Impossible

Chapter Nine: Westbell

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Chapter Nine: Westbell

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        My head pounded. I needed to get to sleep but my body refused to. Thoughts of how I could gain more power swirled around my head, haunting me. Was there a way to give yourself more power magically? To somehow channel more magic energy into your body? Because that was also needed—and desperately at that.

        I pushed myself out of bed, pacing my room incessantly. There had to be a way; I didn't believe that there wasn't. Someone over all the years that wizards had existed had to have figured out how to gain more power in terms of your ability.

        But who would know about that? Who would have any information about a topic like this? I stared at the moonlight that flooded into my room, wondering if being king was really the way I wanted to change things; it all seemed so complicated.

        My thoughts were interrupted by loud voices outside of my quarters.

        "Mother, you can't tell me what to do anymore! I'm my own woman—and a better one than you—meaning that you don't need to boss me around anymore," one of the voices whisper-yelled. My jaw dropped when I recognized the voice; it was Cynthia's. I quietly moved toward my door, pressing my ear against the small crack between the wall and the door.

        "Don't you dare tell me that you're a better woman than me! You may not be a servant, but I have accomplished much more than you. And what you did today was wrong Cynthia. Completely and utterly wrong!" the other voice exclaimed. My eyes widened and my heart raced as I heard the voice. It was Lily! Lily was Cynthia's mother? I scratched my head, thinking about what I'd just found out. Their relationship must have been a terrible one if Cynthia was living a much more luxurious life than her mother who spent her days working hard for Capitol residents who didn't appreciate it and she never offered to help support Lily.

        "I didn't do anything, mother. If you could just mind your own business we wouldn't even be having this fight." Cynthia's voice was colder than ice. It sent a shiver down my spine; I'd never realized how lucky I was to have a mother that I got along with well. A relationship like this would destroy me, especially when I had so much else going on in my life.

        "Cynthia, don't think that I don't know you killed that guard. Also, the next time you can catch Trent alone, tell him to work on his lying; nothing he did was believable," Lily said, her tone changing as she spoke about my acting. I had to cover my mouth to restrain a laugh from bubbling out of my mouth; I could've been fearful that she knew I was lying, but I wasn't. The whole situation just seemed comical to me now. Maybe it was my brain wired differently than a normal one, or maybe I just needed sleep, but the whole thing seemed completely hilarious.

        "That's why I was there," Cynthia growled. "I was trying to warn him about being reckless. And then that guard happened to walk in during our little conversation so I took care of it. Is it that big of a deal? It's my own life!"

        Her voice was growing louder and filling with more anger, but my mind had gone somewhere else already. Would they know about a way to get more power? Maybe Lily heard of something like that happening during her years as a servant; they had to know something.

        I opened the door quickly. Both of their heads turned to me, surprise registering on their faces when they saw me.

        "Sorry to interrupt your little argument, but I need help and I was wondering if maybe one of you two could give it to me."