Chapter 10

Evard

Evard looked down at his notebook, the list seemed daunting, but he was determined to discover these girls' powers. Not only to get a leg up on his brother, but also to try and get a feeling of his own ability to detect magic. His mother was sure he could do it with a little more training; well, this was it. He wanted to know what exactly he was dealing with. What his brother was choosing from. After all, if he didn't win the challenge then he would likely be ruled by one of these women. If he won the challenge however, they might take his brother's side. He couldn't be blindsided by them either way.

Delmira Kessler. Evard found her in the women's room, and she agreed to meet him in the gardens in 20 minutes. He sat outside at a table, his notebook open as he waited for her. He looked around, admiring his mother's greenhouse from a distance. Evard had his own section in there for when he needed to grow stuff for potions.

Evard heard heels clicking and he saw Delmira walking down the stairs. Evard nodded to her as she sat down across from him, her own notebook with her. She uncapped a pen and smirked at Evard.

"So, Your Highness, what would you like to talk about?"

Evard cleared his throat, "You, your past, your magic, what you're doing here."

Delmira laughed, "Oh, well I'm here to get the scoop on you and your brother. As for my magic? I have light magic." She winked, tossing some hair over her shoulder.

Evard grimaced, "And any specialties?"

Delmira hummed, "No, not that I can think of." She smiled, leaning forward. "How about you, Your Highness? Any particular specialities?"

"Not that I'd tell you." Evard replied, shaking his head. He moved his notebook closer to him, out of her prying eye sight.

She leaned back, "So you journal often?"

"Only sometimes."

"Like when?"

"To organize, spells and such."

Delmira hummed, writing in her own notebook. She twirled her pencil around, simply gazing at Evard. Evard studied her carefully applied makeup, her pressed jumpsuit and heels. She was clearly someone who took great pride in her appearance. Maybe that was something he could use later, or rather something his brother would view as quite the advantage.

"Your Highness, if I may ask, why did you challenge your brother?"

Evard snorted, "I don't think he deserves the throne."

Delmira grimaced, "That can't be all."

Evard shrugged. He didn't know what else to tell her. It was the truth. Granted there was more, but he wasn't going to spill his secrets. He knew she was some kind of journalist or something. He didn't need anything getting out that he didn't already want there.

They had a stare-down, and eventually Delimra nodded, "Fine, thank you for your time."

Evard dipped his chin, "Likewise." Delmira stood, her heels clicking as she began to walk away. "And Delmira," She stopped, her head half-turned as she listened. "Next time you want to lie about your powers, I'd at least say you specialized in something. You never know what powers the person next to you contains."

Delmira stiffened, but only walked away, head held high.

Next on his list was Lilura Maddox. He'd heard of that name. They were a notorious dark witch family, and unlike Khelben, Evard knew this and was quite excited to properly meet a dark witch. He was curious to be sure what his own powers would be telling him, what a dark witch's powers felt like in his head.

Evard wandered the castle, and found her in what he called "The Worship Room" . It was pretty much designed like a gothic cathedral, but it was meant to be relaxing and allow for prayer, meditation, silent energy cleansing, etc. It seemed Lilura was reading tarot sitting on a cushion, the cards laid out before her.

Evard waited patiently as she sat completely still. A small grey fox sat lay beside her, he seemed to be scowling at Evard and Evard was suddenly glad Terrain wasn't with him. He didn't need his rabbit trying to pick a fight with this fox for giving him a dirty look.

"Silvie, be nice." Lilura's voice floated out beneath her veil. Her hand reached to stroke the fox and his gaze of death turned on her. "Oh, knock it off." Her head turned to Evard now. "Your Highness, is there something I can do for you?"

"Oh, yes, um I'm here to ask you about yourself."

Lilura tilted her head, "Isn't that your brother's job?"

"I have my reasons." Evard sat on the tile before her, glancing at her tarot cards. Evard wasn't big on tarot, he preferred potions and charms, but he had to admit it was curious to observe.

"Alright then."

Evard cleared his throat, "Tell me, you're dark magic, correct?"

"Correct."

"And your family is the infamous Maddox family?" Evard replied, taking notes in his book.

Lilura chuckled, "Infamous? Sure, why not."

Evard raised a brow, "Is there another word?"

Lilura shrugged, "Famous, even feared would have been better."

Evard hummed, writing again, "So, can you tell me what it's like?"

"What what is like?" Lilura asked, scooping her cards up and shuffling them.

"Living with a dark magic family."

Lilura shrugged again, "Just like any other family I suppose. We value dark magic instead, we take great pride in it. My family marries via the female bloodline, and that's how our magic is passed on."

"I've noticed trends in mothers passing on their dark magic more than fathers. It's definitely interesting." Evard replied. He had looked into this previously, and though he loved his mother's magic, he thought dark magic was too intriguing to cut out of his life, it would have made for an interesting royal family. The first dark magic royal in….he supposed forever.

Lilura nodded, "Indeed, I've noticed that too. But our family is gifted in ways others aren't, so can you blame us? We're practically the royal family of dark magic."

