#wesley moonbourne

[shelbeetaylor]

Character Introductions (Part 2)

-> story masterpost

moodboard by @singingslayingsoprano

Genevieve Santira

Most of her life, people have only called her Genevieve, but Evie’s calling her Gena has begun to stick.

Genevieve uses she/her pronouns.

Genevieve is 20 years old at the beginning of the story, and her birthday is on May 16 which would make her a Taurus.

Genevieve is known as the Crown Princess’s maidservant to those outside the palace, but those inside know her as one of Cassandra’s best friends.

Likes: working with her hands like sewing and embroidery, helping her father in the smithy, and taking care of her friends

Dislikes: playing mother to the chaotic individuals she happens to be friends with, her inability to read or write, and Cassandra only when the princess doesn’t listen to her

Genevieve often frequents the taverns of Vale Serine not to drink but to listen to the songs played by the traveling bards. Since she cannot read or write, the lyrics of the nomadic musicians provide her with stories she wouldn’t be able to know of otherwise.

If Genevieve lived in our world, her playlists would probably be filled with songs by artists like Rihanna, Selena Gomez, and SZA.

Genevieve, though quite confident in her ability to perform her job adequately, she struggles a lot with her life at home. Her parents were forced into marriage and out of their village after having her brother--who she hates talking about-- out of wedlock. Genevieve was very young when her brother disappeared, and her home life took a turn for the worse. Now she relies on her time away at work and the adventures Cassandra drags her on to grant her reprieve.

Face Claim: Angel Coulby as Guinevere in BBC Merlin

moodboard by @singingslayingsoprano

Wesley Moonbourne

A lot of people often refer to him as Wesley, but Evie has deemed it more appropriate to call him Wes.

Wesley uses he/him pronouns.

Wesley is 20 years old at the beginning of the story, and his birthday is on October 14 which would make him a Libra.

Currently, Wesley holds no official title, but by training in Vale Serine under the instruction of Theo he hopes to earn himself a spot as one of the knights of Nevernia.

Likes: dogs, hunting, and playing chess

Dislikes: feeling like he doesn’t belong, Evie feeling bad, and being without his dog Ranger

Wesley grew up in the outskirts of Bellbury, a city surrounded by farmland, so one of his odd interests is agriculture. Most of his days in Bellbury were spent voluntarily helping around the nearby farms, much to his family’s chagrin. If Wesley wasn’t able to become a knight, his dream would be to move out into the countryside and live on a farm with his animals, his dog Ranger, and the love of his life.

If Wesley lived in our world, he would listen to a variety older music like songs by Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles.

Wesley, having just moved to Vale Serine, is really struggling with trying to fit in. He wants to be accepted by the knights and especially by his idol, his cousin Theo, and he’s trying his best to become friends with them whether it’s by acting cool or sneaking along on their adventures. Hopefully his newfound friendship with Princess Evie will lead him in the right direction.

Face Claim: Noah Beck

moodboard by @singingslayingsoprano

Terran Willows

People usually just call him Terran, but the knights are also partial to Terr-man or giving him briefly-used, more colorful monikers… Sir Enoch’s favorite at the moment is Bog Man.

Terran uses he/him pronouns.

Terran is 20 years old at the beginning of the story, and his birthday is on June 20 which would make him a Gemini.

Terran is currently studying as an apprentice to Galen, the Court Physician, and he has been working under Galen for about five years.

Likes: his mother’s yearly visits, reading, and practicing magic in his room

Dislikes: Galen’s intense exams, getting scared, and Galen’s overprotective rules about magic and going out

In the spirit of helping people, Terran dedicates as much of his time and energy into improving the lives of others. While he is working towards becoming a physician full-time, Terran volunteers around Vale Serine helping those who need it. Sometimes the knights will even tag along to help and protect him, especially if he’s making a trip into places like Serine’s Hope to hand out food, provide free medical care, or distribute clothes.

If Terran lived in our world, he would definitely be a big fan of Maude Latour, but he would listen to mostly folk music like Hozier, Lord Huron, and Noah Kahan.

While Terran is quite proud of who he is as a person, there is still a lot of turmoil inside his head about it. He grew up in the outlying villages of Nevernia where it isn’t uncommon to see friends string up friends for being queer or possessing magic. Terran managed to escape that environment with his secrets intact, but the inner demons spawned in that hell have followed him to the big city, though he’s lucky to have Galen there reminding Terran every so often that he is not a monster for the way he was born.

Face Claim: Colin Morgan as Merlin in BBC Merlin

[shelbeetaylor]

Chapter Twenty | Evie's Grand Plan

-> story masterpost

-> previous chapter

Evie held out her hands, presenting the rows and rows of white lilies and various other flowers to Wes.

All he did was cock his head, lift an eyebrow, and say, “I don’t get it…”

Evie deflated a bit, her shoulders slumping forward as she sighed loudly. “Flowers will cheer her up! We’ll decorate the castle, obviously.”

Wes’s face only deepened in confusion. “So… how is this gonna convince– what’s her name?”

“Gena,” Evie replied without missing a beat.

“How is this gonna convince Gena to tell you what’s wrong?”

“It’s a surprise, duh! It’ll make the castle significantly less dull– you know, I’ve been meaning to give the castle a little bit of a makeover, so this is the perfect excuse to do it.”

“But, like… this is to get her to talk to you about her feelings, right?”

Evie made a face, pressing her lips together and sighing through her nose. “Yes, Wes, hopefully Gena will see the flowers and how beautiful the castle is and will feel inspired to talk to me about how sad she is. BUT the most important thing is that the flowers will make her happier and the castle will look prettier.”

Wes just sort of looked at her like she was a little crazy, and even his voice sounded like he was thinking she was a little insane. “Okay… I’m seeing a problem with this.”

“What?”

“How in the world are you going to get the entire castle decorated with flowers in one day, much less without Gena’s knowledge?”

“Ooh, that’s a good point,” Evie nodded. Who could help her? Who could help her? Who could help– “I know what we can do.”

“What?”

Evie started off towards the castle again and called back to Wes. “Follow me!”

Wes simply shook his head, ran a hand down his face, and followed after her.

Evie flung open the door to Teddy’s room, making his servant jump and almost drop the bucket he was carrying.

“CIVARN!” she shouted, before dropping down to a normal level. “I need your help with something.”

Evie had only really interacted with Civarn during their half-successful sabotage mission a little bit ago, so they weren’t really as close as she was with Theo or Gena. However, Evie would become friends with him. She still had to give him a nickname. Besides, she was sure she could get him to help her out.

Civarn sighed and set the bucket down. “What do you need, m– Evie.” Good, someone filled him in.

The grin that grew so wide on her face was filled with mischievous joy. “I have a plan.”

Civarn glanced between Wes and Evie blankly. “Why is there a plan?”

“Because Gena is sad! We must cheer her up!”

Civarn had to take a moment to connect the dots on who the nickname was referring to, but once he got past that hurdle, he was following. “Okay?”

“We…” Evie pulled out the single white lily she picked and presented it to him, “are going to decorate the castle.”

Civarn looked at the floor, looked up at her, and looked like the most exhausted person in the world. “The entire thing?”

“Yes, the entire thing.”

Civarn scoffed and stuttered before he got out, “Why?”

“Because,” Evie explained, “Gena is upset, and Gena likes flowers. Flowers plus Gena plus castle means happier Gena. Hypothetically speaking.”

Civarn rubbed his temples. “So, you want me to decorate the castle in flowers?”

“You and as much of the castle staff you can rope into helping.”

“I–” Civarn kept appearing to grow more and more tired.

