by A. Kingsley
He decided to change the subject. “Sage,” Julius whispered. “Is everything alright with Clare?” He was aware that someone may be near, so his voice was hushed and low. He cared deeply for Sage, but he cared deeply for Clare as well, just in a different way
. Sage sighed and put down her bow, her shoulders dropping. “I am honestly not sure, I need to talk to her today once you two depart. I’m still confused about what happened last night and how Cassius’s eye is now fully healed. I tried not to make any faces at breakfast or even acknowledge what I saw because it was too early. You noticed this as well right?”
Julius pursed his lips and his voice dropped to a volume that almost could not be heard. “I did. Sage, I think your sister might have magic.”
The library
Breakfast was a bore and Clare was glad that it was over. She had been kicked out of the dining room after the Antias’s had left because her mother wanted to have a private conversation with Maximus. She was going to use this time to talk to Sage, but her sister hadn’t looked her in the eye and instead walked away with Julius. She spent a few minutes bored and anxious in the sitting room wondering how she was going to calm her nerves. Then an idea struck her. She waited until the Antias carriage was out of sight and then rushed up the stairs, holding her dress and panting. When she reached the top of the stairs, she saw Antoine holding a large bag. “Clare,” he muttered in surprise as she greeted him on the second floor. “Antoine, do you need help gathering anything?”
“No princess, but I appreciate the offer. The horses are tied up and this is my last bag that I need to grab. I am going to wait inside of the carriage for Prince Julius, then I will be on my way,” he tried to step around her, but she blocked him.
“Please do not leave, you may put your suitcase away, but then I would like you to come to the library with me, I could use a relaxing hour or two and sitting in the carriage all by yourself must be boring. Would you join me please?”
Antoine was too shocked to speak, so he moved past her and hurried down the staircase. She wasn’t sure what that meant, so she stood next to the railing and stared down at him, watching him disappear out of the doors. A young girl, three years older than Clare, came out from the hallway holding a bundle of clothes. “Phoebe!” Clare said in shock. Phoebe was her maid and a kind girl who was a good friend to her. “What did you just see?”
Phoebe had fair skin, pitch black curly hair and dark brown eyes the color of rich chocolate. “I saw you standing alone at the rail?” Her voice was questioning.
“Oh, yes! I was just looking for Sage,” Clare told her. Phoebe raised an eyebrow, but she nodded. “I will see you later. I have to do the laundry.”
“Okay, see you later.” Everyone had left her. She waited about five minutes, she was about to turn around when she saw the blonde almost white headed figure come up the stairs. It was Antoine.
“Since the princess requested my services I will join her, but I only have an hour. It would be inappropriate if I wasn’t waiting for Julius upon his arrival.”
“Of course,” Clare grinned, “follow me.”
She brought him around the looping balcony that overlooked the lower floor and into the library. The library was a large room filled with thousands of books on wooden shelves. The ceiling was painted with art of the eight Goddesses. Carved high up on the wall and lining every inch of the room were skylights. Natural light flooded the library, but the windows were so high up, that unless someone scaled the palace there was no way to look inside of the room. Antoine was staring up at the shelves in awe. The Demetrias’s had an impressive book collection, but it was nowhere near as nice as the Pax’s. He pointed up to the ceiling. “Who did the art of the Continental Goddesses? My oh my look,” his finger was pointing at Oralee, the Goddess of Europe. She was depicted as a tall woman with blonde wavy hair that went down to her waist. Though quite stunning in her normal form, she could change her appearance at will, this was just her preferred look, she thought it suited Europe well. The Goddess was wearing an aqua dress that was sheer against her sun kissed skin and golden hoop earrings. “She looks just like I imagined her.”
“I love that she is our Goddess, she is so kind,” Clare smiled. “Oh and I did the art.”
He gasped.“You did all of the art?”
She tried to keep a serious composure, but she laughed. “No, no I didn’t do the art, I was joking. Though I wish I did. I do art and I think it's decent, but it’s not this good.”
“Is there any art of yours in this library?”
“There is.”
Clare guided him down the long aisle that led to the back of the library where there was a sitting area to read. On the back wall was a portrait of her mother, a handsome muscular man with long brown hair and two red haired children.
“Is that your family?” Antoine asked.
She answered him. “Yes, that is Wade, my father. I used a reference portrait of him, I’m rather proud of this painting.” The images were clean and painted in a realistic style.
“You did a gorgeous job. My quarters at home need some spice, maybe you could paint me something?”
“I’ll keep it in mind. Do you have your own personal quarters at the castle?”
“Yes. There are servants quarters where a few servants share a large room, but Julius has grown rather fond of me, so I have my own room. I give it up if they need it, but they hardly do.”
“I’m glad they’re so kind to you.”
“Me too,” he beamed.
She hammered him with questions about his favorite kind of books and once she knew what he liked, she took him to the section about history.
