Chapter 1—Starts with Chapter 2 of Taming.

Luca's POV

I had heard some interesting news through my network and decided to pop into class to see if it was true. And from what I can see, with Elias leading a girl to the class, my information network didn't fail me.

"Yo, Prince Elias." I smirked as I saw him tense.

He sighed, "...Luca."

"Luca…!" The girl gasps indignantly, clearly mad at me. She's kind of cute when she scrunches her face up like that. Not as cute as a certain other girl, but still.

"Huh?" I said innocently, "Looks like you've got a familiar face with you."

"Not just 'familiar'!" She stomped her foot, "You lured me straight to the boys' dorm yesterday!"

I grinned, and laughing a bit, "How was it, Kittycat? Fun?"

"Far from it! It was awful!" She really needed to work on her glaring skills...it was almost comical watching her try.

"Now, now," I said, "calm down, calm down. It was just a joke, right, Kittycat?"

"It wasn't just a joke!" she snapped.

"But look, thanks to that, you got to be Elias' buddy, right?" I pointed out. Now Elias was glaring at me. Ha. What an easy target.

"So you already know." Elias said cooly.

"You just confirmed the words around the academy saying you are." I smirked again, "His Royal Majesty Elias, Crown Prince of the Academy, is buddies with a normal girl. That's the most fantastic thing since Selene and the Emperor!"

"I've said this countless times,"—And here comes his scolding voice.—"but would you stop calling me that? I'm not a prince or a member of the royal family. Just because Selene isn't here doesn't mean you can start that up again. Besides, don't you think that it's irreverent to the actual throne?"

"Haha! 'Irreverent'! I love it, it's like you're a generation behind!" I cackled, "Besides, Selene didn't tell me to stop because of the royal family, seeing as she's all 'freedom! equality! democracy! individual rights!' and all—she told me to stop because it irks you. And while the fire's away, the ice does play!"

He was practically shaking with anger. Temper temper. I seemed to have a talent for annoying people. It was awesome.

The new was staring at the floor nervously, apparently no longer mad at me. Selene did tell me once that whenever Elias and I started bickering, that the air got really intense around us. I blame Elias. It's all fun and games for me. Mostly.

"By the way, Luca." He said drily, "Class is about to start, but you seem to be going somewhere?"

"Oh? Well, yeah, I was just going to, you know, skip, like usual." I said, waving a hand.

"Skipping class." He deadpanned, "Again."

"Listen, Prince Elias," I reasoned, "we underachievers have problems you overachievers just don't get, y'know?" We stared at each other, his face blank and unamused while I smiled goofily. Got to keep my act up, don't I?

"U-um...hey, how about we just go inside? Okay?" The girl pretty much caught in between our argument was clearly nervous.

"Really? I was just gonna go goof off…" I pouted.

"But, well...today's lesson will probably be really fun!" She said, trying to make it sound tempting. She was trying so hard, and still failing. Selene normally said simply, 'Luca~. In class. Now.' and I really didn't have a choice. The girl could be scary when you didn't listen, kind of how I imagined a scolding mother to be. Ha. At this point she was the closest thing I had to one—ironically enough, I'm older than she is by a couple of months.

"Oh? 'Fun'?" I looked her up and down, like I was checking her out. Not really, but kind of. Not quite my type. Of course, I already knew my type. My type had her solo practical magic lesson this hour in a specific courtyard. Reason 1 I'm skipping.

Katalina looked like she felt really awkward and unsure what to make of my actions, "Umm…?"

"Oh,"—Hmm...what to say, what to say.—"it's just, I was wondering why you got chosen as Prince Elias' buddy." There we go. Good thinking.

She bit her bottom lip, "I don't even know…"

I raised an eyebrow, "Ohh? Huh. Y'know, you're kinda interesting, and pretty cute, too."

And her confused look returned. "Huh?"

"Yeah...I feel like I've gotta know."

"About…?" she asked.

