At first, she had not thought much of it. Ivar killed them and she felt relieved. Why should she feel sorry towards the people who had wanted to cause her harm? It was only as the days passed by that the image was imprinted in her mind, and the gravity of it sank in. No one deserved to die in such a horrific way. If she did not care about this, did it make her the same kind of person as her father? Her father, who would have let her burn alive…
There was also the fact that she was able to take away that sorcerer’s magic. During the first days, Elena was able to feel it, different from her own and tingling through her body. Later, it just became a part of what was already hers.
It scared her to know what it meant that she could steal the magic residing in other living beings. Neither Ivar nor Miros could provide an answer for that phenomenon, and when sh
I'm sorry for the lack of updates in the previous month. Unfortunately, I'm in a situation where I cannot write much, and I'm afraid if I do the quality of the work will let you down. So I promise that starting from the second week of October I'll come back with daily updates.
Elena recognized Cain as one of the knights who guarded them in their trip to Alvor. A handsome young man, who couldn’t be more than thirty-years-old, with tanned skin and dark brown hair. But half of his face was marred with an unnatural black that seemed to be spreading from his chest to the rest of the body. “The blade cut isn’t deep at all, so he probably did not worry about it at first. But it was poisoned, and this poison isn’t common at all.” Miros explained to her. It was only the two of them and the unconscious Cain in the room, as the doctor had just left saying there wasn’t much he could do for this patient, and the twins were waiting anxiously outside the room. “I want to help, but I don’t know how I could be of use... you know I haven’t learned much about healing yet.”
Miros made her practice with a junco that had a broken wing, but when the bird started to make a strange noise and move awkwardly on the bench, Elena stopped.“I don’t think I should be practicing on living creatures yet.”It was cruel. She was starting to reconsider her opinion of this young man, and understood how someone of his age could be in charge of overseeing the academies of the empire.“You’re not going to make progress with dolls, so just do your best if you don’t want to hurt this little one” Her brother-in-law was firm in this teaching method. “It’s not only the intention, and it’s not only that your magic has to flow from your core to your hands to the person you intend to heal. You have to be careful not to infuse the other with too muc
Elena thought it was impressive how quickly Princess Tiana’s countenance changed from the entitled smirk to an uneasy look in her pale face. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you are talking about, Ivar.” “You don’t? Didn’t Sir Abelon arrive with you today?” Now, judging by the short moment of disbelief that flashed through Tiana’s eyes, right before she settled on anger, and how calm Ivar appeared to be considering that a man from the princess' side was caught on the very first day, another suspicion rose in Elena’s mind. “Jean found him snooping around his office. I was forced to cut his hands and tongue.” He didn’t blink when he revealed this violent punishment, and it still sent shivers down to her spine.
Elena only left Lapis’ room after Laila and the twins assured her that they would take care of the child’s safety. Just in case. If it came down to it, and something like the ambush were to happen inside the palace, Elena trusted Laila and Lapis could run away unscathed. Both of them were so young, and their presence there in Alvor was all her responsibility.After walking into the hall arm in arm with Ivar, her fears slowly started to seem like just a product of her previous anxiety in regards to the banquet. This was her first appearance in front of the nobility of Alvor, and what if she didn’t live up to the expectations?But just minutes after they welcomed the princess and the musicians started playing, Miss Blanc came to ask her about the grand banquets in the south. Were there any differences?
News about Crown Princess’ fall spreaded fast, thanks to all the attendees of the banquet. It wasn’t long before letters from her family and former acquaintances arrived, as everyone wanted to know more about that piece of news. Ivar humiliated Tiana in such a way that no one would doubt who held more power between the two of them, it was the same as saying that the Duke of Alba’s status was superior to the heir of the Emperor. Former heir, if things went the way Miros and Ivar expected.Elena did not know how to feel about the whole thing. The princess was her enemy, someone who had tried to kill her way before they met face to face. She was also paying for her actions, according to Ivar she’d been negotiating the support of the King of the Diamond Islands in exchange of the resources from the forests in the continent. People who came from Raeden carried a long-term hatred for the
The thing Elena couldn’t understand was how even the people from the Diamond Islands knew about magic and fairies to the point of risking their diplomatic relations with the Empire just to get their hands on part of that. Elena was sure not even most nobles in Vallas (including her father) knew about the existence of these creatures.“It’s an old thing. The people from the islands value the riches from the continent. Back during the times of the first arrival, they even shipped sorcerers and presented them to the court of the King Midas as ‘saints’. The same logic could be applied to everything else. They only left when they were forced to do so, and after having pillaged all that they could.”“How do you know so much about this?”There wasn’t much about it in hi
She felt the strong urge to make that clear the kind of place it used to be.“I should fix this.”Ivar grabbed her hand and shook his head. “Not yet.”Elena frowned, raising her head to look him in the eye. Why?“It’s not convenient right now, but we will come back and fix this.” He answered her silent question. “Trust me.”For some reason, the sight made her heart ache. Long after they had crossed the area that had been reduced to just a depressing view, her mind kept rewinding to that moment. Perhaps it was worse because now she knew that there were beings whose entire existence depended on the magic that this forest could provide for them.
Saray had told Ivar once that he needed to follow Giorgio’s steps to find the heart, but even though he’d gone to extreme lengths such as marrying the daughter to have access to the duke’s palace and people more easily, he’d never found a thing. Here someone else was confirming that the path had not been wrong. What did he miss?‘Even if you were in front of it now, you would not be able to recognize it.’The fairies took turns to tell the story that seemed to be fresh in their minds, as if it had not started a thousand years ago.“They stole the heart through lies and deception, and when we realized it was too late. Our people’s strength is healing magic, but we are not warriors. We hoped the Fire spirits could stop them, it was their mission…” B