Maiden of Moonlight | Tedros Pendragon

Chapter 1.10

" She fell in love with his soul before she could touch his skin. If that isn't love, then I don't know what is."

Bianca Lamarre

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Saddened by the absence of Kallone, the Montague girl did her best to distract herself with classes. She was quite content with her placement at the top of her year, and knew for certain she would be in the Circus of Talents.

As usual, the students found themselves in the Blue Forest for the last lesson of the day for Surviving Fairytales. Marya was examining some aquamarine nasturtiums while Tedros reached for a blue hornbeam branch on the tree beside her. Out of nowhere, a pink-heart bullet shot out towards the Pendragon prince but instantly turned crimson the moment it made contact with his chest, only to ricochet off him quite violently and knock back into Sophie. A bloody F decorated the front of the Never's black robes, and her peers were stunned.

Marya locked eyes with Agatha, who had an expression of betrayal on her face at the blonde's actions. It seemed the two had a disagreement of some kind.

The brunette paid no mind as the class went on, but Sophie felt humiliated whilst Tedros was filled with anger. He looked pensive and deep in thought until he peered up at Marya, her eyes softening and giving him a comforting smile that made him feel something he hadn't felt in a while: home.

♕

It was the following day and news of Sophie's attempted love spell spread across both schools, and students were waiting with bated breaths to see the reader's crimson F...Though many were disappointed when the blonde didn't dare show her face.

Everyone was sitting around the Clearing, doing as they pleased in the mid-morning Sun. Tedros and the Ever-boys occupied themselves by playing rugby while the Ever-girls sat around Beatrix to listen to her daily slander. Agatha sat by herself just as all the Nevers did, and Marya sat under her usual willow tree, making flower crowns with Kiko.

The Montague and her friend stopped their light chatting in confusion when the Clearing went silent. Her eyes widened in surprise when Sophie sashayed into the field through the Tunnel of Trees, her black sack of a uniform refashioned into a strapless bodice dress, F glimmering over her chest with devil-red sequins. Her blonde locks were shorter than before and were now a slick bob. Vermilion tainted her lips and pink her eyelids as glass heels made her appear taller. She strutted right by the Ever-boys, who dropped their ball, and right up to Hort. The duo walked away together, and the brunette saw Beatrix glare at Tedros, whose sword fell out of its sheath at the sight. He saw the girl's menacing stare and put it back into place.

A feeling that never burdened Marya's heart coursed through her veins and made her feel heated. She shook her head and took a deep breath, telling herself that the Pendragon prince wasn't hers, so if he desired to be with someone who wasn't her, she would be happy for him, even if it hurt.

♕

The week flew by, and Ever-girls felt discouraged as the boys of their affection were drooling after Sophie of the Woods Beyond like starved dogs who had never seen food before.

" This can't be allowed." Beatrix whined at the sight of Tedros staring at the Never in what he thought were subtle glances.

But it was. Sophie was wearing her uniform. It was simply altered.

Another shock-wave made its way throughout the school when the same reader began doing lunchtime talks on how to beautify oneself. Never-girls were eating out of the palm of her hand, and from across the Clearing, Hester did not look pleased. At all.

The hour rolled on, and instead of being together as a whole for Surviving Fairytales, Evers and Nevers were separated.

" You must get used to seeing each other as the enemy!" Yuba the Gnome instructed. "The first Trial by Trial is in three weeks. Now for the Trial, you'll need a few basic spells. Some spells require visualisation, some incantations, others hand flicks, foot taps, magic wands, numeric codes, or even partners! Yet there is one rule common to all spells...Evers, right hands please."

Quizzically looking at their peers, the Evers did as told and held out their hands. Yuba went up to Agatha first and, without warning, plunged his swan key into her fingertip. He turned it, and with no pain reaction from the ravenette, the teacher rotated the key, which caused her finger to glow a vibrant orange before fading to nothing. He went on and unlocked each student-Evers and Nevers-prior to continuing on with his speech.

" Magic follows feeling. That is our only rule." Yuba stated. " When your finger glows, it means you have summoned enough emotion, enough purpose to perform a spell. You can only do magic when you have a deep need and want!"

Students begin trying to light up their fingers, and some do, each glowing a unique color.

" But like a magic wand, finger-glow is just a training wheel!" He warned them lowly. " In the Woods, you will look like a nincompoop if you light up every time you cast a spell. We will re-lock your glow once you show control. If ever...In the first year, you'll learn only three types of spells: Water control, weather manipulation and mogrification, both plant and animal. Today, we'll begin with the last."

Marya glanced down at her golden glowing finger as Yuba went on with the lesson. She felt slightly discouraged since she was having slightly more difficulty achieving her desired goal with the magic. Yuba stated magic was driven by feeling and happy memories made for the most powerful of users...The issue was glaring right at the Montague, but she was ashamed to admit the truth.

The brunette had barely any happy memories. Tears threatened to fall at the thought, and the emotion that was being bottled up from within did not help. Things were not going as Marya had hoped.

Agatha was constantly preoccupied with Sophie and her many secrets, only addressing her when rising in the mornings or as they tucked in for the night; Tedros seemed to have forgotten her existence as a blonde Never filled his head; Gavriel was always at training with Chaddick and they've only spoken once that week; the only person who was always there for the brunette through thick-and-thin was Kiko-And she couldn't be more grateful.

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Author's Note

I wanted to jump in and say that the first book of the series is really just to set the romance with Tedros, to get to know Marya and her relationship with those around her.

And yes, Tedros will have to work for Marya's affection. She's a very forgiving character and tends to let people walk over her, but you'll see as the story progresses that she tries to stand her ground; to forgive, but not forget.

Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! The comments are always appreciated and fun to reply too. Thank you for the reads <3