“Ooh, can you, like, gather everyone so I can debrief them before I enlist their help? It’s probably best I explain what I want.”

Civarn wasn’t even able to give a monosyllabic sound in response, his face was just stuck. 

“Man, it would be easiest to just say sure,” Wes said from behind Evie. “She’s not gonna let you say no.”

“I–”

Evie inched closer to him, making the saddest face she could. “Please?”

Civarn made a face back at her as though his brain was telling him not to listen to her, but he gave in and said, “Fine.”

“Yay!” Evie began jumping up and down.

“Just give me like an hour or so to finish up my work.”

“Okay! Thank youuuuuu.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Evie took Wes by the wrist and yanked him out of Teddy’s room.

“We’re not actually doing this right?” Civarn asked Wesley.

During the hour that Evie had to wait for Civarn to finish his work and gather the castle staff, she had managed to draw up intensely detailed plans almost equivalent to battle strategies. Now Evie ended up dragging him, Civarn, and the entire group of volunteers out to the gardens to explain what Wesley was calling her Grand Plan. Currently, Evie was waving her arms about as she explained what exactly she wanted. She had become a general ordering soldiers about. It was, he had to admit, a little terrifying.

“Dude, I really think it’s better if we just do what she says. I mean, she started ordering you around without hesitation.” Evie told Civarn she was technically his superior and because of that he had to do what she said all because Civarn told her he didn’t want to drag everyone out to the gardens.

“I still don’t work for her, so that’s not really how that works.”

“That is not what she said.” She said that it works that way because she said so.

“Well, if there was any doubt she was related to the princess…” Civarn didn’t finish the thought, but Wesley knew what he meant.

“So,” Evie explained, “I’m gonna send her home early today. Once I do that, we’ll start giving the castle a makeover, okay?”

“Does she do this a lot?” Wesley asked.

“This is a first for me,” Civarn answered.

Evie was pointing out the different flowers she wanted to use. Wesley had no idea what they were except for the lilies, but those were pretty obvious. He shivered for a moment in the cold wind.

“Do you need a jacket?” Civarn asked.

“No, I’m good.” 

Wesley just focused on Evie giving her speech, her amber waves bouncing as she turned her head from the group to the flowers and back. As crazy as this whole thing sounded, there was this excitement, this passion in her ashy gray eyes that made him want to partake. Besides, it was for a good cause, so what was the harm? 

Evie's room was filled with freshly picked flowers the volunteers from the castle staff had helped her collect. Each of the servants had also taken a substantial amount of flowers with each of them, but Evie by far harbored the most. White lilies, orange dahlias, sunflowers, and purple and white autumn crocuses all littered around the place. 

Wes and her sat on the ground, weaving the flowers together.

“It’s not working,” Wes complained, struggling to twist the flowers together correctly.

“Here.” Evie motioned for the two flowers, and he handed them over. “So, you wrap it around like this, then loop it through.”

She handed the flowers back to him, the stems neatly intertwined.

“How do you do that?” he asked, taking back the flowers. “It’s so easy for you.”

Evie shrugged. “Just practice I guess, like with everything else.”

“You made these a lot back home?”

Evie smiled because she knew what he was trying to do. “You really wanna know about Wystwillow, don’t you?”

“Well,” he said as he tried to loop another flower, “I’ve never been there, and who knows if I ever will be able to go. So, I just wanna know about what it was like.”

“That is a fair reason,” Evie told him, returning to hers. She slowed her process down though because she saw Wes staring intently at how she was tying the stems together. 

“So… you were talking about your friends back home?”

“Yeah, um…” Evie looped another stem onto her collection of flowers. “I don’t know, what do you want to know?”

Wes shrugged. “Whatever you feel like telling me.”

Evie pressed her lips together, struggling to come up with words. “I–” She sighed, a little bit defeated. There was just so much floating around in her brain. Wes looked up from his flowers, and it was like he could see the whirlwind of things in her mind.

“Uh, what if I told you something about myself for everything you tell me about Wystwillow?” he offered.

He must’ve misread her troubles being that she wasn’t willing to share, but she wasn’t going to correct him. Evie was always happy to learn more about people she was trying to befriend. “Okay.”

“I guess, you can tell me about your best friend from home and I’ll tell you about mine?”

Evie nodded, looping another flower stem before she could find the words to speak. She let out a breath, then started, “She was the daughter of one of my father’s advisors. Her name was Agatha Holloway.”

“What did you call her?”

He already caught onto her love of nicknames. Evie's smile was a little sad when she told him, “Aggie.”

Wes chuckled a little bit. “Very creative.”

Evie lightly slapped him on the arm. “I am very proud of that nickname, thank you.”

“Okay,” he said, throwing his hands up.

Evie stopped working on her flowers for a minute as she walked through her memories. “She was so… amazing. We grew up together, so it was only natural that we became friends, but she was just confident and brave and, well, amazing. She would always be the one to suggest an adventure. I would always tag along because I loved her, but I could never be as fearless as she was.”

Evie turned back to her flowers, but she kept talking. “There was this one time where she wanted to ride out to a nearby village–um, Halus– and there were these local kids that were doing magic out in the woods. I was so scared, I stayed on the horse in case I needed to run away. But she just walked right up to them and demanded they become our friends.” Evie chuckled a little bit at the thought of it. “We spent the whole afternoon playing games with them, watching them practice their magic, sharing stories. It’s one of the most amazing days I’ve had in my life which I know is not saying much since I’m only nineteen, but I’ll never be able to forget it.”

“That does sound like fun.”

“It really was.” Evie's smile faltered a little bit. “I think about it a lot now that…” She stopped herself, accidentally messing up on the stem she was trying to tie. She wasn’t quite ready to talk about her last memories of Aggie. The wound was too fresh. It hadn’t even been a month. That was not a step she was willing to take right now.

Wes nodded slowly, probably assuming what had happened to Aggie without her having to say anything. 

“So, mister, you promised to tell me about your best friend from home,” Evie bounced back and said.

“His name is Ranger.”

Evie's brows furrowed. “That sounds like a dog’s name.”

Wes grinned. “It is.”

“Your best friend from home is a dog?”

“Yup!”

Evie laughed a little bit. “Okay, tell me about Ranger.”

“Well, he’s my first hunting dog. My dad gave him to me when I was sixteen…” Wes looked up for a moment, doing some mental math, “so I’ve had him for about four years now.”

“That’s a respectable time to own a dog,” Evie joked.

“It is indeed,” Wes agreed, playing along with her comedic bit.

“So I gave you a story, you need to give me one. What has Ranger done?”

“Ooh…” Wes rubbed his chin as he tried to come up with a story. “Well, I do remember that the first time we ever took him out hunting– my father and I– instead of finding the bird we shot down, he peed all over my father’s boots.”

“He did not!” Evie giggled.

“Oh, yes he did.” Wes was trying to control his laughter as he told the story. “My father was absolutely furious, he just screamed at him. ‘NO, WRONG WAY. GET THE BIRD, GET THE BIRRRRD!’ It was the funniest thing ever.”

The way Wes had reenacted the story with just his hands and his face had Evie in stitches. She was laughing too hard to even work on her flowers, clutching her stomach as her muscles began to hurt. 

When she was finally able to stop herself from giggling enough to speak, she asked, “So, where is Ranger now?”

“Not hunting with my father,” Wes joked. “Actually, he’s waiting at home for me.”

“You didn’t bring him with you?”

“No,” Wes looked down at the floor for a moment, his shoulders sinking a little. “My father doesn’t want me bringing Ranger here until I’m knighted.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, probably like he doesn’t want me to get distracted or he doesn’t want me to set up anything too permanent here until we know I’ll be living here for a while, I guess.”

