Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress of Ashtown

The Dangers of Working in a Factory

A/N: I would like to apologize for how long this took to publish. Wattpad was undergoing maintenance, which is why I didn't publish this first thing in the morning. Anyway, please enjoy this latest chapter.

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Something had changed.

Erica didn't know what that something was, but from the moment she saw Caspian that morning, she knew that something had changed between them. Or, maybe it was just something about the young man that had changed and she had nothing to do with it. She couldn't rightly tell.

"Caspie―"

"Don't call me that."

"―is there any particular reason you are here?" Erica asked, not even bothering to cease talking as Caspian interrupted her with his usual diatribe about not using the dreaded nickname. She did not bother to hide her smile. The young man tried so hard to pretend that he didn't care, to act nonchalant and cold, but he was like an open book to her, which made him oh so easy to tease.

Perhaps that explained why she enjoyed teasing him so much.

"Or, maybe you are simply having so much fun with the boy because he reminds you of 'him,'" a voice that sounded a lot of like herself reverberated through her mind. Erica ignored the voice as best she could, her lips twitching only once to to show her displeasure.

"I am merely doing my job," Caspian answered stoically.

"I told you, this is my job."

"You asked me to be a replacement for Derek, to protect you while he is recovering. I can't do that if I'm not by your side at all times," Caspian continued.

"As your Knight, I must remain by your side at all times."

Erica didn't know whether to cry or to smile. She looked at the young man standing by her seat, whose form soon became overlapped with the image of another young man. Dirty blond hair clung to a handsome face with a strong jaw and a sharp chin. Vibrant blue eyes glowed with an incredible luster. Thin lips quirked upwards into an amused smirk that set her soul ablaze.

"Sigfried..."

"Erica?" Caspian asked, his startled voice tearing her away from her haunted musings. "A-are you okay? You're crying."

The image disappeared. It was just Caspian again. Caspian. Not Sigfried. Eyes widening, Erica quickly wiped away her tears, drying them before they could stain her face.

"Crying? What an absurd notion," she muttered, sucking up the rest of the water works that wanted to stream from her eyes. "Of course I'm not crying. You must be seeing things."

Caspian furrowed his brows. "But... it looks like you're crying. I can see tears in your eyes."

"Like I said." Erica gave him a smile so large that it forced her eyes closed. "You're just imagining things, Caspie."

"Agh! Why do you keep calling me Caspie?! I told you, my name is Caspian! CASPIAN!"

***

A Sorceress did a lot more than sit around in her tower and sign papers all day. As the overseers of their territory they were duty bound to, well, oversee their territory. Most of this involved reading and signing papers, but some of it required them to be a little more hands on.

Caspian eyed the industrial-looking factory that he and Erica were being given a tour of. It was one of several hundred that dotted the city of Ashtown. From the reading he'd done, Caspian knew that Spirit Crystals were all refined in factories just like this.