Lisa didn’t want to go to the ball. She had every intention of saying no but Mira had insisted that it would have been a hanging offence to refuse the High Queen. She thought about feigning a sickness but knew no one would believe it. She was stuck. She’d have to attend the damn thing whether she liked it or not.
Mira had taken great pride in picking out a fabric for her dress; a deep shimmery red that offset against the gold streaks in her hair. But now that she had the dress on though she had some reservations; it was far to attention seeking for her liking and without wishing to be ungrateful to Mira she had a good mind to change into something paler and less noticeable. She fidgeted in front of the mirror trying to make the dress less ‘huggable’ to her frame.
“You don’t have to wear it.”
Prince philip was halfway down the corridor when he realised there had been no guard on her room. He paused thinking, even with the Ball going on they wouldn’t have left their post. Then he heard the scream. He knew without doubt that it was her. He ran back into the room smashing the door off its hinges. Inside he saw two men, one had lisa by the throat, the other made a lunge at him. He punched the man but he got back up and jumped on his back. Roaring he spung round and flipped him onto the floor.Lisa watched, feeling the other man’s hands holding her firm, but she decided that she’d had enough of being a bystander in these attacks. She’d had enough of being a bystander in any of it. She stamped on the man’s foot as hard as she could then elbowed him in the stomach. He doubled over and released his grip cursing as he did. He made a lunge and her and she kneed
High King Uther walked into his privy chamber and was hit with a barrage of noise. Clearly his councillors wanted to discuss all the issues that had arisen since he’d gone to Seford and all he wanted to do was talk to James about the supposed Fate Girl. He gave them an hour of his time before he’d had enough and dismissed them, slamming the door on their faces as he pushed them out.His head was pounding and not just from a morning spent in banality. He ran his hand through his thinning hair and thought how long it would be before he could go to bed, and to his beautiful Cait who was probably already bored waiting for him.“So how was it?” Prince Rillon said as he flounced into the room and deposited himself in the nearest chair. “How was Seford?”
Lisa huffed with frustration. She’d been trying for the last half hour to light the damn second candle in front of her. The first had been easy. She’d barely thought about it and the flame had flickered to life. But this second one, it was like all the Magic, all the energy inside her had ebbed away.“Focus.” James said not for the first time and she gritted her teeth before replying.“I am focussing.” She muttered still not taking her eyes from the candle. A light smack to the back of the head made her look round. Now she realised why he was wearing gloves.“If you were focussing properly the candle would be lit.” He remarked and she cussed under her breath. It turned out James was a complete taskmaster of a teacher and
They walked into the same room lisa had met the High King before. She looked around to see who else was there and saw a group of men she didn’t recognise, sitting alongside High King Uther, James, and to lisa’s distress Prince Rillon was there, sitting alone from them but the very fact he was in the room made her stomach clench in fear.She stopped dead when she saw him and thought she was going to vomit right in front of them all.“Is this really necessary?” Prince phillip said next to her. She glanced at him and was shocked to see him glaring up at the High King.“Prince Rillon has serious charges to account for.” Uther answered ignoring the look on phillip’s face. “It must be a fair process.”
“Drink.” phillp said forcing the cup into lisa’s hand.“I don’t want it.” She said glaring at him though unsure why. He’d been nothing but kindness and it confused her. She wanted to hate him. Hate him as much as she hated his brother but deep down she felt that they were no longer enemies. Not that she’d go as far as to say they were friends.His cloak still hung around her shoulders and she felt exhausted. “All I want to do is get away from here. From this room. And all those people staring at me.” She said quietly feeling herself blush.“We’re a long way off that.” He replied.“What do you mean?” She asked.&nb
Lisa spent the next few days hiding in her room almost permanently playing with the stringlet. Mira had somehow acquired her own one too and together they kept playing the same tunes over and over.It felt like everyone in the castle knew what had happened between her and Rillon and that both he and the High Queen had been banished as a result. But worse than that it felt like everyone knew that if they slept with her they could become half-Fate; if she felt vulnerable before, now she felt doubly so.“Enough.” Nela said breaking the sad lilt lisa had played almost continuously for the last hour while Mira watched and silently mimicked with her own stringlet.Lisa looked up, her hands faltering on the strings.
“Seaford?” lisa repeated the strange name confused. “Why are we going there?”Nela and Indi shrugged. “Prince phillip has ordered it.” Nela stated. “So you better get sorted. We’ve got orders to have you at the stables within the hour.”Lisa scowled. But she also felt confused. It had felt like they were past this, that after everything that had happened, she and Prince phillip were somehow friends or at least not enemies anymore. And yet it seemed suddenly he was back to his old tricks from right at the start, ordering her around and expecting her to simply jump at every moment.She huffed getting up out of her chair because in reality what choice did she have? Prince phillip clicked his fingers and she had to go running
Back in Montefore lisa focussed even harder on her training with Nela and even harder on her lessons with James. It felt like she suddenly had a reason for it all and it felt good to focus on something. Her Magic was really starting to grow and she felt more powerful with each lesson but it also felt like her control was all over the place. Every time she thought she was getting better there’d be an incident, an accident, which would show to her that she needed to work harder, focus more, get better.“Stop yawning. You’re not going to convince anyone you’re a threat if you look half asleep...” Nela said.“Sorry. James’s been a slave driver this week.” lisa replied resuming her stance.“And I’m not?” Nela asked