“And bringing a dog is setting up something permanent?”

“I know!” Wes began looping another stem, shaking his head. “It doesn’t make any sense, but I guess it’s more of an incentive to succeed, or something.”

“How long is it gonna take you to get knighted?” Evie tilted her head as she inquired.

Wes gave her a big shrug, arms and all. “Theo said we have six months until we’re given our final test. Actually it’s closer to five months than six months…”

“So you train for six months and then take this test?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Do you just get one chance, or what?”

“No, he said if we fail it the first time, we have about three months to succeed. Otherwise, we go home knighthoodless.” 

“Oh…” Evie said. “What kind of test is this?”

“Combat,” Wes replied. “We have to beat Theo in no less than five minutes’ worth of sparring.”

“Well, I’m sure in six months you’ll be able to do that– five,” Evie corrected herself.

“I don’t know, I got absolutely pummeled fighting Princess Cassandra.”

Evie's eyes grew wide, “You fought her?!”

Wes looked her up and down like he was a little shocked by the excited response, but he replied, “Yeah, it was a sort of entrance exam, I guess. She actually slapped me to the ground.”

Evie stifled a laugh, and Wes pressed his lips into a thin line as he nodded. She went to reassure him, “But that’s okay! Cassie’s hard to beat, not even Teddy can beat her.”

“He lasted longer than I did.”

“Well, he’s been sparring with her longer.”

Wes opened his mouth to say something, stopped, then proceeded, “You know, I didn’t think about it like that.”

“See? You just listen to what Teddy says, and if you need to practice I can help.”

“You can swordfight?” Wes seemed a little in disbelief.

“Not at all,” Evie cackled.

“Oh, so you’ll be no help.”

Evie shook her head, still laughing, “No!”

“Well, I at least appreciate the thought.”

“I can be a great cheerleader, though,” Evie in all seriousness offered. “If you want some moral support, I can certainly be there.”

“I might need that.”

“Great, can do.”

Wes chuckled a bit, then asked, “So, how do you finish this?”

“Oh, it’s pretty easy, just take that and tie it there.”

Evie watched him as he followed her instructions, and he looked at the finished product with brows furrowed. “It’s… not good.”

“Well, it’s your first one,” Evie explained. “They’ll get better, I promise.”Wes looked down at it, up at Evie, then back down again. Without hesitation, he plopped the flower crown onto her head, the thing falling lopsided onto her amber curls. Evie immediately began laughing incredibly hard, so hard tears began forming in the corners of her eyes.

-> next chapter (september 28)

[shelbeetaylor]

Chapter Nineteen | Wonderings and Willow Trees

-> story masterpost

-> previous chapter

The boy’s eyes grew wider, and all he could say was, “Uhhhh…”

“My first week here,” Evie elaborated, “you ran into me in the hall.”

“Oh,” he said, and then realized. “Oh. Oh, wow, I’m so sorry about that.”

Evie set her collection of books on the floor because they were tiring her arms. “I know. You apologized after you ran into me.”

“Oh…” The boy rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. He really needed to expand his vocabulary.

“Do you have a name?” Evie's head tilted to the side a bit.

“Uh, yeah.”

Evie stared at him for a few seconds in silence before running a hand down her face and sighing very loudly. She proceeded to over-enunciate as she told him, “I would like to know your name?”

“Oh. I’m Wesley Moonbourne. Hi.” Wesley stuck out his hand for her to shake.

Goodness, it was definitely a good thing he was in the library. Maybe by reading he’d figure out how to communicate better.

Evie shook his hand. “I’m going to call you Wes.”

“Okay,” he nodded his head as if approving the nickname. As if he had a choice, it was the best nickname for him. “What about you?”

“I’m Evie Ravenwell.”

“The princess?!” Wes almost sounded a little bit panicked.

“Yeah, but before you freak out about titles, just call me Evie.” 

“Oh, okay. Hi, Evie.”

“Hi, Wes.” 

They both sort of stood there awkwardly for a minute.

“So, what are you looking for?” Evie asked him.

Wes shrugged. “Just some stuff about like… fighting. And knights. Like, famous ones.”

Oh, good. He found a new word. Evie looked at the titles and was a little confused. It looked like he had never done any type of research before because the books ranged from factual combat books to fictional stories about knights.

“Were you looking for mythologies or historical records?”

“Wha– you– oh…” Wes stuttered as he looked at his titles and realized he had picked up the wrong books. “I guess I looked in the wrong section.”

“Don’t spend much time in the library?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever really stepped foot into one before…”

“Well, good thing for you that you met me, who practically lives in libraries.” Evie took his stack of books from him, sat them and herself on the floor, and began rifling through them. “So all of these are the fiction you picked up and won’t really help you, though some of them are a good read.”

“I was wondering why I never heard of a Sir Aglogrenant before.”

“That would be the reason.”

“So… what should I be looking for instead?”

“Well, we’d have to go to the other end of the library probably, but there might be entire anthologies of historical stories dedicated to knights specifically. I think I saw some at home, but I can’t be sure. Best place to start would probably be some basic history books like one on the War of the Priestesses.”

“Why there? There weren’t any knights.” Wes looked up as though he was trying to recall his history classes, just to make sure his statement was right.

“Actually, there was the Bloodguard before there were knights,” Evie said very matter-of-factly while she began returning the fiction books to their shelves.

“What’s that?”

“Well, the Bloodguard were the warriors of the Verian high priestesses. A member would take a blood oath to serve and protect his high priestess, hence why they were called the Bloodguard. Several of Nevernia’s Bloodguard ended up becoming the first knights of the kingdom, and that was very similar for the other remaining Bloodguard as well. Many of the armies the Seven commanded were made of Bleeding Hearts– initiates who wanted to become Bloodguard.”

“Wow, you know a lot about this kinda stuff.”

Evie shrugged. “I just like reading. I guess my brain stores a lot of random knowledge by accident.”

“Well, it’s really cool and really helpful. I appreciate it.”

Evie smiled at him before leading him to the historical section of the library, picking out a couple tomes for him to begin his research with. When Wes was satisfied with the amount of reading he had accumulated, the two of them made their way down to Bedivern’s desk to check out all of their books.

“Ah,” the librarian said as the two approached, “it seems the bookworm has met the eager young knight. Got everything you were looking for.”

Evie and Wes answered simultaneously with variations of yes.

“Perfect.” Bedivern took all of Wes’s books and stamped the inside cover of each before handing the stack back to him. He did the same with Evie's books. “There’s an interesting amount of Valoran legends involving horses, isn’t there?”

“I noticed that,” Evie said. “Quite odd, especially with the amount of drowning that seems to be in the ones I skimmed briefly...”

“I’d love to know what you think of them. I thoroughly enjoy a good symbolism discussion.”

“You think there’s symbolism behind the stories?”

“Well, in folklore there quite often is some sort of symbolism or lesson to be learned. Horses usually represent strength, freedom, or nobility… and I believe drowning is meant to symbolize rebirth.”

“Fascinating… I’ll have to keep that in mind while I’m reading about them!”

“Definitely.” Bedivern handed the books back to her. “I look forward to seeing both of you again.”

Evie and Wes said various thanks and started towards the door.

“Well, I’m gonna go get a start on these, I think,” Wes began.

“I can show you a really nice place to read,�� Evie offered.

“Oh, I was just going to be in my room.”

“No, c’mon! It’ll be fun and scenic.”

Apparently it didn’t take much to convince Wes because he agreed to follow Evie with just that.