"About you." I said flirtatiously, smiling at her and looking her straight in the eyes, "All about you." I wonder if Elias even realizes that his tenseness is due to jealousy, hm? Ha. Probably not, seeing how dense he is. He's even worse than Selene, and it's obvious the Emperor's been crushing on her for months. At least, it's obvious to those of are who aren't too intimidated to pay attention.

The girl had a pink tinge to her cheeks and still didn't seem to know what was happening. Clearly Elias' has a rival in the denseness department. "U-um…"

I nodded, "Hmm...I might even stay for class." I saw Elias (unknowingly) clench his fist. I guess missing one session of watching her is worth it to irritate Elias.

Her eyes widened in surprise, "Huh?!"

"Yep, that's how it is." I looked over at Elias, who had a sour look, "C'mon, Prince Elias! Don't make that face, man!"

He forces his face into a neutral expression and does his best to keep his tone even, "...Next time you call me that, I'll incinerate you with fire spells."

"Haha! I'd better watch my back!" I laugh, "But now look who's saying things Selene wouldn't approve of."

"Selene approves of most anything to do with fire, Luca! Remember?" Called out a student walking into the classroom, causing her friend to giggle. Ah, I believe her name is Maegan.

"That's mostly because she herself is fireproof." her friend snickered.

"Though that one eyebrow spell does seem to be a favorite threat of hers. I wonder if she's actually acted upon it?"

"I've no doubt she has." The two girls laughed again.

Katalina looked nervously between the two of us. I went ahead and walked in with a dignified silence to me. I assume she followed quickly after, from the "Well, Kittycat, I'll have to talk to you later."

I went and sat in my normal seat—when I'm here, that is—next to where Selene usually sat. I won't admit it, but I am kind of worried. From what I've heard, and what I hear is normally pretty accurate, something happened with one of her brothers. Selene comes from a really tight-knit family. I will admit, at least in my head, that I'm envious of her for that.

Then again, I'm just happy not to be trapped any longer. No more darkness and cage-like rooms for me.

But still.

I snapped out of my thoughts and listened into the conversation that Katalina, Elias, and (somewhat) Yukiya were having. Hmm. It seems this new girl is more intriguing than I thought. She can speak to animals? Interesting.

And then she asked the other two if they could hear a "strange song" before they went to sleep. Song? What song? Wait…could she possibly hear the song that is supposed to lead to the Tower of Sorrow? That's the only song that I could think of, particularly since it seemed to get even Yukiya's interest when she said that. And I know Yukiya could hear it. I myself was unable to, but I knew about it. Hours spent in the archives reading does help, you know.

Authoress: At least you sometimes do productive things when you skip.

Oh, hey, Authoress! Nice to see you.

Authoress (happy, cheerful tone): You are so much more welcoming than Elias. I like that. Thank you. Eli's always mean to me when poke my nose into his story.

Well, he does have a stick up his a…

Authoress: Language! You know how Selene and I feel about cursing.

Yeah, yeah. It makes you seem like you have a "poor vocabulary" and are "uneducated." Yada yada yada.

Authoress: Thank you. Now, let's get back to the story, 'kay? I won't butt in again. At least not for a while.

See ya. Now back to business. Schuyler had started the lesson, and it was on the Persona Mirror. Sigh. Another lesson on a Goldstein Tool. Apparently the connection between Walter Goldstein and Elias hadn't been made in Katalina's head.

I turned back and whispered to her. "Hey Katalina did ya know? Walter Goldstein is Elias' father!"

"Ohhh! I see!" she whispered back, a lightbulb going on in her head. I only vaguely knew what a lightbulb was—a Terran thing that was used for light—from Selene. It was a fun saying, though, like most of the Selene-isms.

I continued, "Inventing a magical tool that powerful...the distinguished family, the Goldsteins are worthy of the authority of the wizards' world, huh?" I raised his voice, "Elias' dad and big brothers are all so magnificent, I can't tell you just how envious I am." Even if it was a bit true, Elias would think I'm solely making fun of him. Which I am, just not 100%.

