Evie could not get used to this—being trapped in the study hall for hours with her brothers and Lemeric, while Master Aaron droned on endlessly about mana.
"Mana affinity," the tutor lectured, pacing with hands clasped behind his back, "is the gift to sense, absorb, store, and manifest the world's energy. Some are born with a keen sensitivity, others cultivate it through discipline. It is not enough to draw mana—you must refine it, temper it, shape it with precision. Without control, mana is like a storm: destructive, wild, untamed. With control, it wields into display of power and might."
Evie stifled a sigh, her chin propped on one hand. She could be doing some relaxing shopping and sneakily go to the kitchen to add some supplies; secretly add a bag of gold coins in the treasury; sneak some drought-resistant crops for the farmers; secretly go to the garrison to add healing potion to the waters; sneak into bathhouse to add some core building potion or even slip in some mana rejuvenation potion in her mother's tea. This is what she'd normally do - but no instead she's stuck here in Master Aaron's lesson.
"Now," Aaron continued, "we begin with breathing exercises. Feel the flow. Draw in, steady, release..."
"Come on, Evie, let's be partners!" Eleur immediately seized her right hand.
But Elsan, never to be outdone, snatched her left. "No, Evie should practice properly—with me."
Evie gave them both a deadpan look. Ever since their father's punishment had ended and the welts on their ankles had healed, the twins had reverted to their usual boyish antics. She regretted giving them healing potions. Clearly, pain was the only thing that made them treat her gently.
Thwack!
Master Aaron's fists landed atop both their heads. "Eleur—you should be practicing the beginner spells I assigned. Elsan—you owe me ten laps in the training yard. I said build stamina, not excuses!"
Evie peeked at their glowing stats. Eleur's numbers were all muscle and bravado, stamped with the flashy title Sword Prodigy. Elsan's leaned brains and magic, stamped Mage Prodigy.
She wrinkled her nose, disdain plain on her face. It was their fault for being so talented—now everyone expected so much from her.
"But who will help Evie?" they chorused, rubbing their heads in unison.
"I can do it," Lemeric murmured, his voice barely carrying as he surfaced from behind a pile of parchment.
Evie shot him a scowl. Him, of all people. He was the very reason she was enduring these tedious lessons. It had been Lemeric who suggested to Baroness Elowen that Evie learn basic defense and mana manifestation, citing how dangerous it was to live so close to miasma zones and unstable dungeons.
Baroness Elowen, ever overprotective, had put off Evie's lessons because Evie had such low constitution and Evie liked it that way because it meant she could slack off as much as she could. But Lemeric, in that maddeningly calm way of his, spoke of his grandfather's technique: gradual exposure, small steps that strengthened body and spirit alike. And after Lemeric artfully navigated them to thinking it would be better for her to know and not need it than to not know and need it. With that Baroness Elowen and Baron Edrien agreed to start Evie's lessons on Mana affinity.
Now Evie was stuck here wasting her time.
Aaron turned, quick to seize on Lemeric's distraction. "Ah my star pupil? Have you finished copying the mana circles I entrusted to you 100 times? If you have the time to mutter, then you have the time to work. Until you can control your manifestation without nearly burning the study hall down, focus on practice." He dropped another set of heavy stack of parchment onto the desk.
Lemeric's jaw tightened, but he complied, pulling the papers closer.
The twins stuck their tongues out at him in perfect harmony.
Aaron ignored them entirely. "Hetty will be Evie's partner in these exercises. Now let's begin!"
"Do we have to teacher? The last time I did this I fainted and you had to make me drink that yucky potion!" Evie said using her puppy eyes to plead her case.
"Don't remind me your parents nearly had my head."
"Mine too" Lemeric said between strokes.
"Keep copying!" Master Aaron warned like a strict platoon leader.
Aaron's sigh echoed like a death knell. He had survived dueling spellcasters, subjugated rogue mages, and even taught the imperial family at one point —but nothing in his career prepared him for teaching lady Evie, the ungifted flower among a family of prodigies.
Evie pouted as Master Aaron set the cups on the table, his expression solemn as if he were about to unveil the secrets of the cosmos.
With deliberate care, he slipped a small refined mana stone beneath one mug, then shuffled the cups with the flourish of a court magician performing a parlor trick.