The day had proceeded to get a little bit colder, but not too cold that Evie wasn’t able to handle it without outerwear. Wes, however, seemed to be especially shivery as they walked down the stone path at the back of the castle.

“Do you wanna go back and get a jacket?” Evie asked.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You seem bothered by the wind.”

“No, it’s all good.”

“I mean, it’s kinda cold… you should really wear one.”

Wes sighed a little sadly and finally replied, “I don’t have a jacket that matches this outfit.”

Evie was quiet for a moment, trying to recall the last time she met a man that actually cared enough about his appearance to match a jacket to the rest of his outfit. She wasn’t coming up with anything.

“Then why did you wear an outfit you can’t wear a jacket with? It is fall, you know.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly expecting to go outside. I thought I’d be reading in my warm, comfy room.”

“But this place is so much better than reading in your room, I promise.”

“Okay, if you promise…”

Wes began looking around as the two of them entered the gardens, as if this place was foreign to him. Evie was glancing about too, but she was looking at the state of the flowers. Most of the summer flowers had begun withering away, leaving only the autumn ones growing strong and healthy. The loss of the summer flowers made the gardens seem a lot emptier now. Soon it would be happier to read in her room, and warmer too once the dead of autumn hit. 

Evie led Wes through the rose tunnels which were still blooming and gorgeous. She thought she saw Wes move out of the corner of her eye, but she kept on walking until they reached Cassindrea’s willow tree, the golden branches swaying in the cold breeze.

“Oh, wow,” Wes breathed.

“Nice, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“I’ve been reading here the past couple weeks. Of course, it’s been a lot warmer than it is today.”

“This really is the most perfect reading place.”

“I told you! People should really start believing me when I say things like that,” Evie joked.

“Well, I believe you now.”

Wes brushed aside the branches and approached the trunk, running his hands over the markings in the bark.

“I haven’t quite figured out what those are yet, but I’m hoping to come across them in my readings.”

“Cool,” he grinned.

Evie just watched him examine the tree for a moment before asking him, “So how long have you been here?”

“I just moved here actually.”

“Me too.” Evie joined him by the tree. “Where are you from?”

“Bellbury,” Wes replied. “My aunt and uncle govern the city.”

“You’re related to Teddy?”

Wes squinted for a moment. “Teddy?”

“Theodore Valennard,” Evie explained.

“Oh, yeah. He’s my cousin. That’s why my family sent me here, so I could train with him. They’re very proud of his position among the knights.”

“So that’s what Bedivern’s comment was about? You’re training to be a knight?”

“Yup,” Wes said, then shrugged. “I’m training with Godfrey, though. I guess Theo’s too busy to personally train me. My family just made it seem like I was going to be spending all my time with him…”

“Well, you know, he’s not really allowed to personally train knights because his job is to train, like, all of them.” Evie wasn’t quite sure if this attempt at reassurance was going to work. “He’s also supposed to be Cassie’s guard, so he can’t always be involved in training, and that wouldn’t be fair to you or any knight if he had to miss training to fulfill his other duties. Like, right now, you wouldn’t be able to work with him at all because he had to go to Valoran with Cassie, so you’d be losing out on so much valuable training time.”

Wes sighed. “Yeah, you’re right… Everyone in the family just puts him on such a high pedestal. He was my idol for years, and I never really met him. I guess I romanticized this whole thing in my head for too long.”

“Well, I can tell you right now that once you get to hang out with him, you won’t be disappointed. He’s nice and fun to be around, and I think you guys will get along so well once you get the time to get to know each other.”

“Thanks,” Wes smiled. “I really appreciate that.”

Evie grinned back at him, and the two just stood in silence for a time, listening to the sounds around them. The rustling of the willow branches, the roaring of the Serine River, the animals calling out to each other. Evie absentmindedly ran her hand over the bark of the tree again, feeling every marking in the bark as if they were telling her their secrets.

“Actually,” Wes began, “I am pretty cold, so maybe we head back and do some reading in the warm castle.”

Evie laughed softly. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

The two of them began their trek back through the gardens, but it was not a quiet one this time. Wes started off by innocently asking her while in the rose tunnels, “Uh, so, what was it like living in Wystwillow?”

“Oh,” Evie had adopted his favorite word, “it was… it was really nice. It was small compared to here, but that was nice. There was enough city to find things to do in it, but whenever we wanted we could slip out into the fields and farms surrounding us and have our own adventures.”

“We?”

Evie took a moment to gather herself before answering. “Me and my friends.”

“Oh…” Wes rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, I didn’t think about how difficult this might be to talk about.”

“Actually, you’re the first person to… ask. About anything.” Evie pressed her lips into a thin, sad line of a smile. “Everyone is scared to talk to me about it. They’re scared to even mention my parents or Wystwillow.”

“So you don’t mind talking about it?”

Evie began twirling a piece of her hair. “I mean, it’s hard to talk about, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to talk about it. It’s just a little difficult, you know.”

Wes nodded quietly. “So… do you wanna tell me about your friends?” “Yeah, I–”

Both Evie and Wes heard what sounded like faint sniffles coming from the other side of the hedge that they were passing. Wes looked to her instead of immediately reacting probably because he had no knowledge of this place. Evie, however, knew on the other side of that there was a small pond with a stone bench next to it. She didn’t say a word or even gesture for him to follow her, but Wes stayed close to her as Evie turned around the corner.

There sitting on the stone bench with her knees to her chest was Gena. Evie's heart sank as she saw the upset look on Gena’s face. 

“Gena?” Evie called.

Apparently the maid didn’t notice Evie and Wes’s presence because at the sound of Evie's voice she sniffled, wiped her face quickly, and sat her feet on the ground. Gena turned away as best she could. “Yes?” Gena’s voice wavered despite attempting to keep control of it.

“What’re you doing out here?”

Another sniffle. Gena shook her head, looking at the ground as she spoke, “Oh, nothing.”

Evie tried to get Gena to look at her, but failed even as she asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” There was a crack in Gena's voice. Evie's face fell a little bit, and Gena stood up. “I, um, have some chores I need to attend to.”

Gena never looked at either Evie or Wes as she almost ran out of the gardens as though she couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Evie just watched her leave, unsure whether following her would actually make things better. Wes stayed next to Evie, watching silently. He didn’t ask any questions, just observing the whole thing. Evie pressed her lips together, staying just as quiet as she tried thinking of what to do.

Wes finally asked her, “Do you want to go after her or…?”

Evie didn’t respond, just racking her brain of how to make things better. She had no clue what was wrong, but there had to be something to cheer her up. Wes stared at her waiting for a response, but she was thinking and thinking and thinking.

“Evie?”

Evie moved her gaze, but before she met his stare, she caught a glimpse of a patch of white lilies growing nearby. Wes’s eyes were raised as though he was concerned about her, but Evie had found the solution. She smiled at Wes and simply said, “Wes, I’ve got an idea.”He stared blankly at her, blinking once before running a hand down his face and shaking his head slightly. Evie took his hand and led him in the opposite direction of the palace, instead going deeper and deeper into the royal gardens. 

-> next chapter

[shelbeetaylor]

Chapter Seventeen | A Girl and Her Books

-> story masterpost

-> previous chapter

It was probably about midday when Evie figured out what she wanted to do for the rest of the day to distract herself. She had still been thinking about what horrors could lie ahead for Cassie and Theo during her walk back to her room. Gena brought her some breakfast, and all she could focus on was how not only did Cassie and Theo have to cross the expansive Leifolk Forest to the west, cross the lowest point of the Never Peaks– albeit, still crossing mountains, no matter how short they are– and traverse the Draguissonne Highlands before reaching Bellesailles. Evie was mentally cursing her brief obsession with geography that caused her to commit all of that information to memory because her brain wanted to linger on how dangerous traveling those areas was.

