“What were the early signs that Mergo was a chosen of the Sun?” Aela questioned, her hand firmly grasping the leather flail placed on the table. She had very quickly picked up that it was my least favorite of the tools in her teaching arsenal.

“Mergo was born at the apex of the sun during the summer solstice, she was flaxen haired despite her mother and father being dark haired, and where ever she resided would quickly become overgrown with sunflowers,” I answered, relieved that she had chosen someone I had been able to study before I had started to slip off into sleep at my desk the night prior. Since taking over the role of religious tutor, Aela had ensured that there was no more hidden afternoon naps and strict adherence to a study schedule. She didn’t want me to just understand the broad ideas and concepts, she wanted specific names, dates, and what felt like random trivia that didn’t seem to really matter.

With her arrival a lot of things had changed, in many ways she was identical to her sister, but in many more she was different. For instance, before her arrival I had never learned my trainer’s given name, it was something that had been specifically kept from me in what I assume was an attempt to make me feel further inferior and not the one in power. Though not what Aela had intended, I savored the look on her face when her sister first called her Auria, it had taken the wind out of her sails and made her irritated and cold for the rest of the evening meal. I was not foolish enough to ever use her name, but I felt a bit safer, more in control at least knowing what it was, she was not a complete mystery to me any longer.

Aela pursed her lips together in disappointment at the fact that I had gotten her question correct. I was on a bit of a roll in not getting anything wrong yet in the session and I could tell she was itching to find some reason to punish me.

“What were the signs of sainthood after her death?” she queried.

“A brilliant flash of light upon her coffin during her funeral procession, sunflowers sprouting on her grave, and a young girl regained sight after being struck blind following a vision of Mergo,” I answered.

For a moment her lips curled into a frown, but then twitched and turned into a smile instead and her hand loosened its grip on the handle of the flail. Had I been less scared of making any obvious facial expression I would have probably looked surprised.

“You are progressing better than I was lead to believe you were capable of.” Aela leaned back in her chair and stared at me, even moving her hand away from her weapon to clasp them together on the table in front of her. “My sister had made it sound like you were a rebellious, lost child who perhaps lacked either intellect or wisdom to lead successfully, but I think she might have missed the mark with you.”

“I am glad to hear you think that,” I replied, but kept my voice very soft. I wasn’t sure if she actually wanted me to speak or not, but I had a sense that as long as I showed her deference and respect she was not as quick to strike me as her twin.

“I bet you are,” she said with a sharp laugh, “I imagine you’ve been afraid of losing your kingship this whole time.”

In the beginning of this whole ordeal I would have agreed with her, my kingship used to be at the very forefront of my mind as far as concerns. I didn’t like that I had lost my royal authority and was playing some sort of subservient role, but at some point I had turned a corner and merely was looking for survival. I wanted this period in my life to end and I sincerely hoped that it would, my mind didn’t want to walk down the path of thoughts about what if I would be under their thumb forever. Surely this dark period of my life would someday be allowed to transition to just a memory that I buried and moved on from.

“That is her way, particularly with children,” she continued. “She lacks… the capability to be matronly, frankly I think that children antagonize her without them even having to say or do anything.” The woman slightly tilted her head to the side, evaluating me silently. I must have passed some sort of unspoken test, because she nodded slightly and began speaking again. “Though she is harsh in her methods, she is the top magic trainer the Church has at the moment and once she’s done with you, you will be unstoppable, especially with your blood.”

“My blood?” A shiver ran up my spine, I assumed that she was referring to my mother’s side of the family since they were supposedly dark witches. I had thought my nursemaid had been a touch out of her head when she had first told me about the rumors, but now that I could feel the power bubbling within me, I could believe it was true.

“Of course, surely someone must have explained your mother’s noble line.”

“Not exactly, I didn’t even know I had a sister until recently.”

Aela’s smile widened and she shook her head. “For the best I suppose, though there comes a time when I think the truth about your family will help progress your growth more than anything else. It is hard to know what heights you can reach without knowing the foundation you were built on.”

She rose from the table and went to the study door, glancing into the hallway before closing the door. A magical hum arose in the room as she returned to her chair and reality suddenly felt fuzzy, like the room was somehow disconnected from the rest of the world and outside of the room had become nothing but an endless void. I held my breath and tried to really listen and feel around me, but the ever present sounds of the castle were absent and I felt true silence for perhaps the first time in my life.

“We did not have this discussion unless I’m the one who brings up the topic, understood?”

