"Alright, then." I clapped my hands together to get everyone's attention. "I'll go order one of the carriages to take us to Queen's Row."
"How long until it'll be ready?" Adam asked me.
I shrugged. "Five minutes at the most. But it'll wait if you want to grab anything from your rooms."
The boys nodded and disappeared back into the palace. Topher lingered a moment longer than the other two, but didn't say anything and finally disappeared into the palace too.
"Do you need to go get anything?" I asked Rhi.
She shook her head. "I can just come with you."
I nodded and gave a half-wave to Lyss. She shot me a look of contempt and stormed back into the palace. I clearly wasn’t making any friends with her. I wondered what had got a bee in her bonnet. Probably me dancing a little too closely with her boyfriend last night. Ooops.
"Do you often take part in spell competitions?" I asked Rhi to take my mind away from Lyss.
"No. I just don't want to be stuck in the palace with only Lyss for company." She screwed up her face.
"You don't like her?"
"Do you?" she threw back.
I didn't answer; instead, I just led her out of the front door and towards the stables where we'd order a carriage.
"Can I tell you something?" she blurted.
"Of course."
"You have to promise you won't tell anyone."
I glanced over to find her staring intently at the floor, avoiding any kind of inquisitive look. "I won't."
"I-I kind of have a crush on your cousin," she whispered.
I blinked a couple of times. On Adam? That wasn't what I'd expected when she said she wanted to tell me something.
"Have you tried to do anything about it?" I asked.
She laughed. "Have you done anything about the crush you have on Jake?"
I was saved from answering by our arrival at the stables. "One carriage to Queen's Row, please," I told one of the stablehands.
"Of course, Your Highness." He dipped his head before disappearing back into the stables to get it ready.
I turned back to Rhi. "How did you know about that?" I asked quietly.
"It was written all over your face yesterday when Jake said what he said. He can be a total jerk sometimes."
Oh. I hadn't even realized she'd been in the banquet hall when the whole thing had happened. I stayed silent, not knowing how to respond to her.
The competition was this afternoon, which meant we had until then to practice our spells and learn some new ones. Or in my case, learn anything at all. I wasn't about to admit to any of them quite how out of practice I was at spellwork, but they were probably about to find out.
Adam and Jake instantly got into position, setting up to spar with one another. I hoped they were just as good at defensive spells as they were attacking spells, or someone was going to get hurt.
They've been doing this much longer than I have. I needed to remember that. These weren't amateurs.
"Want to pair up?" Rhi asked.
"I haven't had much sparring practice," I admitted. "Perhaps, Topher would be a better bet?"
He stepped forward, dipping his head to the two of us. He might be a bit scruffy on the outside, but his manners were impeccable. If he ever wanted to stay at court, then I suspected he'd fit right in regardless of his appearance.
"I'd be happy to," he said to Rhi.
She smiled and withdrew her wand.
The four of them were soon firing spells back and forth, bright lights flashing as they attacked and defended one another. I didn't know enough about any of this to work out what they were doing.
For the first time in ages, I slipped my wand from its holster, feeling the firm wooden grip in my hand. It was both alien and completely natural, a testament to the craftsmanship of the tool. It was a shame that I didn't use it enough, with the way wands worked, no one else could use it either, meaning this beautiful creation didn't get the love it deserved.
It was time to change that. I lifted my arm, trying to ignore the tremor running through it. None of them were watching me; they were too busy with their own mock battles. No one else in the arena was watching either, and even if they were, they wouldn't necessarily know who I was.
I counted to three and let out a simple fire spell. The stream of fire that headed towards the target opposite me was stronger than I expected. "Not bad," I whispered to myself.
Before I could fire off another spell, my vision blurred, and I placed a hand to my head, hoping it would steady me. What was all that about? I glanced around at the others, all doing their spells, only to find everything had taken on a fuzzy quality that was almost impossible to see through. Had I been hit by a spell? Was this some side effect? My eyes locked onto a spell shooting in our direction from one of the other groups. For some reason, it was the only thing that didn't have the blurry quality to it. I wished I'd paid more attention to magic, then I might have known what was happening better.
The spell pulsed a dark red. I reached out as if to try and catch it the moment I noticed it speeding straight for where Jake was standing. I tried to cry out, but something held my voice back. This almost felt like the dreams I'd been having, where something else controlled what I was doing, and I just had to go along with it, helpless.
It flashed brighter as it connected with Jake's chest. His eyes widened, but it all happened too fast for him to be able to scream. His skin paled, and his eyes changed from vibrant to dull as he collapsed to the floor in a heap.
Adam was the first to react, at