Evie always reached for her books at times like this because reading fantastical stories or absorbing random information about a topic occupied her mind and drowned out the other thoughts. However, she went to grab the book she was currently reading only to remember that she had finished it the night before. She gazed at her small stack of books, and she was sad to say that she didn’t feel like rereading any of her comfort books.

So, of course, there was only one option: take an adventure to the castle’s library.

Evie hadn’t stepped into the library since her first day in Vale Serine, and honestly the visit was long overdue. She almost hesitated at the doors at the thought of the volumes of books waiting behind them, but the smell of the old paper hit her as she opened the doors, making her forget all her troubles.

The white pillars were just as gorgeous, and Evie could spend hours tracing the gold embellishments that weaved their way up the pillars and into the paintings above. Evie's eyes traveled up the pillars as she walked into the middle of the library, and she gazed upwards at the massive painting on the ceiling. It had to be the largest out of all of them. The more she looked at it, she realized she knew the story it depicted. 

It was the sacrifice of Nevernia Ravenwell, the Witch Queen and beginning of the Ravenwell line. Every child of Nevernia knew the story, it was the origin story of the kingdom and the Seven Kingdoms of Old. The edges depicted the War of the Priestesses, the bloody, years-long conflict that destroyed the lands and forced Queen Nevernia’s hand. The six priestesses were painted with great detail, each one illustrated with her vein of magical expertise surrounded by gore. The razed landscapes of the six kingdoms they hailed from melted into the image of a lake, the horrifying death morphing into calm, crystal waves. Dead center among those waves was the picture of Nevernia herself, a knife plunged into heart. Standing above in the middle of performing a ritual was Calleix, the witch that helped Nevernia end the bloodshed and carnage with their knowledge of ancient magic. It was certainly a masterpiece, both terrifying and beautiful, and Evie couldn’t help but stare at the meticulous detail. 

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” said a voice from behind her.

Evie whipped her head around to find a middle-aged man standing behind her holding a small stack of books in his arms. He was the same man Evie saw the first day she ever stepped foot in this marvelous place. He wasn’t looking at her, instead staring up at the painting.

“Yeah,” she replied, though unsure of what to say about it.

He seemed to take that as a reasonable response. “The artist, I think, really captured the personalities and powers in the midst of the destruction they caused.” He stepped closer to Evie. “Really beautiful work.”

Evie nodded. “Yeah.” Evie's eyes were just fixed on the dying witch with the bleeding heart. “Nevernia looks a lot like Cassie.” She supposed it should’ve been the other way around, but she didn’t really make the comment expecting a response. It was just an observation said aloud.

The man must’ve understood what she meant by it all because he responded, “I’ve thought that a lot while admiring this piece. There certainly is no doubt she’s a Ravenwell.”

Evie didn’t really have anything else to say, she just looked away from the painting and towards the man. He also had ceased his admiring, now turning to face her.

“Were you looking for books on the War of the Priestesses?” he asked.

“Oh, no,” she replied, though she made a note to look through those books at a later date. “I was wanting to look into stories from Valoran– folklore, urban legends. Things like that.”

“Hm…” the man lifted a finger to his chin. He half-recited from memory and half-spoke aloud to himself. “We don’t have much in the Common Tongue… but I did just get a shipment from Bellbury, so there might be something in there– fantastic translators there.”

“Oh, the original tongue is fine,” Evie said. “I don’t need a translated version if you don’t have it.”

The man looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You’re fluent in Valorn?”

Evie nodded, her smile a thin line. “I like reading in the original language, I feel like meanings get lost in translation too much.”

The man chuckled softly. “It’s not common I find people like that around here. Good to know that the younger generation hasn’t completely lost all appreciation for the origins of the written word.” He motioned for Evie to follow him, and she happily did. “I was wondering how long I’d have to wait before the girl who loves books visited me.”

Evie smiled at the ground. He’d given her a nickname. “I know, I've been preoccupied with a few things. I’m glad I finally found some time to stop by.”

“The visit is greatly appreciated,” the man grinned as well. “I'm afraid I didn’t quite catch your name the first time.”

“Evie.”

“Well, it’s nice to finally talk to you, Evie. I’m Bedivern– I’m the librarian if you hadn’t already figured that out.”

“It’s nice to officially meet you, Bedivern.”

They reached the small wooden desk that Evie remembered so fondly. Bedivern placed his stack of books on the nearest clear space of the desk and began rifling through the pile of papers. Once he found what he was looking for, Bedivern held up the paper and squinted at it for a few moments.

“Ah, yes. It’s as I thought. We’ve got quite the collection of Valoran mythology and folklore. There’s compilations, full epics, and even some children’s books with artist renditions.”

“That sounds perfect!” Evie said. “Where can I find them?”

“They’ll be up on the second floor on the other side of the library. They’ll be with all the other mythologies, just look for the titles in Valorn.”

“Okay!”

“I can let you know of any new arrivals as well,” Bedivern offered.

“Oh, absolutely!” Evie exclaimed. “Thank you so much.”

“I just hope to see you again soon.”

Evie beamed at him before racing up the stairs. She breezed past hundreds of tomes, easily. Some shelves were filled with plain, ordinary books– books that you could find in an old store or library– but some were the most ornate and beautiful books Evie had ever seen. Evie simply could not wait to hold them in her hands and scour their contents for hours. 

The titles of a couple books caught Evie's eye– ones about Faieries and such– and the princess knew she had hit the section she was looking for. She slipped into the nearest aisle and began perusing the volumes on the shelves. As of the moment she was only looking for titles in foreign tongues, but the names of the works before her seemed to only be in the Common Tongue… more specifically, works about Nevernian legends which she realized as she looked a bit harder at the names. Most of them she either had read or were very familiar with, so she was not as impressed as she thought she would be with the library.

Then a small, little book presented itself to her in the way of just peacefully existing on its shelf. Despite being on a mission, Evie knew that when a book presented itself, one must take it as a sign and investigate, so she got a bit sidetracked from her quest.

Like a lot of the works around it, this book was very plain and simple. It was a hardback, a sort of clay color based on the unworn parts of the cover. The lettering itself was also quite standard. Though it was a similar color to Cassandra’s special book she had hidden away in her room, it did not shimmer nearly as much. That one had an almost unearthly quality to it… this book was just ordinary. And there was nothing wrong with that at all.

Evie realized that the title was familiar: The Epic of Mersa & Other Collected Works. Where had she heard that before? The Epic of Mersa... Epic of Mer– oh! Gena had mentioned it, said it was her favorite story. That’s right! It was the one that she wanted Evie to teach her how to read. Evie immediately placed it in the crook of her arm, so she could read it and familiarize herself with it. It would be better to teach someone material she was very familiar with. Maybe she’d ask Bedivern if there was another copy laying around that she could keep for herself.

Anyway, she had spent enough time on this distraction. Time to keep searching. The section of Nevernian mythology was absolutely massive she discovered as she continued searching. She had ventured into a realm where she had never heard any of the stories she was coming across. Even though she said she was going to focus on looking for Valoran folklore books, she couldn’t help but pick up a couple of the works in the Nevernian section and read a few passages to understand what in the great, wide, world they were about. Really, some of these names and authors were so bizarre and unheard that she had to let her curiosity run a little wild. Just a little bit. Clearly Evie had her work cut out for her and would absolutely have to return soon to borrow more books.