Silvie squeaked, chattering to Lilura, and she laughed. "Indeed, indeed."

Lilura laid out the cards again. If the cards told her anything surprising Evard couldn't notice. Her face- even hidden by a veil- showed no emotion as she deciphered them.

Evard's head was starting to hurt, and he guessed it was because of her dark magic. He found it odd he hadn't reacted earlier, but maybe her magic took time to affect him. He took another note, and Lilura hummed to herself.

"Be careful, Evard."

Evard stopped writing and looked up, "What?" His tone was meant to be a warning, after all, he was a prince, and if this was a threat….but somehow his voice ended up smaller than he wanted. How was she supposed to get how serious he was?

"Your love...it's going to get in the way. It will put you in danger. Betrayal, family. They tie together, possibly your brother-"

"I don't have love for my brother-"

"But you do feel resentment, jealousy." Evard gaped at her, but she kept reading the cards. Not that she could see him anyway. "Magic could tear you apart. Love and Magic, how ironic. I'd sensed from your energy that you long for those most. Isn't it odd? You already have magic….or perhaps….you feel everyone else's affects you, and your own isn't truly your own."

Evard stood abruptly, and he remembered now why he didn't care for tarot cards. They read him. And he didn't like being read.

"Oh, Evard. I expected better." She scooped the cards up and stroked Silvie again. "Keep it in mind, the cards only see your current pathway. It could change if you try."

Evard shook his head, which was now hurting much more. "I- thank you for your time. Goodbye."

He left, quickly jotting down last second notes as he left the worship room. He liked Lilura, but he wasn't about to let her near enough to him to sense these things regularly.

Evard rubbed his temple, but he thought he was starting to get a hang of sensing types of magic. He'd sensed the same side of magic in the first two, but his head had hurt a bit more when he'd interacted with Lilura. Now as he carried his notebook down the hall he felt his head start to split again. He groaned, and his eyes landed on Maria Fierro.

She was the only one around besides himself, so he knew it must be her. "Maria Fierro."

Maria stopped walking and turned to look at him, a pleasant smile spread across her face, "Your Highness, a pleasure."

Evard stepped forward, trying to mentally recite the spell he'd learned yesterday. His headache started to ebb a bit, and he spoke again, "Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Maria shook her head, "If it's you, not at all."

Evard was taken aback by this, but cleared his throat and opened his notebook, jotting down her name. "What kind of magic do you have?"

Maria raised a brow, but replied, "Light." His head throbbed and he squinted at her. She stared him down, and he moved onto his next question.

He put 'light?' in the column. "Next, how long have you been practicing magic?"

"Oh, pretty much all of my life. I'm a Light Magic major with emphasis on plants and invisibility."

Evard was surprised, "Together?"

"Separately."

"You can turn invisible?"

"Yes."

He waited for her to add something on, but she didn't. He made another note, and he noticed Maria almost glaring at the notebook. He wrote that down too, and looked back to her, "Why are you here?"

Maria tilted her head, "Power. Influence." Evard kept his face still, not showing any emotion, any thoughts, as he wrote down her answer. He wasn't sure if she was serious, but something told him she was.

"Thanks." Evard went to walk off, but Maria called out to him, "Can I ask you some questions?"

Evard stopped walking, looking over his shoulder. Maria walked forward, moving in front of him. She smirked, "Why did you challenge your brother?"

Evard shrugged, "He's incompetent, emotional, doesn't deserve the throne."

Maria hummed, "What do you think of dark magic?"

Evard couldn't hide the glimmer of excitement that shone across his face, he cleared his throat, "I find it interesting. I've always been curious to learn a thing or two…"

Maria smiled, "Don't tell your brother, but-" she leaned closer to whisper in his ear, "Maybe I could teach you sometime. I dabble a bit in the dark arts."

Evard scoffed, "You just said you had light magic. How can you have dark magic?"

Maria shrugged, "Past is past."

"But I heard you have to give up light magic to control dark magic." Evard whispered, he wasn't sure why, maybe he was worried someone was listening in on them. Maybe he was worried his brother would get the idea before he had the chance to explore it.

Maria snorted, "No, you just need to know the right people and have the right resources. Oh, and plenty of other girls have dark magic here, don't let them fool you."

Evard hummed, "I guessed as much." He wouldn't mention his abilities. They may be messy, but they could be helpful later on.

He began to walk away with a nod of his head, but her hand rested on his chest, keeping him in place temporarily. "Your Highness, I'm not here for your brother….maybe we could spend some quality time together." She shot him a smirk and winked.

Maria walked away, and Evard blinked, staring after her. Yes, she was mysterious, and while she was attractive enough Evard wasn't sure getting involved with her was the best idea. But...it was certainly something to keep in mind.

Hello everyone! Sorry this took so long, but hopefully I'll be able to update some more over break, and maybe even get another BLaST chapter out, yay!

So today we have Evard doing some research and investigation into the girls. We get a little more of a look into some of their thoughts on their magic and especially an outsiders' view. Maria, Maria, flirting with Evard tsk tsk. Well, thanks for reading!

See y'all in the next chapter~!