Morning Star (The Dragon Prince X Reader)

Chapter 13 - The Art of Double-Crossing

"Good morning," you say, holding back a grin as you walk over to the breakfast table.

By the time you finished learning the Moon arcanum, it was almost dawn. Instead of heading to bed, you decided to practice your new magic abilities; it would have been too hard to sleep with that much excitement and raw power flowing through you, anyway. You've gone without sleep for far longer before, so you aren't too worried.

"Morning!" Ellis replies first. She doesn't look up from her pie — made from some kind of blue berry, by the looks of it, but you can't be certain what.

"Good morning," Rayla says too. She glances at you, then freezes.

"Morning!" Soren says.

The others echo the greeting one by one, before freezing as well.

You sit down as casually as you can, drawing on your centuries of life experience to keep a straight face. With your limited time at the Moon Nexus you don't intend to spend long eating breakfast (especially since you're certain now that every crumb on this table is illusionary), but you do need to eat something to survive. You decide on a slice of pie, since Ellis seems (well, seemed) to be enjoying hers. And maybe a—

"Y/N, is that you?"

You give Callum your most innocent expression, wide eyes and all. "Why wouldn't it be?"

He splutters, and you allow yourself a small smile. Then you press your lips together so you don't just start cackling, and turn your attention back to breakfast. Any drink choice should be safe; you're sure they're all just made of water.

"You... you actually did it?" Rayla gets out eventually.

You nod. "That's right."

Silence reigns for one, two, three, four seconds before Ezran breaks it. "Uh... does anyone else not know what's going on?"

"Yeah, I'm stumped," Ellis agrees.

You shrug nonchalantly.

"Y/N, why do you look like a human?" Claudia asks.

Your resolve crumbles, and you burst into laughter. You gasp for breath as your eyes start to water and your stomach aches, and when you calm down the others are looking at you with varying degrees of confusion, exasperation and concern.

"I'm — ha — I'm sorry," you say. "You should have seen the looks on your faces, though..." That may very well make your year. Or your hour, considering everything else that you've done recently. You take a breath and try to explain yourself. "It's just an illusion. ...I figured out the Moon arcanum."

Callum's mouth is gaping open. "I thought you said that was impossible!"

"Did I?" You frown. "I thought... Well, I suppose it was easier than I expected. Though I had quite the head start, me being me. Believe me, I was about half as surprised as you last night... But, well," you shrug. "Here we are." And you've done the impossible before, so perhaps it shouldn't be too shocking.

"...Is that why you were at the Moon Nexus last night?" Claudia says.

You nod. "I decided to meditate there."

The others seem to still mostly be in shock, but there are runes and incantations to learn. You pull a small slice of pie towards you, eat half in one bite, and stand up.

"Uh, Y/N?" Callum says. "That's actually—"

"A worm? Yeah, I know." You sigh and finish it anyway, then wash it down with a glass of sweet apple juice. Not a drop is spilled, of course. You had a brief moment of concern over adjusting to five-fingered hands again, but your fear seems to have been unfounded. Even after all this time, your human form is about as natural as your undisguised appearance. "Alright, does anyone have more questions?"