Jayden rushed down to the archival chambers in the castle. They were usually well guarded by the soldiers who watched the chambers all day and night long, but today being the banquet, the guard was spread thin, and it wasn’t difficult for Jayden to make his way through. However, convincing his mother that he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to miss the banquet was harder. Despite his excitement to figure out the truth about his abilities, he waited patiently until a few hours after the feast had begun before he took his leave, saying that he wasn’t feeling good. At that point, even his mother didn’t protest and let him go quite easily.

He’d chosen a black cloak, which helped him hide in the shadows and keep the king and the others from finding out about what was going on.

He turned to the locked doorway where two guards were busy discussing something. He took the key he’d stolen from his father’s room and looked the two guards in the eye before they acknowledged his presence.

He turned the lock, and the giant iron gate swung open. The room was dark with only the light of the candle that Jayden had already been carrying. He waved the candle around to get a good look around. Most of these books were about magic, to his surprise. Since the decree had come into effect almost sixteen years ago, making the public practice of magic a punishable offence, these books were hard to find. A large number of books about magic had been purged, so Jayden was surprised to find many books on the topic here.

There were full shelves with books on various subjects related to magic and potion recipes. There were also a variety of pouches and amulets as well for which Jayden didn’t understand the purpose of.

He picked out a large bound book with fraying edges, titled ‘A Basic Study of Magic’. He dusted the volume and settled on the ground to read through it.

He tried to flip through the pages, but the text inside had either been smudged or covered by layers of ashes. Some other pages were torn out and burned away, and his earlier surprise vanished instantly.

Jayden gave a sigh and put the book back on the shelf, and tried to find a useful scroll in the piles spread around him, but the language was far too different and difficult to understand.

The mild feeling of exhaustion that had existed as he came out of the forest had begun to make him feel dizzy and faint. He decided it was best he headed before things got worse since someone could find him here.

He gave up on searching for any good information about magic and snuffed the candle before he locked the gates and went back up to the corridor.

He was lost in thought about what his powers really were that he didn’t realize Noxaura coming towards him and bumped into her.

“Sorry,” Jayden said, and he felt the world spinning even more than before as he looked up, so he bowed his head.

“Where were you?” she asked as she observed his dusty cloak and clothes as well as the soot on his hands, face, and hair.

“I’d gone to check the archives,” he answered with all the strength he could muster.

Noxaura raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “And whatever for?”

“I wanted to search for a relic down there,” Jayden lied.

“Don’t lie to me, Jayden. If I find the real reason you were down there, you’ll be in big trouble,” Noxaura taunted.

“Why? Don’t I have every right to roam freely in the castle?” Jayden asked angrily. He was tired of always listening to all of her restrictions and just wanted some rest.

“Careful with your tongue, young prince,” She said as she looked Jayden in the eye, “I have every right to tell you what you can and can’t do. More answers like that and your title will be at stake.”

Jayden was stunned by her response and kept quiet for his own safety. He gave her a nod and walked back up to his chambers in the large tower of the castle.

There was no way she could do anything like that to me, was there? Jayden wondered. But all of these thoughts vanished as soon as he managed to make it to his chambers. He went over to the bed and fell fast asleep.

Elizah was seated at the piano and playing one of the songs she’d learned from her mother while Micah stood and watched how her fingers went across the keys quickly and with a gentle grace.

“You missed a note,” Micah said as he pointed to the sheet of music.

“As if you know how to play,” Elizah said with a short laugh.

“Is that a challenge?” Micah asked with laughter dancing in his eyes.

“It’s all yours,” Elizah stood up and offered the chair to her brother.

Micah settled and was about to set his hands on the keys when there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” Elizah said as she rushed over to the door and opened it. Her step-siblings and stepfather were waiting outside.

“Mama, they’re home,” Elizah said as she went over to the kitchen to set the table for dinner. She ushered them inside and closed the door behind them.