I nodded, still trying to shake off the eerie feeling of solitude.

“My methods and beliefs are different from Auria’s, despite our similarities we have very different mindsets about how to best get things done. She still subscribes to the idea that you being in the dark will allow your power to grow independent of your blood, but I believe it will just unnecessarily slow you down and ultimately you cannot escape certain aspects of your ancestry without first knowing they exist.”

Aela leaned back and crossed her legs, taking a more relaxed stance than I had ever seen either of them in before. For the first time with either of them I felt that perhaps I was seeing a real person in front of me, not just a hand of the Church. It was terrifying in its own way, she definitely looked and moved more like a predator than her sister, yet I found her much more personable and reasonable. The dichotomy was not something I enjoyed.

“Your mother did indeed come from a noble line, one that she was rightly not very proud to come from,” she began. “Whatever rumors you have been told before are likely true, your family line does come from the house Yser and they are indeed little more than a clan of witches.”

Again the hairs on my neck prickled and the bast of my spine started to tingle. “Witches? Such things actually exist?”

“Well, yes, witches exist,” she said with a laugh and a smirk, “though I think I am mostly using that word in the derogatory sense rather than the magical. They don’t dance around cauldrons and throw frogs into potions or any of that pagan rot, their power comes from more insidious means.”

“More insidious than a dark lord?” From everything I had gathered thus far about religion and folklore, the shadowy dark lord or devil was the epitome of evil. It was someone that commoners whispered about their young, wayward ladies disappearing into the forest to dance naked to summon for various wishes granted at the price of their souls. Perhaps a tale about an evil, rich merchant having exchanged his soul for his vast wealth only to spend his eternity in servitude to the specter.

“Oh yes, you still have much to learn, sometimes it becomes obvious just how behind in your religious studies you are. No matter for right now, we can double down on our work together later, now I just want you to sit and absorb, I expect you’ll need some time in quiet contemplation when we’re finished with our chat.”

If she was intending to frighten me and set me on edge, she was succeeding.

“Your great grandmother was a mostly normal common women, though she did hold a magical potential that had gone unnoticed in her family for generations. At least that’s the best anyone can decipher, there really are no records before Aurora Yser and generally magic talent gets noticed. For reasons that are faded by history, we know that she was approached by a demon or a liaison to a demon and offered a life of luxury in exchange for the training of her two daughters, Evonia, your grandmother, and Mari, your great aunt.”

“What would a demon want with them?” I asked. It seemed silly to focus on that aspect rather than the fact that demons existed at all, but it was what slipped out my mouth first.

“Eventual service,” she explained, “they wanted to train them and have them be a conduit between their realm and ours. Think of it as an open door into our reality from theirs and as long as there is someone on the Yser throne, that door is left open, to be used any time they desire.”

“So my family is full of demon worshipers.”

“Worshipers isn’t quite the right term, to be more crass, they are in bed with the demons. They live along side them and help them carry out their evil plans.”

I couldn’t help but shudder like the temperature had dropped in the room. It seemed unbelievable that my blood could have such a dark origin and that I had never fully known the extent.

“I’m glad you are disturbed by the revelation, though it is fitting.” She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, looking like she might place a hand on mind, but instead held back. “Part of the deal with the demons is that only female children where to be born of Yser blood from there on out. The pact travels strongest down maternal lines, so to keep the power concentrated it was made so, though your mother was a very, very brave woman who sacrificed of herself to break the pact.”

“Is that why she always seemed ill?”

“You are an observant child, yes, that is precisely why. You were supposed to have been born a girl, just like your sister, but your mother used her own innate powers to fight until her will won out against plague in her veins.”

Suddenly a lot of my memories surrounding my mother fell into place and it all made sense. She was not just cold and distant, she was suffering to make me who I was and to fight off a demonic influence. It made me feel warm inside about the love she must of had for me to grit through such a curse and also a bit dismayed as I recalled all the times I had faulted her for not being the warm and inviting mother I had craved.

Sensing my inner thoughts taking over, Aela gave me a long moment to myself, only interrupting me with a clearing of her throat once she deemed I had had enough time. “It might cross your mind soon to think that perhaps I am only telling you all this to manipulate you into adhering more ardently to the Church and its teachings.” It hadn’t yet, but I could see how I could have easily arrived at that conclusion. “It might serve you to know that I am a personal witness to this story and know that is without a shadow of a doubt true. I was raised in the house Yser and have seen the demons and their infernal portal first hand.”

“That would make you…”

“Now you understand how entangled you are, nephew.”