Like, what even was Iterations of Anghath and the Cariabhse?

The Nevernian stories bled into some collections of Deavyan works, but the Deavyan mythology collection seemed to be very limited. Evie was a bit sad about that, and also very grateful that the library in Wystwillow had such an extensive stock– though it did probably help being close to the Nevernian-Deavyan border. The two kingdoms may be eternally at war with each other, but at least she was able to read many a story about their folklore and local legends.

Finally, finally, the princess hit some titles in Valorn. Her brain immediately translated all of it for her, of course. A decent chunk of the aisle was filled with legends in the original language they were published in, so she just collected as many as she could that sounded interesting enough to read first. 

The Adventures of Gaelle the Fox… A Collection of Stories from the Valoran Parthenon… The Legendary Horses of Valoran… A Guide to Anghath’s Valoran Creatures…

Evie's arms filled up faster than she wanted them to, and she just kept seeing fascinating titles the further into the aisle she ventured. The princess sighed loudly through her nose and set the books she had piled in her arms onto the floor. This was going to take her a moment to decide on what to keep, so she finished scanning the tomes in the section to make the most logical decisions.

Evie grabbed a couple books that seemed like they would touch on almost everything briefly, so hypothetically she would be vaguely familiar with all of the stories that originate from the area. She’d at least be able to take notes as she read on what stories she would like to delve deeper into. When Evie had collected enough compilations to satisfy her broad understanding of the folklore, then she chose three or four works on specific stories, ones whose titles really caught her attention. By the end of the selection process, Evie's pile had only grown if the size changed at all, and she scooped them up into the crook of her arm.

As she exited the aisle, however, movement out of the corner of her eye drew her focus away from returning to Bedivern. Just a few aisles down, there was a flash of a human, so Evie wanted to investigate with her mission over with. Arms completely filled with heavy books, she poked her head around the very large shelves.

Deep in examination was a boy with familiar spiky cinnamon curls, his olive hands grasping absentmindedly at his light blue tunic while his hazel eyes flitted over each title.

“You!” Evie said aloud, startling the boy who was clearly very concentrated on finding whatever book or books he was looking for.

The boy’s jaw dropped a little in return, no words coming from his mouth as though he was unsure how to proceed.

“You ran into me!”

-> next chapter

[shelbeetaylor]

Chapter Five | Girls Just Wanna Fight Boys

-> story masterpost

-> previous chapter

Princess Evie was pulled out of her book by the door to her room creaking open and someone walking quietly in. Evie could tell from the mousy brown corkscrew curls and sienna skin that it was Gena, though she wondered why the maid was coming in so late at night. Gena also quickly realized that Evie was up, for her eyebrows raised and her mouth was slightly agape.

“My lady,” Gena curtsied quickly, “what are you doing up?”

“Oh, I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to read. What about you?”

One of Gena’s eyebrows shifted down. “It’s the morning, m’lady. I’m here to help you get ready.”

Evie stared blankly at the maid for a moment then looked at the window. Sure enough, the sun had replaced the moon in the sky and golden light was illuminating her still drab room. Evie pressed her lips together and closed her book.

“I guess I’ve been reading all night,” Evie replied.

“Well, no worries. I’m here to help.”

Gena quickly made her way over to the wardrobe and began rifling through it, looking for outfits to wear.

“Why aren’t you helping Cassie this morning?” Evie inquired from her bed.

“Oh, Cassandra had to be up early for training this morning.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Ooh, do you think I could go see her?”

Gena started giggling. “Cassandra has piqued your interest, has she?”

“I mean, I’ve just never really seen a woman fight before.”

“Most people haven’t,” Gena smiled, “but I’m afraid that the queen has requested your presence today. She wants you to learn the ins and outs of the council as soon as possible. Royal duties, and all that.”

Evie sighed as Gena laid an outfit out at the foot of Evie's bed. Evie set her book aside and grabbed the outfit, whisking the clothes behind the screen to change. As she did so, Gena continued making idle small talk.

“You stayed up all night reading?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Evie struggled briefly trying to get her nightgown off. “I had a nightmare, actually. I like to read to take my mind off of them.”

“You and Cassandra are more alike than both of you realize.”

“She has nightmares?”

“Yes, a–” Gena cut herself off. Evie waited for her to continue, but nothing came of it.

“Gena?”

A timidness coated Gena’s response.

“Yes, sorry.”

Meanwhile, Evie was having difficulty getting her dress fastened.

“I- uh…”

“Do you need any help?”

“Yes, please!”

In a moment’s notice, Gena popped behind the screen and fastened the back of her dress.

“Do you have a favorite flower, Gena?” Evie asked as the maid finished doing up her bodice.

“Why do you ask, m’lady?”

“‘Cause I like to know. And it’s Evie.”

“Oh, yes, I apologize. Old habits.”

“Well?” Evie turned to face the maid.

“I suppose my favorite would be lily of the valley. They grow quite often around here.”

“Lilies are an interesting choice,” Evie pondered aloud as she went to grab some shoes. “People often associate them with death.”

Gena shrugged. “They remind me of my brother, I guess.”

Evie whirled around. “Your brother?! You said you didn’t have siblings.”

Gena sighed, finding the ground very fascinating, and grabbed a nearby chair to fiddle with its back. “I guess I wasn’t very honest. It’s sometimes easier that way.”

“I’d like to know about him, if that’s okay.”

Gena did not look up from the floor. “You are an inquisitive one for sure.”

Evie paused for a moment, dipping her head slightly as she tried to look into Gena’s eyes. “I'm a naturally curious person in a new environment filled with strangers, can you blame me? Besides, if we’re going to be seeing each other a lot, then it would be more fun if we were friends.”

Gena gave a small smile and said, “Fair point.”

She wandered over to the bed and sat down on the foot of it, wrapping her arm around the nearby post. Evie joined her in sitting by taking a seat at the vanity adjacent to the bed, patiently listening to Gena as she struggled to begin her story.

“I did not lie when I said my family moved here as newlyweds to provide for their children,” she claimed. “But they also moved because they were banished from their village. Quite a few of the outlying villages are very strict on rules and traditions. Well… my brother was born out of wedlock. He’s the reason my parents married.”

“Oh…”

“I was born several years after. I remember very little of him… you see, he was almost grown when I was young. My parents never told me what happened to him… one day he was just gone…” There was a slight falter in her voice, but she continued. “What I do remember is just snapshots, like little moments of time permanently seared into my mind. He would always bring me lilies he picked during the day, and he had the most beautiful white tunic that smelled of the woods.”

“I was going to have a sibling,” Evie confessed. “I lost them when I lost my parents.”

Gena’s eyes finally looked up from the floor, the lilac petals in her eyes wet with rain, and a single tear rolled down her face as she took the hand of Evie. “We have both lost much.”

“Yeah, we have,” she replied, trying and failing to not become teary-eyed.

There was a moment between them, an unspoken one. It was filled with silent grief for themselves and for the other. It was the first moment Evie had been emotional around someone else, and there would be many more to come. As a blanket of comfort between the two began to bridge the gap that had previously been there, the maid gave another one of her small smiles.

“Now, is there anything else you wish to know about me, Evie?”

“Erm…” Evie wiped the tears from her eyes and began searching for her shoes again. “What about your favorite food?”

“Oh, bread pudding easily,” Gena returned to her almost usual self as she told the story. “It’s served at almost every banquet here. Every time the cook makes it, Cassandra requests extra be brought to her chambers later, and since servants are not allowed to eat during the gathering she lets me have a bit as she prepares for bed. I remember the first time I had it was after the feast of Beltane. It was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted.”

