breeze and grinned without guilt.
Moeller pointed toward the men. “You! Water fae!”
“Rory Flynn, sir,” he said, stepping forward.
“Can you make a stream of water circle through the air?”
“Yes, sir.” Rory held up a hand to create a ribbon of water, which flowed like a snake chasing its tail.
Simon’s lips formed words that looked suspiciously like Show-off.
“Do that”—Moeller pointed at Rory’s spinning water—“but with your Air magic.”
The task was much more tedious than blasting them with high winds. Moeller used magic to infuse pinpricks of light into the moving Air so Evelyn could see her currents. It took her a few tries to get it right, but soon she had a steady circular flow.
“Keep that going,” Moeller said. “But now, add flames to it. Don’t replace Air with Fire. Picture an ember being carried in a breeze.”
The skill was tricky. Evelyn’s instinct was to conjure a wheel of fire, so Moeller had been right to explain the difference between combining and replacing.
She ended up making several small flames, like you would see from a candle wick, and moved them carefully into the stream of air.
They flickered at first, but Evelyn steadied them.
“Well done,” Moeller said. “A hundred more hours of practice and you might be good at it.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes.
I’m proud of myself, even if Moeller would rather die than give me an actual compliment.
Damien pushed off the wall. “Time for illusions?”
“Be my guest,” Moeller said, leaving to sit on a bench nearby.
“Aren’t you the teacher?” Damien called after him.
Moeller crossed one leg over the other. “It’s your magic. Shouldn’t you know what to do?”
Damien turned to Evelyn, who choked down a laugh.
“You and me, Princess,” Damien said, the words a quiet promise.
“We could burn the castle down!” Evelyn suggested.
“I heard that,” Moeller warned. “I’m closer than your guards, and you aren’t my queen.”
They ignored his threat.
“Close your eyes,” Damien directed.
“Why?” Evelyn asked nervously.
“Because you have to focus on listening. Your eyes only distract you.”
Evelyn did as she was told. “Now what?”
“Think of something you can hear clearly in your mind. A sound, a voice, anything. Repeat it in your head as many times as you need. Then push it into the air.”
The silliest memory popped into Evelyn’s mind, but the sound was short enough to practice easily.
Here.
Here.
Here.
Here.
“Here.”
Evelyn jumped. When she said the word for the fifth time in her head, she heard it whispered back to her, like the wind echoed her thought.
Her eyes flew open. Damien was watching her with a crooked smile.
“Was that my voice?” he asked.
Evelyn nodded. “We were at the hospital. You took a cookie off my plate and licked it, then offered it to me.”
Damien barked out a laugh. “Why did you pick that of all things?”
“It was the first sound I thought of. But it worked? It only sounded like a whisper to me.”
“It was loud enough for the rest of us. You can create illusions!”
Rory and Simon clapped and cheered as loudly as they could, just to make a fuss.
“Do it again!” Moeller demanded.
Evelyn managed two more Auditory illusions. First was a tea kettle whistling, which is apparently quite unpleasant to hear amplified in a courtyard. Then she shared her brother’s laughter, making herself homesick.
“That’s enough noise for today,” Moeller announced, getting up to leave.
“Evelyn proved she can do Perceptual magic,” Damien boasted. “You don’t have anything to say about it?”
Moeller bowed to Evelyn. “I wish you the best of luck using tea kettle screeching in battles, Your Majesty.”
Damien glared at him, but Evelyn burst out laughing. Moeller went back inside, officially concluding the lesson.
“Fuck that guy,” Damien grumbled. “He disrespected centuries of Gryon military strategy!”
Evelyn laughed harder.
“It’s your kingdom he’s insulting now, Queen Evelyn!”
“I’m sorry!” Evelyn gasped. “But your face!”
Without warning, Damien picked Evelyn up and tossed her over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked.
He lowered her onto the bench and sat beside her. “Are you done cackling over my imminent blood feud with Moeller?”
Evelyn had to look away so she wouldn’t start giggling again. “Thanks for teaching me, Damien. I wasn’t sure I could actually do it.”