Eternal Awakening

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Retribution

The next day Aura's plan at keeping him safe from being attacked in his sleep was put into action, and before Richard had even finished his breakfast a second bed had been added to the room, hidden behind a thick red curtain at the other end of the room. Lythia had been notified and she was not pleased; to say the least. She still treated him the same way she had when he had been nothing more than a servant and he doubted that would ever change. He actually looked forward to the time when he would be engaged, because it meant his bitch of an aunt could leave his room. That was something he never thought he would feel.

Classes that day were fairly subdued compared to what they had been before and he was able to enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere, at least in his first two classes anyways. Math was pretty simple and he helped a few of the students out with their work, while managing to finish his own fairly quickly. History, his favorite class at the academy, was an awkward affair for him, as he now sat alone at the desk he had once shared with Lisbeth. According to Aura she had been questioned all through the night at the Palace and the Queen had even been there in person for most of it. There was no word on how lenient they were going to be, but he really hoped they would go easy. If she gave them all the information they wanted then he didn't think they had any reason to keep holding her.

He decided against spending his lunch break in his room, like he used to, because he knew that Lythia would be up there having her meal. He really didn't feel like being cooped up in that room with her for any amount of time that wasn't necessary. So instead he took his meal down to the river and ate in peace to the soft gurgling sounds that surrounded him in the cold. After he was done eating he decided to practice some Arcane Magic before class, and had actually managed to conjure an orb the size of a pea and sustain it for a few minutes before it became too much and he had to release it.

When he arrived at class he took his usual seat between Daiya and Coni, keeping his books in his bag knowing that he wouldn't need them. When he sat down Coni flashed him a pleased smile and he knew she was poking fun at him for being stuck in the same room as Lythia, and the only thing he could do was grumble. Daiya, on the other hand, still wore the hard look on her face she had the night before; but she still managed to smile at him. It was obvious as the practical portion of the class came that neither of them could concentrate on what they were doing. He couldn't form that pea sized orb again and Daiya couldn't get any sort of image to appear in her apple sized one. It seemed to be weighing on her mind, as after a while she all but gave up and began to toss it lazily back and forth from hand to hand.

“Let me see that for a second,” he said to her as an idea hit him. Daiya looked at him curiously for a moment but then held her orb out towards him

He reached out both of his hands and cupped the orb of purple energy in his hands for a minute, concentrating hard as some power flowed from his body, through the bracer, and into the ball. When he pulled his hands back a moment later she could see that he had used his Light Magic to etch a small smiley face into the orb, and Daiya smiled at it.

“See, together we can do it no problem,” he smiled back.

“Yes, we can,” the normally serious girl actually giggled, “but I doubt your mother would be pleased with it. It looks like a toddler drew it.”