Page 53 of Pawns of Fate
“I did,” she replied while practicing the letter ‘Z’ on some old, brown parchment.
“If he were your tutor, wouldn’t he know that you can’t read?”
“He wasn’t nearly as good at tutoring as you are, Rose. You’ve taught me more in one morning than York did intwo months.”
Rose found that hard to believe. “Still, York must have had some idea you weren’t getting much information from his lessons?” she asked.
“To be honest, whenever he was doing an awful job of explaining something, I would just distract him,” Ava replied.
“For two whole months?”
“I can be very distracting. Especially to my husband.” Ava wiggled her eyebrows and shimmied a bit toward Rose.
Both girls burst into a fit of laughter.
“So you just seduced him any time you didn’t want to suffer through a lesson?”
“Yes.”
Rose laughed again, wiping a tear from her eye. “That tactic won’t work on me!”
“I know, I know!” Ava threw her hands up. “I told you. I’m already learning so much more than I ever learned with York. I can write the entire alphabet now!”
“You have made a lot of progress in just one day. How about we stop there? I’m hungry.”
“Let’s eat some lunch.”
The girls happily took a break from their lessons to prepare and consume a light lunch. Rose considered whether or not they should keep going after the meal. They’d already been working for three hours. Ava had learned a lot of information in one day. They should probably put off more lessons until tomorrow. But if they did that, what else was there to do for the afternoon?
Boredom was the worst part of their situation. Rose was very glad to have a companion—two, if you countedLyla—with her. Time passed faster, even if it wasn’t enough to stave off the boredom entirely.
“What are we going to do this afternoon?” Ava asked as they washed the dishes.
Rose scrubbed at a ceramic plate. “Well, we’re stuck in the house until Lyla returns.”
Ava sighed. “Right. I forgot that we can’t leave the house without her.” Her shoulders slumped forward as she plunged her hands into the full sink.
“I could read one of the romance novels to you,” Rose suggested.
“I like that idea!”
The girls finished washing the dishes and curled up on the couch together. Rose reached for the novel about a shadow mage who falls in love with a marchioness, but Ava stopped her.
“Did you want to keep reading this book?” Ava held up the tome in question. It was a dusty old thing that looked more like it contained ancient secrets than reputable research about the practice of magic in Albion. But Rose had learned a lot from it, and she was only a handful of chapters in.
“I saw you poring over it this morning,” Ava added.
“A textbook about magic won’t be as interesting as the romance novel,” Rose replied, reaching for the book.
“That’s fine! I’ve wanted to learn more about magic since marrying a lightning knight. But York is even worse about teaching me anything to do with spells or mana than he is at teaching me how to read.”
Rose laughed, then opened the book. “Is it alright if I startwith chapter four?”
Ava nodded.
“Chapter four: An Overview of Spellbound and Elemental Magic.” Rose cleared her throat. “Most, but not all, magic in Albion reflects the elements of the natural world. Things like fire, water, lightning, wind, and earth all have their influence on mana and mages. There are other elements. See the index for what scholarscurrently thinkis an exhaustive list.” Rose glanced at Ava, who was hanging on her every word. “Currently thinkis underlined twice. I wonder if that means there could be more elements?”
Ava shrugged. Rose continued, “Elemental magic is usually controlled by spells. Some spells are spoken; some are written. Most are a combination of both.”
