Alice’s wild, vibrant green aura exploded from her, crackling wildly 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 needing, 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. There was little other reason for the ceilings of the castle to have been built so tall with walkways and high banisters above the central rooms, there had to have been unseen observation in mind, though it seemed perhaps a bit overkill in the scope. It was something now that I found myself with the ability to wander the castle freely that 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 said sharply, “you cannot afford to let your magic wander on it’s own. I have witnessed someone by consumed by their power, 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 how 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 dangerous. 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.

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. Feros leaned down and took the little girl’s shoulders 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.”

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.”

“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, 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.