Dawn of Arcane Destiny

Chapter Six

Drayce sat for an agonizing minute pretending not to know which spoon to use for lunch. Caelum stared. Lady Binster stared. The guards stared. Drayce could almost feel them willing him to pick the outermost spoon.

He almost smiled. But that would have ruined the charade. He thoughtfully tapped his finger to his chin. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Caelum roll his eyes.

It was officially his fifth lesson and each one had gone the exact same. Drayce had played dumb and then ended the lesson early.

Drayce threw his hands up in a show of frustration. "Non knows! My apologies Lady Binster, but I must take a break to think on this!" He stood. Lady Binster's face turned a very unladylike shade of beet red.

"You haven't eaten though! Surely, you're hungry. I have made it clear that you can't eat until you have selected the correct utensil." Lady Binster tried. She had attempted each lesson to appeal to him in a different way. Drayce had made a fool of her each time.

"Of course, you're right! I can't leave on an empty stomach!" Drayce leaned down and snatched up his bowl and retreated out the door. He heard an enraged squeak come from Lady Binster as he left.

Caelum caught up to him in the hall as Drayce drank straight from the bowl tossing it to a guard along the wall, who caught it, but just barely.

"Drayce, you know what I'm going to say." Caelum started.

"Try harder, the kingdom now depends on you." Drayce replied. "Honestly, Caelum. You're starting to sound like Uncle Reginald."

Caelum didn't say anything and eventually split from him, mumbling something about being on duty as he moved out of the castle towards the barracks.

Drayce began just wandering the halls. He still didn't have this maze figured out. He knew the basics: servant's quarters and kitchen in the lower levels, sitting rooms, studies, and dining rooms on the second level, and bedrooms and library on the top level. But the dim twisting corridors were a mystery to him.

Drayce told himself that was what he was doing, but really he just wanted to ignore the inevitable. He had to become King.

He felt like he was having a sort of existential crisis. Was he Crown Prince, soon to be King? The noble that he was raised to be? Or was he the solider, the playboy, he had become over the past eight years? Or was he...

He didn't even want to think about that. His mind betrayed him, finishing the thought.

A Mystic. Unfit, undeserving, for anything.

He saw something move in his peripheral vision. He was in a back hallway, torches flickered on the wall. Shadows dancing on the walls. Drayce shook his head squeezing his eyes shut. He was just seeing things. Just like he had earlier in the week with Caelum.

He opened his eyes, jumping. One of the brackets on the wall that held a torch had bent inward. Had he done that? In his moment of panic? He looked around but didn't see anyone.

He heard a rustle of cloth behind him he whirled pulling his sword out.

No one was there.

"Caelum?" Drayce hissed softly.

He started sweating. He was definitely being followed. Assassins, perhaps? Or was his mind just playing tricks again? He was increasingly being convinced of the former. Down the hall torches started blinking out, nothing visible quenching the flames. He turned tail and hurried down the hall and turned a few lefts. He didn't know where he was going. He was just overreacting, right? In front of him he came to a narrow staircase going to the next level. This was likely a servant's staircase to get to the bedrooms upstairs. He quickly ran up the stairs.