“I’ve read up on history at our library, but it’s mainly filled with stories about our kingdom. I take it you have a lot of your own history here?” Antonine questioned. His fingers ran against the spines of the books, his eyes fixated on the covers that he thought were the prettiest. “I’ll admit, I like your library a bit better than ours. King Maximus doesn’t really read, but Julius does. His section is neatly organized, but Maximus just kind of throws his books on the shelves in no particular order.”
Clare laughed, “our books are filled with our history, we have some of yours and some from Excidium. There is a variety, but yes most of the books in this section focus on our history. I have a few that I will recommend to you. Take them home. I promise my mother won’t notice, neither will Sage. I’m the only one with that kind of eye.”
His face was frozen. The princess was going to give him books to take home out of the royal library. He tried to object, but she had already gotten out the step stool and climbed up to reach her favorite books. She pulled out a red leather bound book titled “The History of Pax et Lux,” a compact gold book titled “Oralee” and a solid white book titled “Why the Elephant?” Which explained why her kingdom's animal was an elephant and why their colors were olive green and ivory. They were the symbols of the first leader, passed down throughout generations, the book discussed each leader and their family. “I’ll probably see you soon. Maximus said he was going to hold an event at his castle. If you read them, we can discuss them then.” She carefully climbed down the step stool and handed him the stack of books.
He took the books from her hands and held them close to his chest. “I’ll need something to put them in. This is our little secret. Though Princess, I don’t think it’ll be great for either of us if your mother or Maximus finds out that we are spending our free time with one another.”
Her smile turned into a frown and he visibly became panicked, he had not meant to upset her. “I just am afraid they’ll yell at me for not knowing my place in this world and they will yell at you because you’re engaged. Even if we are just two pals who enjoy one another’s company, everyone always assumes differently these days.” His voice was soft and hushed, tender and gentle.
She gave him a solemn nod. “You’re right, but this is my life. I’m allowed to hang out with who I want. Cassius will have
to get over it. I’m allowed to speak to other men.” Her shoulders tightened. She brushed off her fury and went over to the desk area where there were a row of book bags. She handed him a simple brown one. “They don’t let me control much of my life. They can allow me this much.”
He nodded, put the books in the bag and hung over his shoulder. “I still have a few more minutes. Any last adventures Princess?”
There were so many thoughts going through her mind. She could have dismissed him so his arrival to the carriages would be less suspicious, but she needed to distract her mind. Having the conversation about her magic with Sage would take a toll on her, she might as well enjoy the last few moments of bliss that she had left. “Yes actually, follow me. You’ll need to move quickly. I really shouldn’t be taking you here but there is something that I want to show you.” His amber eyes flickered with intrigue and a bit of fear. She grabbed him gently by the wrist and pulled him forward. He was following right behind her heels. The princess was touching him. They walked up to the third floor where the royal’s quarters were located and his eyes widened as he noticed the other servants wandering the halls with baskets of laundry and trays of food. Clare hid them behind a corner and when the coast was clear she ran to her room. She swung open the door and sighed in relief when Phoebe wasn’t there.
Antoine quickly shut the door and dropped his book bag. “This is too far, I shouldn’t be here, if anyone sees.”
“No one will see, I just wanted to show you my art.”
Her room was like he expected it to be. Comfortable and cozy with a girly flare. The decorations of accented pink and creamy white were complimented by the natural light pouring in from the gardens outside. Everything was neat and organized. In the corner was a large white wooden chest. When she opened it, he caught the glimpse of a dozen canvases. After he was sure that no one was following them, he moved closer towards her, but stayed a respectable distance away. His eyes were fixated on the canvases. She pulled the first one out to reveal a magnificent garden scenery. The painting was filled with flowers of all different colors. A large fountain and an area for seating were painted in the middle of the canvas, he wondered if she had been there. Then she spoke. “I like to paint what I see. When I’m sitting alone, nature speaks to me. Or I’ll paint Sage when she’s calm or my mum when she finally relaxes.” She reached into the chest and pulled out another painting. This one looked exactly like her sister, but it also looked a lot like Clare. Though their hair was different lengths and Clare had sea blue eyes and Sage had emerald eyes, their facial features were similar. In the painting, Sage was leaning down over a table, writing something in a journal. “I don’t paint my fantasies very often. I’ll get my hopes up. I paint what I know is real. It’s reassuring.”
His eyes were wide with amazement, he was speechless. She could tell that he wanted to take a closer look, so she beckoned him to join her and handed him the painting. He ran his calloused thumbs over the edges of the canvas, “They’re beautiful. Who taught you to paint?”
She handed him another painting, this one was of her mother snoozing on the sofa. “My father was always painting. I’m self taught, but I took after him. I would give you one, but these mean everything to me and nothing to you. I promise I’ll paint you one that will have meaning in your eyes.”