He turned around and hissed, "Luca, shut up. We're in the middle of class."

"Oh, was I interrupting Mr. Honor Student's class? My deepest apologies." It was so hard not to start laughing at him. So hard.

"You! Over there! Quiet down! This is my classroom. If you're going to fool around, shall I have you do it outside?" Schuyler snapped.

"I'm sorry, sir." Elias apologized.

"Alright, alright, I'll keep quiet." I sighed.

Class continued. Katalina got asked a question. Elias gave a really long and boring explanation of things. Schuyler announced a pop quiz. Goody.

Bor-ring.

Students went up and performed the spell, one by one. Elias went up, did it exactly by the book and got ninety out of a hundred, and went back to his seat all depressed. Ha. Perfectionists are pessimists. Now it was my turn. I got up and sauntered to the front of the class. I pulled out my wand. "Veltex." I waved it. The water in the jug started swirling like a little whirlpool. "Hover." With another wave of my wand, the whirling water rose to the air. Another wave of the wand, "Screen." The water formed a round, flat disk in midair. Then I said the incantation. "Wideo Procle." I lightly tapped the water mirror with his wand, and it showed a clear image of my room. And it was entirely empty. No personal items. Just what came with it.

"Zero points. Who told you to do that in such a roundabout way like that? Do it normally next time." Schuyler scolded

"Yeah, yeah, my bad." I shrugged as I went back to my seat.

"However," Schuyler continued, "The spell itself was superb. Elias' spell, on the other hand, was precise. I'd even say exemplary. However, it had some arrogance in it. Luca's spell, though, has great originality, and he has the ability to make it work." Ha. I bet that killed the Prince just now, made him feel empty, just how my room looks.

Of course, empty was only how it appeared. My drawers, the ones that didn't have clothes, were filled with drawings and other art I've created. But from an outsider's perspective, it could've been an unused room.

And the desk drawer is filled with images I've made of one person. Of course, it's not done to be obsessively creepy or anything, but because it's the only way to get her temporarily out of my head. It's not my fault that she's so dang picturesque. I found out that she had private training sessions as her first class entirely by accident. And since then, it's been my personal excuse to get out of Schuyler's class.

It was a Tuesday when I first saw her, about a month ago.

I had only narrowly avoided Schuyler and Selene. It's been a lot harder to get out of class since she's been here. On one hand, it was annoying because it meant that I got trapped listening to the boring lessons that were taught, but on the other, it was kind of nice that there was someone who cared enough to worry about me passing or failing.

Ha. Prince Elias didn't know how lucky he was, having people expecting things of him. Sure, it probably had it's own sets of problems, but I'd rather have nothing than something, you know?

I walked down the hallway, heading towards the edge of the school. It's a nice morning, and I'm thinking about going down to the lake to sketch. It's one of my favorite places to draw, mostly because there's always little differences from the last time I drew it.

I hear several loud thumps coming from the left. Hmm. I wonder what's going on over there, in the courtyard. At the end of the last quarter, a lot of the classes were switched up, and so Practical Magic is first hour for my class.

I wander over to the edge of the courtyard to see two people, a man and a younger boy—of course, it could be a girl. From what he/she is wearing, and with their dark red-brown hair cut so short, I can't rightly tell.

"Harder! Faster! You think an enemy is going to give you time to breathe?!" The man shouted, "I sure hope you don't! Again!"

The boy/girl raised her wand and it transformed into a short sword, which they used to start attacking the dummy-on-a-pole in front of them. They were so fast I couldn't see more of the blade than a reddish-copper blur.

"Again!"

I watched as the volley of attacks began anew, the man calling insults as the younger person drilled.

"Again!"

"Again!"

After several more "Again!"s, the man paused, "Break for ten!" Then marched off the field.

The boy/girl's sword disappeared and they put their wand in a sheath attached to their belt. Then put their hands on their knees, breathing heavily. I decided I should probably leave, and turned to go when a knife buried itself in the pillar next to my head. I whirled around, wand out, only to find nothing.