“I can’t wait to try it,” Evie commented. “Oh, I know! You have to have a favorite book.”

“I’m afraid not,” Gena smiled. “My parents couldn’t afford an education, so I cannot read or write.”

“What?!” Evie finally located her shoes and slipped them on. “A life without books is not a life at all! It’s fine, I’ll just teach you how to read.”

“Oh, no,” Gena shook her head. “You really don’t have to–”

“Rubbish! Books are one of my favorite things, and I love sharing the things I love with people. You pretty much have to know how to read if you’re around me.”

“You are too kind, Evie.”

“Let’s see, let’s see… oh, well, you don’t have to read to appreciate music. Do you have a favorite song?”

“I do have one, actually. It’s a local favorite, so the bards that visit the taverns always play it. It’s based on a poem I believe… The Epic of Mersa.”

“I have honestly never heard of it, but I will definitely find it! Oh, this is perfect. I can teach you to read the epic first!”

“Wonderful!”

A bit of warmth began to spread through Evie's chest as she saw Gena’s smile grow from forlorn to truly happy, and a tingle spread itself through her body. Gena led the princess towards the vanity to fix her hair, and Evie stared at the outfit she donned. The dress was made of luscious green tulle with embroidered flowers dotting the skirt. The long puffy sleeves were sheer and dotted with sparkling jewels. While the green looked quite beautiful, she reached for a headband to wear. It was decorated with rosebuds, fake ones of course, and the pink and floral were perfect for the outfit.

Once Gena had brushed through and styled her hair, Evie said, “I just have one more thing to ask.”

“Go ahead, Evie.”

“About Cassie–” Gena bit her lip almost immediately– “you said she has nightmares too?”

“I really think it’s best we not talk about it.”

“But I–”

“My lady, you will be late for court.”

As curious as Evie was, she knew when to accept defeat, and she did so graciously.

“Oi, Cass!”

The call came from a group of the knights. Three of them stood about the training ground observing the new batch of recruits. Cassandra could spot Enoch’s mischievous smile from a mile away.

“Rumor has it that you’re the one who gets to handle the first beating,” Enoch laughed, his voice gliding like silk.

“Well, if you all would learn how to handle a sword properly, then maybe you’d get to as well,” she teased mercilessly.

“Ouch,” Godfrey said, placing a hand onto his sternum.

“How’re the prospects looking, boys?”

“Godfrey’s too nice to judge properly,” Enoch answered.

“Hey, I like to give everyone a fair chance.”

“Man, that’s not how you do this,” Josiah cut in. “You gotta be harsh, critical, and have no regard for anyone’s feelings. Besides, it doesn’t go past the circle.”

“Relax, boys, we all knew Godfrey here was a bit of a pussy,” Cassandra smiled.

“Well that’s just not fair,” Godfrey replied.

“Ah, well look who’s arrived,” Theo announced his presence with the utmost humility. “Ooh, you look as though you slept like shit.”

Cassandra immediately turned and punched him in the arm and said, “Oh, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the table?”

The knights snickered, and Theo took the teasing more graciously than he did his entrance. “Glad to see you’re doing fine. I’ve got some water over there by the shields if you need any.”

Theo clapped Cassandra on the back and headed over to the twelve recruits. The other knights also filed out to find the best place to watch. Enoch stopped to grab Cassandra by the shoulder.

“Go beat the shit out of ‘em,” Enoch grinned wildly, “and give us a good show while you’re at it.”

“Don’t I always?”

Cassandra approached Theo who stood in the center of the twelve new recruits. She refrained from gleefully smiling as she saw the flicker of fear in their eyes. She stayed silent and scanned their faces as Theo spoke.

“Welcome to your first day of training, recruits. You have six months of training to endure to prepare for the final test, so to make sure you succeed we must judge your abilities and skill levels. To do that, you will be facing Nevernia’s finest warrior–” Cassandra flashed a smile– “Princess Cassandra. The rules are simple: each of you will face her one-on-one. Do whatever you can to last a minute.”

Cassandra watched as the young boys looked between each other, she assumed it was to see if anyone knew how to survive a minute.

Theo continued, “After everyone has gone, I’ll pair you up with a knight and we’ll do some more sparring. Although–” he glanced over at Cassandra with a classic Theo-smile– “if anyone manages to last a minute with Cass then they should be knighted immediately.”

The knights and Cassandra both laughed heartily in agreement, but the recruits could barely muster smiles of terror.

“Alright, let’s begin. You first,” Theo pointed to a small, scrawny boy.

As the recruits fanned out, the poor boy creeped forward. His eyes were wide with unimaginable terror, and Cassandra reveled in the fear her existence was creating. With a horrifying gentleness and serenity, she unsheathed her sword and brandished the silver metal for all to see. Cassandra was going to enjoy this.

Cassandra smirked as she walked over towards the shields to get a bit of water and overheard Josiah speaking to the knights.

“Wow,” he said. “Not a single one of them lasted more than ten seconds.”

“Well, it is only the first six,” Godfrey added. “Maybe the next six will last longer?”

“Not a chance,” Enoch argued. “Not against our fearsome princess.”

“Trying to butter me up, are you Enoch?” Cassandra teased.

“Me?” he replied sarcastically. “Never!”

“It’s okay, Enoch,” Enoch’s best friend Ivor said. “We all know you’ve been trying to get in bed with the princess since you met her.”

“What can I say?” Enoch laughed. “At least I’m trying.”

“Cass, get your slow ass back here!” Theo called. “It’s Wesley’s turn!”

Cassandra grinned with a malicious joy. “Sorry, Enoch. Better luck next time!”

Enoch shook his head, his windswept and wavy locks of chocolate flopping around with his head.

Cassandra returned, as Theo requested, to find a pretty boy in armor. Though he had a visually appealing face, he was rugged and thin in stature with olive-tinted skin. A strong jawline framed his face at the bottom while up top was a spiky, slightly curly head of cinnamon brown hair. About Theo’s height, she could easily look into his hazel irises and see the fire of determination overtake a twinge of fear. Fascinating, the first of the boys to not look at her with glassy, defeated eyes.

“And your name is?” she asked.

“Wesley Moonbourne,” he replied, a dulcet-almost-musical voice ringing out. “First son of Lord Greogry of Eastevain.”

Theo’s cousin.

The Moonbourne family belonged to the House of Valennard which Theo’s family was also a part of. 

“Well, Wesley Moonbourne, first son of Lord Gregory of Eastevain,” Cassandra twirled her sword into a ready position, “are you ready to get your ass kicked?”

Wesley flicked his sword up, mirroring her, and nodded. Cassandra observed a difference about him, however obvious it was. It seemed based on his stance alone that he had received at least some formal training in swordcraft, and his confident air definitely exuded that. That was another thing, he had bravery and assurance where the other boys stood awestruck and petrified. How this would be interesting.

There was a natural moment of pause where the two quickly sized each other up and waited for the other to attack. Wesley broke the silence by attacking first, a bold move. Cassandra blocked with ease and turned around on him to return, her swing full of raw anger pent up from the past few days. Wesley blocked it, but he fumbled slightly as he failed to account for the power Cassandra's deceivingly slender feminine body held. 

Cassandra took the opportunity to advance a bit, pushing Wesley towards the bystanders with a low and middle strike that were both blocked. With each strike met, Wesley grew more comfortable in the fight, a dangerous thing to have happen. The desperation in his blocks, as he did not expect to move backwards, Cassandra hoped would betray him with her swing from above. Sadly, Cassandra was met with a brief suspension in her movement as Wesley held her in a block. He then proceeded to quickly sidestep, giving a bit in his block and forcing Cassandra's weight to unbalance her. 