Micah managed to grasp Elizah’s arm and asked, “Where are you headed?”

The humour of their earlier conversation had disappeared from Elizah’s eyes, replaced by what seemed to be fear.

“I’ll explain later,” Elizah managed to whisper as she hurried back to the kitchen.

“Who’s this young lad here?” the man who entered asked as he walked up to Micah.

Micah stood up from the chair near the piano and looked at the man who now stood in front of him.

“I’m Roxanne’s first-born son. She hasn’t mentioned me?” Micah asked in an even tone.

“Roxy, you brought the other ungrateful bastard home again? I thought we already had enough mouths to feed in this house, and now you brought this one back as well,” The man was shouting.

Elizah visibly winced as she walked over and placed the boiling stew on the table.

“He came home after many years, this is still his home after all,” Elizah softly said.

“Watch your tongue, young lady,” The man said with a glare in Elizah’s direction,” Oh, so he wasn’t strong enough for the troops so they sent him back. Serves him right.”

The man continued as he sat down at the table.

Micah’s face, which was initially surprised, now started to grow slightly annoyed, and he began to say,” I’ll have you know-”

“Please don’t start a fight,” Roxanne whispered to her son, “Elizah will explain later.”

Micah slowly sat down with a grim expression, and the rest of the meal continued in silence.

Roxanne signalled for Elizah and Micah to leave the room as soon as the plates were cleared.

Micah gave a questioning expression but followed his sister out of the hall and into Elizah’s room.

“Who is that man?” Micah asked as soon as Elizah shut the door behind her.

“Shh. Keep it down. We don’t need stepfather yelling like a madman after us,” Elizah said as she settled on her bed.

“That’s stepfather?” Micah asked in disbelief.

“Yes, he’s had one of his bad days at the market, so he’s a little hot-tempered, he’s not usually like this,” Elizah lied.

Every day is like this, Micah, she wanted to say, but she knew that would only cause trouble.

“Okay,” Micah said with a yawn, and his gaze was wary, “I’m really tired today so I’m going to sleep early.”

He settled on the other straw mattress that was set for him.

“Good night Liz,” Micah managed before he began to snore as he fell into a deep sleep. Elizah smiled momentarily before reaching over and opening the book she kept under her bed and began to translate. It was what diverted her anger when days were like this. The script was challenging, but it was interesting to understand the passages in the story.

She had been translating for a while when she finally decided to close the book for the night. Her thoughts weren’t on the story but far beyond. It had grown late, and it was almost the dead of the night. But she could still hear voices outside.

Elizah was surprised by the loud noises since it was so late and everyone was usually asleep by then.

It was a heated conversation, by what bits and pieces Elizah managed to hear. One voice was undoubtedly Roxanne’s soft and gentle voice, but the other was the more loud one. It sounded like her stepfather’s voice, but the voice wasn’t clear enough to recognize perfectly. It was a man’s voice but was very heavy and slurred for it to be anyone Elizah knew.

She didn’t want to go outside to see what was going on in fear of what she might see. She lay atop her bed, just lost in thoughts as the sounds grew louder, wondering what might happen as a result of this conversation.

A cloaked figure went down to the archives through the main entrance without being detected. The books were still left in their places from when the last person had used them. Some of the pages were left open.

The person sat down, went through the books on the table, and observed the writing and torn pages.

“How did you get past the guards?” a voice suddenly came out from the archway.

“You know my tricks,” the seated person replied calmly.

“It happened today if you want to know. His type is a battle type but he doesn’t know it,” the seated person said.

“So everything’s going according to plan?” a person near the gateway said and stepped forward.

“One half is. The other half, we don’t know what to expect yet,” the seated person answered and closed the books.

“But…” the other began.

“It’s no longer safe here. We’ll meet again when the plan’s finally into the next stage. Until then nothing is for certain,” the seated person stood up and walked up to the other person.

“So we shall,” the other said, and they headed their separate ways.