“Yes, your highness, I’m so sorry.” He bows slightly in apology.
“Now, let's go.” I turn on my heels and head down the hallway. Magnus falls in line silently, but I’m sure he heard our discussion. I continue through the familiar halls of the castle, my heart rate picking up as we get closer to the room where I need to be.
“Aphaedra,” my name spoken softly makes me pause in my tracks and I turn to find Diana standing a couple of feet away.
Wearing an emerald gown with gold accents and a shiny crown on top of her silky, red waves, she looks like the perfect queen. Even though I know she’s well over a century old, her bronze skin is smooth and she barely looks older than my age of 28.
Her red lips pull into a smile and she moves closer to me, her green eyes taking me in. “I’ve come to check on you, I heard about the dispute this morning.” She frowns.
Diana is nothing like my father. A genuinely nice woman who always treated me like her own daughter, she’s taken care of me for the last two decades. If it weren’t for an arranged marriage, I’ve always believed she’d be married to a nice man in a nice little village.
But instead, her marriage is one of politics.
“I’m okay,” I assure her. “I’m headed to training.”
She nods, her gaze not on me but over my shoulder. She continues to look around but it’s only us and the guards in the hall. Still, she grabs my arm and pulls me close to whisper in my ear. “Things are happening around here. I’m not sure what, but you must be careful.”
I pull back to stare at her face but she’s already painted on the mask of an elegant royal, a wide smile on her face. “Good luck in your training, dear.” And with her vague warning hanging in the air, she leaves.
I watch after her for a moment, my heart beating quickly for an entirely different reason now. I decide I’ll seek her out later before starting my trek back to the training room, though Diana’s words never leave my mind.
When we finally make it to the room, the two guards standing on post look at me and nod before opening the double doors in sync. I walk through and the doors close as quickly as they were opened with a resounding thud. Gerald and Magnus remain outside, not allowed past the doors but I’m safe here. It's the only place I can say such a thing with confidence.
I look around the room, taking in the desks and computers that fill the room. In the middle is a huge, transparent dome and while it’s empty now, it will no longer be the case when I walk in.
It’s my favorite part of the day.
“Aphaedra, how are you today?” The words come from the thin woman sitting behind one of the computers. Her eyes are on the screen even as she speaks to me, but her voice is warm.
“I’m doing okay, Margret.” My eyes return to the dome. “Are you ready for me to enter the simulation?”
“One second, I need you hooked up today.” Her fingers move rapidly across the keys as another woman enters the room holding a bunch of wires in her hand.
“Aphaedra.” She bows her head.
“Lacey.” I greet and out of habit I hold my arms out from my body as she lifts my shirt and starts sticking patches and wires to my body. The first time we went through this process, it made me anxious. Now, I’m only brimming with excitement, knowing what’s coming.
Lacey places the last patch between my shoulder blades and tucks the small monitor that they’re attached to in the pocket of my pants, securing it by zipping it halfway.
She steps away and nods to herself before joining Margret at the desk.
“Okay, we’re good to go,” Margret says, giving me a thumbs up. Her eyes still remain on the computer.
I move forward and slide open the reinforced glass door. It's made from the thickest, sturdiest glass known to all the kingdoms and so far, despite the constant abuse, it hasn’t failed me yet.
I slide the door back closed behind me and the warm air rushes over my body.
“Okay, Aphaedra, we’re just going to go through the regular paces today, so you can go ahead and warm up.” Lacey’s light voice comes through the dome.
I nod, knowing they can see all my movements on their screen or if they look in front of them.
I close my eyes briefly, taking a deep breath.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale…
A buzzing starts along my skin as my heart rate slows and the air around me starts to move quicker, cooling. The buzz turns into a hard crackle, running along my skin, but it’s pleasant and when I open my eyes I see I’m in a forest. The trees shake and tremble as the wind picks up, and up ahead lightning cracks through the sky.
My limbs feel weightless and I feel free.
Here, in the dome I can finally let my powers loose and the feeling is exhilarating.
“Strike the tree furthest from you,” Margret says gently and the words are barely out of her mouth before I’m raising a hand, my eyes on the tree furthest from me, and it's struck.
The tree splits in half and falls, but it quickly disappears from the simulation.
“More wind.”
I blow out a breath as I kick the wind up. It blows my white hair wildly and I’m suddenly weightless as my feet leave the ground. I just barely hover over the ground as I take out another tree.
“Rain.”
Lifting my hands above my head, I feel the crack of energy along my skin and pull at it as I imagine hard rainfall.
One drop splashes onto my skin before I’m covered and it feels amazing.
“Let up,” Margret says and I follow orders,