In another exhibition of previous training, Wesley took the opportunity to try a strike from above as well, but Cassandra regained balance and dodged it with minimal stumbling. Trying to take the offensive, Wesley struck again, this time trying for a low blow, but was dodged more artfully by the princess. With her bearings acquired again, Cassandra went back to her aggressive, rapid-fire attacks. Middle, low, high, all blocked by Wesley. 

Wesley then proceeded to lunge for Cassandra, another bold and unstrategic move as Cassandra simply blocked and brushed him off. Wesley lost footing but caught himself before the unexpected momentum took him to the floor. He took his sword in one hand and swung down, Cassandra leaping backwards to avoid being caught by the blade. At this point, Cassandra had pinpointed exactly how to defeat her opponent, and she watched as he fell forward again.

Cassandra tried a low strike, but Wesley, being a stubborn motherfucker, was able to block it. Same goes for the impulsive swing she took at his head. Cassandra tried for the legs again, but he replicated her leap backwards. Cassandra and Wesley’s blades finally met again while he blocked her middle strike, and he tried and failed at unbalancing her this time by pushing off her strike. Cassandra took her momentum, planted her foot, and swung low again. A dodge was warranted, and Cassandra dealt another blocked blow after that. 

Wesley returned her attacks with two strikes at her torso, both blocked with grace. He tried different angles, first low and then high. Cassandra blocked both, though she held him in a state of suspension on his high block. Within a fraction of a second, she let Wesley know she had defeated him with a maniacal smile and then dealt the final blow. Cassandra swung upwards not with her sword but with the back of her hand. The sound of the smack rang out, as Wesley seemed to fall backward in slow motion with wide hazel eyes.

Wesley hit the ground hard, and he barely had time to recover before Cassandra placed a boot on his chest and a sword at his throat. He put up quite a fight, she’d give him that as she felt her chest rising and falling quickly. Cassandra may have held Wesley in submission for a moment too long, but she did remove her sword and boot from his vicinity and allowed him to retreat to the rest of the defeated recruits. 

There was something about him, though. Cassandra couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but there was definitely something tugging at the back of her mind.

The defeat of the rest of the recruits came quick, and Cassandra couldn’t help but laugh at the poor displays of swordsmanship. Once the last lay at her mercy, she thrust her sword into the ground briefly and looked at the ashamed recruits.

“Today has been a sad, sad day. Every single one of you was defeated by a woman, nonetheless the princess you are supposed to protect. You’ve got your work cut out for you, Theo.”

Theo shook his head as he joined Cassandra out in the middle of the training grounds. “Don’t feel bad, boys. None of us could beat Cassandra, even if we tried. Now that I’ve seen you all in action, you’ll be paired with a knight based on what you need to improve on. The knight you spar with today will be your mentor through the next six months, so you’ll do well to get comfortable very quickly…”

Cassandra walked away and tuned out Theo as she grabbed a bit more water. Enoch, of course, was lounging about the area with his silver tongue intact.

“Congratulations, my lady,” he flashed a smirk of pearly white teeth as he sauntered over to her. “It seems you have successfully taken out your anger on all of these young boys.”

“You mean that wasn’t the plan all along?” she joked before turning a bit more serious. “No, I needed a good release, and what’s better than beating around a bunch of grown men.”

“Well, very few of them actually looked like grown men.”

“Now that you mention it, we do have a very scrawny batch.”

“Maybe you need to fight a real man, my lady.”

“Oh,” Cassandra almost cackled, “and you’re calling yourself a real man?”

“Care to join the knights in a bit of spontaneous afternoon training?”

The grin on Enoch’s ivory face caused his short, scruffy stubble, and his brandy eyes seemed as if they themselves were trying to entice Cassandra. As much as Cassandra wanted to say yes to his voice of honey, her smile faltered a bit.

“I’m afraid I must clean up for dinner with the King of Valoran. A lady must be prim and proper and all that bullshit.”

“Oh, don’t act like that. We all know you’d go to war wearing a pair of heels,” Enoch continued to keep the conversation light-hearted. He gave her a friendly clap on the back and said, “Good work today.”

“Thank you,” she flashed him one final smile before approaching Theo.

Theo didn’t realize Cass was upon him until he whirled around to find her standing behind him.

“Ah, so the victor has come to gloat,” he teased playfully. “You delivered quite a beating today.”

It took him a moment to realize the vein above Cass’s left eyebrow and her rubbing her wrist.

“If you don’t need me, I’ll go prepare for dinner,” she said in reply, her mahogany eyes breaking contact consistently.

He was familiar with this Cass, the one who exudes an aggressiveness in training and then feels very submissive when not beating the shit out of someone. He felt a twinge of guilt for not seeing the signs earlier, but no matter now.

“No, you’re free to go.”

She nodded and turned to leave before he could finish, so he grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Hey,” he said softly, “you wanna stop by before dinner with the king?”

Her lips spread into a thin, almost forced smile, but he knew that was her way of saying yes. He nodded silently, telling her he understood. She proceeded to pick up her sword and exit the training grounds, but instead of watching her Theo looked around for Civarn.

The pale, clumsy boy was approaching him with an armful of gear and weapons, and he nearly fell as he walked. The things he was carrying spilled onto the ground with a clang, and Theo stifled a laugh at his servant.

“Still working with two left feet, then?” Theo teased.

Civarn, who knelt on the ground trying to gather the dropped objects, looked up at him with his eyes of ferns and shook his head in a playful way. 

“You know me, my lord,” he replied with a slight laugh. “Always stumbling everywhere.”

“Precisely. I have never known a man to be more ungraceful than your bumbling self.”

Civarn smiled sheepishly at the comment, his pink lips revealing the white teeth beneath. “Am I needed for target practice today, sire?”

In one of the strange, rough ways Theo showed affection towards his servant, he ruffled Civarn’s shaggy soot black hair and replied, “No, but then again when are you not a target.”

“Indeed, sire,” Civarn’s chuckling brought a smile to Theo's face.

There was a brief moment before Theo addressed anything serious. “I was actually going to ask you to do me a favor.”

“Anything you need, sire.”

“I was hoping you could go to the kitchens and the gardens. I want a fruit platter and some flowers delivered to Cass, to help her feel better. Girls like that stuff, you know?”

Civarn chuckled a bit at the last comment. “Sire, with all due respect, we both know you know nothing about girls, but I agree that Cassandra would like that. I’ll leave immediately.”

“Thank you, Civarn.”

The servant returned the gratitude with a small smile, and then tentatively asked, “Do you mind, sire, if I inquire about the Princess Cassandra’s wellbeing?”

“I’m unsure, but she’ll be stopping by my chambers tonight before dinner with the King of Valoran.”

Civarn nodded in understanding. 

“Oh, I also meant to discuss with you. My cousin, Wesley, will need help moving into the palace sometime soon. Would you–”

“I’ll meet up with him tomorrow after training and discuss the best time for me to move him in.”

Theo grinned once again, and clapped Civarn on the shoulder. “You’re the best servant a man could ask for.”

“I aim to please,” he replied. “I’ll see to my duties, my lord.” With that, Civarn was off. Though there wasn’t much time for it, a bit of melancholy set in. Theo too was concerned for Cass, his sister-in-spirit as he liked to think of her. Something was off, he could tell, but he wasn’t sure if it was due to him, the arrival of King Guillame, or if it was something else entirely. All he knew was something was bothering her, and it was his responsibility to take care of her. She was his best friend, after all. What else are best friends for?

-> next chapter