"Observe," he intoned.
Hetty stepped forward, straight-backed and composed. She closed her eyes, drew in a steady breath, and brushed her fingertips lightly over each cup as though feeling for a heartbeat. After a pause, she tapped one with certainty. "This one."
Aaron lifted the cup, revealing the stone gleaming underneath. "Correct! Excellent demonstration. And just like that, my lady, one begins to develop Mana Sense." He turned to Evie, all expectation. "Now—shall we give it a try?"
Evie peeked at him from under her lashes. "Alright but if I faint again, I'll tell Papa to hang you upside down and leave you in the forest."
Aaron nearly choked. The twins howled with laughter until they were silenced by a sharp thwack of their teacher's fist to their skulls.
"Now my lady concentrate." Aaron asked her to begin the exercise.
Evie squeezed her eyes shut, hovered her hands dramatically over the cups, then jabbed at one. "This one!"
Aaron lifted it. Empty.
"Ah... perhaps the stone is too small," Hetty said gently. "Shall we try a bigger one, Master?"
Aaron's jaw twitched, but he obliged, sliding in a larger stone and shuffling again.
Evie pointed. "This one!"
Empty.
"Maybe she needs two stones!" Eleur piped up.
"Yes, yes, let's add another!" Elsan chimed in.
Veins bulged at Aaron's temple, but he added two stones anyway. "Fine. Twice the chance."
Evie beamed, picked with great confidence—wrong again.
By now, Aaron was gripping the edge of the table as though it were his last anchor to sanity.
"Perhaps... an even larger stone," Lemeric suggested quietly, setting down a mana stone so enormous the mugs could barely cover it.
Aaron's composure cracked. "Fine! If that is what it takes!"
Evie pointed triumphantly. "This one!"
"Correct," Aaron said flatly.
But when she opened her eyes, she realized the mana stone was so large it wasn't even under the mug at all—the mug was balanced precariously on top of it.
Lemeric cheered, Hetty clapped, and the twins threw their arms up in victory.
Aaron's composure snapped. "It's visible from across the room, my lady—visible! The mug isn't even covering it, it's perched like a teacup on a melon!" He clawed at his hair, eyes wild.
Evie flinched. "Teacher, don't yell at me..." Her lip trembled.
"My lady please do not cry!" Hetty said already handing her silk handkerchief.
"Don't shout at our sister!" the twins barked in unison—then charged him like tiny soldiers.
"Why you little ruts you think you can take on your teacher eh? Come here!" Aaron said losing his composure.
"I'll flank his right!" Eleur claimed and dashed at Aaron.
Elsan said drawing his staff "I'll take his left!"
The study rang with indignant shouts, the clash of overturned chairs, and the sound of a grown man losing to twelve-year-olds until all three of them somehow backed themselves all the way to the training grounds.
Hetty, unfazed, clapped her hands. "Well then, I'll fetch some snacks."
Evie pretended to wipe her eyes, her lower lip jutting out. "See, I told you this lesson was stupid."
Lemeric knelt beside her desk, lowering his voice so only she could hear. "Hey—it's not stupid. A lot of kids don't sense mana right away."
Her pout deepened. "What do you want, Mr. Child Prodigy?"
He hesitated, then gave a crooked smile, the kind that softened the stoic mask he always wore. "I just don't like seeing you upset. Or... pretending to be."
She blinked, then smirked, caught. "So you knew I was faking?"
"Your tears didn't even smudge your ink," he teased.
"Ugh, you're insufferable." She crossed her arms. "If you hadn't told Mama about training, I'd be doing something else right now."
His chuckle was low, warm, and almost dangerous. "Is that it? I thought I'd truly offended you."
"Doesn't my face look offended?" she shot back.
"Yes," he murmured, pinching her cheeks.
"It's also my birthday in a few days. I should be relaxing instead studying."
"Then I promise if you try again, I'll get you something for your birthday!" Lemeric tried to coax.
"Pinky promise?" she said trying to check if he was serious.
"If you try just one more time. I promise with all my entire hand" he gently placed her hand over the cup. She huffed but didn't pull away. His palm hovered just above hers. It was at that moment he noticed how her hand was much smaller than hers.
"Breathe in slowly," he said trying to concentrate on the lesson. "From your core—let the energy flow to your fingertips. Feel it. Don't force it."
