Page 71 of The Prince's Mage

She and Gavril walked into the library to see Aimilia already there with… Nikias.

Aimilia was eyeing Nikias like he was an imposter when they came in. She immediately turned to Gavril and gestured to Nikias and said in their language, “I mean, I knew my plan was good, but I didn’t think it was this good.”

Nikias rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat before wincing and Marcella realized he hadn’t had anyone heal the burn from last night. Was it a matter of pride and honor like his arm or… was he trying to keep their parents from finding out it was Gavril who had done it?

Nikias said, “If your plan was the first option, it didn’t work, and if it was the second, I could have you arrested.”

“Leave Aimilia alone. The second part was all me,” Gavril said with a smirk as he pulled Marcella along, keeping himself between her and Nikias as they walked. “What are you doing here? I thought your part was just doing the talking when the time came.”

“If you think I’m not—teaching a Sordes how to cast our incredibly powerful, complex runes, then you’re—” Nikias said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at Marcella the same way he had the night before. “That’s the deal.”

Gavril opened his mouth, but Marcella just squeezed his arm and said in their language, “Fine. Gavril. Fine. I am fine. Peace above all, right?”

Gavril glanced at the lines marking Nikias’ left arm, protecting Marcella from him. He shook his head and said in her language, “Alright, hopefully you’re a quick study before I end up killing him.”

Nikias whispered a question to Aimilia who replied with a grin, “It means kill.”

Marcella still didn’t fully understand how they had ended up here. Not long ago Aimilia had been working with Nikias to trounce Marcella to a pulp and then less than a week later was riding off to find Gavril to help her. Apparently that had soured whatever working relationship Aimilia and Nikias had and repaired hers and Gavril’s into a somewhat amicable alliance, even if an awkward one given their history.

Miracles were often strange things, according to all the High Priests and Priestesses Marcella had studied, and she imagined this one was no different.

She took her seat between Gavril and Aimilia; Gavril glared at Nikias until he huffed, got up, and moved one seat over so he wasn’t directly in front of Marcella.

And they set to work.

The first day was mostly spent with Gavril and Aimilia explaining in detail their notes and the process they’d used, studying Marcella, the Heart, and Gavril’s magic to figure out it was all really the same. And not in the way that all magic users had vitae in them. Even though the Elemens magic was fueled by the vitae inside them, the manifestation and use of it was so vastly different they were not the same magic in the end. They explained there was no corruption in her vitae that forced her and her people to only use one hand to cast.

This time Marcella tried very hard to understand and pay attention. When she missed a word, she asked for them to repeat it and if she didn’t know the translation she asked for it. This seemed to annoy Nikias to no end, so she did it occasionally when she did know the word just to see him twitch a fraction of the amount she had because of him.

When Gavril noticed, he just grinned and reached under the table and squeezed her knee. The next time Aimilia was running off on a tangent to Nikias—Nikias leaning on his good arm, wholly focused on Aimilia’s every word—Gavril leaned in and whispered in her tongue, “Good. Don’t let him off the hook for a second.”

She startled at his sudden closeness, accidentally bumping into the table as heat flooded her cheeks from the way she could feel his breath brush her cheek. That motion was enough to break Nikias’ concentration on Aimilia, and he spotted Gavril whispering into her curls. He promptly ignored Aimilia to glare daggers at her instead. Marcella went from flushing at the blatant attention from Gavril to narrowing her eyes right back at him.

He had no idea what she could have done to him and chose not to.

After she’d already begged Gavril to spare his life.

He did not know how much he owed her, and he couldn’t know.

The realization crashed over her like cold water that afternoon while Gavril and Aimilia were talking and Nikias was skimming their notes, but it wasn’t them that caused it. It was the silver-backed raven on the windowsill on the far side of the library.

Marcella could never let anyone know what Hypatia had ordered her to do. If it came out, Gavril would never trust her again. He would never believe her that she’d chosen not to do it, especially if she told the truth that she had been intending on doing it for so long, and that it was the only reason she’d started pretending to trust him and like him enough to actually trust him and love him more than she’d imagined it was possible to love a person.

She could still lose this. Lose him.

Marcella held her breath until the raven gave up and took off when it realized she was not going to be alone for a while. When it was out of sight, she breathed easier and turned to see Nikias looking up slightly from the notes, his eyes narrowed on her. She narrowed them right back.

Gavril interrupted, snatching the notes out of Nikias’ hand so quickly it knocked his elbow out from under him and he had to scramble back before he hit the table. She gave Gavril a weak smile as thanks, and prayed that she might be as good of an illusionist as he was. Now that she’d seen that raven, all the hope and warmth that had been wrapped around her since she’d lowered her hands the night before was gone.

Her only hope was that the raven might give up if she was never alone for it to deliver its message.

While also somehow learning how to cast in Inimicus runes. Which she still didn’t really understand well.

She was barely passable in just understanding their language audibly. She had a long way to go when it came to their written runes. Much less the highly technical and complex things their casting runes were.

She cursed herself for being so ignorant of Gavril and Aimilia’s work the first time so she could focus on her plan instead.

That night, once again she did not send Gavril away—less in the hopes of a night devoid of nightmares and more in the hopes of a night devoid of ravens. When she buried her head in his chest and curled into him, he pulled his cloak around her more tightly and traced a rune on her back.

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