The Healer Of Light And The Prince Of Darkness

2. A Hidded Burden

Well, she was not an empress, nor a Princess Consort, so what was their problem?

"There will be these days," she was saying to Keid as they were taking a walk around the Silver Castle - one of the most beautiful of all five in Hares. It was said that it was built in the name of a beloved queen around one hundred and fifty years ago.

"You will have to choose who to protect," Tasia said calmly. "But don't worry. There is a solution and it is quite simple - always the Empire."

"I don't understand, lady Tasia," Keid said with a frown.

Ha. Yeah, it was much expected if it was related to her knight.

"I'm saying that if anything happens, the prince matters the most. The Empress and the Emperor have their own knight and can fight but the prince has to be protected. Do you..."

"You have to be kid..."

Tasia looked at him sharply.

"What, sir Keid? I couldn't hear you quite well."

He swallowed under her sharp glare. Well, it was expected not much obedience from him when it came to her safety. He was one of those who believed blindly in loyalty. To that extent that they tended to forget what their master was saying.

"I swore an oath..."

"So you will obey me. Am I not right?"

The wind that was so representative for the much warmer Kingdom disheveled a bit his dark red hair that Keid had inherited from his father, the duke of Bresner. It was a good thing that he did not inherit his mother's, the late third princess of Hares and Tasia's mother's sister's, royal blue eyes because that would put him in danger considering his age. He was around twenty one when the previous queen was killed and thus - a possible heir of the throne of Hares. It was quite a thing in his case because a word had it that every male with royal blood inherited the characteristic blue eyes. Maybe because of the mixed blood that he had with Syris he took duke Bresner's yellow eyes.

"Lady Future Empress, Lady Future Empress!"

The voice that called Tasia was near and almost startled her. His knight touched his sword immediately.

"Oh, that's not necessary at all!" the familiar woman smiled. She was the one that was enjoying Tasia's hell in the throne room when they were talking about her and the prince.

"I'm a representative of the Callios family. You are not from here, so I'll tell you this - we, from the duke Callios' family, have never been good at anything when it comes to fighting. We are not much interested in magic too but you know? Fighting skills is a necessary thing about being an offensive magician. In other words, we are losers!" she shrugged grinning.

When Tasia remained silent she added quickly:

"Oh, sorry, Future Empress, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Tara Callios and I am the younger sister of the chancellor."

"My name is not Future Empress, lady Tara. I'll be glad if you address me as lady Luna or just Scarlet."

It didn't matter much how she called her if it had nothing to do with the word Empress. Scarlet was just a pseudonym, something more like a given name, and Luna was also made up, so they hadn't pretty much significance to her.

Her face turned sullen for a moment but then she laughed.

"You are an interesting one, Scarlet."

"It's my pleasure to entertain His Majesty's close friend."

Tara's eyes lightened.

"And pretty smart. I like you, lady Fut..."

"Please, lady Tara."

It was going to be hard talking to this woman.

There was a room in the Magic Tower that was said to be able to be opened only by the Magician of the Tower. It was such a pleasure for Cassian to come to that part of the Tower simply because he was the son of the very same Magician and also naturally possessed more than two times the mana his mother had.

That room was used mostly by him for a few hours every night to release the mana inside of him. After the attack and his death four years ago he became uncapable to fight as a real magician. Thus, although he had an enormous mana inside himself, he wasn't able to get rid of it in a normal way. For example, fighting in hard mode with his sister years before was a good way to tire himself out. Now though he had to warm up the whole damn Magic Tower and even a bit of the Main Castle, the Golden Castle, in order to have a good sleep for at least five or six hours.

Something he wondered how his sister managed to handle in a nonmagical country such as Syris while trying to hide herself from the shadows.

'Ha... And she made a lot of trouble out there...'

A candidate for the Selection? And there was she saying that a ruler was not the key to achieving peace. Yet she made everyone look at her with such hopes...

"What are you thinking?"

The voice laughed. It belonged to the other person other than him that frequently visited the Tower in the absence of Tasia in Hares.

"Quick to perceive?"

"You are my son after all," the Court Magician, princess Hazel, answered. "And you know, you were supposed to be nine, not fourteen."

"I'm still thanking Leya that Tasia didn't won the bet and added five more years."

Around the time there were few months till their fifth birthday the twins were in the middle of investigating their mother's secret library. There they found a book that consisted of many dangerous spells about people's lifespans.

So they decided to grow up using a magic spell. But there was the question with how many years. Tasia proposed ten but Cassian insisted on five.

'Our kind mother wouldn't survive such a shock,' he thought back then. And he was right. At the moment Hazel saw her grown up kids she almost fainted.

The magician smiled as she stroked her son's red hair. It was the same colour as hers. Everyone told that they were alike. He was a small copy of her, they all said. His uncle, his mother's younger twin, and both his grandparents as well as empress Iris and chancellor Tavian from Syris. It was kind of fun when he first met the king and his father.

The king knew that Hazel had been pregnant when she decided to travel to Syris nine and a half years ago. So when he stood before Rhys Kai de Akrara, the man couldn't take his eyes off him. He didn't say much but his smile was an answer itself. As if saying: 'You created a family, Hazel, and I'm proud of it.' Or something like that. It was as if there was something more always when the king looked at the red-haired teenager.

The same was when he saw Tasia for the first time three days ago. That smile...

Well, it was a lot fun when it came to duke Talis.

"I don't even know why you keep pretending. You should just go tell him," his mother was saying sullenly.

"And all your efforts go in vain?"

Tasia and Cassian told her years ago about the attempted murder but not all the details. They didn't tell her that one of them actually died. It would have broken her heart.

"You are fourteen already and her position in Hares is more shakened compared to nine years ago."

Her bright blue eyes sparked with light. It was always with the same thought in mind that she was afraid to express.

'Do you think he won't protect you two?'

He couldn't tell her. He didn't know how to find enough courage to explain how he felt when he saw his twin completely broken after he woke up. Her tears and lack of hope. And her words, which she was humming under her breath.

'He can't protect us. No one can.'