Suspicions

Mei Ruan: April 20th, 20XX

A stiff, stifling sensation inhibited my senses and made it difficult to breathe. My eyelids were heavy, so I kept them closed and focused on adjusting to the changes in my body. As I took in one deep breath after the other, I tried to gather as much magic in my body as possible and release it into a passive spell.

Unlike usual, when I could get a firm grasp of my surroundings just by using my magic perception, it felt like I was operating blind, and I couldn’t feel more than a few miles around myself. This much was still comparable to other, weaker fairies, but it was difficult to adjust to.

I finally got used to the limiting sensation and slowly peeled open my eyes. Whoever had moved me had placed me onto my back, so I opened my eyes to the sight of an elaborate ceiling that put any of the ones in my home to shame.

A fantastical moving image of a beautiful fairy playing a stringed instrument captured my attention and filled my heart with a sense of calm I’d only heard about in the past.

It was one of the few goblin-fae artifacts in existence and had the fascinating effect of lulling patients to a state of calm, despite whatever harm they might have suffered. It also facilitated healing and made recovery time much faster.

This must be the infamous royal infirmary. I wondered if I could be in here but calmed down and assumed this was one of the many benefits of being betrothed to the last active member of the royal family.

I’d heard talk that Heloise, Belpheobe’s mother and Cai’s grandmother, was in the process of ascension. I could also somewhat feel the pressure that flooded the castle due to the high-intensity process, but she was still a while away. When the time arrived for her to fully awake, I doubted even the prince would be able to remain in the castle.

I turned my head and identified the primary source of the comfortable feeling I currently had. I’d felt his presence before placing him with my eyes, but using my perception was so difficult, I almost completely gave up.

Usually, I could use it as freely as I could with my own eyes, or even more freely as my field of vision was limited by how quickly I could turn my head. Right now, though, using my perception felt like pushing sand through a narrow funnel. It was possible but challenging, and I found it difficult to justify the amount of energy I spent when I compared it to the results I got.

I would have to slowly train myself back up to where I used to be.

A shuffling sound erupted from the couch on the other side of the room, and a slightly dazed prince arose from his shallow slumber. His bright golden eyes snapped open, and he vaulted into the air. His feet dangled in the air for a few seconds before he returned to the floor and walked over to my side.

“General! you’re awake! How are you feeling?”

His voice was a bit deeper than I remembered it being, but then again, I’d only heard him speak a few times, and each of those occasions had involved the prince under duress.

I battled down the growing guilt that blossomed in my stomach and watched him inch towards me, apparently too nervous to even fly.

The closer he got to me, the duller my senses got until I could only sense as far as the width of the room. Of course, it was a rather large room so it wasn’t impossibly bad, but it was uncomfortable.

He stopped a few feet away, and a cautious expression flitted across his face. I could assume that his question was less about my bodily health and more about how likely I was or wasn’t to pounce on him.

“I am doing well, your highness. I fear the spell was a success.”

He had taken the time to verbally walk me through the entire process before commencing with the spell. I hadn’t expected to be treated poorly, but I hadn’t expected such graciousness from the young royal either.

I’d recognized his nervousness from how cautiously he angled toward me to make sure I was okay, but I had failed to recognize just how pressured he truly was.

“Oh, that’s great-”

He crumpled like a corpse onto the floor and hit the cold ground with a thud.

While I usually prided myself on my ability to keep a calm mindset, I couldn’t help but panic at the sight. My body ached as I vaulted off the bed and towards him, but I froze in my tracks as I identified what was wrong with him.

I’d been on the battlefield long enough to recognize signs of magic exhaustion, but I found it hard to believe a royal could ever suffer from something like that. Even for a prince, something as basic as a glorified aide contract shouldn’t have drained him so.

A thought occurred to me, and I slowed my approach to him, moving mere inches at a time. If he had taken it so badly, then there was a possibility that the spell would not work as well as we all hoped.

I stopped a mere three feet from him and debated calling Lillian into the room to help him up, but even in my tired state, I realized how poor of a choice that would be.

At best, people would say that I disdained the prince once the royal spell had worn off, but at worst, questions about his character and mine would arise.

The rules of society were much less strict than they had been in the past, but it would still be unacceptable for a young unmarried male to be in a room with two unmarried females that weren’t his aides.

I stopped overthinking things and completed the journey, closing the gap between us in three short flaps of my wings.

As expected, having direct contact shook the seals a bit, but rather than completely snapping clean, they unexpectedly held strong.

My arms shook as I loaded him onto the cot and got a proper look at his face for what seemed like the first time.

The boy was unarguably beautiful, having borrowed sufficient genes from both parents to achieve a harmony of both’s best traits.

Unlike Akseli, who revelled in praises of being the pinnacle of the ideal male fairy with his haughty looks and distant attitude toward everyone except those he deemed worthy of his affection, the prince was much more corporeal and lively.

In the little time I’d known him, he seemed more reliable than his peers and far out-shadowed them in terms of magic usage. Even though he’d fainted from magic exhaustion, the evidence of him modifying an ancient spell in such a short amount of time and being able to talk me through the process was more than enough to testify to his genius.

The prince let out a small hum as I moved away from the side of the cot and a steady stream of magic escaped his body like air from a balloon. It was much greater in quantity and quality than I was accustomed to, but I was familiar with this phenomenon.

Fairy children under the age of ten would often leak magic in their sleep, but as far as I knew, the prince was well ahead of his first decade, even if he had yet to complete his second.

The phenomenon was the body’s way of showing its unfamiliarity with the amount of magic it would need to function properly and cast spells. At a younger age, the body lacked the natural cap that developed over time and would usually end up absorbing more magic than it could keep, which led to the leaking phenomenon during sleep.

Aruna, a quarter- witch, had struggled with this and hadn’t developed that cap until she was almost fourteen. The natural cap developing late wasn’t unheard of, but this was unexpected for the prince, who was both a royal and half-goblin.

It was relatively harmless, and I didn’t think he was in danger, but when I considered his proven expertise in wielding magic, I worried this was but a precursor to something more serious. After all, there was no way the prince, who had almost crossed his second decade, would not have had enough experience with magic and would absorb too much by accident.

Right?

I quickly dismissed the thoughts from my mind and instead went to call the medical staff to look over him.