Roses in Her Blood, Vengeance in His Veins

Ramblings of a Simpleton

I could see the faint glowing of the moon if I looked out the window of the tower I currently sat in. After several failed attempts at magic, it seemed like Lord Merlin had almost given up. I almost wanted to go back to glaring at water, I had never enjoyed the still portion of learning. I absently ran my finger over the dust covered table, watching as semi-straight line formed. I wonder if Prince Liam would be okay after his pervious training session. Lord Merlin had done rather some extreme training methods in my opinion with him. He seemed exhausted and frustrated, not that I could blame him. I felt the fierce grips of frustration after every single attempt ended in failure.

I heard the snap of a hand. The dust vanished. Two rather plain looking potted plants appeared next to the table. I sat up straighter than before, rolling my shoulders back, and placed my folded hands in my lap.

Lord Merlin sat down in front of me, his hand full of leather-bound books. He stacked them neatly on the table. I could not read of the spines. "What do you think magic is, Kailina?" he inquired, intertwining his fingers. I glanced at the book pile as if it would help me.

"A force that enables certain people to be able to do god-like things," I say, reciting what I had been told countless times as a child. I felt oddly like a child again, stuck inside studying and doing my daily lessons.

"That is partially true," Lord Merlin states, picking up the first book. I could just make out the title- Magic; an Understanding- from my view. "Magic is a force, and while it does let humans have god-like abilities, is it a force of nature and will. It comes from your soul and the very spirit of nature, when they collide creates the spark of magic."

"That is . . . not what I excepted." Lord Merlin nods, as if to say that my kingdom was ignorant of magic. He probably would say that, preferably to that lying would-be king. He placed the book on the table. "Why is what I know false?"

"When my . . . my children were killed, I stopped granting humans the gift of magic. This led to millions of false versions of magic. And then the people started believing in what a simpleton told them about magic." I raised my eyebrows. Would people really believe the word of a simpleton? Why would anyone think that a simpleton had knowledge of something like this? "Of course, there are different kinds of magic, none of which act the way the simpleton told."

"What is my type of magic?" I ask. I brushed my hair out of my face.

"Yours is the same type as Clarissa; elemental and based on control, specialises in anything that grows from the earth." He summons a potted plant with a budding red flower. If I supposedly specialised in plants, why did he have me staring at water for close to a week straight? "However, your lack of control hinders your progress." He waves his hand over the flower. The petals twirled out into a full bloom. "You are too emotional."

"I am not emotional," I snap, crossing my arms. Lord Merlin gestures to one of the plants on the floor. A thin, thorny vine had grown and wrapped around the leg of the table. I scowled at it lightly. "That proves nothing."

"Does it not?" Lord Merlin waved his hand. The vine didn't uncurl, if anything it seemed to tighten its hold. His eyes peered into my own. "I am glad that you feel strongly about that, Kailina. It means that you do have will, a resolve." He glanced at the leg with an air of disappointment. "However misplaced it may be."

He placed the next book down as I pouted slightly. This time, I could not make out the words. He flipped open the book, stopping midway through. Lord Merlin pushed the book towards me. On right side of the book was a drawing, a dark-haired witch surrounded by growing plants filled with thorns and petals. The left side was filled with several paragraphs, it was titled Controlling Emotions.

"Can you really blame me?" I ask, looking up from the book, resisting the urge to shove it back to him. "After what I went through, after what I almost made my family witness?"

"No, of course not," he said, his tone soft, "I recognise that what happened to you is traumatic and it affected you." His face cleared of any emotion, his eyes turning back to their normal lilac colour. Absently, I wondered if his daughter's eyes did the same thing. "But if you do not focus and learn to control your emotions, you will never see your family again. You will live as a traitor and someone who has brought shame and dishonor upon your family." The blood in my veins froze, slowly turning to dust.

Flashes of Dawn smiling as she twirled in a new gem-coated gown, her hair loose, appeared into my mind. Adam winning against other noblemen in a hunting competition, glee written across his face while the others sulked. Father's face lighting up whenever he came home, opening his arms to embrace us after a long journey.

I . . . I could not lose them forever, I cannot have them silently wish for my safety, that I had not been devoured by a bear, or worse.

I crushed my skirt between my fingers. My chest tightened, the air around me seemed thinner. How I can let that happen to them? How can I let Nikolas destroy both of our lives? How can I let him destroy them further?

"Magic, Kailina, is nothing without resolve." He had a grin upon his face as he gestured towards the table leg. The vine had unwrapped itself, tiny red flower buds starting bloom across them. "Learn to control and you can set everything right again."