I inclined my head in thanks, and he bowed and left the room, leaving me alone with Cailis and Daiseeum.
“Have you seen the prince?” I asked Daiseeum tentatively. The only news I’d heard of Prince Norivun was that he was mending, and that had been from the queen.
Daiseeum pursed her lips. “No, but I’m sure he’ll be right as rain. The prince has never let any injury keep him down for long.”
I frowned, wondering how many injuries the prince had suffered that would create that kind of reputation. My frown increased when I recalled the scar I’d seen previously along his abdomen. And the way he’d confronted the fairy in High Liss who had the ice bear affinity without any hesitation . . .
I shuddered. Death and violence seemed to walk hand in hand with the crown prince.
“Are you feeling well again?” my lady’s servant asked. “As energized as normal?”
I nodded. I’d finished an entire tray of food before Sir Featherton had arrived, and the magic in my gut was finally feeling replenished.
Daiseeum whisked the empty tray away. “In that case, Matron Olsander has asked for you to join her in the training rooms if you feel up to it. Sandus will accompany you. Of course, only if you’re up for it. The king has excused you from duties today if you would prefer rest.”
“All right. Thank you, Daiseeum.”
The lady’s servant bobbed her head before gliding from the room.
When it was just me and Cailis again, I lowered my voice even though nobody could hear us. “We need to get out of here.”
“I know.” She paced a few times by the window. “I couldn’t believe it when Sir Featherbrain said you had to engage in polite conversation, and any discord could be reported to him. Not to mention you could die! I mean, seriously? This is such nonsense.” Disgust pulled at her lips.
“I know, but, Cailis, I need you to figure out a way to get into the courtship dinner tomorrow night so you can help me figure out who’s a friend and who’s an enemy. The more I know about the fae here, the better off we’ll be.”
“I can do that,” she replied.
I nibbled on my lip. “Any ideas yet on how we’ll escape?”
She sat beside me. “No, but you mistphased yesterday. Can you learn to do it with control? That would be the easiest way out of here, especially if you can mistphase me with you.”
I sat upright, my jaw slackening. I’d completely forgotten that I’d inadvertently mistphased me and the prince back to the castle. Like my life-giving affinity, I had no idea how I’d done it, but when death had loomed, my magic had come running.
“You’re right,” I breathed.
She nodded. “You need to learn that skill above all others.”
“Okay, so we’ll plan for mistphasing as our escape, but we still need a backup plan just in case I can’t master it.”
Cailis ruffled her wings. “Consider it done.”
I squeezed her hand. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
She threaded her fingers through mine. “We’ll always have each other, Lara.”
Since Sir Featherton’s talk of the Trial had left me anxious, I decided to take Matron Olsander up on her offer to train.
Consequently, the matron wore a shrewd expression as she gazed at me with arms crossed. Sandus stood in the corner of the training room, listening to everything we said. The only silver lining was that none of the other females in the Trial were in the training room about to watch me fumble through another lesson.
“Tell me again what happened,” Matron Olsander demanded.
“I don’t know exactly.” I shrugged. “I was panicked, and the snowgum was nearly on top of me. All I could think about was that the prince and I would die if I didn’t get us back to the castle.”
“And then your magic mistphased you of its own accord?”
“I guess so. The prince was unconscious, so I don’t think he did it.”
She nodded and hmmed. “Interesting. Very interesting. Mistphasing is an advanced magical tactic that requires an immense amount of power. Most are never able to master the skill due to the amount of magic it requires. It would seem you have the capability, not surprising given that you have three affinities, yet consciously you don’t know how to access that part of your magic.”
“But I could learn, right?” I tried to keep the hope from my voice and did my best to keep my tone casually interested, as though my request wasn’t at all from the calculated plan Cailis and I had contrived.
Matron Olsander harrumphed and rapped her knuckles on the wall. “Of course you’ll learn! That’s top of my list. Without wings, how else are you to travel throughout the realm?” Her expression told me everything about what she thought of my stupid question.
A grin threatened to spread across my face, but I managed to suppress it. “So you’ll help me learn to mistphase and have that be part of my daily training?”
She swatted at my backside. “I don’t like repeating myself, Lady Seary. Yes, you’ll learn to mistphase. Now, climb the ladder. The balance beam is waiting. If you’re fully healed from the snowgum’s attack, we haven’t a moment to lose. The day is squandering!”
Despite the fact that I’d nearly died and had depleted all of my magic the previous day, Matron Olsander wasn’t dissuaded in the least. I could barely walk by the time we finished, but I felt marginally better about controlling my Outlets and Shields, sensing my magic and calling it forth, becoming educated on the mental aspects of mistphasing, and I had learned one cool trick. I knew how to self-cleanse now.
Matron Olsander might be strict and have a penchant for smacking me upside the head and rear, but I was grateful she was such an excellent tutor.
“You’re doing quite well.” Sandus smiled pleasantly as we strolled back to my chambers.
“Do you think so?” I rolled my shoulders. My entire body felt stiff, and it wasn’t from the snowgum’s attack. Matron Olsander had made me do chin-ups at one point when I’d accidentally started a training mat on fire.
He nodded and scratched his beard. “You’re an anomaly for certain, love. You’ve had no magic until very recently, yet you’ve managed to replenish life to one of Harrivee’s fields, outwit a snowgum, and then learn to self-cleanse. All within a week’s time. I’d say that’s something to be immensely proud of.”
My chest tightened, and my aching arms didn’t feel quite so sore after hearing his prideful comment. “This is a bit of a change from how I’ve always been.”
“A good change, though, eh?”
I managed a nod, but a part of me wasn’t sure. While my life had been small in Mervalee, and Vorl hadn’t exactly made it pleasant, I’d still been free. Now, my power was growing, but I was no longer the maker of my own destiny. I was a slave to the court.
I wasn’t sure which fate was worse.