Magical Bonds (2)

Jessica stared at her notes, a feeling in her gut that something wasn't quite right. She rolled her eyes around in thought as an idea entered her mind. "Make the empress jealous."

"She's already jumping there," she thought aloud. "Okay… cat fight in the imperial household. Let's try it…" she went back to work.

***

Emperor Virgentarth and Queen Catira showed up at the Academy of Magic unannounced, and marched straight into the office of Lord Myrddin who did not like being blindsided.

"Forgive the intrusion, Lord Myrddin," Catira nodded with a diplomatic smile on her face as she and Virgentarth each took a seat across his desk. "I'm afraid that dire straits require extreme solutions."

"Am I to assume that this visit is in regard to the individual Magi who have been stripped of their abilities?"

"Stripped?" Virgentarth raised his eyebrows at the dramatically descriptive words.

"This magical loss is quickly elevating to the level of epidemic, and I fear our kind will no longer be of use to the empire before long," she explained to the Grand Sorcerer.

"Then I shall tell you all that we currently know, Your Majesties…" he was cut off when his door opened, and Soraya quickly dashed in.

"Sorry I'm late," she looked around for a chair. "It seems that today's meeting was omitted from my schedule."

Catira caught Virgentarth's eyes before he turned and smiled.

"You made it in time, my empress. Take my seat," he rose to his feet and escorted her to sit.

"Welcome, Your Majesty," Lord Myrddin nodded politely. "I was just about to inform His Majesty and Her Highness of what we at the academy know about the loss of magic. It seems to have begun at younger, unexperienced Magi and is gaining momentum. Since none of the elders have yet to be affected, we can assume the power of the conspirators are high enough to take the power of lower beings."

"Until their power grows," Catira rolled her eyes in thought. "Have you been able to ascertain the method that is used?"

"It is a magic none of us, even here, are familiar with."

A frown crossed her face momentarily as Virgentarth spoke up. "Is there an area where more incidents seem to happen than others?"

"The potions labs are in what used to be dungeons underground, where students can easily be cornered, and no one would hear them struggle."

"How well do you trust your staff, My Lord?" Catira read his eyes as she spoke to him.

"The staff at the Imperial Academy of Magic have an impeccable reputation, My Queen, as you very well know. We are responsible for education the highest-ranking Magi in the entire Empire, and other countries send their elite to learn from us as well. I have every trust in my staff."

"Thank you," she nodded solemnly. "I shall return with my ministers tomorrow for a tour."

"Y—Your Majesty… so quickly?"

"I believe that is an excellent idea," Virgentarth agreed.

They all rose to their feet. "Until tomorrow," Lord Myrddin bowed to them as the royals quickly left the office.

Once they were out of the building and under the canopy of the elm trees, they stopped to discuss their opinions.

"What are your initial thoughts?" he turned to the queen as Soraya stood behind them.

"I don't feel as though he is hiding anything, yet I'm sure he's not telling me the entire truth."

"I agree."

"How can there be a magic they are not familiar with?" Soraya spoke up. "They're supposed to be sages among the Magi."

"There are types of magic that have been forbidden for such a time so that modern Magi are not aware of its existence. If forbidden magic is being used, no one will be able to detect it."

"Who governs the use of forbidden magic?"

She turned to her and smiled. "That would be me."

"You inherit the memories of the queens, is this something that even they were unaware of?" Virgentarth asked her.

"It might be old enough that I will need to employ some deep meditation which I shall get to after a meeting with the Ministry of Magic."

"Don't forget about the banquet in your honor tonight," he smiled at her.

"I would never," she nodded to the both of them. "If you'll excuse me…"

They nodded as she disappeared into a cloud of golden light.

Virgentarth held out his hand, expecting his wife to take it, but she huffed before walking past him.

"Soraya?" he smirked before running after her. "What's wrong?"

"I obviously wasn't invited to this little meeting today, and I'm fairly sure I know why."

"We did not want to draw undue attention to our visit, pure and simple."

"Or is it because you suddenly seem to possess magical ability?"

They both stopped and turned to one another.

"Are you sleeping with the queen? Is that how you've gained the ability to speak her language and…"

"That's not how it works," he chuckled as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "As I said before, the queen possesses the memories of former queens and high priestesses and therefore the memories of Empress Deandra, who was the first Queen of the Magi and my great-grandmother. I learned a lot about myself that had been hidden for my safety and never brought to light until recently."

She stared at his chest for a moment. "Perhaps there is a reason they should stay hidden?"

"You would rather I never know the side of me, gifted by my grandmothers? You wish for my soul to always feel incomplete?"

"I fear for you to become addicted to a power you cannot control."

"None of our visions or those of our astrologers have seen that future. In fact, there's a prophesy to the contrary."

"I feel like you're pulling away from me, Aiden. What if you change?"

"I will remain the same, I believe. I dare say it might make me a better ruler as well, but only with Catira's guidance."

"You're so informal as to use her name already?"

"Soon you shall be as well. You will like her once you know her," he brushed his thumb across her cheek. "I must return for an audience. Take care getting to your palace, and I will see you at the banquet."

She smiled for him and nodded before pulling in a deep frown and walking off.