For once, Evie didn't argue. She let the tone of his words carry her, she felt energy course through her from deep within her until a single tiny spark radiated from her finger tips detecting the mana stone underneath.
Her eyes flew open. "I felt it!"
His lips curved warmth breaking through his usual stoicism. "Good job."
She squinted at him. "Are you... going to keep holding my hand?"
Color surged to his cheeks. He muttered "Can't I?"
The moment of closeness had barely settled when the door banged open.
"Young master!" Alfred, the Caerwyn butler, skidded into the chamber, nearly out of breath. "You're needed at the West Wall. The Duke of Montclair has arrived at the gate."
Lemeric froze. "...Arrived? Personally?" His voice, usually even, dipped lower. All the times he had been kidnapped not once had his grandfather shown himself. This seems out of character for him.
"I'm going with you," Evie declared, rising before he could protest.
"My lady!" Hetty barreled in, crumbs on her sleeve, snacks abandoned in the hall. "Your mother asked me to escort you back to your chamber—immediately!"
"Wait—Em, you can't go alone!" Evie stepped in front of him, eyes flashing.
"It's alright." He touched her shoulder lightly, steady but unyielding. "Stay here I'll be right back."
As soon as Evie left the study room Lemeric turned to Alfred his voice more serious "Take me there."
The West Wall was alive with noise—guards running, boots thudding against stone, voices calling orders back and forth. Arrows and mana stones clattered as they were brought up to the battlements.
Lemeric arrived with Sol trotting at his heel, the lupinara stretching in the late-afternoon sun as though none of this chaos mattered. The sky was glowing orange, that sharp edge of daylight before the shadows swallowed it whole.
"Two armies at our gates," Captain Leirin reported crisply, bowing to Baron Edrien and Baroness Elowen. "To the west, Duke Montclair with over a thousand men. Cavalry, Siege weapons, mages and high ranking imperial knights."
Hansal added, "To the south, Marquis Eltharion Valmere. Fewer troops, but three dragons overhead and mages by the dozen. Even with smaller numbers, they can match Montclair's strength."
The Baroness turned to Lemeric as he arrived, she lifted two parchments. "Both camps claim to be your grandfather, demanding your return otherwise they will take you by force. Tell me do you regonize any of them?"
Lemeric took the telescope, the one Evie and her mother had tinkered together, and turned it west. Montclair's army gleamed in the last of the light. At its front—broad shoulders, golden hair gone to silver at the edges—was the Duke himself. Indeed that was his grandfather.
Southward, Valmere's camp was marked by shadows. A dragon's wings cut across the sunset, the beast circling lazily before letting out a roar. The Marquis stood animated as if he was shouting at the Duke.
Lemeric lowered the glass. "My grandfather is indeed leading the Montclair flag" His voice stayed calm, unreadable. "But the Marquis—I don't know him. But wait - the men who kidnapped me spoke of a Marquis."
The Baroness frowned. "Could it be the Marquis of Valmere behind your kidnapping? My father once told me Montclair and Valmere quarreled, years back."
Baron Edrien shook his head. "I do not think so, Marquis Valmere is an honorable man. I have fought in alongside his army before. He wouldn't stoop to kidnapping."
"Either way," the Baroness said, "if we send you to Montclair, Valmere may strike."
Lemeric's words were steady. "If you don't hand me over, they'll both attack Caerwyn. I must go."
"No," Elowen snapped, though her gaze softened on him.
And then—
"Or..." Evie's voice piped up.
Everyone turned to see she was on tiptoe behind the merlons, trying to peek over, Sol obediently letting her ride on him like he was a pony.
"Evie?!" Baron Edrien gasped, lifting his daughter by the back of her dress like she weighed nothing.
"She could have fallen!" Lemeric reprimanded Sol.
"Young Lady what are you doing here?" Baroness Elowen carried her away.
"But Mama—I really have a good idea! Listen!" Evie wiggled in protest and whispered into the Baroness' ears,
For a moment the wall itself seemed to hold its breath trying to listen into the plan.
Then Sol barked once, as if to second her idea, tail thumping against the stone.
The Baron and Baroness exchanged a look. The captains didn't dare speak.
And Lemeric just stared at the two grand armies before him doubting if Evie's idea would work.