Then froze as a fist grabbed my hair and a knife was pressed to my neck.

"Who are you?" the person growled. Huh. So it was a she. Interesting.

"Who wants to know? Perhaps I'm just a simple boy passing through the corridors, hoping to find my classroom. I'm hopelessly lost, you see."

"You've hopelessly lost your mind if you think that's going to fool me, idiot. Who are you and why are you here?" The knife's pressure increased a little. Not enough to break skin, but almost.

"Ah, you caught me. I'm playing hooky, and just happened to hear something interesting and decided to go check it out." I admitted, deciding not to risk my neck over a joke. Seriously, woman, learn to take them. Why so serious? I do hope you don't turn out to be another stick in the mud, like Prince Elias. That'd be no fun. "Name's Luca. What's yours, sweetheart?"

The knife was removed and the girl shoved me forward, causing me to stumble a bit before regaining my balance. I turned to look at her. Now that I was closer, I could definitely see it was a girl. Not bad-looking, either, if a little sweaty—but after what she was doing, that was to be expected.

"Marelda. Now scram. I've got to get back to training, and if you know what's good for you, you'll get back to class, idiot."

I grinned at her, "But where would be the fun in that?" She rolled her eyes, yanked the knife out of the crack in the pilliar—a killer shot, I must say—and went back to the courtyard, beginning to stretch.

I was snapped out of my reminiscing as Katalina made it start raining frogs. I started to laugh and had a hard time stopping. This almost made it worth missing getting to see Marelda.

I'd gone and watched her several times since that day, and talked to—well, she'd probably say annoyed—her during her breaks from training. I'd managed to weasel other bits of information out of her since then.

Like she lived in Elston, near the western border of the country. She was training to be a warrior wizardess. She had two little sisters, a little brother, a mother, and a stepfather.

I'd also learned that she didn't want to talk about her father, or more particularly, her older brother. I guessed they were no longer in the world of the living.

Oh, and she seemed to be very attached to three particular knives in her belt. She had a total of ten she always carried with her. Since she was the only warrior-trainee currently at the school, she had private tutoring one hour a day.

You see, normally once a student passes a certain grade, they declare what the focus of their study is going to be. I've been held back a few times, so I haven't declared what I'll study yet. If I pass this year, though, I'll have to decide. I'm not sure what I'll do, so it's not a big deal to me.

Marelda wasn't very good at taking teasing, but it was fun to try and flirt with her. Any compliments and she'd be flushed red and acting all brusque, telling me to "bugger off!" and "go to class!" It was hilarious, really. It was at it's all-time funniest what I referred to her by her nickname—bella. Not the name, of course, but it's a foreign word meaning "beautiful." It's a term kind of used like "sweetheart" or "dear" or "love." When I told her what it means, she shoved me. Ha.

She's fascinating, as hard as she tries not to be. Don't ask me why I'm so interested in her, because I honestly don't know.

Authoress: I think you have a crush, love.

I thought you said you weren't coming back for a while? And I don't think that's really the case. She's more of a toy. And you're not British, so why are you using that term?

Authoress: Well, it's been a while. And it's totally the case. And you've known me how long now? Do I even need an explanation to do odd things?

Naw, I still don't think that's it.

Authoress: Ugh, between you and Elias...you two and your obliviousness to your feelings blows my mind…

I don't think the Prince would like that comparison too much. And I promise you I'm not crushing on Marelda. No way.

Authoress: Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that. You're just afraid to get close to people due to a lonesome childhood. Authoress out!

Bye.

Man, she's crazier than I thought. It's not a crush.

Authoress (faintly in the distance): I heard that! And yes it is!

...And she's out of earshot. Good. And it's not a crush.

I can't get too close to people, after all. It would only come back to bite me.

Of the three knives Marelda got for her seventh birthday, the second largest has a blade about four inches long. It's fairly slim for a knife, and it's not a very thick blade. However, it is very strong and works well for slashing things.