The white knight and his black roses

Chapter 8

The first week went by rather quickly as I tried to get a grasp of the schedule. I have never walked so much in a day before. First is the check-in, then its world history, then the major and minor beast course, and next is mixed strategy. A lunch break follows before I sprint to the training grounds for organized magic training until the end of the school day. I have been so busy that I haven't been able to have any time to find Cite' d'Or and it's worrying me. Luckily for me, first and second years get a study hall in the massive library and I can look for clues.

I sit on the second floor, looking through book after book with any reference to Cite' d'or and they all say the same thing. Cite' d'Or was a mythical city of gold that radiated with power and had a healing fountain that could cure any ailment. That last part got me thinking, I am most likely not looking for the real city, I'm just looking for the placeholder for what it could be here. I think as I look at the large painting in front of me. It is a painting of what an artist thought Cite d'or would look like. Then it hit me, I need to look more at that painting. I head over and look closer at the art piece and see something glittery poking out from behind the painting. My fingers are too big to reach it, but I remember that I have a quill that I was using to write notes in class. I use the feather pen and manage to get that glitter thing out and it's a tooth. A basilisk's tooth and something is written on it, Home. I start to pace as I think about what this could mean before I hear footsteps coming up the steps toward me. I quickly put the tooth back and sat back down in my corner seat to not be seen.

As the steps get closer, Sir Montford and the crown prince walk up the stairs together. I hold my breath as I try not to make a sound as I start to hear the two talking. "Are you sure we can still do this?" The second prince nervously asks Montford who just sighs at him. "We have to, empire's orders." He says leaning against the bookshelf getting dangerously close to me. What orders could the empire have that Montford even care about? He seems way too annoyed by this to just be following orders. Could they know what's going on back in Selester? My train of thought gets derailed as I accidentally knock some of my books over causing my ink to spill on me. "Crap," I mutter under my breath as I think of what to do. I hear the two men heading my way and just run around the corner behind a bookshelf. As I squat down, I hear the two over where I was. "Do you think they heard use?" I hear the second prince ask nervously. "Of course, they did." I hear Montford say with an annoyed huff before sending the second prince to go around to look for the person who was sitting there, which was me. I wait for a moment before crawling toward the opposite stairway when I hear a cough behind me and when I turn around, I see Sir Montford. "Crap."

I find myself sitting at a table at the very back of the library with the prince pacing nervously and Montford glaring down at me. "How much did you hear?" Montford said with a stern and icy stare. I felt that lying would get me in more trouble, so I decided to be honest. "I hear you talking about the emperor's orders." I look up at the two as they share a look. Montford pulls the prince back to talk about this further away from me so I can't hear them whispering. I decided to take a chance to ask about what is confusing me here, "Why does everyone think you switched hair colors?" I don't know if something I said offended them, but they stopped talking to each other and turned to me. "What did you say?" the second prince asked as he looked on in shock. I get annoyed with the fact that I have to repeat myself, "People keep saying the second prince has pretty red hair, but you don't it's brown." Once I hear myself say it, I realize it. "The second prince's hair is red, the both of you were using an illusion spell to hide who you were," I say standing up as I point at the two of them. "Yes, we did switch identities. I am Adam Montford and He is the real second prince, Ryven Arc 'Veil." The real Montford said gesturing to the real prince of the Arc empire. They switched, but why would they? "If you tell a soul about this, I will make your life hell." Ryven says with a grim expression, "How did you see through the illusion anyway?" Now that I'm forced to think about it, I have never been fooled by illusionary magic, not even once. It ruined a lot of birthdays when I was younger, but it was helpful when someone tried to rob my family when I was ten. "I have never been tricked by that kind of magic," I say honestly as I notice Montford staring at me. Before I could say anything, he said, "You have the black blight." The mention of my condition presses my buttons a bit, "and your point is?" My response seems to get a chuckle out of Ryven, "You don't know anything about your powers, do you?" I feel a little embarrassed at the fact that he's right, but he ought to be nicer about it. I glare up at him, making him laugh harder, causing Montford to try and explain. "The black blight is known to be able to see through or nullify certain kinds of magic."

What I am gathering is that I can see throw illusions, that's how I found out the real prince's identity and now I can't tell a soul. Great, I am stuck in another sticky situation. I have to keep so many secrets, it's the worst. Before I can wallow in my predicament anymore, I look at the clock and see that it is almost time to leave for the day. Looking between the two men who have me somewhat detained I sigh. "If you keep me here like this people are going to get suspicious." Montford perks up as I gesture to the clock before looking at Riven expectantly. Riven then turns to me, "I have my eyes on you, Crosshelm." I resist the urge to roll my eyes and get up to leave. I have more important things to worry about right now. As soon as I get around the corner and take a glance at where I once was sitting, I see a piece of paper on the desk. I walk over hesitantly and look at what is on the desk, it's an envelope with an odd stamp on it. I quickly pick it up and hide it in my pocket before heading back to the stairs. I don't think opening with in public would be a good idea. Getting this sudden note just cements what I was thinking that hooded figure from the Boil estate is here and watching.