“I appreciate that princess. How long does it take for you to paint something like this?” He handed the painting of her mother back to her and took the next painting in his hands. On the canvas there was an ocean and clouds, they weren’t far from a beach after all. “It normally takes me a few hours. They used to take me days, but I’ve gotten good at it. I do the base and the larger details while I watch the people or the nature, then if it gets too tiresome, I’ll finish the smaller details later in the comfort of my bed or the sofa.”
Gazing out of the window she noticed that the horses were stirring and the driver had fixed himself up on top of the carriage. “Oh dear Oralee, we need to get you down there.” She took the painting from his hands and set it back down on the chest. They both ran to the door, clumsy and frantic.
His glasses almost fell off of his face as he quickly grabbed the book bag and slung it over his shoulders. “Wait why are you coming with me doesn't that defeat the point?” he asked as he pushed open one of the doors and started to run down the stairs. “I’ll stay behind you. I have to say goodbye to the king and the prince.”
He nodded and waved goodbye to her. She was waiting for him by the railing and once he was out the door, she slowly followed, fixing her hair that had gotten messy from their running.
She met her sister at the door. Sage never looked at her in this way. There was a mistrust, a fear in her eyes. ‘What had happened? What had she done?’ Clare decided to clear her thoughts, they could come back once she had said goodbye to the Demetrias’s. Saying goodbye to them was less formal as the Pax’s were close to them. She hugged both Maximus and Julius goodbye and watched them make their way into the carriages after they said goodbye to her sister and Gracielle. Like always, Sage and Julius looked as if they wanted to kiss, but they didn’t, they never did. Clare always wanted to ask her sister why, but she didn’t because she was afraid that she’d offend her. While Clare was a hopeless romantic, Sage could have cared less for romance until she met Julius.
Just as she had expected, when the carriages were out of sight, her mother grabbed the two of them by their wrists and dragged them inside. Her eyebrows were raised as far up on her forehead as they could go and her mouth was twisted in anger.
“Are you serious?” Gracielle said as she let go of their wrists and folded her arms tight against her chest. “You!” she pointed to Sage. “Constantly making comments that nobody finds funny and trying to stir the pot. Do you wish to start a war? You know that they will in a heartbeat. You were foolish and you won’t be allowed on our next visit to the Demetrias’s until you get your act together.” She then turned to Clare. “And you. You had a first impression to make and instead of making a good one, you wandered off to Oralee knows where, frolicking and neglecting time until you were late. You’ve both made foolish decisions. I wasn’t going to embarrass you in front of the other families, but know that I’m disappointed in you. Go.”
Clare took off quickly and Sage followed behind her. She was going to run off to her room, but Sage grabbed her sister's arm and pulled her to her own quarters instead. She shut and locked the door, pulling her into the tightest corner that she could.
Fighting flames
“You’re not getting out of this Clare,” Sage hissed as she sat down next to her sister. “Please explain to me what is going on. Why are you hanging out with a servant, not like I care about his status, but why? I’d also like to know what Cassius said to you and how his wound healed so fast. I want you to explain all of this to me. I’m your sister, we are supposed to tell each other everything. I’ve been telling you everything, but how much have you been hiding from me?” Her eyes were clouded with sadness, she wished her sister had trusted her enough to speak up earlier.
Clare was shaking. There had been multiple instances in her and Sage and Clare’s life when things went wrong, such as when someone had broken into the palace and the time that they got lost in the woods, but Clare had never seemed as terrified as she currently was.
Sage softened up a bit, “look. I know that if you’re this scared to tell me, this must deeply concern you, but you know that I won’t tell a soul, not even mum. Just tell me what’s going on Clare, I want to be there for you, but I can’t be there for you if you don’t let me in.”
Clare hesitated. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She tried again, “It’s hard to explain, but it’s easy to demonstrate. Cut yourself please,” she said quietly.
“What are you talking about Clare?”
“I can’t explain my situation, I have to show you. Please just do it and trust me.”
Sage raised an eyebrow in confusion, but she extended her arm
without question and reached for the sharp key on her dresser. She moved the key across her forearm until the tiniest bit of blood bubbled to the surface. Clare’s fingers were twitching and in a matter of seconds her hands were over Sage’s arm and a bright green glow mended the cut. The process didn’t take very long since the wound was so small. The green glow stopped as quickly as it started and Sage met her sister's frightened eyes.
“I don’t know where I would have gotten this power from,” Clare whispered.
“I don’t know where you got it from either,” Sage said as she stared down at her arm in disbelief. Even though Julius had tried to tell her about Clare’s magic earlier, she had not believed him.
“Do you understand why I didn’t tell you?” Clare asked.
“I do, but you know that I would never think of you less for possessing magic, especially healing magic. You’ve never used your magic for anything dark have you?”
