Without Starlight

The Evil Plan Revealed

~Chapter 9: Nicholas~

Nicholas was starting to find that he had a habit of waking up in strange places. He was on a bed, surrounded by soft green material and propped up on fluffy pillows. Sunlight filtered in from closed windows, illuminating dust that covered the polished wood surfaces and delicately embroidered cloth.

This room had been his grandfather's room.

He was still in his suit, however now it was wrinkled and missing part of a sleeve. Slowly propping himself up, he rubbed his sore head. Last night slowly came back to him, his step-family appearing out of the shadows, manhandling him. He remembered how his step-mother had turned out not to be human, that somewhere deep inside, he might have guessed. That he was a tool for their evil plan.

None of it made sense, and as he stared at the windows, it made even less sense. There was no latch on the window. He could remember how his grandfather hated to close the windows and that the latch had been enchanted to open without being touched. Nicholas rose from the bed, running his hand over where the latch should have been between the windowsill and the glass. An indent in the white wood was the only evidence left that there had ever been a latch.

Out of curiosity, he pushed on the glass, hoping that the window would swing open. The glass rattled but did not budge. He pushed harder, but the window would not open. Outside, he could see over the back fence of the house down the valley to the city. Moving his gaze to the window itself, he saw something carved into the glass.

He was surprised to see that it was a rune, but not one that he'd seen before. It seemed like random lines, but it was malicious and rough looking. When he pushed on the glass, the lines glowed softly. The window was magically sealed closed.

There was something akin to panic rising in his chest now. Nicholas rushed to the door, finding that the knob wouldn't turn. He ran his hands over the length of the door but couldn't find a rune on it. The rune was either on the other side of the door or the door was just locked; but either way Nicholas was trapped in his Grandfather's room.

To know the answer, he whispered a spell to unlock things under his breath. The doorknob glowed but nothing else happened. It was official that he was magically sealed in his grandfather's room.

He put his back to the door, sliding down to the floor as despair overtook him. A thought was taking hold in his mind that his step-family was after the throne. It made sense when he reviewed the events of the last couple days. Being knocked unconscious several times, finding that he was under a spell that made him stay in the house, and the evening that he still couldn't remember. A sick feeling over took him when he thought that his father had married one of the evilest creatures in the world.

What had been their plan? Nicholas vaguely remembered Mabella telling him that he had always been a tool from them. Laying his head in his hands, he remembered his grandfather telling him about magic compatibility. There were two sources of magic: Day and Night. Any magic that drew its power from anything that corresponded with Day, would be stronger together than it would be paired with Night's magic. The Tragoons used a type of Night magic, Dark magic, so Nicholas's starlight magic would be a perfect helping hand with a powerful spell. They had married into the family just to gain control of his family's gifts.

Nicholas closed his eyes, now worried about Her Highness. He knew that she had followed him into the garden. Had they done something to her? Despite their brief encounters, Nicholas was starting to grow fond of the angry look that she always seemed to give him. The more Nicholas thought about it, the less that he believed that something would have happened to her. Her throne was the prime objective. He wouldn't be alive if she wasn't.